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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
5
ETERNITY
LINDSAY JONES
•
EDITOR IN CHIEF
GOD

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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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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
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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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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 f i v e
sacred spaceSACRED SPACE
A sacred space is any place recognized for its ability to direct
the mind and body to holy matters. The basis for this power
varies considerably. Sometimes spaces act like reliquaries—enclosures that mark the
deposit of a saint’s remains, or the site of an unusual event such as a vision or mani-
festation of divine power, or the place where a holy person preached or lived. Alter-
natively, sacred spaces are often built environments that seek to shape
human consciousness toward states of worship or mindfulness. For
example, Father Paul Matthias Dobberstein, an immigrant Catholic
priest, constructed the Grotto of the Redemption in West Bend, Iowa
(a and b), as well as seven other shrines and grottos in the midwest-
ern United States, as spaces meant to awe and fascinate, but also to
claim attention for the purpose of reflection and devotion. The beauty
the priest admired in stone was
dedicated to the spiritual beauty
of Mary. Sacred space is therefore
in many instances intended as an
aesthetic shaping of consciousness
as an act of adoration, an attempt
to segregate the worshiper from
other forms of life for the sake
of cultivating a special dedication
to a saint or deity. To that end,
many sacred spaces are grand in
scale and expensively appointed,
particularly those associated with
mass pilgrimage, such as the Bud-
dhist temple district of Ayutthyā,
(a) Grotto of the Redemption,
Bangkok (c); the many cathedrals
West Bend, Iowa, begun 1912.
and public churches of Europe
[©2003 Phillip Morgan]
(d); or the Kacbah (e), the central
pilgrimage site among the world’s
(b) Nativity, Grotto of the Redemption. [©2003
Muslims, who go there to visit the
Phillip Morgan]
site where Muh.ammad established
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SACRED SPACE
(c) Phra Sri Ratana Chedi, a nineteenth-century Buddhist stupa within the Grand Palace complex in Bangkok, Thailand.
[©Royalty-Free/Corbis]
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SACRED SPACE
(d) The main apse of the Church of San Vitale, completed in the mid-sixth century, Ravenna, Italy. [©Scala/Art Resource, N.Y.]
(e) The Kacbah, draped in black velvet, is the focal point of Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. [©Reuters/Corbis]
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SACRED SPACE
the faith, a site believed to have been first consecrated by
Abraham, and even by Adam. And when they are not at
Mecca, Muslims pray each day in its direction, which is
registered in every mosque’s mih.rāb (f), the niche in the
wall that indicates the qiblah, Mecca’s direction, and the
place where the imām stands to address the assembled
company of the prayerful. Although the ancient temple
is completely gone, Jews visit the last trace of the installa-
tion, the wall in Jerusalem (g), for prayer and devotion.

While many Protestants might feel uneasy about the
idea of “sacred space” in their practice, the pride they take
in building and maintaining their church buildings (h)
suggests an enduring commitment to a place set apart,
even if its sacredness consists more in the public state-
ment the building makes. In addition to this, however, the
interior space fashions a gathering site where the faithful
experience a sense of community, which for many Prot-
estants is the primary locus of the sacred. The material
architecture, in other words, provides a shell in which the
(f ) A mih.rāb, a niche in the wall of a mosque indicating the
direction of Mecca, at the Friday Mosque in Kerman, Iran.
[©Roger Wood/Corbis]
(g) An Orthodox Jew (right) and three Israeli soldiers pray at the
(h) The St. James-Bond United Church in Toronto, Ontario.
Western Wall in Jerusalem. [©David H. Wells/Corbis]
[©2004 Photograph by Neil Graham]
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SACRED SPACE
human architecture of ordered bodies performs the com-
munal event of sacred assembly.

In addition to being built, sacred space is also found
in the natural state of trees, rivers, mountains, canyons, or
the ocean. The Ganges is the dominant symbol of Hindu
piety and is the daily site of ablutions, prayer, burial, and
offerings (i). Tree shrines are also a familiar part of Hindu
practice. The holy is not understood to be limited to one
place or object, but pervades the entire locale, every aspect
of the natural and built environment. But the divine may
be addressed at one site, marked by a tree or sculpture or
image, like the sacred tree reproduced here (j), a station
along the road where passersby stop to pray or make an
offering or simply to remember the goodness of the deity
honored there.

In other instances, sacred spaces are constructed from
local materials, which allow for an international religious
(i) Hindu pilgrims gather along the Ganges River in Vārān.asī,
(Banaras) an important pilgrimage site in northern India.
[©Brian A. Vikander/Corbis] (j) A Hindu tree shrine, marked by a
wooden sculpture, in the Udaipur district in Rajasthan, India.
[©Photograph by Stephen P. Huyler]
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SACRED SPACE
(k) An elaborate compound made from reeds by disciples
tradition to assume indigenous roots. The elaborate reed
of Serigne Omar Sy, a Sūfī holy man in Djourbel,
construction of a compound (k) at Djourbel, Senegal, was
Senegal. [Photograph by Mary N. Roberts and Allen F. Roberts]
built by the followers of a local Sūfī holy man, Serigne
Omar Sy, from the same material used to make the pens
that write the word of God. Serigne Sy explained that
the reed appeared to him in a dream and asked to be
honored. Like Father Dobberstein’s grotto in Iowa, the
reed compound proceeded as a labor of love, in which
followers of the Sūfī marabout joined to bring the dream
to realization.

Still other sacred spaces are designed to recall the
natural state of their site or components, as in the Zen
rock garden (l) at Ryōanji in Kyoto, Japan. The Japanese
Zen aesthetic seeks to amplify the peculiar characteristics
of objects such as trees, bushes, rocks, or streams by care-
fully cultivating their natural setting. By surrounding the
rock garden with walls and raking the pebbles into long
rows that caress the contours of island-like boulders, the
garden evokes a kind of microcosm. Absorbed in medita-
tion, Zen practitioners may experience many levels of
reality in a stillness that undermines the mind-body and
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SACRED SPACE
human nature dualities that Buddhists believe condemn
(l) A Japanese Zen rock garden, constructed in the 1480s, at
human beings to suffering and illusion. There is no intrin-
Ryōanji in Kyoto. [©Archivo Iconographico, S.A./Corbis]
sic or autonomous power in this space. Its elements may
be changed, but when they are, it is in accord with an
aesthetic sensibility that recognizes the power of forms to
serve as suggestive prompts to meditation.

A final source for sacred space is appropriation: the
adoption of a nonreligious form of built environment for
sacred purposes. This occurs in modern urban societies
with great frequency when small congregations or char-
ismatic religious leaders acquire an abandoned store and
convert it to a church or temple (m). Given the expense
of building anew, storefront churches are an affordable
alternative. But convenience is not all they are about as
sacred spaces. They offer congregants a space of their
own that they modify to suit their practical purposes but
also to act as public signage. And the appropriated spaces
situate the sacred not in elaborate, dedicated structures,
but in small, adapted environments that do not lose
in most instances their connection to the surrounding
secular world. Many storefront Christian and Spiritual-
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SACRED SPACE
(m) Tabernáculo de Fe, Iglesia de Dios en Cristo (Tabernacle of
ist churches in the United States operate ministries of
Faith, Church of God in Christ), a storefront church in South-
outreach among the downtrodden and those who suffer
Central Los Angeles. Photograph by Camilo Vergara.
from alcohol and drug abuse, broken homes, joblessness,
[©Camilo José Vergara. Reproduced by permission]
poor health, and chronic poverty. While they might long
for wealth, health, and homes in the suburbs, those who
belong to or are served by storefront churches often find
in them a supportive community organized around char-
ismatic preachers and healers whose churches are outposts
in a brutal and dangerous landscape. The sacred is not the
space itself, but what happens there.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Berthier, François. Reading Zen in the Rocks: The Japanese Dry
Landscape Garden. Translated by Graham Parkes. Chicago,
2000.
Huyler, Stephen P. Meeting God: Elements of Hindu Devotion. New
Haven, 1999.
Jones, Lindsay. The Hermeneutics of Sacred Architecture: Experience,
Interpretation, Comparison. 2 vols. Cambridge, Mass., 2000.
Metcalf, Barbara Daly, ed. Making Muslim Space in North America
and Europe. Berkeley, 1996.
Meyer, Jeffrey F. Myths in Stone: Religious Dimensions of Washing-
ton, D.C. Berkeley, 2001.
Roberts, Allen F., and Mary Nooter Roberts. A Saint in the City:
Sufi Arts of Urban Senegal. Los Angeles, 2003.
David Morgan ()
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C O N E
T I N U E D
ETERNITY is the condition or attribute of divine life by which it relates with equal
immediacy and potency to all times. The notion emerges at the point of contact of three
distinct religious concerns. The oldest of these is the question of the state of life after
death, especially in light of the continuing presence of the dead among the living as ac-
knowledged in the various forms of the cult of the dead. A later-developing speculative
concern is the question about divine creation, especially when creative power is seen as
the production in a divine mind of a world of ideas, a logos or paradigm made present
in this world as in an image. Finally, there is the concern with contemplative or mystical
experience, especially when regarded as a way of partaking of the divine life within the
conditions of present existence. Reflection on these themes converges upon the notion
of a dimension of life that is “vertically” related to the “horizontal” flowing of time, that
transcends time without being apart from it.
Because eternity touches each and every time, it is easily confused with the closely
related concept of what “always was, is, and will be,” or, in a word, the everlasting. But
in its own proper concept, the eternal only “is”; only in the present tense can it be said
to be or act in any way. Exempted from all having-been and going-to-be, eternity is famil-
iarly defined as timelessness, in distinction from the everlasting (sometimes also called the
sempiternal). The everlasting antecedes and outlasts everything that begins and ends in
time, but because it is just as much given over to being partly past, partly future as are
things that come to be and perish, it is therefore just as much in time. Eternity, on the
other hand, does not transcend finite spans of time extensively, but intensively. It draws
the multiplicity of times into a unity no longer mediated by relations of precedence and
posteriority and therefore, at least in this specific sense, no longer timelike.
Yet it oversimplifies to call eternity timelessness. Though eternity excludes pastness
and futurity, it remains correct to speak of it as presence, which after all is one of the
three fundamental determinations of time. In the Platonic tradition, which gave the con-
cept its classical development and passed it on through Muslim and Christian theology
C LOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT CORNER. Colossus of Ramses II at the Temple of Amun in Karnak,
Egypt. [©Gian Berto Vanni/Corbis]; Coptic ceremonial fan depicting Ethiopian saints.
[©Werner Forman/Art Resource, N.Y.]; Reverse of an early-fourth-century BCE Etruscan bronze
mirror showing the mythical seer Calchas dressed as an haruspex and examining an animal
liver. Museo Gregoriano Profano, Vatican Museums. [©Scala/Art Resource, N.Y.]; Twelfth-
century mosaic of Jesus as Pantocrator. Duomo di Cefalu, Sicily. [©Adam Woolfitt/Corbis];
Glazed pottery eagle from second- to third-century CE Italy. Museo Ostiense, Ostia. [©Erich
Lessing/Art Resource, N.Y.] .
2853

2854
ETERNITY
to modern European philosophy, the present tense retains its
ges the gap according to Plotinus, and this makes possible
temporal sense in affirmations concerning eternity. In this
an account of the experience of eternity itself.
way the Western notion of eternity differs from some Bud-
In some ways it is an extremely familiar experience.
dhist accounts of nirva¯n:a, into which not just pastness and
Consider reading a book that one finds completely compel-
futurity but presence as well are dissolved. Platonic eternity
ling, that draws one along in apparently inexhaustible atten-
by contrast is a paradigmatic presence, and the present in
tiveness and interest. Hours can pass unregistered; it can be
time is its partial but authentic image.
shocking to discover how much time has passed, and how
The present is called the “now.” Latin metaphysics
meaningless that fact seems compared with the inner compo-
spoke therefore of eternity as nunc stans, a “standing now,”
sure and vividness of the interval. Any activity that is intense-
and of time as nunc fluens, a “flowing now.” Since the now
ly self-collected, full of purposiveness and power, can gener-
of time, which is always experienced as having a certain dura-
ate this effect—not just intellectual but also aesthetic, even
tion, converges under logical analysis toward the limiting
physical activity such as dancing or athletics.
concept of the instantaneous, the dimensionless moment of
Experiences of this kind are a threshold for the pure ex-
transition, the problem arises whether the eternal Now is it-
perience of eternity, contemplation. It is important to notice
self a kind of frozen instant, a durationless simplicity about
that they are not without duration, indeed they are rich in
which no experiences of life in time are instructive. Remark-
inner activity and movement. One experiences something
ably, the single feature most vividly affirmed of eternity by
like time in them, but a time that arises more than passes,
its classic expositors is that it is life, and not just life but di-
that gives rather than takes. An inexhaustible power seems
vine life, “a god, manifesting himself as he is,” as the third-
to well up within oneself. When, as is inevitable, the spell
century CE Neoplatonist mystic Plotinus says in one place
is broken, one speaks of having fallen away from that power,
(see the following). How does one incorporate a religious dis-
not of the power itself having lapsed.
course in which eternity is divine life into the stark conceptu-
al analyses of pure metaphysics, which seem to lead to a stat-
Plotinus calls this power the life of the Mind, and in
ic, almost mathematical abstraction?
order to express its inexhaustibility says that it is infinite, lim-
itless. In earlier Greek philosophy, to be infinite was to be
The synthesis of logical, psychological, and theological
indefinite, without form or intelligibility, wholly a negative
analyses into a rigorous conception of eternity is proprietary
condition. Plotinus too portrays the intelligible world of Pla-
to the Platonic philosophical tradition, and is in many ways
tonic Ideas as finite, formally and structurally. But grasped
the single-handed achievement of Plotinus. There are rather
within the living Mind that is its origin and substrate, it is
complete analogies to the concept in some of the Upanis:ads
limitlessly vivacious, a world “boiling with life” (6.7.12). The
in India, but in Asia one finds in the main only partial paral-
living and dynamic quality of eternal Mind is as central a
lels; the metaphysical cake that is the complex Western idea
theme in Plotinus as its simplicity and composure, and is ex-
is there cut apart in different ways, so to speak. Pending the
pressed in a remarkable passage where he says that “its nature
outcome of more penetrating philosophical study than the
is to become other in every way,” accomplished in a “wander-
Asian texts have so far received from Western translators and
ing” (plan¯e, as of the planets) within itself that is like a cease-
historians, the story of eternity remains at present the story
less adventure on the “plain of truth” (6.7.13).
of the Plotinian synthesis, its sources and its influences. The
discussion that follows reflects this situation. It reviews, in
For the soul that awakens to this presence of mind, the
decreasing detail (1) the classic Platonic conception of eterni-
experience is like a homecoming, a coming into oneself rath-
ty as Plotinus understands it, (2) the place of this conception
er than a journey to another self or state of existence. The
in its own, mainly European, spiritual history, and (3) those
old Platonic image of this movement as an anamn¯esis, an un-
points in Indian and Asian philosophy where search for anal-
forgetting, depended on the Orphic mythical theme of the
ogous intuitions most plausibly might begin.
preexistence of the soul and was therefore easily understood
to be a recollection from elsewhere and elsewhen, so to speak.
PLATONIC ETERNITY IN PLOTINUS. In the Platonic tradition,
But in Plotinus anamn¯esis is altogether what it is in Augus-
eternity and time are regularly considered together. They
tine also, an interior conversion of the soul completed in
make up in fact a single topic, in the old literary sense of the
contemplative immediacy—conversion both in the sense of
Greek term topos (“place”), where it refers to a particular
a turning, from distracting cares to tranquil insight, and of
place in a canonical text. The discussion of eternity invari-
a transformation, from the condition of life that is soul to
ably proceeds among Platonists as a meditation on the place
that of pure intellectual apprehension or Mind.
in the Timaeus of Plato where eternity is described as “abid-
ing in unity” and time as an “eternal image of eternity, mov-
Because the condition of the life of the soul is time, hu-
ing according to number” (37d). At a minimum, this passage
mans fall away from presence of mind in a recurrent down-
imposes the idea that eternity and time are in some respect
ward movement that makes one’s encounter with eternity
comparable to one another. But Neoplatonism makes a
multiple and episodic. Yet, “if you look attentively at it again,
stronger claim for a vision of eternity and time as extremes
you will find it as it was” (3.7.5). In that contemplation one
of a continuum. Life itself, the interior life of the soul, brid-
will be one’s self again, self-possessed and self-contained,
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ETERNITY
2855
puzzled by the vulnerability to scatteredness and confusion
by measure, dying down by measure” (B30). Under the con-
into which the soul falls in time. A traditional term for the
trol of this ruling image, aio¯n again means a form of comple-
self-possession of eternal life is stasis, still used in English, and
tion embracing birth and death and the process that weaves
especially in the familiar complaint that the eternity of Greek
them together.
metaphysics is “static.” This is a fundamental misunder-
It is not at all clear to what degree Plato distinguishes
standing.
between the adjectival form aio¯nios, “eternal,” and another
Stasis means “staying, standing rather than falling, hold-
term aïdios, “everlasting.” Because in fact he inclines to the
ing together rather than lapsing into dispersion.” One can
(false) etymology that takes aio¯n from aei o¯n, “always being,”
get the sense of eternal stasis best from the English word ho-
he gives place to the very confusion the Neoplatonists are
meostasis, as used in biology to name the dynamic composure
most concerned to prevent. In the very text in Timaeus that
that the very diverse movements of metabolism and organic
becomes decisive, he says of aio¯n that “its nature is everlasting
activity maintain within a living system. The simplicity and
[aïdios]” (37d).
unity of eternal life is that of a homeostasis, a self-enveloping
Among consequences of this situation is a protracted
completion that is at the same time the space for an unlimit-
controversy among the Hellenistic Platonists of the centuries
ed enjoyment of activity, purpose, and power.
around the beginning of the common era concerning what
“Hence,” Plotinus writes, “eternity is a majestic thing,
is called “the eternity of the world.” The question was wheth-
and thought declares it identical with the god.” He goes on:
er, as Aristotle argues in the Metaphysics (12.6), the world is
“Eternity could be well described as a god proclaiming and
everlasting and has no beginning in time or whether, as Ti-
manifesting himself as he is, that is, as being which is un-
maeus would suggest if its mythical form were given substan-
shakeable and self-identical and always as it is, and firmly
tive import, the world began to be at some definite time. Al-
grounded in life.” From this follows the definition: Eternity
exandrian Jewish and later Christian Platonists tended to
is “life that is here and now endless because it is total and
join the argument on the latter side, partly through their ef-
expends nothing of itself” (3.7.5).
fort to coordinate the story in Timaeus with that of Genesis.
It should be clear that once the rigorous nontemporal con-
Familiar in the Latin West through the paraphrase of
cept of eternity had been established, it was a mistake to call
Boethius, “interminabilis vitae tota simul et perfecta posses-
this question the question of the “eternity” of the world, but
sio” (“the all-at-once total and perfect possession of endless
only Augustine (Confessions 11) diagnoses the category mis-
life,” The Consolation of Philosophy 5.6), the Plotinian experi-
take with full philosophical precision.
ence of eternity marks the divine life as a presence and opens
the route of human approach to this life through contempla-
The antecedents of the Neoplatonic conception of eter-
tive mysticism.
nity lie not in the lexicography of the term’s classical philo-
sophical usage, but in the associations it takes on through the
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND AND CONSEQUENCE. The Greek
constant interaction of Platonic image and argument with
term that translates as “eternity” in Plato and Plotinus is
popular religious consciousness. This includes first of all the
aio¯n, and this has given many students of the history of the
concern with immortality and afterlife, the context for talk
notion pause. Aio¯n survives in English in the Latinized spell-
of the eternal life of the soul. Because this concern is pro-
ing aeon, and here retains much of its original meaning. Aio¯n
foundly rooted in the archaic, mythological sensibility and
means “life, span of life, lifetime; epoch, aeon.” While it
its experience of the structure that Mircea Eliade has called
never suggests duration simply on the level of measure or
“eternal return,” it made available the notion of another
standard interval, even the Homeric places where it comes
time, a transcending and divine time that could intersect
closest to meaning “inner life force” include strongly the sug-
with mundane time, embedding life in a dimension that sur-
gestion of power to perdure, of life reaching out to take up
passes birth and death. The eternity that can be abstracted
its proper span of time. It seems a very timelike term, not
from this archaic experience is an eternal past more than the
only because of its connotation of span or duration, but be-
eternal present of the proper concept; fundamental imagina-
cause beginning, middle, and end belong so much to the
tive possibilities were appropriated from this origin. The me-
kind of totality or completion it expresses still in English.
diating religious context was in large measure the emergence
of the mystery religions in the Greco-Roman world, among
The term first occurs in surviving fragments of early
them the mysteries of baptism and of table blessing central
Greek philosophy in the fifth-century BCE writer Heraclitus,
to Christianity.
in the gnome “Aio¯n is a child playing a board game; the king-
ly power is a child’s” (Heraclitus, B52). The translation
Aio¯n in the New Testament is principally an apocalyptic
“eternity” is clearly inadmissible; those translators who in-
term, qualified as “this aeon” as against “the aeon to come”
stead supply “time” have good cause. Heraclitus’s theme is
(synoptic Gospels, Paul). It shares with the rest of the apoca-
the spontaneity and immanence of the laws or patterns mani-
lyptic scenario a Persian, Zoroastrian background, and in a
fest in the give-and-take of natural processes; the intelligibili-
few Pauline or deutero-Pauline places (e.g., Col. 1:26, Eph.
ty of constant change is not outside nature like a god, but
3:9) seems to be personified in the sense of an equation of
the cosmos is in and by itself an “Everliving Fire, flaring up
Aion with Zurwa¯n, an equation that sets the stage for the
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2856
ETERNITY
florid multiplication of such personified aions in the gnostic
nary pointers about other treatments of eternity are here ap-
literature of the second century CE. Though there has been
propriate.
speculation that this kind of connection between Mediterra-
The striking parallels that are being discovered between
nean and Near Eastern symbolism contributed to the emer-
Neoplatonism and Veda¯nta philosophy appear to hold also
gence of the novel Neoplatonic sense of aio¯n, it seems prefer-
in the case of eternity. The Sanskrit nitya can be translated
able to portray this as a digression.
“eternity” with some confidence already in Upanis:ads, espe-
A richer question is whether “eternal life” in the Gospel
cially at the point where “immortality,” amr:ta, is pressed be-
of John is consonant with the radical Platonic idea, or already
yond the popular image of outliving death, or life after death,
on common ground with it. The predominance of present-
to the radical notion of moks:a, “liberation,” deliverance from
tense statements by the glorified Son in that text (“Before
the cycle of birth and death itself. The fundamental concep-
Abraham was, I am,” Jn. 8:58, et al.), its transformation of
tion in the Upanis:ads that the authentic self, the a¯tman,
apocalyptic into realized eschatology, and its eucharist of
gathered into its own interior unity from the levels of psychic
epiphany and participation (“He who eats my flesh and
life, is one with brahman, the universal spirit, is developed
drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him,” Jn. 6:56) made
in ways that regularly parallel the account of the authentic
it possible for Christian Neoplatonism of the Augustinian
self on the level of the Nous, or divine Mind, in Plotinus. It
type to embrace the strict nontemporal eternity without
is less clear, however, whether the eternal present, self-
sensing any violence in its interpretation of scripture.
consolidated beyond all passage through birth and death, is
to be found in the Vedas.
The story of the appropriation of Plotinian contempla-
tive mysticism by later Christian and Muslim theology de-
Buddhism presents a much more complex situation.
feats summary. Suffice it to say that the Neoplatonic system
The negative assessment of timelike continuity and the rejec-
was adapted to biblical monotheism with considerable pene-
tion of substantiality and causality that are frequent in Bud-
tration and accuracy, especially by Augustine and the Latin
dhist philosophy lead to descriptions of enlightenment that
tradition through Boethius and Bonaventure, by the apopha-
often have a Platonic ring. In Buddhism, the parallels are
tic tradition from Dionysius the Areopagite through John
particularly pronounced in the meditative traditions that em-
Scottus Eriugena to Meister Eckhart, and by S:u¯f¯ı philoso-
phasize “sudden enlightenment,” where the unconditioned
phy. The close connection between the theoretical role of
and spontaneous quality of transcendental insight (Skt.,
eternity as an attribute or name of God and its experiential
prajña¯) is stressed. In the Maha¯ya¯na Pure Land tradition, the
richness as an element of contemplative spirituality remained
paradisical Sukha¯vat¯ı (“land of bliss”) of the Buddha
characteristic of these traditions.
Amita¯bha is sometimes developed in ways reminiscent of the
Platonic world of ideal presences, pervaded by divine mental-
A certain purely logical interest in the eternity/time con-
ity. If there is an authentic parallel here to the notion of eter-
trast, detectable already in Boethius (responding more to
nity, this will have to be tested by careful analysis of the ac-
Porphyry than Plotinus) and Thomas Aquinas, was ampli-
count of temporal presence itself, for it is this that is ascribed
fied by the new mathematical spirit of the metaphysics of the
to eternity by Platonism, and in turn made the image of eter-
seventeenth century, resulting in the reduction of eternal
nity and mark of authentic being for life in time. In those
presence to a kind of schematic simplicity illustrated particu-
radical portrayals of nirva¯n:a as release from all forms of tem-
larly clearly in the system of Spinoza. The effect was to disso-
poral conditioning, not just pastness and futurity, but pres-
ciate the speculative notion from its experiential basis, pro-
ence itself sometimes seems to be denied of awakened mind.
ducing in the end the degraded conception of eternity as
lifeless stasis or logical tenselessness that has been the target
A focal problem in the search for analogy to eternity in
of complaint in historicist, existentialist, and process theolo-
Chinese thought is the proper account of the first line of the
gies of the past century.
Dao de jing, often translated, “The Dao that can be spoken
is not the eternal Dao [chang dao].” “Eternal” may overtran-
ETERNITY IN NON-WESTERN THOUGHT. It is a common-
slate chang; the core meaning is closer to “steadfast,” “cons-
place that the religious themes of afterlife, divine creation,
tant,” “abiding.” The parallel seems strongest to aio¯n at the
and the nature of the soul are drawn together in different pat-
stage it had reached in Heraclitus. It needs study whether the
terns by non-Western traditions. The Buddha is represented
idealization found in the Veda¯nta or late Platonic pattern is
as holding that speculation on none of these furthers one to-
appropriate for interpretation of this text.
ward enlightenment. It is no surprise to find that a concept
Special wariness should be reserved for the use of the
like eternity, which emerges at the intersection of these
phrase “eternal life” in describing prephilosophical doctrines
themes in Platonism and then becomes influential precisely
of immortality and afterlife, or “eternal return” for the tran-
through its adaptability to biblical theology, does not always
scendental relation of divine life to mundane in the experi-
have strict analogies in other religious discourse.
ence of cyclical time that is fundamental in myth-using cul-
The exegetical and hermeneutical complications that
tures. Most commonly what is meant by “eternal” in this
derive from this situation have not always been registered in
context is “perpetual” or “everlasting.” Whether the primor-
the translations of non-Western sources. Only some prelimi-
dial time of beginnings, the transcendent past of divine cre-
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ETHICAL CULTURE
2857
ative action, is a predecessor of the eternal present is a sepa-
ETHICAL CULTURE, a movement dedicated to the
rate question that needs careful consideration. While the
ethical improvement of society and the ethical growth of the
proper notion of eternity may be very near the surface in
individual, was inaugurated with the founding of the New
Egypt, it is much less likely to exist in the preliterate cultures
York Society for Ethical Culture in May 1876 by Felix Adler
for which the cycle of death and rebirth is a naturalistic
and a group of his Jewish supporters. Adler was the son of
image more than a philosophical idealization.
Rabbi Samuel Adler of New York’s Temple Emanu-El, and
he was expected to succeed his father in this cathedral pulpit
SEE ALSO Anamne¯sis; Plotinus; Sacred Time.
of American Reform Judaism. But having been exposed in
German universities to nineteenth-century science, Kantian
BIBLIOGRAPHY
philosophy, and historical criticism of religion, he came to
The concept of eternity is still most accessible from primary
reject theism and the finality of Jewish theology even in its
sources, notably the treatise “On Eternity and Time” of Plo-
most liberal form. His new faith consisted of a passionate be-
tinus, Enneads 3.7.45, in Plotinus, translated by A. Hilary
lief in the inviolability and power of the moral law and the
Armstrong, “Loeb Classical Library,” vol. 3 (Cambridge,
duty to apply it to society, especially to the problems of in-
Mass., 1966), and book 11 of the Confessions of Augustine,
dustrialization, urbanization, and the working poor.
for which there are many suitable editions. An instructive
summary of the concept in the full technical development it
What initially began as a Sunday lecture movement,
received in medieval theology can be found in the article by
somewhat patterned after the Independent Church move-
Adolf Darlap and Joseph de Finance, “Eternity,” in Sacra-
ment and free religious societies such as those of O. B. Froth-
mentum Mundi, edited by Karl Rahner (New York, 1968),
ingham, grew under Adler’s leadership to become a vital or-
vol. 2. Mircea Eliade’s Cosmos and History: The Myth of Eter-
ganization spearheading social reforms and social
nal Return (New York, 1954) remains a standard introduc-
tion to the role of a transcending divine time in the religious
reconstruction. Adler’s personal magnetism drew a member-
experience of myth-using cultures. A very helpful account of
ship of well more than one thousand to the society by the
eternity is incorporated into a sketch of the history of the
early 1880s, mostly but not exclusively people of Jewish ori-
idea of immortality in the ancient Near East and Christian
gin. He also attracted ethically idealistic and socially commit-
Europe by John S. Dunne, The City of the Gods (Notre
ted people of liberal Christian background whom he helped
Dame, Ind., 1978). The classic exposition of the interior ex-
groom to be leaders of other Ethical Culture societies. The
perience of eternity in Western mysticism is Bonaventure’s
Ethical Culture movement took on a national flavor as
“The Soul’s Journey into God,” in Bonaventure, edited and
Adler’s apprentices organized new societies in other cities:
translated by Ewert Cousins (New York, 1978). For eternity
William M. Salter, Chicago, 1883; S. Burns Weston, Phila-
in Indian thought, the edition of The Principal Upanis:ads by
delphia, 1885; Walter L. Sheldon, Saint Louis, 1886. The
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (New York, 1953) is especially
useful, both for its extensive introduction and its very rich
American societies federated as a national organization in
annotations, which include frequent citation of Western par-
1889, the American Ethical Union, and over the years, new
allels.
societies springing up in urban and suburban areas across the
country (Brooklyn, Westchester County, Washington, Balti-
New Sources
more, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Cleveland, Essex County,
Ashton, John. The Quest for Paradise: Heaven and Eternity in the
N.J.) were added to its roster. By 1930, membership in
World’s Myths and Religions. San Francisco, 2001.
American Ethical Culture societies numbered about thirty-
Bernstein, Alan. The Formation of Hell: Death and Retribution in
five hundred, and by the mid-1980s, membership in the
the Ancient and Early Christian Worlds. Ithaca, N.Y., 1993.
more than twenty societies totaled approximately five thou-
Dales, Richard. Medieval Discussions of the Eternity of the World.
sand. (The largest society remains the New York branch, at
New York, 1990.
about one thousand.)
Futch, Michael. “Leibniz on Plenitude, Infinity, and the Eternity
Ethical Culture became truly international in scope in
of the World.” British Journal for the History of Philosophy 10
the 1890s. The London Ethical Society had been founded
(November 2002): 541–561.
in 1886, with such distinguished thinkers participating as
Padgett, Alan. God, Eternity, and the Nature of Time. New York,
Bernard Bosanquet, Edward Caird, and Leslie Stephen, and
1992.
British interest had been spurred when Stanton Coit, anoth-
Rouner, Leroy, ed. If I Should Die. Notre Dame, Ind., 2001.
er Adler apprentice, arrived in 1887 and led London’s South
Place Chapel into the Ethical Culture movement. Coit sub-
Russell, Jeffrey Burton. “Goodness, Gracious(ness) Great Balls of
sequently created a British Ethical Union in 1896. The
Fire: Visions of Eternity Just Aren’t What They Used to Be.”
movement reached Germany, where a society was founded
Christian History 70 (2001): 38–42.
in Berlin in 1892, and societies also appeared in France, Aus-
Walter, Tony. The Eclipse of Eternity: A Sociology of the Afterlife.
tria, Italy, Switzerland, and Japan in this new decade. The
Basingstoke, U.K., 1996.
various societies, each with its own nuanced organizational
PETER MANCHESTER (1987)
goals and ethical approaches, were in contact and quite cog-
Revised Bibliography
nizant of each other’s activities. At a Zurich meeting in 1896
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2858
ETHICS
they created an international confederation, the Internation-
Algernon D. Black, among others—were actively involved
al Ethical Union, which kept member organizations in touch
in most of the progressive causes of social welfare and reform.
with each other and which also convened world congresses
They and their societies were pioneers in the areas of educa-
devoted to specific themes, such as those in London (1908)
tion for young and old, tenement reforms, settlement work,
and the Hague (1912). In the wake of World War II the
legal aid societies, boys’ clubs, good government clubs, and
union became moribund, but in 1952 humanist organiza-
visiting nursing associations. Many of their ventures—free
tions joined with Ethical Culture societies led by the Ameri-
kindergarten (1877), district visiting nursing (1877), the
can Ethical Union to found the International Humanist and
Neighborhood Guild (1886), the Bureau of Justice (1888),
Ethical Union with member groups in North and Latin
the Arts High School (1913)—served as models for similar
America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia.
undertakings by urban communities. In more recent dec-
ades, Ethical Culture, while not a leader as it once was, has
Whether or not Ethical Culture is judged a religion de-
nevertheless been involved with significant programs sup-
pends on one’s definition of religion and one’s inclination ei-
porting liberal social causes, such as prison reform, drug re-
ther to use or not use the word to designate an ethical hu-
habilitation, the right to abortion. The movement has also
manist posture. Felix Adler did regard Ethical Culture to be
sponsored journals of popular and scholarly nature to reflect
a religion and in his later years tried to work out a metaphysic
on the ethical domain as it relates to public policy and philos-
to express it. Still, he adamantly insisted that Ethical Culture
ophy: Ethical Record (1888); International Journal of Ethics
embraced all in ethical fellowship regardless of diverse ap-
(1890); Ethical Addresses (1895); The Standard (1914); Ethi-
proaches and different names given to the quest for meaning
cal Outlook (1956); Ethical Forum (1965).
in life. This openness has clearly persisted to this day. None-
theless, the societies do assume the guise of a religious organi-
SEE ALSO Adler, Felix; Morality and Religion.
zation to some extent. (In the United States, many are incor-
porated as “religious and educational” institutions in their
BIBLIOGRAPHY
respective states.) A weekly meeting is usually held on Sun-
The most comprehensive one-volume history of Ethical Culture
day morning or evening (in Germany, during the weekdays),
is Howard B. Radest’s Toward Common Ground: The Story
of the Ethical Societies in the United States (New York, 1969),
consisting of music, an inspirational reading, and a major ad-
which deals with the origins and evolution of the movement
dress on a topical issue, usually with an eye to its ethical im-
through the 1960s. Although written by an insider, the book
plications. There are no symbols or ritual acts, although the
is not unwilling to take a critical look at the movement and
English societies tend to be a bit more ceremonial. Ethical
its leaders. My book From Reform Judaism to Ethical Culture:
leaders officiate at life-cycle events such as marriage and fu-
The Religious Evolution of Felix Adler (Cincinnati, 1979)
nerals; they come individually from a variety of social and
gives a detailed institutional history of the founding of the
intellectual backgrounds and may have previous religious af-
New York Society for Ethical Culture and forwards a careful
filiations. There is no Ethical Culture seminary, but each
analysis of Adler’s early ideological postures. Important eval-
prospective leader undertakes a personally tailored training
uations of the meaning of Ethical Culture can be found in
program administered by the Leadership Training Commit-
Horace L. Friess’s Felix Adler and Ethical Culture (New York,
tee of the American Ethical Union.
1981), which traces the development of Adler’s own think-
ing on the subject, from initial conceptions to mature refor-
No established Ethical Culture ideology exists, although
mulations. Robert S. Guttchen’s Felix Adler (New York,
general principles certainly have been articulated. To a large
1974) analyzes Adler’s concept of human worth, which re-
extent, Adler’s early motto, “Not the creed, but the deed,”
mains vital to Ethical Culture’s own self-understanding. An-
still serves as the unifying theoretical orientation of Ethical
other important analysis of Ethical Culture has been made
by David S. Muzzey in Ethics as a Religion, 2d ed. (New
Culture, although with a deepened and richer meaning than
York, 1967). A second-generation leader in the movement,
Adler himself provided. Members are free to believe what
and distinguished professor of American history, Muzzey ar-
they wish on all issues, including religion, but they generally
gues for the religious nature of Ethical Culture. The book
subscribe to the following ideals: (1) the intrinsic worth of
contains a brief, useful epilogue on the founding of the
each human being, (2) the importance of seeking ethical
movement by Adler.
principles as a guide to all aspects of life, and (3) the need
BENNY KRAUT (1987)
to work for the material and spiritual betterment of society
and humanity.
This last commitment to applied social ethics rather
ETHICS SEE BUDDHIST ETHICS; CHRISTIAN
than to any theoretical formulation of an ethical approach
ETHICS; JEWISH THOUGHT AND PHILOSOPHY,
has been the quintessential characteristic of Ethical Culture
ARTICLE ON JEWISH ETHICAL LITERATURE;
from its inception. In this regard, the Ethical Culture move-
MORALITY AND RELIGION
ment, particularly in the United States, has been quite suc-
cessful, far beyond its limited membership. Its leaders in the
first four to five decades—Adler, Salter, Weston, Coit, John
ETHIOPIAN CHURCH. The Ethiopian or Abyssin-
L. Elliott, Alfred Martin, David Muzzey, Henry Newman,
ian church, on the Horn of Africa, is one of the five so-called
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ETHIOPIAN CHURCH
2859
monophysite Christian churches that reject the Council of
(Ecclesiastical History 1.9) tells us how this came about. A cer-
Chalcedon (451) and its formula of faith. The church does
tain ship was attacked while calling on one of the Ethiopian
not call itself monophysite but rather Ta¯wah:edo (Unionite;
ports. Of the voyagers, only two Syrian boys from Tyre
also spelled Tewahedo), a word expressing the union in
(modern-day south Lebanon), Frumentius and Aedesius, es-
Christ of the human and divine natures, to distinguish itself
caped death. The boys were taken to the palace, where the
from the Eastern Orthodox churches, which accept the for-
king made Frumentius his secretary and Aedesius his cup-
mulas accepted at Chalcedon. For the Ta¯wah:edo Orthodox
bearer. Frumentius used his influence in the palace to facili-
Church of Ethiopia, both Nestorius and Eutyches are here-
tate the building of an oratory by the Christians in the city.
tics. Although formally under the jurisdiction of the Coptic
This center was also used as a school where children, even
church of Alexandria until 1950, the Ethiopian Orthodox
those from non-Christian families, came to receive religious
church has managed to retain its indigenous language, litera-
instruction. As soon as the two foreigners received their free-
ture, art, and music. It expects its faithful to practice circum-
dom, Frumentius went to Alexandria to ask the archbishop
cision, observe the food prescriptions set forth in the Hebrew
there to consecrate a bishop for the Christians in Ethiopia.
scriptures (Old Testament), and honor Saturday as the Sab-
Athanasius thereupon chose Frumentius to be the bishop of
bath. The church has its own liturgy, including an horolo-
Aksum. Rufinus says that he received this story “from the
gion that contains the daily offices (initially for each of the
mouth of Aedesius himself,” who became a priest in Tyre.
twenty-four hours of the day), a missal of over fourteen
Even though Rufinus, like some other historians, calls the
anaphoras, the Deggwa¯ (an antiphonary for each day of the
country India, there is no doubt that the story deals with
year), doxologies (various collections of nag´s hymns), and
Ethiopia. A letter from the Arian emperor, Constantius II (r.
homiliaries in honor of the angels, saints, and martyrs. The
337–361), to the rulers of Ethiopia, Ezana (EE¯za¯na¯) and Sa-
most innovative aspect of this church is the provision in the
zana, concerning Frumentius is extant in Athanasius’s Apolo-
Deggwa¯ for the chanting of qen¯e (poetic hymns) in the litur-
gy to Constantine (Patrologia Graeca, ed. by J.-P. Migne, 25.
gy. There are several types of qen¯e varying in number of lines
636–637). From Ezana’s rule to the middle of the twentieth
from two to eleven, which one of the clergy usually impro-
century, the head of the Ethiopian church remained a Copt.
vises during the service in keeping with the spirit of Psalms
It was only in the twentieth century that an Ethiopian,
149:1, “Sing unto the Lord a new song.”
Ba¯sleyos (1951–1970), was consecrated patriarch. It must be
noted, however, that the Coptic metropolitan was in charge
Until the Ethiopian revolution of 1974, the Ethiopian
primarily of spiritual and theological matters. The adminis-
Orthodox Church (the population of which was at least six-
tration of other church affairs was the responsibility of a na-
teen million in the early twenty-first century, according to
tive official with the title of Eaqqa¯b¯e sa Ea¯t and subsequently
the World Council of Churches) had been a national church
echag¯e.
defended by the political leader of the country. The mon-
arch’s reign had to be legitimized by the church at a religious
MEDIEVAL PERIOD. The Ethiopian church took many sig-
ceremony where the new king swore allegiance to the church
nificant steps forward between the fourth and the seventh
and committed himself to defend the Christian kingdom.
century. It vigorously translated a great deal of Christian lit-
erature from Greek. This included the Old Testament from
EARLY HISTORY. Historians disagree in assigning a date to
the Septuagint and the New Testament from the Lucianic
the introduction of Christianity into Ethiopia, depending
recension (the Greek Bible revised by Lucian of Antioch, d.
upon which Ethiopian king they think first adopted the
312) used in the Syrian church. The Ethiopian Bible of
faith. The conversion of the monarch, however, is a poor in-
eighty-one books includes the Book of Jubilees and the Book
dication of the date of that introduction because not only
of Enoch, two books that have been preserved in their entirety
was he by no means among the country’s first converts, but
only in Ethiopic. The Synodicon (a collection of canon law),
also because until about 960, the monarchy changed hands
the Didascalia Apostolorum (a church order), the Testament
so frequently that the ruler was not as consistently Christian
of Our Lord, and the Qal¯ement:os (an apocalyptic writing as-
as were certain segments of the population. We should also
cribed to Clement of Rome) are also part of the Ethiopian
be wary of using the local tradition that the Ethiopian eu-
canonical scriptures. The number of churches and monaste-
nuch Qina¯qis (Acts 8:26–39) was martyred teaching Chris-
ries also grew quickly. Traveling through Ethiopian territo-
tianity in Ethiopia as evidence of the country’s conversion.
ries in the sixth century, a Greek monk, Cosmas Indico-
However, we do know that Adulis, the famous port of Ethio-
pleustes, was impressed to see churches everywhere.
pia, and Aksum, the capital, were frequented by Christian
traders from the Hellenistic world since the early history of
It has been suggested that the Rule of Pachomius and the
Christianity. Some of these settled there, forming Christian
theological writings of the Fathers in the Q¯erelos (including
communities and attracting to their religion those with
writings from Cyril of Alexandria, Epiphanius, et al.) were
whom they interacted daily.
brought to Ethiopia by the so-called Nine Saints who came
from the Hellenistic or Mediterranean world, including
Ethiopia officially joined the Christian world when Fru-
Egypt, in the sixth or seventh century. But any of the many
mentius was consecrated its first bishop by Athanasius of Al-
travelers and anchorites (such as Abba¯ Yoh:annes Kama¯) who
exandria in about 347. The contemporary historian Rufinus
came to Ethiopia much earlier than the Nine Saints might
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2860
ETHIOPIAN CHURCH
have brought them along with several other works. Our his-
one has seen God.” They also maintained a different theolo-
torical knowledge about the Nine Saints is not firmly based
gy of the unity and trinity of God (one sun with three attri-
even though they are highly revered in the church as the
butes—disc, light, and heat). Another dispute developed
founders of monasticism in Ethiopia.
when some monasteries objected to the use of the Deggwa¯
in the liturgy; this intricate collection of antiphonary hymns
Unfortunately for the faithful, the young church suf-
recommends dancing while chanting during service (Ps.
fered encroachment and harassment by Islam, starting in the
150:4). The number of canonical books and the inclusion
eighth century. Locally, too, a vassal queen of one of the
of the pseudepigrapha and the pseudoapostolic writings in
provinces, Gudit, revolted and devastated the Christian civi-
the canon were also challenged.
lization, paving the way for another dynasty, the Za¯gwe¯
(1137–1270).
RELIGIOUS CIVIL WAR OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. The
chronic skirmishes between the Christians and the Muslims
The Za¯gwe¯ kings were more interested in religion than
in Ethiopia took a different form in the sixteenth century
in politics. Many of them were priests as well as rulers, and
when the latter, led by Ima¯m Ahmad ibn Ibra¯h¯ım al-Gha¯z¯ı
the last four of the dynasty are, in fact, among the saints of
(or Ahmad Gra¯ñ), sought and received help from the Turks.
the church. The building of the several rock-hewn churches
By this time also the astounding wealth of the individual
in La¯sta¯ (central Ethiopia) is ascribed to them. The so-called
churches in solid gold, silver, and precious clothes had be-
Solomonic dynasty, which was to overthrow them, would
come an irresistible booty and the gra¯ñ sacked the monaste-
boast of its alleged descendance from Solomon of Israel,
ries and burned the churches of the empire for about fifteen
while the Za¯gwe¯ attempted to reproduce the holy places in
years (1527–1542). The Christians turned to Portugal for
their own land, calling their capital Roha (after Edessa), their
help. The army of the ima¯m collapsed when he was killed
river Yordanos (after Jordan), and so on.
in early 1543. But it was about this time that the Cushitic
In 1270 the clergy, led by Takla Ha¯yma¯not, the founder
people the Galla, who call themselves Oromo, migrated into
of the Monastery of Dabra Libanos (in Shewa), and Iyyasus
Ethiopia en masse, destroying a great part of the Christian
MoDa, the founder of the Monastery of H:ayq Est:ifa¯nos (in
heritage that had escaped the gra¯ñ’s devastation.
Amhara), collaborated with Yekunno Amla¯k to overthrow
the Za¯gwe¯ and to found the Solomonic dynasty. Although
THE JESUITS’ ENTERPRISE. The Portuguese came to help the
the Solomonic kings did not always observe the church’s
church in its war against Islam with the assumption that the
teaching, it was nonetheless during this period that indige-
lost flock, the church of Ethiopia, would come back to the
nous religious literature flourished, and Christianity spread
Roman Catholic Church. The Ethiopians, however, were
into the south and west through the efforts of the monks of
never ready to abandon their faith. The pressure of the Jesu-
Dabra Libanos of Shewa, the twelve nebura¯na ed, chosen by
its, however, which started with missionaries sent by Pope
the metropolitan according to the number of the apostles.
Julius III (1487–1555), continued until the seventeenth cen-
tury, when they succeeded in converting Emperor Suseneyos
RELIGIOUS CONTROVERSIES. Late in the medieval period
(r. 1607–1632) to Catholicism. In 1626 a Catholic patri-
and afterward, religious controversies arose because of objec-
arch, Alphonsus Mendez, came from Rome, and the emperor
tions by some to the tradition of undue reverence for the
issued a decree that his subjects should follow his own exam-
Cross, icons of the Madonna and Child, and the king. We
ple. However, the sweeping change that Mendez attempted
hear of these disputes during the reign of Ya¯qbeDa S:eyon (r.
to introduce into the age-old religious traditions of the na-
1285–1294), and they appear again in the days of Sayfa
tion met with stiff resistance. Led by the monastic leaders,
ArEada (r. 1344–1372). The controversies became serious
tens of thousands of the faithful were martyred. The Catholic
during the reign of ZarDa Ya¯Eeqob (1434–1468), when an an-
missionaries were finally asked to leave, and the emperor was
chorite, Est:ifa¯nos, succeeded in attracting to his teaching of
assassinated, even though he had abdicated the throne to his
rejection of the tradition many monks who, like him, refused
son Fa¯siladas (r. 1632–1667). Fa¯siladas was magnanimous
to be shaken by the dreadful persecution that ensued. Anoth-
with the Jesuits despite the fact that they had attempted to
er controversy, this time involving the Coptic church also,
overthrow him by courting one of his brothers.
centered around the Sabbath observance of Saturday in addi-
tion to Sunday. Several monasteries, led by the monk
Even though the Jesuits left, the controversy stemming
E¯wost:a¯te¯wos (d. 1369), successfully defied the decree of the
from their theology of the two natures of Christ continues
king and the Coptic metropolitan that sought to abolish the
to the present, taking a local character and creating schism
practice of observing the first Sabbath (Saturday). But the
in the Ethiopian church. Overtly, this controversy is centered
most serious controversy dealt with the concept of the unity
on the theological significance of qebDat, unction (Acts
and trinity of God. The church taught that each being in the
10:38), and bakwr, first-born (Rom. 8:29), when applied to
Trinity (three suns with one light) has a form or image,
Christ the Messiah, the only Son of God. But those who
malke E, which must look like that of a human because hu-
raised these questions were clearly attempting to show the
mans were created in God’s image (Gen. 1:27). The heretics,
monophysites the implication of a theology of one nature in
followers of Zamika¯’e¯l, while admitting that God has an
Christ, by drawing their attention to the distinct presence of
image, refused to define a form, quoting John 1:18—“No
the human nature in him and its inferior position vis-à-vis
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ETHIOPIAN CHURCH
2861
his divinity. For one group, the Ka¯rroch, or Ta¯wah:edo (the
The compromise reached was to retain some parts of the lit-
Unionists of Tegra¯y), whose position the church has held of-
urgy in GeEez and conduct the rest in English. This compro-
ficially since 1878, unction means the union of divinity with
mise was not only unsatisfactory to both the church authori-
humanity: Christ, who is the ointment and the anointed, be-
ties and congregations, but it also meant training the clergy,
came the natural Son of God in his humanity through this
Ethiopians and non-Ethiopians alike, in GeEez and English.
union. For the Qebatoch (unctionists of Gonder and
In spite of several problems, the church is gaining strength,
Gojam), unction means that Christ in his humanity became
especially in the West Indies and the Caribbean (e.g., Jamai-
the natural Son of God through the unction of the Holy
ca, Guyana, Trinidad, and Tobago). The number of the
Spirit: God the Father is the anointer, the Son the anointed,
faithful in the United States (New York, Washington, D.C.,
and the Holy Spirit the ointment. The third group, the
and Los Angeles) grew because of the influx of Ethiopian ref-
S:aggoch (adoptionists of Shewa), who are accused of tending
ugees fleeing the military Marxist repression that started with
toward Catholicism, believe that Christ in his humanity be-
the overthrow of the monarchy in 1974.
came the Son of God by grace through the unction of the
In 1987 Ethiopia officially became the People’s Demo-
Holy Spirit either in Mary’s womb at the Annunciation or
cratic Republic of Ethiopia, but a rebel movement later over-
at the baptism. They call the occasion when he became the
threw the government and with it centuries of Amharic rule.
Son of God by grace a third birth for Christ, in relation to
Eritrea declared its independence from Ethiopia following a
the eternal birth from the Father and the temporal birth from
UN-sponsored referendum in 1993, and the Orthodox
Mary, hence the heresy of the three births condemned at the
Church of Eritrea broke away from the Ethiopian Church.
Council of Boru Meda in Welo (central Ethiopia) in 1878.
In 1991 the patriarch of Ethiopia, Abune Merkorios, accused
The S:aggoch vehemently oppose the notion that Christ be-
of collaboration with the communist authorities, was re-
came the natural Son of God in his humanity. They are,
moved by the Holy Synod. Merkorios was replaced by
however, in the minority.
Abune Paulos in 1992. Paulos is recognized as the patriarch
THE CHURCH OUTSIDE AFRICA. Designed to express its spir-
by the Holy Synod of the Ethiopian Orthodox Ta¯wah:edo
itual message and to perform the services in the local culture,
Church inside Ethiopia. Merkorios went into exile in Kenya
the Ethiopian church is strictly local and national. In its his-
and is upheld as patriarch by the Holy Synod in Exile. Efforts
tory it has not engaged in any missionary activities beyond
continue to avert a permanent schism of the church.
the frontiers that political leaders claimed to be territories of
their ancestors. King Ka¯le¯b’s expedition to Najra¯n (southern
SEE ALSO Aksumite Religion.
Arabia) in about 525, to rescue the Christians from the per-
secution of a Jewish ruler and to reorganize the Christian
BIBLIOGRAPHY
communities there, may not be considered sustained activity
For the history of both the church and the country, Jean Doresse’s
by the church outside Ethiopia. Even the Ethiopian churches
Ethiopia (London, 1959) is a good introduction even though
in the Holy Land could not be exceptions to this historical
it lacks annotation to the sources. Carlo Conti Rossini’s
fact, since they were built to serve Ethiopian nationals who
Storia d’Etiopia, vol. 1, Dalle origini all’ avvento della dinastia
visited the holy places in Palestine and Egypt. Ethiopian mo-
Salomonide (Bergamo, Italy, 1928), remains the standard ref-
nastic communities have lived in Jerusalem since the Middle
erence for the early history. Unfortunately, however, this
Ages, and they were Ethiopia’s main window to the outside
book too has neither adequate annotation to sources nor a
world. In modern times, there were also Ethiopian churches
bibliography. An index for it has been prepared by Edward
in the former British Somaliland, Kenya, and the Sudan, but
Ullendorff in Rassegna di studi etiopici 18 (1962): 97–141.
they too were serving Ethiopian nationals, refugees who fled
The only book that examines many aspects of the Ethiopian Bible
the 1936 to 1941 Italian occupation of Ethiopia.
is Edward Ullendorff’s Ethiopia and the Bible (London,
1968). This book also contains an excellent bibliography. See
In the 1950s the Ethiopian church was faced with a
also Roger W. Cowley’s The Traditional Interpretation of the
most unusual challenge. The local church was called upon
Apocalypse of St. John in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church
to respond to the need for cultural and racial identity of the
(Cambridge, U.K., 1983). The introduction to this work of-
oppressed black people in Africa and the Americas. Churches
fers more than the title suggests. The history of GeEez (Ethio-
with the term Abyssinian as part of their name started to
pic) literature has been ably surveyed in Enrico Cerulli’s La
emerge in these continents. Although the historical link be-
letteratura etiopica, 3d ed. (Florence, Italy, 1968). Ernst
Hammerschmidt’s Studies in the Ethiopic Anaphoras (Berlin,
tween the Ethiopian church and these churches is lacking,
1961) summarizes the different studies of the anaphoras in
and the Ethiopian church was not economically, education-
one small volume. For an English version of the anaphoras
ally, and politically up to the challenge, delegates consisting
themselves, see Marcos Daoud and Marsie Hazen’s The Lit-
of clergy were sent from Ethiopia to East Africa (still under
urgy of the Ethiopian Church (Cairo, 1959). The most com-
British rule), the Caribbean region, and North America. The
prehensive study thus far on qen¯e hymns is Anton Schall’s
inevitable problems were how to attract the middle class to
Zur äthiopischen Verskunst (Wiesbaden, Germany, 1961).
an African church and how to adapt the culturally alien
The period of the Za¯gwe¯ dynasty and the rock-hewn churches of
church services to English-speaking communities in Africa
La¯sta¯ are well treated in Georg Gerster’s Churches in Rock
and the Americas, not to mention the question of rebaptism.
(London, 1970), with many large and impressive photo-
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2862
ETHNOASTRONOMY
graphs and an adequate bibliography. The history of the
ETHNOASTRONOMY. This article is limited to dis-
church from the beginning of the Solomonic dynasty to the
cussion of the ethnoastronomies of native South America be-
Islamic invasion of the sixteenth century has been uniquely
cause of their primary importance in the development of this
treated in Taddesse Tamrat’s Church and State in Ethiopia,
area of study.
1270–1527 (Oxford, 1972). Francisco Alvarez’s Narrative of
the Portuguese Embassy to Abyssinia during the Years 1520–
PATTERNS. In the ethnographic literature on indigenous
1527, translated by Lord Stanley of Alderley (London,
South American Indian populations, there is a considerable
1881), is a rare description of church and secular life imme-
body of evidence attesting to the importance of ethnoastro-
diately before the war with the gra¯ññ. The translation was re-
nomical beliefs. These beliefs, expressed with varying degrees
vised by C. F. Beckingham and G. W. B. Huntingford and
of emphasis in mythology and ritual, bear witness to long-
published under the title The Prester John of the Indies, 2 vols.
standing traditions of astronomical observations undertaken
(Cambridge, U.K., 1961).
for a variety of purposes, ranging from the construction of
Some of the sources for the religious controversies of the late me-
precise calendar systems to the production of symbols and
dieval period were edited and translated in Enrico Cerulli’s
metaphors for expressing enduring relationships that charac-
Il libro etiopico dei miracoli di Maria e le sue fonti nelle lettera-
terize interactions between men and women, social groups,
ture del medio evo latino (Rome, 1943) and Scritti teologici et-
humans and animals, and so forth. While there are no uni-
iopici dei secoli XVI–XVII, 2 vols., “Studi e testi,” no. 198
versally shared astronomical symbols, several recurrent the-
(Rome, 1958).
matic patterns emerge from a comparative study of the ways
The unique source for the destruction of the churches by the
in which different groupings of celestial bodies are interrelat-
forces of the graññ in the sixteenth century is Futu¯h:
ed in the mythology and ritualism of the Andean and Tropi-
al-H:abashah, composed by EArab Faq¯ıh, the chronicler of
cal Forest (Amazonian and Orinocoan) religious traditions.
the ima¯m, edited and translated in René Basset’s Histoire de
la conquête de l’Abyssinie (seizième siècle) par Chihab ed-Din
Sun and Moon. A clear expression of the notion of the
Ah:med ben EAbd el-Qâder surnommé Arab-Faqih, 2 vols.
thematic patterning of relations in an astronomical mode is
(Paris, 1898–1901). The Portuguese, too, have left invalu-
found in a number of origin myths, especially those in which
able though sometimes exaggerated and conflicting reports
the origin of humans is thought to have occurred virtually
of the campaign. See The Portuguese Expedition to Abyssinia
simultaneously with their separation into different—but
in 1541–1543, as Narrated by Castanhoso, with Some Letters,
complementary—kinship or social categories (e.g., siblings,
the Short Account of Bermudez, and Certain Extracts from Cor-
rea (London, 1902).
spouses, clans, or moieties). The Apinagé of the Araguaya
River of Brazil hold that Sun created the two moieties and
The best work on the religious controversies that started in the
localized one (the Kolti moiety) in his own northern half of
seventeenth century is Friedrich Heyer’s Die Kirche Äthio-
piens: Eine Bestandsaufnahme (Berlin and New York, 1971).
the circular villages while leaving the other (the Kolre) with
The history of the religious controversy caused particularly
his sister, Moon, in the south. The Apinagé held ceremonies
by the Portuguese has been ably and succinctly presented in
directed to Sun during the planting and harvesting periods,
Germa B:eshah and Merid Wolde Aregay’s The Question of
while they invoked Moon to help the crops mature (Ni-
the Union of the Churches in Luso-Ethiopian Relations (1500–
muendajú, 1967, p. 164). The pairing of Sun and Moon as,
1632) (Lisbon, 1964). See also Donald Crummey’s Priests
respectively, brother and sister is also found among the
and Politicians: Protestant and Catholic Missions in Orthodox
Tapirapé (Wagley, 1940, p. 256) and the Conibo (Handbook
Ethiopia, 1830–1868 (Oxford, 1972). The book has an ex-
of South American Indians, 1948, p. 595; hereafter referred
cellent bibliography with useful comments on some of the
to as H. S. A. I.). Among the Chiriguano (H. S. A. I., 1948,
works.
pp. 483–484), the Kogi (Reichel-Dolmatoff, 1982, p. 178),
Questions about the church that are of interest to Western Chris-
and the Inca, Sun and Moon are simultaneously brother and
tians are answered in The Teaching of the Abyssinian Church
sister and husband and wife. For the Xerente, who once oc-
as Set forth by the Doctors of the Same, translated from Amhar-
cupied several villages southeast of the Apinagé along the To-
ic, the vernacular of Ethiopia, by A. F. Matthew (London,
cantins River, Sun and Moon are “companions” (i. e., nei-
1936). See also Harry Middleton Hyatt’s The Church of Ab-
yssinia (London, 1928). This work describes in detail the reli-
ther siblings nor spouses), although each is associated with
gious practices of the church.
one of the two moieties. Sun, who is referred to by all Xer-
ente regardless of their moiety affiliation as “Our Creator,”
Kirsten Pedersen’s The History of the Ethiopian Community in the
Holy Land from the Time of Emperor Tewodros II till 1974 (Je-
communicated with the Siptato moiety through a group of
rusalem, 1983) is a result of several years of study of the origi-
intermediaries, including Venus, Jupiter, the Belt of Orion,
nal and secondary sources on the subject. The minor mis-
and k Orionis; the intermediaries between Moon and the
takes pertaining to modern history of Ethiopia do not in any
people of the Sdakra moiety are Mars, Carrion Vultures, and
way minimize the usefulness of this work. The major English
Seven Stars (probably the Pleiades; Nimuendajú, 1942,
sources on all aspects of the church are surveyed in Jon
pp. 84–85). Through the association of Sun and Moon with
Bonk’s An Annotated and Classified Bibliography of English
linked pairs of complementary, yet often asymmetric and hi-
Literature Pertaining to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (Me-
erarchical, social categories (e.g., husband and wife, brother
tuchen, N.J., 1984).
and sister, and the moieties), astronomical phenomena are
GETATCHEW HAILE (1987)
made to participate in the process of classifying human soci-
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ETHNOASTRONOMY
2863
ety on the basis of fundamental dichotomies and processes
other toward the south, where they collide in the heavens
(e.g., alliance and reproduction) that occur throughout the
near the Southern Cross. The foam (posuqu) stirred up by
natural world. The relations between Sun and Moon serve
their collision is seen in the bright clouds of the southern
as the “charter” for cosmic and social order throughout the
Milky Way from the Southern Triangle to the False Cross
succession of the generations. Yet just as inevitably as social
in Carina. The two branches of the celestial river alternately
order is established and maintained within each society by
rise, pass through the zenith, and set; one branch, when it
rules governing relations among different groups of people,
stands in the zenith, passes from the northeast to the south-
the rules are forever being broken and the right order of
west, while the other branch passes from the northwest
things momentarily threatened. The inevitability of disorder
through the zenith to the southeast (Urton, 1981,
arising from the violation of rules and prohibitions has its
pp. 54–63). The Barasana, a Tucanoan-speaking group on
celestial reminder in the spots besmirching the face of the full
the Vaupés River in Colombia, conceive of the Milky Way
moon. Throughout the mythological traditions of the tropi-
as divided into two “star paths”; one, called New Path, is ori-
cal forest, the spots on the moon are commonly associated
ented southeast-northwest, while the other, Old Path, is ori-
with incestuous relations, especially between brothers and
ented northeast-southwest. New Path and Old Path are the
sisters. In a typical example of this theme, the Záparoan-
sites of most of the constellations recognized by the Barasana
speaking tribes of the Marañón, Napo, and Pastaza rivers say
(Hugh-Jones, 1982, p. 182). For the Desána, another Tu-
that Moon was formerly a man who, in the dark of night,
canoan-speaking group of the Vaupés region, the Milky
had sexual intercourse with his sister. In order to identify her
Way, as a single construct, is likened to a river, a trail in the
lover, the girl one night smeared his face with genipa (a blue-
forest, an immense cortege of people, a cast-off snake skin,
black vegetable dye). Out of shame, the man went away to
and a fertilizing stream of semen. In a dualistic image focus-
the sky and became the moon, his genipa-covered face being
ing on its cyclical, alternating axes, the Milky Way is imag-
reexposed to the Záparo every month (H. S. A. I., 1948,
ined as two huge snakes: the starry, luminous part is a rain-
p. 649; cf. Roth, 1908–1909, p. 255; Wagley, 1940,
bow boa, a male principle; the dark part is an anaconda, a
p. 256). Asocial (incestuous) sexual relations may generally
female principle. The shifting of the Milky Way, seen as a
be compared with unproductive sexual encounters, which
swinging motion made by the two snakes, punctuates the
are everywhere signaled by menstruation. Among the con-
cycle of fertilizing forces emanating from the sky (Reichel-
temporary Quechua of the Peruvian highlands, Sun (Inti) is
Dolmatoff, 1982, pp. 170–171). Using metaphors of human
male and Moon (Killa) is female; menses is referred to as killa
sexuality that recall the menstrual cycle of the moon, the
chayamushan (“moon coming, or arriving”). Sun and Moon
Barasana, like the Desána, conceive of the Milky Way as par-
are also often associated with brightly colored birds or with
ticipating in a cycle of fertilizing forces. The connection be-
the plumage of such birds. For example, the Trumai and the
tween the principle of fertility, the Milky Way, and the flow
Paresí (H. S. A. I., 1948, pp. 348, 360) say that Sun is a ball
of menses is occasioned by the comparison of the menstrual
or headdress of red parrot feathers, while they identify Moon
and seasonal cycles. The rainy season is the menstrual period
as a collection of yellow feathers. In the Záparo myth dis-
of the sky, which is personified by Woman Shaman, a creator
cussed above, the wife of the incestuous man who became
who has a gourd of wax identified with the Pleiades, which
the moon was herself simultaneously transformed into a
are called Star Thing and are the principal aspect of the New
night bird. And in a congeries of these various bird images
Path of the Milky Way. The gourd is Woman Shaman’s va-
and relations, the Tapirapé of central Brazil, west of the Ara-
gina; the wax, her menstrual blood; and the melting of the
guaya River, say that Moon was the sister of Sun and that
wax, her menstrual period, which is compared, as an internal,
the latter wears a headdress of red parrot feathers. Sun is said
rejuvenating “skin change,” to the rainy season, which begins
to have slapped Moon’s face with his genipa-covered hand
in the Vaupés in April, as the stars of the Pleiades set. In
because of her sexual misbehavior. Moon was married to a
Barasana cosmology, the internal skin change of Woman
culture hero who divided all birds into two groups. Among
Shaman, associated with Star Thing (the gourd of melting
the Tapirapé, the two men’s moities are subdivided into
wax), is contrasted with the external skin change of the con-
three age grades, each of which carries the name of a bird
stellation called Caterpillar Jaguar (Scorpius), which stands
(Wagley, 1940, p. 256).
opposed to, and alternates with, Star Thing (Hugh-Jones,
1982, pp. 196–197).
The Milky Way. Aside from the sun and the moon, one
other celestial phenomenon is important throughout the eth-
Bright-star and dark-cloud constellations. Data from
noastronomies of South America: the Milky Way. The
the Barasana and Desána introduce a final and far more com-
Milky Way serves as a means for organizing and orienting
plex recurrent theme, one that forms perhaps the core of eth-
the celestial sphere in the spatial, temporal, and mythological
noastronomical symbolism among South American Indian
dimensions. The Quechua-speakers of the Peruvian Andes
societies. This theme concerns groups of interrelated meta-
refer to the Milky Way as a river (mayu) composed of two
phorical images built up out of animals, anthropomorphic
branches. The branches originate in the north within the cos-
beings, and constellations stretched along the bright path or
mic sea that encircles the earth. Water is taken into the Milky
paths of the Milky Way. The theme of animals and humans
Way, and the two branches separate, flowing away from each
as constellations concerns a group of celestial phenomena lo-
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2864
ETHNOASTRONOMY
cated principally along, or within, the path of the Milky
ern Cross is a bees’ nest (Weiss, 1972, p. 160). The Múra,
Way. In order to understand many of the references dis-
however, see in the Coalsack a manatee carrying a fisherman
cussed below, it is necessary to see the Milky Way as visually
on its back (H. S. A. I., 1948, p. 265). As is clear from the
composed of two distinct but interconnected elements: first,
illustrations above, the identification of the dark clouds of
it appears in its overall form as a wide, bright band of stars;
the Milky Way with animals is a widely shared feature in
and second, it contains several dark spots and streaks formed
South American Indian ethnoastronomies. Although the
by fixed clouds of interstellar dust that cut through the cen-
specific animals vary from tradition to tradition (as one
tral path. Both of these galactic phenomena, the bright band
would expect, given that the various ethnoastronomical data
of stars against the dark background of the night sky and the
derive from societies in widely differing environmental set-
dark clouds cutting through the bright path of stars, are rec-
tings), it is reasonable to suppose that the animals may be
ognized as named celestial constructs in South American eth-
identified and interrelated according to similar classificatory
noastronomical traditions. When viewed as a path, the Milky
principles and symbolic interests as one moves from one soci-
Way is often considered to be a road along which animals,
ety to the next. That this may be so, in at least one respect,
humans, and spirits move. The Indians of Guiana refer to
is suggested by the fact that the ethnographic literature con-
the Milky Way as both the “path of the tapir” and the path
tains several references to the belief that there is a conceived
that is walked upon by a group of people bearing white clay,
(if not perceived) relationship between an animal’s reproduc-
the type used for making pottery (Roth, 1908–1909,
tive cycle and the first appearance of that animal’s celestial
p. 260). The Chiriguano (H. S. A. I., 1948, p. 483) know
counterpart in the early morning skies (Urton, 1981,
the Milky Way as the “path of the rhea”; they identify the
pp. 176–189). In addition, there are suggestions that the ris-
head of the rhea either with the Southern Cross or with the
ing of the celestial representation of an animal or bird serves
Coalsack, the dark spot at the foot of the Southern Cross.
as an indication that the season to hunt the terrestrial version
The Amahuaca say that the Milky Way is the trail or path
of that same animal or bird has arrived (Roth, 1908–1909,
of the sun, formed when a jaguar dragged a manatee across
p. 261). These data suggest that in the process of establishing
the sky. For the Trumai, the Milky Way is like a drum con-
local calendar systems there is considered to be a temporal
taining animals; it is the road to the afterworld and the abode
correlation between the appearance of a particular dark-
of jaguars (H. S. A. I., 1948, p. 348). Finally, the Tapirapé
cloud animal and the biological periodicity of, or the cycles
see in the Milky Way the “path of the shamans,” by which
of human activity in the exploitation of, its terrestrial coun-
shamans travel to the sky to visit celestial bodies (Wagley,
terpart.
1940, p. 257). That many of the characters who move along
CLASSIFICATION AND SYMBOLISM. Such a purely calendrical-
the celestial path (or river) are animals reinforces the observa-
ly oriented interpretation of the significance of the animals
tion that the most common identifications of the dark clouds
located in the dark spots of the Milky Way should be aug-
that cut through the Milky Way are with animals, birds, or
mented by two other considerations, one classificatory, the
fish. As mentioned earlier, among the Quechua of the central
other symbolic. In relation to the former, the animals of the
Andes, the Milky Way is seen as two interconnected branch-
Milky Way may represent those forms considered to be clas-
es of a river. Within the river, in the southern skies, are sever-
sificatorily “prototypical,” the most representative members
al animals, each identified as one of the dark clouds (yana
of particular classes of animals. Alternatively, they may repre-
phuyu); these include a snake, a toad, a tinamou, a mother
sent “marked” animals, ones that do not fit comfortably into
llama with her baby, and a fox that pursues the llamas
a single class but that rather bridge two or more classes. That
(Urton, 1981, p. 170). The pursuit of a herbivore by a carni-
one or the other of these considerations may be significant
vore, as in the pursuit of the llamas by the fox, is a common
in Quechua astronomy is suggested by the fact that the se-
element in the South American ethnoastronomical symbol-
quence of animals that stretches along, and within, the Milky
ism of the dark spots. Within the tropical forest, however,
Way includes a reptile (snake), an amphibian (toad), a bird
the carnivore is most often a jaguar rather than a fox. For in-
(tinamou), a herbivorous mammal (llama), and a carnivorous
stance, the Paresí and Conibo see a jaguar pursuing a deer
mammal (fox). The classificatory significance of these life
in some dark spots in the southern Milky Way (H. S. A. I.,
forms would therefore rest not only on the particular charac-
1948, pp. 360, 595). Certain tribes of Guiana see, in the
teristics of each individual animal in turn but also on the re-
same general area, a tapir being chased by a dog, which in
lations between and among the various types as they are pro-
turn is pursued by a jaguar (Roth, 1908–1909, p. 260). The
jected into the sky in a particular sequence (i.e., from a
Tukuna locate the bodies of a jaguar and an anteater in dark
reptile to a mammal). Another classificatory factor that may
clouds in the southern skies near the constellation of Centau-
be important throughout the various ethnoastronomical tra-
rus; the two animals are locked in a nightly struggle, al-
ditions is a consideration of the color of the animals in ques-
though in a Tukuna myth that describes a similar fight the
tion. That is, many of the animals have either a dull, dark
anteater defeats the jaguar, rips open his stomach, and sucks
coloring (e.g., fox, deer, anteater), or else they are spotted or
out his liver (Nimuendajú, 1952, p. 143). The Campa say
mottled (e.g., tinamou, toad, anaconda, rainbow boa, jag-
that a dark streak near Antares (in the constellation of Scorpi-
uar). The dark spots along the “body” of the Milky Way re-
us) is a digging stick and that the Coalsack below the South-
call the dark or mottled coloring of the terrestrial animals.
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ETHNOASTRONOMY
2865
In this regard, there may also be a conceptual similarity be-
(cf. Hugh-Jones, 1982; Zuidema, 1982; Wilbert, 1975). The
tween the dark spots of the Milky Way and the spots on the
questions to be addressed with regard to these observations
moon. The latter, as mentioned earlier, are typically associat-
are “On what bases are the Pleiades contrasted with other,
ed with asocial (e.g., incestuous) relationships.
nearby constellations?” and “On what bases are the Pleiades
grouped together with these nearby constellations and con-
Mythic oppositions. The symbolic significance of the
trasted with another, more distant group of constellations?”
dark-cloud animals will vary considerably from one eth-
I suggest that the first question may be approached primarily
noastronomical tradition to another and can be understood
only on the basis of a careful consideration of the particular
through a consideration of the mythological data referring
characteristics of the celestial animals as they are portrayed
to social relations and social organization, whereas the sec-
in the mythology of each culture. In considering the mytho-
ond question can best be addressed on the basis of data refer-
logical descriptions of celestial phenomena, however, it is es-
ring to meteorological, seasonal, and, ultimately, economic
sential first to turn to the material referring to those constel-
concerns. As for the contrast between the Pleiades, the Hya-
lations that are composed of clusters or groupings of stars,
des, and Orion, there are several myths that mention these
since the mythological data for stellar constellations are more
three constellations in related mythological contexts. For in-
abundant, and explicit, than those for the dark spots of the
stance, among certain Carib-speaking tribes there are myths
Milky Way. The principal stellar constellations recognized
of a woman (the Pleiades) who cuts off her husband’s leg
in South American ethnoastronomies are, for the most part,
(Orion’s Belt and Sword) and runs away with a tapir (the
also located near or within the Milky Way; these include the
Hyades; Jara and Magaña, 1983, p. 125; cf. Roth, 1908–
Pleiades, the Hyades, the Belt (and Sword) of Orion, Scorpi-
1909, p. 262). The Amahuaca of eastern Peru say that the
us, the Southern Cross, and α and β Centauri. By far the
V-shaped Hyades represent the jaw of a caiman that bit off
richest ethnoastronomical material concerns the Pleiades, a
the leg of a man who mistook it for a canoe; the leg is seen
small cluster of some six to ten stars (visible with the naked
in the Pleiades, while Orion’s Belt and Sword represent the
eye) in the constellation of Taurus. The Pleiades are referred
man’s brother holding the lance with which he killed the cai-
to in a variety of ways, many of which emphasize the visual
man (cf. Reichel-Dolmatoff, 1982, pp. 173–174). The
appearance of this cluster of stars as a group or “bunch” of
Campa see in the Pleiades a Campa man and his family; the
things. In the tropical forest, the Pleiades are variously re-
man’s brother-in-law is the Belt and Sword of Orion. They
ferred to as bees, wasps, a handful of flour spilled on the
also say that Orion is a Campa man who is being pursued
ground, parrots, white down, a bunch of flowers, and so
by a warrior wasp and has received an arrow in his leg (Weiss,
forth (Lévi-Strauss, 1969, p. 222). Claude Lévi-Strauss
1972, p. 160). The various myths that deal with the Pleiades,
pointed out an important principle in Tropical Forest eth-
the Hyades, and Orion are centered on animals and people
noastronomies when he argued that the Pleiades are typically
(or their body parts) who are related by ties of blood or, more
classed together with, while at the same time opposed to, the
commonly, marriage. In many cases, there are also characters
nearby constellation of the Belt and Sword of Orion. The
present who are implicated in the violation of these kinship
latter is referred to as a tortoise shell, a bird, a stick, and a
and marriage ties (e.g., the tapir who seduces and runs away
leg (or a one-legged man; Lévi-Strauss, 1969, pp. 222–223;
with a man’s wife). In this regard, it should be recalled that
cf. Reichel-Dolmatoff, 1982, pp. 173–174). Lévi-Strauss’s
among the Xerente, who practice moiety exogamy, the belt
argument is that the Pleiades and Orion are diachronically
of Orion and k Orionis are related to one moiety, while
associated, since they rise within a few days of each other,
Seven Stars (the Pleiades?) are related to the other (Nimuen-
but that they are synchronically opposed, since the Pleiades
dajú, 1942, pp. 25, 85). In addition to the “local” contrast
represent, or are in the category of, the continuous, whereas
between the Pleiades and the neighboring constellations of
Orion is in that of the discontinuous. For the Pleiades and
the Hyades and Orion, there are several references to the
Orion, respectively, he notes that “we have names that boil
contrast between the Pleiades and constellations farther re-
down to collective terms describing a chance distribution of
moved. In Barasana cosmology, the Pleiades (Star Thing) are
. . . related elements: and on the other, analytical terms de-
associated with the dry season and opposed to Scorpius (Cat-
scribing a systematic arrangement of clearly individualized
erpillar Jaguar), which is associated with the wet season
elements” (Lévi-Strauss, 1969, pp. 222–223; cf. 1973,
(Hugh-Jones, 1982, p. 197). The Pleiades and Scorpius are
pp. 268–270). Throughout South America, it can be shown
similarly opposed, and each is related to either the dry or the
that the Pleiades are contrasted in various ways with other
wet season, or to planting or harvest, in the cosmology of the
nearby star groupings (e.g., Orion and the Hyades), whereas,
Quechua (Urton, 1981, pp. 122–125) and the Chiriguano
on another level, they are grouped together with these same
(H. S. A. I., 1948, p. 483). Similar examples of the opposi-
nearby stars and contrasted with other constellations (e.g.,
tion of the Pleiades to other constellations (e.g., Corvus and
Coma Berenices, Corvus, Scorpius, the Southern Cross, and
Coma Berenices) appear in the timing of fishing cycles (Lévi-
α and β Centauri). These two groupings of stars are contrast-
Strauss, 1978, pp. 36–40), honey availability (Lévi-Strauss,
ed or deemed complementary in terms of their symbolic
1973, pp. 57–58, 268–272, 282–285), or both fishing cycles
characteristics, and they are coincidental or alternating in
and honey availability (Lévi-Strauss, 1973, p. 114). The eve-
terms of the phasing of the dates of their rising and setting
ning rising and setting of the Pleiades (which occur at differ-
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2866
ETHNOASTRONOMY
ent times of the year) are associated by the Barasana and the
2001). Separate ethnographic descriptions, many of which
Desána with the fruiting periods of trees (Hugh-Jones, 1982,
include ethnoastronomical material for a variety of Tropical
p. 190; Reichel-Dolmatoff, 1982, p. 173). R. Tom Zuidema
Forest tribes, can be found in The Tropical Forest Tribes, vol.
has shown that the critical dates in the Inca calendar system,
3 of the Handbook of South American Indians, edited by Ju-
a system that coordinated political, ritual, and agricultural
lian H. Steward (Washington, D.C., 1948). Collections of
events throughout the year, were determined by the times of
Tropical Forest Indian myths are included in the following
three books by the French anthropologist Claude Lévi-
the rising, setting, and the upper and lower culminations of
Strauss: The Raw and the Cooked (New York, 1969), From
the Pleiades in opposition to the Southern Cross and α and
β
Honey to Ashes (New York, 1973), and The Origin of Table
Centauri. In Inca and contemporary Quechua astronomy,
Manners (New York, 1978), all translated by John Weight-
the Pleiades represent (among other things) a storehouse; the
man and Doreen Weightman. An excellent resource for Am-
Southern Cross is important, as it stands just above the
azonian and Andean mythological and cosmological tradi-
dark-cloud constellation of the tinamou; and α and β Cen-
tions is Lawrence E. Sullivan’s, Icanchu’s Drum: An
tauri are the eyes of the dark-cloud constellation of the llama
Orientation to Meaning in South American Religions (New
(Zuidema, 1982, pp. 221–224; Urton, 1981,
York and London, 1988). The ethnoastronomies of various
pp. 181–188).
tribes in northeastern South America are described in Fabiola
Jara and Edmundo Magaña’s “Astronomy of the Coastal
Mythic similarities. While particular contrasts between
Caribs of Surinam,” L’homme 23 (1983): 111–133; Walter
(1) the Pleiades, the Hyades, and Orion and (2) the Southern
E. Roth’s “An Inquiry into the Animism and Folklore of the
Cross, α and β Centauri, Corvus, Coma Berenices, and Scor-
Guiana Indians,” in the Thirtieth Annual Report of the Bureau
pius vary over different parts of South America, the temporal
of American Ethnology (Washington, D.C., 1908–1909); and
relations between the two groups of constellations represent
Johannes Wilbert’s “Eschatology in a Participatory Universe:
essentially similar seasonal oppositions regardless of which
Destinies of the Soul among the Warao Indians of Venezue-
particular members of the two sets are contrasted. In terms
la,” in Death and the Afterlife in Pre-Columbian America, ed-
ited by Elizabeth P. Benson (Washington, D.C., 1975). Eth-
of their celestial locations, the constellations in group 1 are
noastronomies of the Indians of the Colombian rain forest
located between right ascension three to six hours, while
are discussed in Stephen Hugh-Jones’s “The Pleiades and
those of group 2 are between right ascension twelve to sixteen
Scorpius in Barasana Cosmology” and in Gerardo Reichel-
hours. Therefore, the members of one group will rise as the
Dolmatoff’s “Astronomical Models of Social Behavior
members of the other set. This temporal opposition, and its
among Some Indians of Colombia,” both of which can be
attendant symbolic and mythological associations, is one
found in Ethnoastronomy and Archaeoastronomy in the Ameri-
other important feature shared by the ethnoastronomies of
can Tropics, edited by Anthony F. Aveni and Gary Urton
South American Indians. Although the various Indian tribes
(New York, 1982). The ethnoastronomies of Tropical Forest
of South America are situated in extremely diverse environ-
tribes in eastern Peru are discussed in Gerald Weiss’s
mental regions, from the dense tropical forests of the Ama-
“Campa Cosmology,” Ethnology 11 (April 1972): 157–172
zon and Orinoco basins to the high Andean mountains along
and in Peter Roe’s The Cosmic Zygote: Cosmology in the Ama-
the western side of the continent, there are a number of simi-
zon Basin (New Brunswick, N.J., 1982). Some of the best de-
scriptions of the astronomy and cosmology of the tribes of
larities in the ethnoastronomical traditions of these various
the southern Amazon basin are to be found in three works
groups. One source of similarities may lie in the fact that
by Curt Nimuendajú: The Sherente, translated by Robert H.
these cultures are all located within the tropics (see Aveni,
Lowie (Los Angeles, 1942); The Tukuna, translated by Wil-
1981): the Amazon River is roughly coincident with the line
liam D. Hohenthal, edited by Robert H. Lowie (Berkeley,
of the equator. But beyond the similarities that are encoun-
Calif., 1952); and The Apinayé, translated by Robert H.
tered in the observational phenomena viewed by these cul-
Lowie, edited by John M. Cooper and Robert H. Lowie
tures, there are perhaps more fundamental similarities in the
(Oosterhout, The Netherlands, 1967). Additional valuable
way in which the celestial bodies are described and interrelat-
discussions of southern Amazonian ethnoastronomy are to
ed in their mythological and religious traditions. There are
be found in Charles Wagley’s “World View of the Tapirape
fundamental principles that give meaning and coherence to
Indians,” Journal of American Folklore 53 (1940): 252–260
ethnoastronomical beliefs concerning the sun and the moon,
and Stephen M. Fabian, Space-Time of the Bororo of Brazil
(Gainesville, Fla., 1992). For descriptions and analyses of
the Milky Way, and the two types of constellations. These
Inca and contemporary Quechua ethnoastronomy, see R.
are the same conceptual foundations that ground the various
Tom Zuidema’s article “Catachillay: The Role of the Pleia-
religious traditions. These basic premises revolve around re-
des and of the Southern Cross and α and β Centauri in the
lations between and among men and women, humans and
Calendar of the Incas,” in Ethnoastronomy and Ar-
animals, and beings on earth and those in the sky.
chaeoastronomy in the American Tropics, mentioned above;
and my book, At the Crossroads of the Earth and the Sky: An
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Andean Cosmology (Austin, Tex., 1981). For an example of
astronomic configurations in the religious life of hunters, see
For excellent discussions of naked-eye observational astronomy in
Otto Zerries’s “Sternbilder als Audruck Jägerischer Geiste-
the Americas, see Anthony F. Aveni’s Skywatchers (Austin,
shaltung in Südamerika,” Paideuma 5 (1952): 220–235.
Tex., 2001), and Stephen M. Fabian’s Patterns in the Sky: An
Introduction to Ethnoastronomy (Prospect Heights, Ill.,
GARY URTON (1987 AND 2005)
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ETHOLOGY OF RELIGION
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ETHNOLOGY SEE ANTRHOPOLOGY,
and its physiological and genetic foundation. At the same
ETHNOLOGY, AND RELIGION
time they assumed that similar action patterns had been de-
veloped to serve as social signals or releasers for appropriate
behavior, not only among animal species but among humans
as well. As a result, the study of human ethology attempted
ETHOLOGY OF RELIGION. Human ethology is
to apply ethological methods and the evolutionary perspec-
the biological study of human behavior. It emphasizes the
tive to psychological, sociological and, finally, even religious
notion that both the behavior of humankind and its physio-
phenomena.
logical basis have evolved phylogenetically and should be
studied as an aspect of evolution. Ethology overlaps other
During the following decades the German zoologist
disciplines such as sociobiology, behavioral ecology, evolu-
Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt (1928–) and others contributed to
tionary psychology, human anthropology, and even con-
this new discipline by studying expressive movements with
sciousness studies, which in part employ similar strategies of
signal functions. These behavior patterns are usually incor-
research.
porated into more complex behavioral events for which the
H
term ritual was introduced by Julian Huxley (1887–1975).
ISTORY OF ETHOLOGY. The historical roots of ethology can
be traced to Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. In his
As for the origin of behavioral patterns, a distinction can be
book The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals
made between phylogenetically evolved, culturally acquired,
(1872) Darwin recognized that the role of instinct is just as
and individually invented signals. The criteria of homology
important for the survival of the species as the adaptation of
are applicable to phylogenetically acquired, as well as to cul-
morphological structures in the course of their phylogenetic
turally acquired, signals. Expressive behavior and ritual be-
histories. During the following decades, however, the Dar-
havior both serve the function of communication. As far as
winian approach continued to be disregarded. Instead, a sci-
religions are concerned, two important remarks have to be
entific school with roots in psychology dominated the study
taken into account: first, expressive behavior does not neces-
of animal and human behavior. This behaviorism was based
sarily mean that a message is consciously intended; second,
on the premise that psychology should be regarded as the sci-
originally functional acts can change their function from
ence of behavior, rather than the science of mental life. Pro-
goal-directed acts into symbolic acts, so that, in the end, even
ceeding from the assumption that behavior is a product of
elaborate displays mainly serve the function of social
learning, American behaviorists focused on the study of ob-
bonding.
servable behavior and the ascertainable or contrived circum-
STRATEGIES OF INTERACTION. Darwin had already pointed
stances of its occurrence. As a result, behaviorists were suc-
out that a number of facial and bodily expressions are inher-
cessful in all kinds of research with regard to general laws of
ent to humankind. Evidence could be derived from studying
learning, but failed to take evolutionary approaches into ac-
the expressive behavior of those born blind and deaf, who
count. Until the 1970s most behaviorists and sociologists
were deprived of visual and auditory knowledge regarding
were convinced that the behavior of humans and animals was
the facial expressions of their fellow humans and who, never-
mainly a product of their environment and education.
theless, exhibited the usual patterns of smiling, laughing, and
Within the scientific climate at that time, anthropology
crying. Besides such ontogenetic studies, cross-cultural docu-
and the study of religions developed approaches of cultural
mentation of human behavior and primate comparison con-
relativism that considered human culture as phenomena
firm the assumption that certain human behavior patterns
upon which the biological heritage had no influence. This
are the result of phylogenetic adaptations.
opinion first came into question when the experienced histo-
Eibl-Eibesfeldt’s cross-cultural documentation contains
rian of religions Karl Meuli (1891–1968) was able to prove
many examples of universals in human behavior, which of
that religions as distinct from one another as the religions of
course only occur in a very generalized form and may vary
ancient Greece, imperial Rome, recent arctic hunter-
considerably from culture to culture. The display of the geni-
gatherers, and probably even prehistoric hunters, shared sim-
tals, for example, originates in the sexual behavior of pri-
ilar ritual customs. This observation was unintelligible from
mates, in which erection of the penis expresses not only a
an environmental point of view. In spite of the prevailing
willingness for sexual intercourse but also masculine power
paradigm, Meuli concluded that these similar manifestations
and vigor. Contrarily, the display of the female breasts is sup-
of sacrificial practices must originate in an innate behavior
posed to have an appeasing effect, while the act of raising the
pattern acquired during human evolution.
arm and showing the palm of one’s hand is usually taken as
From a biological standpoint, the final impulses for the
a gesture of defense. All these gestures serve as signals that
revision of the extremely environmentally oriented ap-
safely trigger certain responses from the recipient and are
proaches came from zoologists like Konrad Lorenz (1903–
universally understood, even if not acted out but manifested
1989) and Nikolaas Tinbergen (1907–1988). During the
in objects of art. The phallic sculpture, therefore, must be
1940s and 1950s, Tinbergen and Lorenz focused on the in-
understood as a threatening object warding off enemies or
vestigation of instinctive behavior in the animal’s natural
evil forces. Phallic figures and signs are frequently used in a
habitat, its meaning seen from an evolutionary point of view,
religious context to mark tribal territory or serve as a protec-
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2868
ETHOLOGY OF RELIGION
tive guardian of a house or temple. A similar gesture can be
the animal world, where they may contribute to the survival
observed in patterns of female behavior. The obscene display
of the individual or the group in dangerous situations.
of the vulva provokes a fear reaction and demonstrates supe-
riority and dominance. At the same time, this threatening
The anthropologist Marvin Harris (1927–2001) raises
gesture of the female is combined with an encouragement for
the question of whether or not religious behavior should be
sexual intercourse, having an appeasing effect on the possible
understood as the result of the adaptation of a culture to its
aggressor. As a result, the obscene female idols, amulets, and
specific ecological niche. For example, Harris describes the
pendants that frequently occur in various cultures and reli-
Aztec religion, with its focus on human sacrifice and religious
gions can be understood as bearers of might, with the capa-
cannibalism. Because population growth and the depleted
bility of protecting the owner from harm.
condition of the natural fauna led to a lack of animal foods,
it is assumed that the Aztecs pursued a strategy of religious
Unfortunately, ethological signs and figures are some-
cannibalism to achieve the necessary amount of proteins, vi-
times difficult to decipher or to encode. As human ethology
tamins, and minerals. Their religious beliefs, therefore, re-
has been able to prove, these behavioral signals are often por-
flected the importance of a high-protein diet and the lack of
trayed in a devious manner. This form of communication
natural resources in their habitat. The occurrence of rites of
media developed its own traditions, and the manner in
passage, especially seen in male initiation, can also be traced
which an object is portrayed will probably modify during
to biological roots. A low-protein diet makes prolonged nurs-
history. Pictures will change into signs after several genera-
ing a necessity. This, however, results in a postpartum sex
tions, signs into mere patterns. In human ethology, art histo-
taboo that leads to polygyny. The resulting mother-child
ry, the history of religions, and related fields of research,
households, together with prolonged nursing, lead to an in-
scholars have analyzed the historical development of symbols
tensive bonding between mother and child and, finally, to
and patterns in pagan art and have achieved remarkable re-
cross-sex identification. Severe male initiation ceremonies
sults. For example, Otto König’s documentation of the pat-
that include circumcision or other forms of ritual torture and
terns on the boats of Mediterranean fishermen exemplifies
mind control are then required to break the prepubescent
the change of the image of the protective “staring eye” from
identity in order to allow for later identification with fathers
representation into an abstract symbol, and Karl von den St-
and other males.
einen (1855–1929) was able to explain the meaning of Mar-
A different concern with issues of function and structure
quesan tattoos by tracing them back to former portrayals of
shaped the work of the anthropologist Roy Rappaport
the skulls of the deceased.
(1926–1997). As Rappaport points out, ritual and language
Not only expressive behavior, but also the more com-
have coevolved, with ritual providing a necessary counterac-
plex rituals, serve the function of communication. In ritual,
tion to language-created problems that may otherwise lead
acts are fused into longer sequences that support strategies
to social disorder and violence. Ritual contains self-
of social interaction. A functional equivalent of these ritual-
referential messages that supply information about the size,
ized sequences of action is language, where verbalized behav-
density, or strength of the group, and similarly serve the pur-
ior takes the place of expressive gesture.
pose of competition by supplying information about the so-
cial status and psychophysical characteristics of the partici-
Ritualized human behavior as observed in greeting ritu-
pants. By participating in ritual, in which invariable words
als and feasts usually displays a certain structure characterized
and actions recur, men and women assume wider commit-
by three successive stages: the opening phase, the phase of
ments—the so-called ultimate sacred postulates—which are
interaction, and the phase of parting. Each of these three
forged at a deeper level of the psyche. Even if these postulates
phases is characterized by a set of verbal and nonverbal be-
are ideally untestable and have no immediate consequences,
havior patterns that not only correlates with a specific func-
they cannot be questioned and hold a key position in the
tional aspect of the phase, but also appears in repetition to
governing hierarchy of ideas. Rituals, therefore, as religion’s
deliver the same message through different channels and in
main components, form the concepts that people consider
different forms.
to be religious, and therefore they have been central in the
adaptation of the human species as part of a larger ecological
TOWARD AN ETHOLOGY (ANTHROPOLOGY) OF RELIGION.
whole.
Any behavior pattern is adaptive in the sense that it contrib-
utes to the reproductive success or to the survival of the indi-
While Burkert, Rappaport, and Harris mostly refer to
vidual, the group, or the species. In that sense, as the histori-
the adaptive values of religious behavior and thought, the In-
an of ancient religions Walter Burkert (1931–) points out,
dologist Frits Staal focuses on the analysis of ritual and man-
well-adapted religious activities promote the success of a cul-
tra by adopting an ethological approach in order to explain
ture. He refers explicitly to the results of human ethology
the origin of religion. Far from sharing the common scholar-
when tracing rituals and other activities within the scope of
ly opinion that ritual is a symbolic representation of what
religious behavior to their supposed biological origins. Sever-
people believe, he emphasizes that rituals have to be under-
al basic elements of religious practice and thought, and, in
stood without reference to their supposed religious back-
particular, sacrifice, have to be seen as being inherited from
ground. Staal’s careful investigation and documentation of
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ETHOLOGY OF RELIGION
2869
Vedic rituals result in the statement that rituals are pure ac-
history. According to the historians Carlo Ginzburg (1939–)
tivity without any meaning or goal, in which only faultless
and Jean-Pierre Vernant (1914–), the specific history of a so-
execution in accordance with the rules counts. Staal draws
ciety and its religion shapes the spiritual universe of a people
the conclusion that the origins of religion lie deep in inborn
and modifies certain psychological attitudes, which have re-
behavior patterns. Religions, which do not necessarily have
troactive effects on religious behavior and thought.
doctrines and beliefs, originate in ritualization as observed in
Anthropological approaches stressing the results of et-
animal behavior. Only later does ritual become religious in
hological research are undoubtedly of great value as starting
the Western and monotheistic sense of the word, when pro-
points for new and interesting inquiries, but in abandoning
vided with a religious interpretation that includes doctrine
the historical method such approaches partially miss the goal
and the belief in an afterlife.
of ethology. Because the emphasis of ethology has been based
For the anthropologist Weston La Barre (1911–1996)
on the notion that the behavior of humans and its manifesta-
religion is the result of the adaptation of human beings to
tions in religion have evolved throughout history, ethological
their ecological niche and is shaped by both biological and
inquiry must consider the historical circumstances under
cultural evolution. In particular, human biology with neote-
which the custom in question developed. To make matters
ny (i.e., the persistence of larval features in adult animals)
perfectly clear, the theory of evolution has made biology into
and the resulting need for domestication leads to psychologi-
a historical science. Methodologically speaking, the descrip-
cal responses that establish the basis for the capacity and the
tive techniques used by both ethologists and historians of re-
propensity for magic and religion in men. Belief in God,
ligions are now fairly sophisticated, and they should be put
therefore, is the result of male-fantasized omnipotence as ac-
to use by scholars surveying the religious behavior of closely
quired by being locked into a lifelong phallic paranoid state.
defined groups. Comparative studies can be a fertile source
When vatic personalities, such as priests and their more
of ideas and data if they avoid the implication that one group
primitive counterparts, shamans, speak with the voice of
of people is just like another, and instead provide principles
God, it is nothing but an expression of the self, deprived of
whose applicability to the religion under question can be as-
its psychosexual maturity.
sessed. Finally, the basic scientific issues of ethological re-
search have to be taken into account, as there are questions
According to La Barre, religion first emerged when an
of causation, ontogeny, function, and evolution (history). It
early shaman, as depicted in the Stone Age cave of Les Trois
would be desirable to include not only ethological theory and
Frères, proclaimed to have magic power over game and, after
terminology, but also ethological method, especially in
his death, became the supernatural helper of later shamans
small-scale research. Such an approach would surely lead to
and, finally, the master of animals. Shaped by Paleolithic be-
remarkable results in future research.
lief, shamans persisted as gods into protohistoric and historic
times, where they were transformed to suit the needs of an
SEE ALSO Ecology and Religion; Evolution; Prehistoric Reli-
agricultural society. In discovering the human nature of their
gions; Sociobiology and Evolutionary Psychology.
gods, the Greeks resecularized their nature deities into mere
BIBLIOGRAPHY
heroes, while the Hebrews sacralized their patriarchal sheikhs
Bronkhorst, Johannes. “Asceticism, Religion, and Biological Evo-
and shamans into a moral and spiritual god, who, due to the
lution.” Method and Theory in the Study of Religion 13
influence of Greek crisis cults, developed into the Christian
(2001): 374–418.
God.
Burkert, Walter. Homo necans: Interpretationen altgriechischer Op-
Although ethological approaches to the study of reli-
ferriten und Mythen. Berlin and New York, 1972. Translated
by Peter Bing as Homo Necans: The Anthropology of Ancient
gions have helped to gain insight into the ways multiple cul-
Greek Sacrificial Ritual and Myth (Berkeley, 1983).
tural systems are related to the biology of the human species,
Burkert, Walter. Creation of the Sacred: Tracks of Biology in Early
heavy criticism has been heaped upon an approach that is ac-
Religions. Cambridge, Mass., 1996.
cused of being materialistic and nonhistoric—and of work-
Eibl-Eibesfeldt, Irenäus. Die Biologie des menschlichen Verhaltens:
ing with unnecessary complex and nonverifiable models of
Grundriss der Humanethologie. Munich, 1984.
social dynamics. The assumed structural parallels of religions
Ginzburg, Carlo. Miti, emblemi, spie: Morfologia e storia. Turin,
with biology, consciousness studies, and linguistics suggest
Italy, 1986. Translated by John and Anne Tedeschi as Clues,
a scientific character that aims at a natural truth underlying
Myths, and the Historical Method (Baltimore, 1989).
conventional scholarly results. As the anthropologist and
Ginzburg, Carlo. Storia notturna: Una decifrazione del sabba.
scholar of religions Benson Saler (1930–) points out, the ref-
Turin, Italy, 1989. Translated by Raymond Rosenthal as Ec-
erence to universals existing in all cultures leads to definitions
stasies: Deciphering the Witches’ Sabbath (New York, 1991).
of universal categories that are so vague and abstract they are
Harris, Marvin. Culture, People, Nature: An Introduction to Gener-
nearly useless and, furthermore, contradict the archaeological
al Anthropology. New York, 1975. 7th ed., 1997.
and anthropological records. The stress on universals, there-
Harris, Marvin. Cannibals and Kings: The Origins of Culture. New
fore, runs the risk of deflecting attention from the character-
York, 1977.
istics of a given religion that make it a solitary system of con-
Hinde, Robert A. Ethology: Its Nature and Relations with Other Sci-
ceptions and deeds acquired throughout the course of
ences. New York and Oxford 1982.
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2870
ETRUSCAN RELIGION
König, Otto. Kultur und Verhaltensforschung: Einführung in die
to be simply a rather ordinary polytheism with gods like
Kulturethologie. Munich, 1970.
those in the Greek or Roman pantheon. This is the picture
La Barre, Weston. The Ghost Dance: Origins of Religion. New
that comes through from the majority of the existing sources.
York, 1970.
These sources are restricted. Apart from divination, a
Lévêque, Pierre. Bêtes, dieux, et hommes: L’imaginaire des premières
subject this article will return to, Greek and Latin writers give
religions. Paris, 1985.
few details, and Etruscan literature that could provide this
Lorenz, Konrad. Über tierisches und menschliches Verhalten: Aus
information has not survived. As for Etruscan inscriptions,
dem Werdegang der Verhaltenslehre. Munich, 1965.
they make a limited contribution. The majority are epitaphs,
Meuli, Karl. “Griechische Opferbräuche.” In Phyllobolia (Fest-
which yield only the name of the deceased, while the votive
schrift Peter von der Mühll), pp. 185–288. Basel, Switzer-
plaques placed in temples reveal only the name of the divini-
land, 1946; reprinted in Karl Meuli, Gesammelte Schriften,
ty to which they were dedicated. Admittedly, some longer
vol. 2, pp. 907–1021 (Basel, Switzerland, and Stuttgart, Ger-
documentary sources are available, which could be of greater
many, 1975).
interest concerning the subject, but the continued inability
Meuli, Karl. “An Karl Schefold.” In Gestalt und Geschichte (Fest-
to understand the language means that they are only partially
schrift Karl Schefold zu seinem sechzigsten Geburtstag am
understood. This is the case with the two longest extant
26. January 1965), pp. 159–161. Bern, Switzerland, 1967;
Etruscan texts: the Capua Tile, a terra-cotta plaque bearing
reprinted in Karl Meuli, Gesammelte Schriften, vol. 2,
three hundred legible words, and the Liber Linteus (Linen
pp. 1083–1092 (Basel, Switzerland, and Stuttgart, Germany,
book) of Zagreb, a text of twelve hundred words. The story
1975).
of the latter’s survival is amazing. It was written in ink, as
Müller, Hans-Peter. “Religion als Teil der Natur des Menschen.”
was the practice in ancient Italy, on a linen cloth that was
Archiv fur Religionsgeschichte 5 (2003): 227–242.
taken to Egypt, where it was cut into strips and used as the
Rappaport, Roy. Ritual and Religion in the Making of Humanity.
wrapping for a mummy now preserved at the Zagreb Muse-
Cambridge, UK, 1999.
um. These texts are both ritual calendars, in any case.
Saler, Benson. “Biology and Religion.” Method and Theory in the
Study of Religion 11 (1999): 386–394.
Some archaeological finds exist. Even with these, how-
ever, what can be deduced remains limited. The results of
Staal, Frits. Rules without Meaning: Ritual, Mantras, and the
excavations of many Etruscan temples are known, and they
Human Sciences. New York, 1989.
confirm the statement of the Roman architect Vitruvius that
Vernant, Jean-Pierre. Les origines de la pensée grecque. Paris, 1962.
the Etruscans were responsible for the spread of the “Tuscan
English translation: The Origins of Greek Thought. Ithaca,
temple” that, in contrast to the Greek temple from which it
N.Y., 1982.
took its inspiration, was raised on a high podium, dominat-
Wunn, Ina. “Beginning of Religion.” Numen 47 (2000): 417–
ing the town the god protected. However, it is impossible
452.
to be certain that, as Latin authors claim, the main city tem-
INA WUNN (2005)
ples were dedicated to triads (groups of three gods). Only
certain temples at Veii (Portonaccio), Orvieto (Belvedere),
or Marzabotto (temple C) demonstrate evidence of a triple
ETRUSCAN RELIGION.
structure. It is not impossible that the idea of triadic temples
Between the beginning of
was inferred from the Roman Capitol built by the Etruscan
the eighth century BCE and the end of the fifth century BCE,
kings (the Tarquins), where Jupiter was flanked by two god-
Etruria was the dominant power in central Italy. The Etrus-
desses, Juno and Minerva.
cans had built up profitable commercial relations with the
Phoenicians and the Greeks, established on the island of Pi-
There remains an extensive amount of iconography on
thecusa (modern Ischia) in Campania, then on the mainland
tomb or vase paintings, statues, stone and terracotta reliefs,
in the town of Cumae around 750 BCE. This wealth and
and engravings on bronze mirrors. From its beginnings,
these relations allowed them to develop a much more ad-
however, Etruscan art was suffused with Hellenic influence.
vanced level of civilization than other peoples of the region.
Often, Etruscan documents portray scenes from Greek my-
One indication of this is that Rome was under the rule of
thology. Nonetheless, this has one advantage: these Etruscan
Etruscan kings between 616 and 509 BCE. Yet it is not this
documents provide the names of the gods corresponding to
image of a military and political power that the Romans re-
their Greek equivalents, using the process of interpretation
tained concerning their northern neighbors; as the historian
that consists of identifying a Greek god with the local god
Livy remarked at the time of Emperor Augustus, they were
whose functions are most similar.
“the people most dedicated to matters of religion” (Livy
THE ETRUSCAN PANTHEON. In this way, scholars have some
5.1.6). Thus the Romans saw the Etruscans’ intense religious
idea of the Etruscan pantheon. It included a heavenly chief
nature as their distinctive characteristic.
god, analogous to the Greek Zeus or the Latin Jupiter, whom
SOURCES OF INFORMATION ON THE ETRUSCAN RELIGION.
they called Tin or Tinia, which means “the shining day” (like
This appreciative judgment concerning Etruscan religion
the names Zeus and Jupiter). Just as with the Greek Zeus,
might appear surprising in that the Etruscan religion seems
this god is portrayed as a majestic bearded figure armed with
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ETRUSCAN RELIGION
2871
thunderbolts. This Tinia is associated with a female consort,
One should also be aware of the deities with Latin or Italic
Uni, identified with the Greek Hera or the Latin Juno
equivalents, including Nethuns, Selvans, Velchans, Vetis,
(whose name is perhaps related). Other female divinities are
Menerva, and certainly Uni and Satre, who bear names that
known, sometimes with names of Greek origin, such as Pher-
may be explained as derived from Italic forms (and not the
sipnai, who is the Etruscan equivalent of the Greek Perseph-
other way around). This shows that the Etruscan religion was
one. She appears enthroned at the side of her husband Aita
formed in the same mold as the religions of the other peoples
(an Etruscan transcription of the Greek god of the under-
of the peninsula in prehistoric Italy at the end of the second
world, Hades) in paintings on the tomb of the Orcus at Tar-
and the beginning of the first millennium BCE.
quinia and the Golini tomb at Orvieto. Another underworld
THE PERSISTENT ORIGINALITY OF THE ETRUSCAN RELI-
divinity, Vei, has a purely Etruscan name, however. This
GION: THE VISION OF THE UNDERWORLD. This does not,
name, which must be part of the name of the town of Veii,
however, mean that the Etruscan religion is not original.
remains obscure. This is not the case with another indige-
Leaving aside divination, Etruria made its mark on what it
nous underworld goddess, Culsu, who is depicted on the sar-
borrowed from others. This can be seen most obviously in
cophagus of Hasti Afunei at Chiusi as placed at the entrance
their portrayal of the underworld, where Greek influence is
of the underworld. She is its guardian, and the Etruscan
evident. The sacred books dealing with these matters were
word culs, meaning “gate,” derives from her name. The in-
called the Books of Acheron, after the underworld river in
digenous name Lasa is given to a series of minor female dei-
Greek mythology, from which the Etruscans took the infer-
ties with various names who appear to be associated with
nal boatman Charon. But Charon, who is called Charun, ap-
more important goddesses, such as Achavisur, Alpanu, and
peared on tomb paintings brandishing a huge hammer with
Zipna, and who can be seen on mirrors assisting Turan, the
which he made ready to strike those who were about to die,
goddess of love, the equivalent of Aphrodite, in getting
an element not found in the Greek original. More generally,
dressed. The Etruscans also recognized a powerful chthonic
the Etruscans created an entire demonology that was perhaps
goddess, Cel ati; the two parts of her name mean “earth” and
inspired by certain Greek pieces (such as the depiction of the
“mother.” She is a “Mother Earth,” analogous to the Greek
underworld by Polygnotus in the Cnidian Lesche at Delphi)
Demeter and the Latin Terra Mater. Mention should also
but that, starting from the first paintings, such as the Tomb
be made of Menerva, derived from the Latin Minerva, god-
of the Blue Demons at Tarquinia from the fifth century BCE,
dess of the intellect (mens).
certainly underwent considerable development. Another
male demon is Tuchulcha, depicted with a hooked beak and
Among the male gods is a god of water, Nethuns, and
pointed ears with two snakes rising on his head. Female de-
a god of the forest, Selvans, corresponding, respectively, to
mons also exist. They are often depicted on funerary urns to
the Latin equivalents Neptune and Silvanus. Other gods
indicate that the person shown alongside is going to die. In
with Latin equivalents include Satre, corresponding to Sat-
particular, the female demon Vanth is a winged woman,
urn; Velchans, corresponding to Vulcan (Volcanus); Vetis,
bare-breasted or even completely naked, brandishing a torch,
corresponding to Jupiter of the night and the underworld,
sometimes with snakes, at other times with a roll of parch-
Vediovis. On the other hand, Apulu, a Greek name, is the
ment on which the fate of the deceased was written.
god Apollo, whom the Etruscans adopted under this name
ETRUSCAN WOMEN AND RELIGION. It is true that the Etrus-
along with his myths. The Apollo of Veii statue from the end
cans were original in one aspect in which their civilization
of the sixth century BCE in the temple of Portonaccio shows
differed from those of Greece and Rome; that is, the accepted
him fighting with Hercules in the episode of the capture of
position of women in society. The Etruscan woman enjoyed
the Cerynian hind. Yet many other gods have local names.
much greater freedom than her Greek and Roman sisters.
Several are the equivalents of figures in the Greek pantheon,
She can be seen lying alongside her husband on the same
including Turms, portrayed as the messenger of the gods
banqueting couch. This would have been unthinkable in
Hermes; Sethlans as the blacksmith god Hephaistos; Usil as
Greece, where the banquet was an entirely male affair and
the sun god Helios, with rays coming from his head; and Fu-
only prostitutes were present, with lawful wives remaining
fluns as the god of the wine, Dionysos (and sometimes given
in the gynaeceum. One might therefore expect that Etruscan
the epithet Pachie, a transcription of the name Bacchus).
women would occupy a privileged religious position.
However, several gods had no Greek equivalents. This is the
case with Suris, who seems to have been an infernal and war
However, this is not apparent in the evidence. Women
god, like the mysterious Pater Soranus of Mount Soracte in
are more often found in classical roles without particularly
Capena, in the territory of the Sabines, to which the name
high status, such as mourners who, on the fifth-century BCE
seems related.
funerary reliefs at Chiusi, are seen weeping at the scene of
the laying out of the dead. Maybe there were female priest-
This list shows Greek religious influence. Certain gods,
esses, but the only definite instance involves a bacchante,
such as Apollo, were borrowed from the Greeks, whereas on
who is depicted lying on the lid of a fine marble sarcophagus
another level the success of the hero Hercules, whom they
at Tarquinia holding a thyrsus and a vase with handles with
called Hercle, is noteworthy. A large number of statues and
a doe beside her. This woman appears in a religious role on
statuettes, evidence of his cult, have been found in Etruria.
the fringes of the official religion of the city.
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2872
ETRUSCAN RELIGION
However, the restricted role played by women in what
establish the founding myth of the national religious science.
the sources reveal concerning Etruscan religion need not be
This proves its importance to the Etruscans.
at variance with real life. Even if Etruscan women had more
T
rights than Greek or Roman women, one must be careful not
HE HARUSPICES. The revelation issued by Tages (or by Ve-
goia) gave rise to an entire sacred literature, the “Etruscan
to overrate their social role. One should not take at face value
books,” which set out the substance of the national religious
what Greek and Latin writers say about Etruscan women. As
science that Latin writers frequently describe. This means
peoples who had been the Etruscans’ enemies, they were in-
that, for once, scholars are relatively well informed. These
clined to be critical of them. Thus, the liberty, at least in a
books were the mark of the specialists of the Etruscan disci-
relative sense, that the Etruscans allowed their women might
pline, the haruspices. These haruspices—whose name origi-
be taken by these writers as loose living. They also tended
nally applied to one of their specialities, the inspection of the
to exaggerate everything they said about them, stating that
liver of sacrificial victims, but then took on a more general
they gave themselves shamelessly to lovemaking with anyone
meaning—could be recognized by their distinctive dress.
at all during banquets. The same exaggeration occurred in
They wore a tapering, pointed hat. Sometimes this hat is seen
the religious sphere. Whereas Roman tradition holds that
on sarcophagi on top of a kind of folded sheet, which is in
Tanaquil, the wife of L. Tarquinius Priscus, was an expert
fact a linen book (like the one from the Zagreb mummy).
in divination and interpreted the omens from which her hus-
This was the particular mark of the haruspex of the dead,
band and the young Servius Tullius benefited, this is more
who carried out his duties wearing this headgear while con-
a matter of Roman imagination than Etruscan reality. The
sulting his books.
haruspices known from the epigraphic or literary sources are
exclusively men.
These haruspices, at least in Etruria, were high-ranking
P
individuals. Thus Cicero tells that one of his Etruscan
ROPHETS OF THE ETRUSCAN RELIGION AND THE ETRUSCA
D
friends, Caecina, was an expert in the national religious sci-
ISCIPLINA. Even so, there is one sphere in which the Etrus-
cans developed their own myths, and these reveal what is
ence and belonged to one of the most important Tuscan aris-
truly original about Etruscan religion and why the Romans
tocratic families. Haruspices considered the Etruscan disci-
considered them the most religious of peoples. They had cre-
pline as their exclusive possession and handed down the
ated what the Romans called Etrusca disciplina, using the
books from one generation to the next, fathers taking care
Latin word disciplina to mean a “science.” In their case it is
to instruct their sons in their use. This instruction was deadly
a religious science centered around divination and rituals.
serious, conveying the scientific aspect, at least to ancient
The Etruscans did not view this Etrusca disciplina as the work
eyes, of the Etruscan discipline. Etruscan haruspicy, con-
of human beings. It was the result of a revelation given by
cerned with ritual or even with divination, did not allow it-
gods to human beings at the beginning of their national his-
self to be guided by what the Greeks called mania, the god
tory. This revelation, committed to writing, was the basis for
entering the body and soul of the person acting as the inter-
the Etruscan religious sacred books.
mediary between the gods and human beings. Etruscan
haruspicy studied the phenomena set before it with the help
Several competing traditions existed. The most famous
of the classifications laid down in its books. This required
was from Tarquinia. According to this version, the Etrusca
seriousness, the exact opposite of the trances of soothsayers
disciplina was owed to a divine child called Tages. As a new-
possessed by divine inspiration. A famous fifth-century BCE
born, he was discovered by a plowman on the outskirts of
mirror from Vulci shows Calchas, the soothsayer of the
the town. He had obviously been born from the earth, and
Greek army at Troy, as an Etruscan haruspex examining the
no sooner had he been born than he began to speak and issue
liver of a victim. He is bent over the organ, which he is study-
a revelation. He set out the basic principles of religious sci-
ing carefully, looking at the slightest variations in shape, tex-
ence, which those present eagerly committed to writing.
ture, and color. It is quite correct to talk of a science, the
Then he disappeared as mysteriously as he had appeared.
term for the rigorous deductive method based upon detailed
observation by which the haruspex formed his opinions. The
The story seems ridiculous, and Cicero, who relates it
Etruscan discipline even involved experimental science. Far
in his treatise On Divination, is openly contemptuous. As a
from becoming a closed corpus, fixed once and for all by the
good Roman he did not believe the gods could intervene di-
initial revelation of Tages, Etruscan sacred literature was en-
rectly in human affairs and rejected mythology as puerile sto-
hanced by observations of haruspices of later times. Cicero
ries. But the legend may be analyzed in terms of standard
says they noted in their books new phenomena they observed
motifs. There is the autochthonous myth, in which a being
and thus managed to enlarge upon the basic principles con-
is described as earthborn, produced like a plant. This is how
tained in the religious literature handed down to them.
the Athenians described their origins. This motif is coupled
with the combination of old man and infant, fusing in one
THE SACRED BOOKS OF THE ETRUSCAN RELIGION. Accord-
person the physical characteristics of infancy and the wisdom
ing to Cicero, Etruscan religious literature was divided into
of old age. These are standard legendary motifs; what is inter-
three kinds of books: the books of thunderbolts, the books
esting is that, in the Etruscan case, they are not used for the
of haruspicy, and the books of rituals. The extensive role of
tale of a hero or the story of the origin of a people but to
divination is clear, since the first two categories were dedicat-
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ETRUSCAN RELIGION
2873
ed to it. The libri fulgurales dealt with divination by thunder-
The Liver of Piacenza allows still further understanding
bolt and lightning, or brontoscopy; and the libri haruspicini
of the Etruscan religious system. The apparently unsystemat-
with divination by inspecting the livers of sacrificial animals,
ic arrangement of boxes on the surface of the liver is in fact
or hepatoscopy; whereas in the libri rituales certain other
amenable to a certain organization. The two halves of the
kinds of divination are also considered, such as omens.
organ are separated by the anatomical division, the incisura
umbilicalis. The right side, which literary sources call the pars
The books of thunderbolts. The Etruscans were not
familiaris, with neatly arranged square boxes, contains the
the first to be interested in thunderbolts; the phenomenon
heavenly gods, such as Tinia, who are relatively benign. In
has always seemed to be of divine origin. In observing them,
contrast, the left side, which sources describe as pars hostilis,
the haruspices demonstrated their analytical abilities. Seneca,
arranged in a circle, has the names of infernal gods, such as
in his Natural Questions, and Pliny the Elder, in his Natural
Vetis, or unsettling gods, such as Satre or Selvans. Above all,
History, drawing on Etruscan sources, show the fine distinc-
the circumference of the organ has a series of sixteen boxes
tions the Etruscans made, establishing minute, generally
in a band around the object. This ties in with a detail known
complex classifications, distinguishing thunderbolts by their
from elsewhere: Etruscan haruspices divided the vault of
color, their shape, and the effect they had when they hit the
heaven into sixteen sectors according to the cardinal points,
ground. This theory of thunderbolts gave rise to a vision of
beginning from the quadrant going from north to west.
the way the world worked. The Etruscans maintained that
the principal god Tinia had three kinds of thunderbolts. The
This allows an understanding of the theoretical basis of
first, the most benevolent, was used to issue warnings; he
Etruscan hepatoscopy. By reproducing the sky with the
used this on his own authority. The effects of the second
abodes of the gods who live there, the liver is a microcosm
were more serious; it brought only misfortune. However, the
reflecting the macrocosm of the universe, whose workings
the gods oversee. It logically follows that the gods imprint
god could only hurl this on the advice of a council of twelve
in the microcosm signs that correspond to their actions in
deities, six gods and six goddesses. The third left nothing un-
the macrocosm. And it is not a matter of indifference that
touched and changed the way the world was organized. Tinia
these signs are passed down to the human race using the liver
only used this on the instructions of mysterious divinities—
of a sacrificial animal.
masters of destiny—gods said to be hidden or superior,
whose names, numbers, and gender remained unknown.
According to a thorough analysis of the portion given
to the human beings and the portion given to the gods in
The Etruscans did not consider the workings of the
Greece by Jean-Pierre Vernant and Marcel Detienne and a
world the result of the whims of a god, however, even the
group of their pupils, published in La cuisine du sacrifice in
chief god Tinia. Even he was subject to a destiny more pow-
Paris in 1979, the liver reverts to the gods, to whom it is con-
erful than he. This idea was developed in certain libri rituales,
veyed, when burned upon the altar. Considered by the an-
the books called fatales, concerning fatum (destiny). For the
cients as the life center of the animal, it reverts by right to
Etruscans the history of the world did not unfold by chance
the immortal gods, masters of the life of every living creature.
but was divided into a certain number of saecula (a period
Yet if, as this work has emphasized, the Greek sacrifice in this
of varying length, calculated according to the lifespan of the
way stresses the difference between the gods and human be-
longest living individual of a particular generation, so saecula
ings, in the Etruscan sacrifice it was their association, the ex-
could consist of 123 or 119 years). Each nation was entitled
change effected between them, that was considered crucial.
to a given number of saecula, ten in the case of the Etruscans,
The Etruscan sacrifice was defined by ancient authors as con-
after which it would disappear, its destiny fulfilled.
sultative: the consultation, involving the examination of the
liver by the haruspex, was considered a fundamental part of
The Books of Haruspicy. The libri haruspicini dealt
the ceremony. What mattered to the Etruscans above all was
with another classical kind of divination, hepatoscopy, which
the examination performed on the liver by the haruspex. The
was particularly well known among the ancient peoples of
organ became the place of exchange between human beings
the Middle East and based upon the study of the livers of
and the gods, and the divinatory signs the gods placed there
animals offered to the gods in the central cult ceremony, the
were their responses to the offering made.
bloody sacrifice. Scholars are relatively well informed on
Etruscan hepatoscopy. In 1877, in a field near Piacenza in
The books of rituals. The third category of books, the
Emilia, a bronze model liver was discovered. Subsequently
books of rituals, is not a single whole. These books discuss
known as the Liver of Piacenza, it had a box diagram on its
divination as regards omens and destiny, the subject of the
surface, each section marked with the name of a god. This
subcategory libri fatales. Nevertheless, rituals are also a signif-
model liver was used to teach young haruspices. Thus they
icant subject for a religion that regarded the exact perfor-
learned a particular interpretative grid, which they then used
mance of ceremonies of vital importance, the slightest error
as a gauge for the actual livers they examined. If they found
potentially provoking the anger of the gods and leading to
a particular feature in one of the boxes in the diagnostic dia-
disaster. Many Etruscan rituals were brought to Rome. The
gram, they knew the god named in that box had sent this
foundation rite that Romulus is said to have followed when
sign and needed to be placated.
he founded Rome in 753 BCE is universally considered of
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2874
ETRUSCAN RELIGION
Etruscan origin. Romulus invited specialists from Etruria,
their own haruspex in their retinue: Spurinna, Caesar’s ha-
who explained to him how to draw the sacred boundary of
ruspex, unsuccessfully warned him of the danger on the Ides
the city, the pomerium, by digging the sulcus primigenius, the
of March. Many generals were accompanied by a haruspex,
first furrow, with the help of a plow pulled by a white bull
and subsequent emperors had their own specialized staff for
and a white cow.
Etruscan divination.
These books also describe other rituals. The subcategory
These were important figures. Spurinna belonged to
called the Books of Acheron describes certain sacrifices of-
one of the most important Etruscan aristocratic families, and
fered for the dead, who it was believed were thus able to be-
an imperial haruspex like Umbricius Melior, who in turn
come actual gods, called dei animales, where animales means
served Galba, Otho, and Vespasian, was important enough
“created from a soul” (anima means “soul” in Latin). The
for the town of Tarentum to be honored by his patronage.
process was simply ritual: it was sufficient to sacrifice certain
Yet not all haruspices were such highfliers. Many were poor
animals and offer their blood to certain deities. This may
scoundrels trading on public gullibility. Cato, in his treatise
seem childish; however, compared to the specifically Roman
on agriculture, warned the steward of the ideal farm he de-
religion, which said nothing concerning human prospects
scribed to be wary of the haruspices who roamed the coun-
after death, the Etruscan religion had an infinitely richer
tryside. A number of Latin authors, including Cicero, the
view of the future of human beings in the afterlife.
comic playwright Plautus, and the philosopher-poet Lucre-
ROME AND ETRUSCAN HARUSPICY. Far from disappearing
tius, denounced low-grade haruspices as nothing more than
after the Roman conquest between 396 BCE, the date of the
charlatans. This did not prevent them from flourishing; in-
fall of the first Etruscan city, Veii, and 264 BCE, when the
scriptions indicate their presence throughout the Roman
last remaining independent city, Volsinii, fell, this aspect of
Empire.
Etruscan religion continued to exist in a world that had now
HARUSPICES AND THE DEFENSE OF TRADITIONAL ROMAN
become a Roman one. The Romans were impressed by the
RELIGION. Henceforth the Etruscan religious tradition no
practical benefits of the Etruscan discipline.
longer seemed like a foreign body differing from the national
An ancient state could not be secular. One of its most
Roman tradition, the mos maiorum, as the Romans called
important tasks was to ensure good relations between the city
their ancestral traditions. Etruscan religion was fully integrat-
and the gods. If human beings were to blame for some mis-
ed into the heart of Roman religion and had an officially rec-
deed or some oversight on their part, what was called the pax
ognized place. It even seemed to be a key element. For Em-
deorum (peace of the gods)—that is, the harmonious state of
peror Claudius, who reorganized the ancient collegium of
relations between the gods and the city—was broken. The
sixty haruspices in 47 CE, it represented the the most distin-
gods showed their anger, which risked turning into the worst
guished part of traditional Roman religion.
of disasters, visible in terms of events that indicated a break
Claudius justified his actions by the need to combat
in the natural order of things, omens, and the outbreak of
“foreign superstitions,” namely all those religious systems not
the supernatural in the normal course of existence. Faced
part of traditional Greco-Roman paganism, including the
with such signs, it was vital that the city understand what it
developing Christian religion. The old Etruscan tradition
had done wrong and what action should be taken. Confront-
was called upon to play its part in the defense of the mos mai-
ed by such divine signs, Roman religion, in terms of its na-
orum, and the place held by haruspicy in the religious func-
tional heritage, was powerless. Faced with disasters, such as
tions of the Roman res publica meant that at times harus-
earthquakes or epidemics, heavenly signs, such as comets or
pices were effectively in the forefront of the struggle against
hailstorms, or even mere curious happenings, such as the
the Christians. Thus, the Great Persecution of Diocletian,
birth of a hermaphrodite child or a sheep with two heads,
decreed in 303 CE, the gravest crisis the young religion had
it was necessary to consult the Etruscan haruspices, who
faced, was embarked upon following an incident, reported
would discover in their books what needed to be done.
by the Christian writer Lactantius, in which haruspices
Rome was not slow to employ the skills of Etruscan spe-
played a key part. Lactantius stated that Christian slaves pres-
cialists in matters of rituals and divination. Probably from
ent at the celebration of an imperial sacrifice disrupted it,
the time they had completed the conquest, the Senate orga-
causing the anger of the gods. Consequently Diocletian de-
nized the Order of Sixty Haruspices, drawn from young no-
cided to persecute the Christians.
bles of various Etruscan cities, who could be consulted as
DEVELOPMENT OF ETRUSCAN RELIGIOUS TRADITION
soon as some event seemed to require the use of the Etruscan
UNDER THE EMPIRE. It would be misleading, however, to see
discipline.
in the attitude of the haruspices toward new religions, and
THE SPREAD OF HARUSPICY IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. In
particularly in their hostility to Christianity, nothing more
these circumstances the integration of Etruria into the
than narrow-minded conservatism. On the contrary, it is no-
Roman sphere, far from signaling the disappearance of the
table that the knowledge of the development of Etruscan be-
Etruscan discipline, enabled new expansion. Individuals also
liefs during this period demonstrates the haruspices’ adapt-
took advantage of the knowledge of the Etruscan soothsayers
ability to contemporary expectations—including, if need be,
for their own personal needs. Some important people had
features borrowed from their rivals. An amazing text, pre-
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ETRUSCAN RELIGION
2875
served in the Byzantine lexicon the Suda, presents a suppos-
Etruscan tradition, which was too directly bound up with the
edly Etruscan account of creation, which is simply a copy of
official cult, was doomed to die out. Whereas one can hear
the biblical story in Genesis. As noted, the Etruscan discipline
echoes in Proclos, the “last pagan” who ran the school of phi-
was not closed and inward-looking. The scant evidence of
losophy at Athens between 430 and 485 CE, and even later
its later condition shows that it evolved and adopted ideas
in the work of John the Lydian, who in the time of Justinian
that would have originally been totally alien in the early days,
was interested in the ancient religious customs of Etruria in
such as the idea of the world being created by God. The
that last outpost of Rome, Byzantium, they were nothing
Etruscan tradition contained within it an ability to adapt,
more than nostalgia for a past long gone.
which other forms of Greco-Roman religion did not possess.
SEE ALSO Divination; Portents and Prodigies.
ETRUSCAN RELIGION AND THE DEFENSE OF ROMAN PA-
GANISM. The main explanation of the genuine revival en-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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the Roman Empire is that, compared to other religions, it
Dumézil, Georges. “La religion des Étrusques.” In La religion ro-
appeared firmly rooted in the most authentic Roman tradi-
maine archaïque, pp. 593–600. Paris, 1966. Mainly based
tion. In an age when, as that great defender of traditional
upon literary sources.
Roman religion in fourth-century Rome, the senator Sym-
Gaultier, Françoise, and Dominique Briquel, eds. Les Étrusques,
machus, remarked, all religions were considered of equal
les plus religieux des hommes: Actes du colloque international
value in approaching the ineffable mystery of God, the Etrus-
Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, 17–18–19 November
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1992. XXes rencontres de l’École du Louve. Paris, 1997.
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which the Romans should urgently reconnect. This is stated
ruscologists, the proceedings of a conference dealing with re-
in a letter from a pagan priest, Longinianus, to Augustine,
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who had asked him about his beliefs. This has been preserved
Grenier, Albert. Les religions étrusque et romaine. Series Mana, vol.
in the letters of the bishop of Hippo. In the letter, Longini-
3. Paris, 1948. Good description of Greek and Latin sources.
anus outlined a theory of revelation, explaining that every
Jannot, Jean-René. Devins, dieux, et démons: Regards sur la religion
part of the world has its own particular prophet and that for
de l’Étrurie antique. Paris, 1998. Well-informed survey with
Italy this prophet had been Tages, the child-prophet of Tar-
extensive iconography.
quinia, to whom the Romans should turn back as a matter
Maggiani, Adriano, and Erika Simon. “Il pensiero scientifico e re-
of urgency. Here is the trump card of the Etruscan religious
ligioso.” In Gli Etruschi: Una nuova immagine, edited by
tradition: it could put forward prophetic figures, like those
Mauro Cristofani et al., pp. 139–168. Florence, 1984. Brief
discussion but well informed, with a good iconography.
required in Judeo-Christian traditions, and it was based
upon sacred books setting out the teachings of these proph-
Pfiffig, Ambros Josef. Religio Etrusca. Graz, Austria, 1975. In Ger-
ets. With Tages and the sacred Etruscan books as part of
man, a complete work with an analysis of archaeological and
iconographical data.
their national heritage, the Romans had no need of the Bible
or of a prophet born in a remote corner of Judaea.
Capua Tile and Linen Book of Zagreb
Cristofani, Mauro. Tabula Capuana, un calendario festivo di età ar-
These aspects of Etruscan religious tradition ensured
caica. Florence, 1995. Work by one of the greatest Etrus-
that it played a part in the task of defending ancient religion,
cologists, dealing with the meaning of the Capua Tile.
which occupied philosophers at the end of paganism. A
Pallottino, Massimo. “Il contenuto della mummia di Zagabria.”
Roman writer of the second half of the third century, Corne-
Studi Etruschi 11 (1937): 203–237. Reprinted in Saggi di an-
lius Labeo, put it forward in his writings, notably in a treatise
tichità, vol. 2, Documenti per la storia della civiltà etrusca,
in which he described the doctrine of the transformation of
pp. 547–588. Rome, 1979. An old article but one of the best
the souls of the dead into gods, as mentioned in the Books
introductions to the contents of the Linen Book of Zagreb.
of Acheron. His works have not survived, but they had some
Etruscan Temples
influence because this Etruscan doctrine is one of the pagan
Banti, Luisa. “Il culto del cosidetto ‘tempio di Apollo’ a Veii e il
doctrines concerning the afterlife that Christian writers felt
problema delle triadi etrusco-italiche.” Studi Etruschi 17
it necessary to attack.
(1943): 187–201. An old article but helpful on the subject
of triads.
Nonetheless this intellectual volte-face was unable to
Colonna, Giovanni. “Tarquinio Prisco e il tempio di Giove Capi-
prevent the imminent disappearance of the last vestiges of the
tolino.” Parola del Passato 36 (1981): 41–59. On the excep-
Etruscan religion. These vestiges were closely bound to tradi-
tional nature of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus in Rome.
tional Roman religion, and they were even, because of the
Colonna, Giovanni, ed. Santuari d’Etruria. Milan, 1985. Catalog
place given to haruspicy in the official religion, bound up
of an exhibition in Arezzo in 1985 with a survey of the main
with the position of the ancestral religion in the workings of
Etruscan temple excavations and the corpus of archaeological
the res publica. As soon as the Empire abandoned these reli-
data.
gious practices and, with the edicts of Theodosius in 391 and
Prayon, Friedhelm. “Deorum sedes: Sull’orientamento dei templi
392 CE, banned public celebration of the pagan cult, the old
etrusco-italici.” In Miscellanea etrusca e italica in onore di
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

2876
EUCHARIST
Massimo Pallottino, pp. 1285–1295. Archeologia Classica 43.
Guittard, Charles. La divination dans le monde étrusco-italique. In
Rome, 1991. On the orientation of Etruscan temples.
Suppléments à Caesarodunum, vol. 4, Les auteurs du Siècle
d’Auguste et l’Etrusca disciplina, part I, Suppl. 61. Tours,
Studies on Etruscan Gods
Ackerman, Hans Christoph, and Jean-Robert Gisler, eds. Lexicon
1991.
Iconographicon Mythologiae Classicae. 8 vols. Zurich, 1981–
Guittard, Charles. La divination dans le monde étrusco-italique. In
1997. Articles dedicated to the various Etruscan divinities.
Suppléments à Caesarodunum, vol. 5, Les auteurs du Siècle
Two index volumes were published in 1999.
d’Auguste et l’Etrusca disciplina, part. II, Suppl. 63. Tours,
Berti, Fede, ed. Dioniso, culti, e mistero. Comacchio, Italy, 1991.
1993.
Proceedings of a conference dealing with the Dionysiac cult,
Guittard, Charles. La divination dans le monde étrusco-italique. In
notably in Etruria.
Suppléments à Caesarodunum, vol. 6, Les écrivains et l’Etrusca
Capdeville, Gérard. “*Velchans (?).” In Volcanus, recherches com-
disciplina de Claude à Trajan, Suppl. 64. Tours, 1995.
paratistes sur les origines du culte de Vulcain, pp. 289–409.
Guittard, Charles. La divination dans le monde étrusco-italique. In
Rome, 1995. In the context of a study of the Roman god
Suppléments à Caesarodunum, vol. 7, Les écrivains du IIe siècle
Vulcan, introduction of data on the Etruscan Velchans that
et l’Etrusca disciplina, Suppl. 65. Tours, 1996.
shows it is not possible to draw any firm conclusions.
Guittard, Charles. La divination dans le monde étrusco-italique. In
Rallo, Antonia. Lasa, iconografia e esegesi. Florence, 1974. Study
Suppléments à Caesarodunum, vol. 8, Les écrivains du troisième
on the Etruscan Lasa, regarded as the equivalent of Greek
siècle et l’Etrusca disciplina, Suppl. 66. Tours, 1999.
nymphs.
Guittard volumes present a systematic investigation of the attitude
Etruscan Demonology
of Greek and Latin authors to Etruscan divination, with arti-
Krauskopf, Ingrid. Todesdämonen und Totengötter im vorhellenis-
cles by different contributors.
tischen Etrurien, Kontinuität und Wandel. Florence, 1987.
The Liver of Piacenza
Study of the different Etruscan demons and their origins
Maggiani, Adriano. “Qualche osservazione sul fegato di Piacenza.”
(predates the discovery of the Tomb of the Blue Demons in
Studi Etruschi 50 (1982): 53–88. Fundamental study with
Tarquinia).
new readings of inscriptions.
Roncalli, Francesco. “Iconographie funéraire et topographie de
Meer, L. Bouke van der. The Bronze Liver of Piacenza: Analysis of
l’au-delà en Étrurie.” In Les Étrusques, les plus religieux des
a Polytheistic Structure. Amsterdam, 1987. Analysis of the ev-
hommes, pp. 37–54. Paris, 1997. Study of the Tomb of the
idence according to principles different from those adopted
Blue Demons.
by Maggiani.
Ruyt, Franz de. Charun, démon étrusque de la mort. Rome, 1934.
Omens and Gods Formed from a Soul
Complete iconographical study of the Etruscan Charun.
Bloch, Raymond. Les prodiges dans l’Antiquité classique: Grèce, Ét-
Etruscan Women
rurie, et Rome. Paris, 1963.
Amann, Petra. Die Etruskerin, Geschlechterverhältnis und Stellung
Briquel, Dominique. “Regards étrusques sur l’au-delà.” In La
der Frau im frühen Etrurien (9.–5. Jh. v. Chr.). Vienna, 2000.
mort, les morts, et l’au-delà dans le monde romain, edited by
Comprehensive study, well documented archaeologically, on
François Hinard, pp. 263–277. Caen, France, 1985.
the position of women in Etruscan society in the archaic
period.
Haruspices in Republican Rome
MacBain, Bruce. Prodigy and Expiation: A Study in Religion and
Rallo, Antonia, ed. Le donne in Etruria. Rome, 1989. Collection
Politics in Republican Rome. Brussels, 1982. Fundamental
devoted to the place of women in Etruscan society.
work on the official haruspicy in Rome during the Republic.
Etruscan Discipline
Rawson, Elizabeth. “Caesar and the Etrusca Disciplina.” Journal
Bouché-Leclercq, Auguste. Histoire de la divination dans
of Roman Studies 68 (1978): 132–152.
l’antiquité. 4 vols. New York, 1975; reprint, Grenoble,
France, 2003. Survey of divination practices in the world of
Position of Haruspicy in Imperial Rome
classical antiquity. Good analysis of types of divination.
Briquel, Dominique. Chrétiens et haruspices: La religion étrusque,
Thulin, Carl Olof. Die etruskische Disciplin. 2 vols. Göteborg,
dernier rempart du paganisme romain. Paris, 1997. Relations
Sweden, 1906–1909. Old but fundamental work.
between those ancient Romans representing traditional
Etruscan religion and Christians.
Weinstock, Stefan. “Libri fulgurales.” In Papers of the British School
at Rome, vol. 19, pp. 122–153. London, 1951.
Mastandrea, Paolo. Un neoplatonico latino, Cornelio Labeone. Lei-
den, 1979. Role of Cornelius Labeo in the revival of Etruscan
Attitude of Greek and Latin Authors to Etruscan
discipline.
Divination
Guillaumont, François. Philosophe et augure: Recherches sur la théo-
Montero, Santiago. Politica y adivinación en el Bajo Imperio Roma-
rie cicéronienne de la divination. Brussels, 1984. Attitude of
no: Emperadores y harúspices. Brussels, 1991. Systematic ex-
Cicero to Etruscan divination.
amination of evidence regarding late haruspicy.
Guittard, Charles. La divination dans le monde étrusco-italique. In
DOMINIQUE BRIQUEL (2005)
Suppléments à Caesarodunum, vol. 1, Suppl. 52. Tours, 1985.
Translated from French by Paul Ellis
Guittard, Charles. La divination dans le monde étrusco-italique. In
Suppléments à Caesarodunum, vol. 2, Suppl. 54. Tours, 1986.
Guittard, Charles. La divination dans le monde étrusco-italique. In
EUCHARIST. The Eucharist, also known as the Mass,
Suppléments à Caesarodunum, vol. 3, Suppl. 56. Tours, 1986.
Communion service, Lord’s Supper, and Divine Liturgy,
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EUCHARIST
2877
among other names, is the central act of Christian worship,
The Orthodox and other Eastern churches retained this
practiced by almost all denominations of Christians. Though
general format with some variations. The liturgy of the West-
varying in form from the very austere to the very elaborate,
ern churches, however, went through a long period of accre-
the Eucharist has as its essential elements the breaking and
tion and elaboration of secondary symbolism which ob-
sharing of bread and the pouring and sharing of wine (in
scured the meaning of the action and tended to leave the
some Protestant churches, unfermented grape juice) among
congregation passive spectators of what the clergy were
the worshipers in commemoration of the actions of Jesus
doing. During the Middle Ages there also emerged the pri-
Christ on the eve of his death.
vate Mass, a Eucharist celebrated by a priest without a con-
gregation of worshipers present.
The word eucharist is taken from the Greek eucharistia,
which means “thanksgiving” or “gratitude” and which was
The sixteenth-century reformers took action to strip
used by the early Christians for the Hebrew berakhah, mean-
away all accretions and elements that did not seem to be in
ing “a blessing” such as a table grace. When Christians
accord with the text of the Bible. Zwingli and Calvin were
adopted the word from the Greek into other languages, the
more radical in this than Luther. The Roman Catholic
meaning was narrowed to the specific designation of the ritu-
church also instituted extensive reforms of the rite in the six-
al of the bread and wine.
teenth century, leaving a uniform pattern later known as the
Tridentine Mass. This, however, was very substantially re-
HISTORY. The ritual attributed to Jesus by the writers of the
vised after the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), allow-
New Testament is portrayed as a Jewish Passover seder meal
ing more spontaneity and congregational participation as
in which Jesus reinterprets the symbolism of the traditional
well as offering more variety.
celebration (Paul in 1 Cor. 11:23–26, Mk. 14:22–25, Mt.
26:26–29, and Lk. 22:14–20). Passover commemorates the
THEOLOGY. Eucharist is understood by all Christians to
liberation of the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt, which was
commemorate the saving death and resurrection of Jesus,
the first step in their becoming a people in covenant with
and to mediate communion with God and community
God. It is celebrated to this day by a lengthy ceremonial meal
among the worshipers. Beyond this basic concept, the theol-
with prescribed foods, in which the story of the deliverance
ogy of the Eucharist varies very widely among the Christian
is symbolically reenacted (see Ex. 12:1–28). Selecting from
denominations and has often been a cause of bitter dispute
the many symbolic foods customary in his time, Jesus takes
between them.
only the unleavened bread (the bread of emergency or afflic-
Both Orthodox and Roman Catholic Christians under-
tion) and the wine. The tradition of the early witnesses is that
stand the presence of Christ very concretely, taking seriously
Jesus asks the traditional questions about the meaning of the
the so-called words of institution, “This is my body . . . this
ritual and answers, first about the bread he is breaking, “This
is my blood.” However, the Orthodox insist that while there
is my body, broken for you,” and then about the wine, “This
is an actual change in the bread and wine that justifies these
is my blood, the blood of the covenant, which is to be poured
words, the manner of the change is a mystery not to be ana-
out for many.” It is clear that Jesus refers to his death and
lyzed or explained rationally. Since medieval times Catholic
is interpreting the significance of that death in terms of the
Christians have attempted to give an intellectually satisfying
symbolism of the Exodus story and the Passover ritual. He
explanation, focusing on the notion of a transubstantiation
invites the disciples to repeat the action frequently and thus
of bread and wine. While the eucharistic theology of the vari-
enter into his death and the outcome of that death. By plac-
ous Protestant churches varies widely, they are united in
ing his death in the context of Passover, Jesus interprets it
finding a theology of transubstantiation not in harmony with
as a liberation bringing his followers into community as one
their interpretation of scripture.
people in covenant with God (see 1 Cor. 11:17–34).
The meaning and effect of the Eucharist have also been
In the earliest Christian times, Eucharist was celebrated
discussed in Catholic theology under the term real presence.
rather spontaneously as part of an ordinary meal for which
This emphasizes that the presence of Christ mediated by the
the local followers of Jesus were gathered in his name in a
bread and wine is prior to the faith of the congregation. Prot-
private home. By the second century it is clear that there were
estant theology has generally rejected the term real presence
strong efforts to regulate it under the authority and supervi-
as one liable to superstitious interpretation.
sion of the local church leaders known as bishops. By the
fourth century, Eucharist was celebrated with great pomp
Orthodox and Catholic Christians also agree on an in-
and ceremony in public buildings, and the meal was no lon-
terpretation of the Eucharist in terms of sacrifice; that is, a
ger in evidence. At that time, solemn processions emphasized
renewed offering by Christ himself of his immolation in
the role of a clergy arrayed in special vestments. The form
death. Again, there have been determined efforts in the
of the celebration included several readings from the Bible,
Catholic theological tradition to give intellectually satisfying
prayers, chants, a homily, and the great prayer of thanksgiv-
explanations of this, while Orthodox theology tends to toler-
ing, in the course of which the words and actions of Jesus
ate a variety of explanations at the same time as it insists on
at his farewell supper were recited, followed by the distribu-
fidelity to the words of the liturgy itself. Protestants believe
tion of the consecrated bread and wine to the participants.
the theology of sacrifice lacks biblical foundation and doctri-
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2878
EUCLID
nal validity, and prefer to emphasize the role of the Eucharist
ric algebra. His procedure epitomized the axiomatic-
as a memorial.
deductive method and became a paradigm for philosophical
It is paradoxical that the Eucharist is the sacrament of
and scientific reasoning. The greatest works in the history of
unity for Christians yet is a sign and cause of disunity among
astronomy imitate the Elements: Ptolemy’s Almagest (c. 150
denominations. In general denominations exclude others
CE), Copernicus’s De revolutionibus (1543), and Newton’s
from their eucharistic table, usually on account of theological
Principia (1686). There is no greater example of Euclid’s in-
differences. Contemporary initiatives reflect attempts to rec-
fluence in philosophy than Spinoza’s Ethics (1675), which
oncile some of these differences and to experiment cautiously
scrupulously reproduced Euclid’s method of definitions, axi-
with “intercommunion” among the churches. Such initia-
oms, and propositions.
tives appear to be far more extensive among laity than in the
The Elements became the elementary introduction to
official legislation of the churches.
mathematics in Hellenistic civilization. Translated into Ara-
bic in the ninth century and into Latin in the thirteenth, it
SEE ALSO Beverages; Bread; Food; Leaven; Passover.
became the foundation of Islamic, medieval, and Renais-
sance mathematics. It standardized the body of mathematical
BIBLIOGRAPHY
knowledge well into the twentieth century. The Elements was
The texts of the eucharistic celebrations of the various Western
not translated into Sanskrit until the 1720s, though there is
churches are given in Liturgies of the Western Church, selected
evidence of some prior knowledge. The Chinese may have
and introduced by Bard Thompson (1961; reprint, Philadel-
known Euclid in the thirteenth century, but it did not affect
phia, 1980). An account of the Orthodox Divine Liturgy and
the development of their mathematics until 1607, when the
its theology is given in Alexander Schmemann’s Introduction
Jesuit Matteo Ricci produced a highly praised translation of
to Liturgical Theology (London, 1966). A description of the
the first six books of the Elements as part of the Jesuit mis-
early Christians’ Eucharist and eucharistic theology, with
identification of sources, is presented in The Eucharist of the
sionary strategy in China. The use of the Elements as the text-
Early Christians, by Willy Rordorf and others (New York,
book of mathematics over millennia is the source of the often
1978). More specifically concerned with the theology of the
repeated claim that, second only to the Bible, the Elements
Eucharist are Joseph M. Powers’s Eucharistic Theology (New
is the most widely circulated book in human history.
York, 1967), from a Catholic perspective, and Geoffrey
Wainwright’s Eucharist and Eschatology (1971; reprint, New
Euclid’s religious significance can be seen in two ways.
York, 1981), from a Protestant, particularly a Methodist,
First, Euclid fulfilled the value Plato saw in mathematics. Eu-
perspective. A discussion of the social implications of eucha-
clid’s masterpiece remains the enduring testament of the
ristic celebration can be found in my book, The Eucharist and
human capacity to construct a transparently intelligible sys-
the Hunger of the World (New York, 1976).
tem of relations grounded in logic and capable of extension
M
to the physical world, though not derived from it. He dem-
ONIKA K. HELLWIG (1987)
onstrates with lucid brevity how reason can successfully oper-
ate with purely intelligible objects such as points, lines, and
triangles, and discover new and unforeseen truths with them.
EUCLID (c. 300 BCE) was a Greek mathematician. Plato
Such exercise frees the mind from the appearances of the
described mathematics as a discipline that turns one’s gaze
senses and initiates it into an intellectual realm that Plato re-
from the Becoming of the sensible world to the Being of the
ferred to as the realm of Being. In Neoplatonism such exer-
intelligible. The great value of mathematics is to prepare the
cise had a paramount spiritual value. Augustine of Hippo,
mind for the apprehension of pure ideas. After Plato’s death,
in his Soliloquies (386), written the year before his baptism,
geometry flourished among his students. One of the few de-
esteemed mathematics as a preparation for the soul’s ascent
tails known about Euclid’s life is that he studied under
to God. The mind perceives necessary truths first in mathe-
Plato’s followers. Subsequently he founded the great school
matics and is then prepared to pursue eternal, divine truth.
of mathematics at Alexandria, Egypt. He wrote on mathe-
Having tasted the sweetness and splendor of truth in mathe-
matics, optics, and astronomy.
matics and the liberal arts, the mind actively seeks the divine.
A millennium later, the Christian mystic Nicholas of Cusa
Euclid’s Elements is the most influential work in all of
wrote in his Of Learned Ignorance (1440) that the most fit-
mathematics. Though other “Elements” were produced be-
ting approach to knowledge of divine things is through sym-
fore Euclid, his work organized and completed that of his
bols. Therefore he uses mathematical images because of their
predecessors, who are now known chiefly by reference. As the
“indestructible certitude” (bk. 1, chap. 11).
letters (Gr., stoikheia; “elements”) of the alphabet are to lan-
guage, so are the Elements to mathematics, wrote the Neopla-
Second, Euclid’s geometry implicitly defined the nature
tonist Proclus in the fifth century CE. The analogy is apt. In
of space for Western civilizations up to the nineteenth centu-
thirteen books Euclid goes from the most elementary defini-
ry. That “a straight line is drawn between two points,” Eu-
tions and assumptions about points, lines, and angles all the
clid’s first postulate, is also a statement about the space that
way to the geometry of solids, and he includes a theory of
makes it possible. Conceptions of space have religious reper-
the proportions of magnitudes, number theory, and geomet-
cussions because they involve matters of orientation. Isaac
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EUGENICS
2879
Newton (1642–1727) reified Euclidean space in his physics.
sirable” members of society (positive eugenics) and by dis-
He identified absolute space and absolute time, which to-
couraging reproduction among the “undesirable” (negative
gether constitute the ultimate frame of reference for cosmic
eugenics).
phenomena, with God’s ubiquity and eternity. Euclid’s fifth
T
postulate stipulated the conditions under which straight lines
HE ORIGINS OF EUGENICS. Influenced by his cousin
Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection,
intersect, and, by implication, when they are parallel. To his
Galton researched the ancestry of eminent men in Great
continuing credit, Euclid presented the conditions as as-
Britain and believed that the characteristics that led to their
sumptions. For millennia mathematicians tried unsuccessful-
success—especially disposition and cognitive ability—were
ly to prove them. But, because Euclid’s postulates were only
inherited. Environment might have had some influence, but
assumptions, other conditions were possible. Thus in the
for Galton heredity was central to an individual’s traits and
nineteenth century Nikolai Lobachevskii, Farkas Bolyai, and
personality.
G. F. B. Riemann were inspired to develop non-Euclidean
geometries. These were crucial to Einstein’s theories of spe-
In addition to believing that talent and character could
cial and general relativity (1905, 1913) and, hence, to the
be inherited, Galton recognized that society was interfering
present cosmology, wherein a straight line cannot be drawn
with natural selection. Though evolution by Darwinian nat-
between two points. The conclusion that space and time are
ural selection had produced humanity, developed society was
inseparable in the mathematical and physical theories of the
drastically altering its course. In nature, natural selection
nineteenth and twentieth centuries owes its existence to the
eliminated the weak and the sick, allowing only the swift and
force of the Euclidean tradition.
strong to survive. In civilized societies, however, weak and
“feebleminded” persons were cared for and provided for
BIBLIOGRAPHY
through charities, government programs, and religious
The classic English translation of the Elements is Thomas L.
groups, so that natural selection was no longer operating on
Heath’s The Thirteen Books of Euclid’s Elements, 2d ed. (New
humanity. Galton believed that if nothing were done, society
York, 1956). It includes an introduction to Euclid’s place in
would suffer the deleterious effects of having “fit” traits dilut-
the history of mathematics and a thorough commentary on
ed by “unfit” traits.
the text. A more recent account of Euclid and his achieve-
ment, as well as the history of the Elements, with comprehen-
Consequently, Galton believed that civilized human so-
sive bibliographies, is found in Ivor Bulmer-Thomas’s “Eu-
ciety ought to take control of its own breeding practices by
clid” and John Murdoch’s “Euclid: Transmission of the
encouraging eugenic behavior that promoted the future
Elements,” in the Dictionary of Scientific Biography (New
health of society. He suggested that, much as farmers breed
York, 1970–1980). A discussion of the historical and philo-
only the best livestock, humans should promote reproduc-
sophical antecedents to Euclid and how his methods incor-
porate Platonic and Aristotelian developments in the philos-
tion among only the best of the human stock. Only then
ophy of mathematics is provided in Edward A. Maziarz and
would the human race be able to maintain its level of civiliza-
Thomas Greenwood’s Greek Mathematical Philosophy (New
tion and prevent the regression of humanity toward greater
York, 1968). The importance of mathematics in the educa-
feeblemindedness and greater physical weakness. Galton’s
tion of the philosopher is addressed in Werner Jaeger’s
solution to the problem was to encourage individuals in the
Paideia: The Ideals of Greek Culture, 3 vols., translated by
upper classes—whose success Galton attributed to inherited
Gilbert Highet (Oxford, 1939–1944).
traits—to have more children.
New Sources
After 1900, when the work of the Austrian monk Gre-
Gray, Jeremy. Ideas of Space: Euclidean, Non-Euclidean, and Rela-
gor Mendel (1822–1884) was rediscovered, the true impact
tivistic. New York, 1989.
of heredity permeated both the scientific community and so-
Lloyd, G.E.R.. The Ambitions of Curiosity: Understanding the
ciety, and eugenics seemed to gain momentum. In his experi-
World in Ancient Greece and China. New York, 2002.
ments with pea plants, Mendel had shown how individual
Mlodinow, Leonard. Euclid’s Window: The Story of Geometry from
characteristics such as pea color and plant height were inher-
Parallel Lines to Hyperspace. New York, 2001.
ited according to a regular pattern. Eugenicists applied Men-
MICHAEL A. KERZE (1987)
del’s results to human trait inheritance, assuming that intelli-
Revised Bibliography
gence, attitude, and other complex human behaviors were
the result of a clear-cut pattern of inheritance. Examining an
individual’s pedigree, then, could yield powerful clues about
EUGENICS.
what traits that individual’s offspring might inherit.
The term eugenics, from the Greek meaning
“good birth,” was coined by British scientist Francis Galton
Building on this apparently solid scientific foundation,
(1822–1911). As Galton defined it in Essays in Eugenics
eugenic scientists in both the United Kingdom and the Unit-
(1909), eugenics is “the study of agencies under social con-
ed States attempted to persuade governments and society to
trol which may improve or impair the racial qualities of fu-
embrace eugenic measures. Established in 1910 by Charles
ture generations” (p. 81). Eugenics seeks to improve the
Davenport (1866–1944), the Eugenics Records Office in
human gene pool by encouraging reproduction among “de-
Cold Spring Harbor, New York, served as the central clear-
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EUGENICS
inghouse for family pedigree information and eugenic re-
of the institution ordered her sterilization under a new Vir-
search in the United States. Davenport and his colleague
ginia law. The case was appealed to the Supreme Court, who,
Harry H. Laughlin (1880–1943), superintendent of the Eu-
having heard testimony in favor of sterilization from eugenic
genics Records Office, developed pedigree surveys and
experts including Laughlin, ruled that the state of Virginia
trained fieldworkers to gather family pedigree information
did indeed have the constitutional right to involuntarily ster-
for hundreds of individuals. Based on their examination of
ilize Carrie Buck. In the majority opinion (Buck v. Bell 274
such pedigrees, Davenport and Laughlin became convinced
U.S. 200, 1927), Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes argued that
that the nation’s gene pool faced threats on two fronts. Inter-
the public good demanded that action be taken to sterilize
nally, “feebleminded” individuals were outbreeding the grad-
Carrie Buck, because “three generations of imbeciles are
uates of Ivy League universities, lowering the overall intelli-
enough.”
gence of the gene pool. Externally, waves of new immigrants
The Supreme Court ruling in Buck v. Bell allowed states
from eastern and southern Europe threatened to overtake the
to continue forcibly sterilizing and institutionalizing those
Anglo-Saxon stock in the United States. Both problems were
deemed unfit for reproduction. California had involuntarily
“dysgenic” because they caused a decline in the quality
sterilized nearly twenty thousand individuals by the time its
breeding population, so urgent action was required to pre-
sterilization law was overturned in 1951, more than had been
vent the further deterioration of society.
sterilized in any other state. All told, over sixty thousand peo-
In dealing with the dysgenic effects of immigration, the
ple in thirty-three states were sterilized for a variety of inher-
Eugenics Records Office was influential in convincing the
ited “defects.”
U.S. Congress to pass restrictive new laws. Psychologist
In Germany, the eugenics movement (Rassenhygiene)
Henry H. Goddard (1886–1957) had performed intelligence
gained momentum as the Nazis rose to power and passed
tests on immigrants at Ellis Island that seemed to support the
forced sterilization laws beginning in 1933. Nazi scientists
eugenic argument that immigrants were of lower intelligence
and politicians approvingly cited the American experiment
than native stock. Using Goddard’s research as well as his
with eugenics, particularly in California, in their arguments
own, Laughlin testified before Congress that the waves of im-
for broader powers in determining who should be sterilized.
migrants from southern and eastern Europe were diluting the
When the horrors of the Nazi regime’s racial hygiene pro-
“purity” of older American immigrant populations from
gram were fully revealed, eugenics programs in the United
northern Europe, as well as costing taxpayers millions of dol-
States and elsewhere were largely discredited. Some have ar-
lars in social services. Heavily influenced by the eugenicists’
gued, however, that though state-sponsored eugenics is now
arguments, Congress passed the Immigration Act of 1924,
roundly condemned, eugenic attitudes persist in less overt
which set immigration quotas based on the 1890 census.
forms.
Consequently, immigrants of “eugenic” stock from northern
and western Europe were admitted in larger numbers than
RELIGION AND EUGENICS. Galton recognized the potential
the “dysgenic” stock from southern and eastern Europe.
power of eugenic ideals and the necessary conditions for their
acceptance. He wrote in 1909 in his Memories of My Life, “I
In addition to its work with the U.S. Congress, the Eu-
take Eugenics very seriously, feeling that its principles ought
genics Records Office provided model sterilization laws for
to become one of the dominant motives in a civilized nation,
states trying to implement “negative” eugenic measures. Sci-
much as if they were one of its religious tenets” (p. 322). The
entists and fieldworkers from the Eugenics Records Office
success of eugenics lay not only in its ability to present perti-
offered expert testimony in sterilization and institutionaliza-
nent information in support of eugenics, but also in its abili-
tion cases for those who had been diagnosed with a range of
ty to influence one’s entire way of living. Thus, the eugeni-
inherited “defects,” such as alcoholism, pauperism, criminal-
cists appealed not only to the science behind their efforts but
ity, feeblemindedness, and insanity. Yet even before the coor-
also to religious sensibilities by providing an ultimate expla-
dinated efforts by the Eugenics Records Office, states began
nation for an individual’s existence: responsibility to the fu-
passing eugenic sterilization laws, beginning with Indiana in
ture of the gene pool. Eugenics required an attitude of indi-
1907. Other states soon followed, including California in
vidual submission, an ethical orientation toward the greater
1909. In 1913 and 1917, amendments to the California law
good. To many scientists who argued for eugenic measures,
expanded the state’s power to involuntarily sterilize the “fee-
religion motivated ethical behavior better than any other so-
bleminded,” certain prisoners, and criminals with more than
cial phenomenon. Hence, eugenicists went to great lengths
three convictions.
in analyzing and appropriating religion for eugenic ends.
In 1927, the U.S. Supreme Court heard an appeal by
Davenport grounded religious belief on the apparent
a seventeen-year-old woman from Virginia named Carrie
science of eugenics in a lecture he delivered in 1916, “Eugen-
Buck. Buck, along with her mother Emma, had been labeled
ics as a Religion.” Noting that every proper religion has its
“feebleminded” and placed under the care of the Virginia
own statement of belief, Davenport proceeded to annunciate
Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded. After the unmar-
a twelve-point creed to serve as the basis for the new religion
ried Carrie Buck gave birth to a baby girl who was diagnosed
of eugenics. For Davenport, believing in eugenics meant be-
as “feebleminded” at eight months of age, the superintendent
lieving that one is the “trustee” of one’s genetic material; that
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EUGENICS
2881
one believes in the power of pedigree over environment; that
stead, religion should reexamine its ethical groundings. Dog-
one should have four to six offspring; that immigration
matic moral injunctions are no longer tenable in a eugenic
should be limited to weed out the “socially unfit”; and that
world. Popenoe and Johnson conclude that the success of eu-
one is responsible ultimately to the race. Davenport’s eugenic
genics depends on the individual placing the present and fu-
religion required that one be responsible both to one’s genet-
ture good of humanity above the good of the individual.
ic past and to society’s genetic future. Along with Daven-
Though many societal organizations foster selfless giving, the
port’s creed, the American Eugenics Society provided A Eu-
church is the most effective at encouraging altruism. Religion
genics Catechism (1926) in question-and-answer form. The
and the church can be a driving force behind eugenic change
catechism assured readers that eugenics was not antagonistic
if they will but base their ethical systems on a science.
to the Bible, for eugenics was concerned with the well-being
of the totality of humanity. The catechism also promised im-
The “Report and Program of the Eugenics Society of the
mortality through one’s genetic inheritance, passed on from
United States of America” (1925) pointed to the central role
generation to generation.
that religion had played in fostering both dysgenic and eu-
genic attitudes. Still, the society wondered whether the social
Likewise, Paul Popenoe and Roswell Johnson’s Applied
value of religion could be used to further eugenic ends. No
Eugenics (1933) gave immortality a firm grounding in scien-
doubt, religion influenced dysgenic behavior by encouraging
tific knowledge. In a passage describing the long line of
charity and providing social services. But like Popenoe and
human descent, Popenoe and Johnson argue that one’s ge-
Johnson, both of whom sat on the Eugenics Society’s adviso-
netic makeup is immortal because genes, as the factors that
ry council, the society recognized religion’s potential to in-
determine who one is, can be passed on to innumerable gen-
fluence individual behavior toward eugenic ends. The Eu-
erations. The authors argue that immortality is no longer
genics Society concluded that if further research showed that
merely hope but a real possibility. Even as the body dies, the
religion were in fact primarily dysgenic, then eugenics had
genes that contain the information to produce the body live
to devise a means of using religion’s moral authority while
on in one’s offspring. Popenoe and Johnson conclude, “To
altering its message.
the eugenist, life everlasting is something more than a figure
of speech or a theological concept—it is as much a reality as
One way in which the Eugenics Society encouraged reli-
the beat of a heart, the growth of muscles, or the activity of
gious engagement with eugenic principles was by sponsoring
the mind” (p. 41). Popenoe and Johnson go so far as to argue
a sermon contest for clergy. Submissions were judged accord-
that one passes on one’s soul from generation to generation
ing to their ability to present eugenic ideals in clear and co-
by the propagation of the genetic material; religion has but
herent fashion. Most did so by interpreting religious teach-
speculated about the nature of the soul and its immortality,
ings in light of eugenic ideals. One sermon claimed that the
but eugenic science has proven their relationship. According
Bible was a book of eugenics because it chronicled the lin-
to eugenics, then, an individual passes on his or her very soul
eages of important leaders and prophets. Jesus was seen as
to his or her offspring. As Davenport had argued in his creed,
the product of the highest religious and moral stock of priest-
the proper attitude is one of submission to the greater good
ly and prophetic individuals. Another sermon claimed it a
of society and to the precious inheritance of genetic material.
sin to bring feebleminded and diseased children into the
world. Finally, one sermon argued that Jesus endorsed eu-
Popenoe and Johnson devote an entire chapter to the
genics in saying that it would have been better if Judas had
subject of eugenics and its relationship to religion. Interest-
never been born (Mt. 26:24; Mk. 14:21). In this view, eugen-
ingly, Popenoe and Johnson begin by asserting that “natural
ics could be a crucial tool in bringing about the ordered soci-
selection favors the altruistic and ethical individual because
ety of which Jesus seemingly spoke.
he is more likely to leave children to carry on his endowment
and his attitude” than the merely selfish, shortsighted indi-
Because marriage was an important focus of eugenic
vidual. As Galton had first observed, modern society has in-
measures, some clergy took the initiative to aid the eugenic
terfered with the operation of Darwinian natural selection.
movement by enforcing a version of “negative” eugenics. In
But unlike Galton, Popenoe and Johnson see the problem
1912, W. T. Sumner, the dean of the Episcopal Cathedral
not only in society’s failure to eliminate the weak and unin-
of Chicago, announced that he would not marry couples
telligent, but also in its failure to rid itself of selfish and short-
who failed to produce a physician’s certificate of good health,
sighted individuals. They argue that selfishness creates prob-
a move endorsed by two hundred clergy. The hope was that
lems for eugenicists since eugenics is based on placing the
the clergy would aid eugenicists by preventing unprofitable
good of the race ahead of the good of the individual. Thus,
unions that would pass on undesirable traits.
the eugenics movement requires a structure for encouraging
altruism and selflessness, a structure provided by religion.
Eugenic scientists embraced religious language even as
they critiqued the dysgenic impact of various religions. Still,
For Popenoe and Johnson, science can offer religion a
they recognized religion’s unequalled social power in influ-
solid basis for ethics, one amenable to eugenic ideals, as well
encing individual behavior and in urging action. Even as they
as present a rational explanation for the immortality of the
criticized the dysgenic effects of unconditional religious char-
soul. Religion need not retreat from the field of ethics; in-
ity and threatened to take over the entire field of ethics, eu-
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2882
EUHEMERUS AND EUHEMERISM
genicists urged religion to incorporate scientific analyses into
Davenport, Charles. Heredity in Relation to Eugenics. New York,
its ethical systems and embrace eugenic ideals.
1911. Contains Davenport’s research on trait inheritance
E
and proposes a number of eugenic measures that were suc-
UGENICS IN RECENT HISTORY. Interest in the history of the
cessfully implemented with Davenport’s aid.
eugenics movement has increased markedly since the 1980s
as new genetic technologies have been developed and as the
Duster, Troy. Backdoor to Eugenics. 2d ed. New York, 2003. A so-
Human Genome Project has completed the map of human
ciologist’s exploration of the potential for eugenics in social
and economic policies.
DNA. Prenatal screening for genetic disorders, along with
the legalization of abortion in the United States and the
Galton, Francis. Inquiries into Human Faculty and its Develop-
United Kingdom, has increased the debate over the social
ment. London, 1883. Chronicles Galton’s proposals for eu-
genic measures.
consequences of genetic knowledge. Debates have swirled
around the proper use of such new technologies and the so-
Galton, Francis. Memories of My Life. 3d ed. London, 1909.
cial consequences of their availability. Key concerns include
Galton, Francis. Essays in Eugenics. New York, 1909.
the difference between notions of treatment versus notions
Herrnstein, Richard J., and Charles Murray. The Bell Curve: Intel-
of improvement. For example, if it becomes possible, should
ligence and Class Structure in American Life. New York, 1994.
the genes for Tay-Sachs disease or cystic fibrosis be removed
Kevles, Daniel J. In the Name of Eugenics: Genetics and the Uses
from the gene pool? Would such action constitute eugenic
of Human Heredity. Cambridge, Mass., 1995. The most
improvement or disease prevention?
comprehensive history of eugenics in the United States and
The history of eugenics has also been invoked in debates
the United Kingdom, connecting the early twentieth-century
surrounding the connection between intelligence and race.
eugenics movement with subsequent developments in genet-
ics and with debates over the role of genetics in human be-
Richard J. Herrnstein and Charles Murray’s The Bell Curve
havior and intelligence.
(1994) worries about the dysgenic effects of variable breeding
rates because, the authors argue, racial groups with lower in-
Larson, Edward J. Sex, Race, and Science: Eugenics in the Deep
South. Baltimore, Md., 1995.
telligence levels are reproducing at a higher rate than races
with higher IQs. Critics of The Bell Curve assert a more envi-
Paul, Diane B. Controlling Human Heredity: 1865 to the Present.
ronmental explanation for variations in intelligence and
Atlantic Highlands, N.J., 1995. Provides a good introduc-
argue that genetics are not decisive in determining an indi-
tion to eugenics, examining its appeal to scientists and intel-
lectuals.
vidual’s intelligence.
Popenoe, Paul, and Roswell Johnson. Applied Eugenics. 2d ed.
Other scholars have maintained that the use of new ge-
New York, 1933. Two leading American eugenicists explore
netic technologies tends to support existing social hierarchies
the wide-ranging implications of eugenics for society.
and vested economic interests. They worry that economic in-
N
terests will determine for whom and for what purpose genet-
ATHAN J. HALLANGER (2005)
ic technologies will be used, which will in turn reinforce so-
cial stratification as those unable to afford genetic
enhancements are left behind. If the means for enhancement
EUHEMERUS AND EUHEMERISM. Eu-
are available, some argue, parents will demand that such
hemerus, a Greek (c. 340–260 BCE), achieved fame as the re-
technology be used. In this case, consumer demand, not gov-
sult of an imaginative story he wrote that speaks, in a certain
ernment control, will drive a new eugenics based on the de-
fashion, about the origins of divinities. After his death, Eu-
sire for “designer babies.” Though they recognize the eugenic
hemerus’s name became identified with a special, widely dis-
dangers, a number of theologians and ethicists have endorsed
cussed and disputed way of interpreting religion. Euhemer-
certain forms of genetic research because of their potential
ism had an impact for many centuries. Even today, no one
to relieve human suffering. For them, the promise of healing
dealing with the history of scholarship of religion will leave
offered by genetic therapies outweighs the concerns over the
Euhemerus unmentioned. Very little is known about Eu-
misuse of new technologies and new therapies.
hemerus himself. What is known is precisely what tradition
has made him: the originator of euhemerism, an elucidation
BIBLIOGRAPHY
of religion that explains the gods as elevated images of histor-
Allen, Garland E. “The Eugenics Records Office at Cold Spring
ical individuals whose acts were beneficial to those around
Harbor, 1910–1940: An Essay in Institutional History.” Osi-
them.
ris 2 (1986): 225–264.
American Eugenics Society. A Eugenics Catechism. New Haven,
The term euhemerism came to refer to a method of em-
Conn., 1926.
pirical explanation applied to the accounts of gods found in
sacred traditions. Indeed, Aristotle, the first great Greek
Carlson, Elof Axel. The Unfit: A History of a Bad Idea. Cold Spring
Harbor, N.Y., 2001. Traces the broad history of the idea of
thinker with an empirical sense of inquiry, was part of the
certain people as “undesirable” in connecting previous eu-
generation that preceded Euhemerus. There is no reason to
genic impulses with the eugenics movement in the twentieth
believe that Euhemerus was an empiricist or that he shared
century and the emerging issues raised by the genetic tech-
Aristotle’s analytical views concerning traditional religion.
nologies of the twenty-first century.
Euhemerus’s turn of mind went elsewhere. In Euhemerus’s
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EUHEMERUS AND EUHEMERISM
2883
day, well before Strabo (c. 63 BCE–c. 24 CE), geography was
thology and fables explained by history). From the age of the
far from the accurate discipline it would become. Traveling,
Enlightenment onward, scholars, among them many a classi-
however, was a most attractive topic, and travel stories were
cist, looked upon Euhemerus as a debunker whose work rep-
told everywhere, from China to the shores of the Mediterra-
resented a rational critique of religion. This element of “de-
nean. Euhemerus achieved renown in his own time as the
sacralization” was admired by some and regretted by oth-
teller of a travel story.
ers—but both sides of that argument were missing the boat.
Few of Euhemerus’s contemporaries were likely to have felt
The title of a novelette Euhemerus wrote has come
Euhemerus as a critical force. Greek religion was imparted
down to us as Hiera Anagraph¯e, a title that is usually rendered
primarily in storytelling.
as “Treatise on Sacred Matters.” It is not known whether this
title was given by Euhemerus himself or by someone later,
The classical historian Truesdell S. Brown quite rightly
nor is it known whether this title renders Euhemerus’s own
stressed a simple fact many of his peers had overlooked: the
intentions. In fact, a real impediment to modern access to
Greek gods were unlike the God of the Bible (and of the
Euhemerus is the fact that no version of the text he wrote
QurDa¯n, the holy book of the third Abrahamic tradition).
exists. (The understanding of hiera as “sacred” might be mis-
Brown emphasized that the entire known Greek religious
leading; one might just as well translate the title as “treatise
heritage consists in stories (that is, myths), whereas the vast
on religious matters.”) All that exists are summaries of much
majority of biblical writings, apart from notable exceptions
later date. The two most extensive writings about Euhemerus
like the Psalms, present themselves neither as unmythical, or
come from the Christian apologist Lactantius (c. 260–340
as history. Moreover, the Greeks did not have “holy scrip-
CE) and, earlier, Diodorus Siculus (died after 21 BCE), who
ture” or “church dogma.”
wrote a world history and is one of our best sources for the
The Germanist and historian of religions Jan de Vries
history of antiquity.
was more in keeping with certain of his colleagues when he
Hiera Anagraph¯e tells of a voyage to an island in the east
called Euhemerus “a clear example of the triviality to which
called Panchaia, from which—according to the story—on
the fourth century sank in explaining the gods.” Joseph Fon-
clear days India could be seen. On this island stood a golden
tenrose, a classicist, by contrast, lauded Euhemerus for his
pillar with a golden engraving on it. The pillar recounted the
“rationalism” and for the position that mere people are at the
life of Zeus, and also of the rulers of Panchaia before him:
root of divinity. These positions of De Vries and Fontenrose
his father, Kronos, and his grandfather, Ouranos. Zeus, ac-
nicely exemplify those disagreements regarding Euhemerus
cording to this story, traveled through the world, and wher-
wherein both sides miss the point that matters by missing the
ever he went the worship of the gods became established. But
storytelling structure of the religion of the Greeks.
Zeus and the kings before him were rulers who bestowed
Augustine of Hippo (354–430) accomplished a fateful
benefits on the inhabitants of Panchaia. The people came to
reunderstanding of Euhemerus (as did many of the early
worship them as gods. In other words, Zeus, his father, and
Christian thinkers). Augustine was familiar with Eu-
his grandfather were royal rulers who were made gods be-
hemerus’s ideas, and for him they only indicate that the “pa-
cause of their acts on behalf of human beings.
gans” themselves were of the opinion that their gods were
What Euhemerus wrote differs considerably from older,
mere people. Moreover, Augustine was convinced that those
didactic traditions, such as that of Xenophanes of Colophon
individuals who were elevated to divinity gained that status
(sixth century BCE), who is known for his emphasis on the
as a result of their stupendous evil—and this inversion, we
difference between gods and men: “But the mortals think
can see, is precisely the opposite of what Euhemerus said.
that the gods are born and dress, speak and look just like they
This Euhemerismus inversus of the early Christians had great
themselves do,” (Diels and Kranz, 1934, fragment 14), and
persistence. Since the nineteenth century (when most mis-
“there is only one single God, the supreme among gods and
sionary societies were established), many a missionary has
people, unlike the people both in appearance and in
held the opinion that “pagan” gods are demons. This opin-
thought,” (Diels and Kranz, 1934, fragment 23).
ion is an offshoot of those early Christian theologies.
Euhemerus wrote as a storyteller. Storytelling can be a
Among more “secular” scholars, it is remarkable that a
way of conveying the sacred, of speaking about the sacred,
number have taken Euhemerus very seriously as a rationalist,
which we find in virtually all places and all times. Yet Eu-
and some have even developed theories that resemble his
hemerus’s narrative came to be viewed as an early attempt
supposed rational reductionism. The theory of “animism”
to find some rational basis of religion, and its author came
proposed by E. B. Tylor (1832–1917) lingers to this day—
to be seen as a sort of rationalist explainer. From the time
for example, in the writings of journalists who need a short-
of the early church fathers on, certain trends in Western
hand label (“animist”) to identify the religions of peoples in
thought caused theologians and other scholars to approach
remote parts of the world, peoples who once would have
Euhemerus as if he were a critic or debunker of the gods.
been called “savage,” “pagan,” or “primitive.” Tylor’s theory
Nevertheless, euhemerism lost little of its prestige. The
concerns the origin of religion and displays a mechanical
French scholar Abbé Banier (1673–1741) used it eagerly in
cause-and-effect rationalism, which many thought they saw
his work La mythologie et les fables expliqués par l’histoire (My-
(and liked) in Euhemerus.
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EUSEBIUS
Turning away from rationalizing and theorizing about
(History of the church) at Caesarea during the persecution,
the origins of religion, one can confront the fact of the ex-
possibly though not certainly after composing at a slightly
traordinary importance of storytelling. The medieval world,
earlier date a first draft of it as well as a first draft of his
Christianized as it was, told stories and performed plays in
Chronicon (Chronicle). At the end of the persecution, in spite
which Jesus, Joseph, and Mary, and of course the devil, spoke
of occasional slanders concerning apostasy spread by his ene-
with one another. And, of course, there were songs. And in-
mies, he became bishop of Caesarea. During this time he
stitutions or authorities did not condemn storytelling and
continued to update his Historia and composed other signifi-
songs.
cant works, such as the Demonstratio evangelica and Prae-
paratio evangelica. He gradually became involved in the
It remains true that most of the time in most of the
Arian controversy; his defense of a traditional subordination-
world the myths of each religious tradition have been stories.
ist Christology partly resembling Origen’s was criticized by
Certainly in Greece and in antiquity in general, doctrines of
many fellow bishops. Indeed, a synod held at Antioch in 324
“faith” were inconceivable. The sloppy habit of equating reli-
or 325 condemned him and a few others, though he was
gion with faith is a modern deviation, a by-product of Chris-
given the right of later appeal. At the synod held at Nicaea
tian church history; faith cannot be translated, for example,
Eusebius set forth the local creed of Caesarea but accepted
into the languages of classical India or China.
the Alexandrian term homoousios (“of the same substance”),
SEE ALSO Animism and Animatism; Apotheosis; Atheism;
which transformed the creed’s meaning. Thereafter he
Deity; Fetishism; Hellenistic Religions; Manism; Utopia.
helped drive the pro-Nicene bishop Eustathius out of Anti-
och, acted as a judge when Athanasius was brought before
B
several synods, and attacked Marcellus of Ancyra as a Sabelli-
IBLIOGRAPHY
Bolle, Kees W. “In Defense of Euhemerus.” In Myth and Law
an. At the celebration of Constantine’s thirtieth anniversary
among the Indo-Europeans: Studies in Indo-European Compar-
Eusebius delivered a panegyric on the emperor and his di-
ative Mythology, edited by Jaan Puhvel, pp. 19–38. Berkeley,
vinely inspired deeds. Similar themes appear in his Life of
1970.
Constantine, written after 337. Eusebius died before the
Brown, Truesdell S. “Euhemerus and the Historians.” Harvard
synod of Antioch in 341.
Theological Review 39 (1946): 259–274.
Eusebius is known less for his deeds than for his multi-
Diels, Hermann, and Walther Kranz, eds. Die Fragmente der Vor-
tudinous writings, some of which are lost. Constant revision
sokratiker. 6th ed. Berlin, 1952.
and the transfer of materials from one work to another make
Ferguson, John. Utopias of the Classical World. London and Ithaca,
his development as a writer difficult to assess. He was an exe-
N.Y., 1975.
gete, an apologist, a historian, and a panegyrist, but his vari-
ous roles cannot be completely separated.
Fontenrose, Joseph. Python: A Study of Delphic Myth and Its Ori-
gins. Berkeley, 1959.
As exegete he followed the example of Origen in his tex-
Manuel, Frank A. The Eighteenth Century Confronts the Gods.
tual criticism and made some use of the latter’s works in his
Cambridge, Mass., 1959.
commentaries on Isaiah and Psalms. In addition, he pro-
Puhvel, Jaan. Comparative Mythology. Baltimore, 1987.
duced “canons” for finding gospel parallels and wrote an in-
troduction to theology (General Elementary Introduction, of
Vallauri, Giovanna. Origine e diffusione dell’evemerismo nel pensiero
which parts survive in his Eclogae propheticae). Biblical exege-
classico. Torino, Italy, 1960.
sis recurs throughout the Demonstratio, primarily in regard
Vries, Jan de. Perspectives in the History of Religions. Translated by
to Old Testament prophecies of Christ and the church.
Kees W. Bolle. Berkeley, 1967.
Eusebius’s apologetic is implicit throughout the Historia
Winiarczyk, Marek, ed. Euhemeri Messenii reliquiae. Leipzig and
and explicit in the Praeparatio (sages and seers anticipated
Stuttgart, Germany, 1991. Contains the fragments, testimo-
Christianity, although inadequately), the treatise Against
nies, and a full bibliography on Euhemerus.
Hierocles (Christ superior to Apollonius of Tyana, a first-
KEES W. BOLLE (2005)
century wonder-worker), and the twenty-five lost books
against the Neoplatonist philosopher Porphyry, who had
written against Christians and criticized Origen. A treatise
EUSEBIUS
that survived only in a Syriac version is titled On the Theoph-
(c. 260/70–c. 339), a Christian bishop of
any; it combines materials from other books.
Caesarea in Palestine from 314, was a leading early Christian
historian, exegete, and apologist. A disciple of Pamphilus at
As historian, Eusebius is best known for his ten books
Caesarea, Eusebius wrote a life of his master and called him-
on the history of the church from its divine origin to Con-
self “of Pamphilus.” He traced his intellectual descent to Ori-
stantine’s defeat of the pagan emperor Licinius in 324. The
gen, and with Pamphilus wrote a defense of Origen against
work does not discuss the later conflicts over Arianism, Meli-
the theological and personal criticisms current during the
tianism, and Donatism, or the synods of 324 and 325. A late
persecution of 303–313. Little is known of Eusebius’s early
edition deletes Eusebius’s expectation that Constantine’s son
life, but it seems clear that he wrote his Historia ecclesiastica
Crispus would be the emperor’s heir; the deletion must have
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EUTYCHES
2885
been made after Crispus’s execution in 326. The main
of history, not philosophical theology, as the key to exegesis
sources of the Historia lay in the church archives and libraries
and apologetics.
at Caesarea and Jerusalem, where there was no documenta-
tion for the churches of the West or for many churches of
BIBLIOGRAPHY
the East. Eusebius seems to have known little about the
Most of Eusebius’s works have been critically edited by Ivar A.
church of Antioch and had the good sense to refuse transla-
Heikel and others in Eusebius Werke: Die griechischen chris-
tion there in about 330. His strong emphasis on Alexandrian
tlichen Schriftsteller der ersten drei Jahrhunderte (Berlin,
Christianity results from his love for the school of Origen.
1902–1975). Most important in this collection is the three-
volume Kirchengeschichte, edited by Eduard Schwartz (Leip-
Eusebius’s panegyrics usually start from his own experi-
zig, 1908). Other texts can be located through Johannes
ences. Thus his work The Martyrs of Palestine (two editions)
Quasten’s Patrology, vol. 3 (Utrecht and Westminster, Md.,
was based largely on his own acquaintance with the persecu-
1960), pp. 309–345. Quasten also takes note of the modern
tion in 303–313; he visited Egypt perhaps in 312, where he
literature. Important secondary sources include Glenn F.
witnessed mass executions of Christians. He praised also
Chesnut’s The First Christian Histories (Paris, 1977), Pierre
other martyrs (especially of Gaul), the benefactors who re-
Nautin’s Origène: Sa vie et son œuvre (Paris, 1977), Robert
M. Grant’s Eusebius as Church Historian (Oxford, 1980), and
built the ruined church at Tyre, and above all the emperor
Timothy D. Barnes’s Constantine and Eusebius (Cambridge,
Constantine as the divinely appointed champion of Chris-
Mass., and London, 1981).
tianity.
ROBERT M. GRANT (1987)
It may be that Eusebius’s major contribution was as li-
brarian or bibliographer. To him is owed the collections of
Origen’s letters and the stories of “ancient martyrdoms.” The
Chronicon, Historia, Praeparatio, and Demonstratio are essen-
EUTYCHES (c. 378–454), was the archimandrite and
tially collections of collections or even source books without
founder of the monophysite heresy. Eutyches was born in
very full annotation. In other words, his materials may be
Constantinople and was archimandrite of a monastery near
more important than what he did with them. Although one
there. As sponsor of the eunuch Chrysaphius, Eutyches
has to watch for deletions, misconceptions, and other errors,
was very influential in the imperial court. Chrysaphius was
Eusebius does not usually falsify his materials, but his chang-
one of the more powerful counselors of the emperor Theodo-
ing attitudes have left strange juxtapositions in the text of the
sius II.
Historia.
Eutyches was the originator of an extreme form of mo-
He was conciliatory toward pagan philosophy and poli-
nophysitism that came to be called Eutychianism. In reaction
tics but hostile toward pagan religion, in which he could see
to the separationist Christology of Nestorius (who accepted
a main cause of the Great Persecution. In this regard he was
two distinct natures in Christ), Eutyches concluded that
aligned with Origen, but he underestimated the ultimate
there was in Christ a single nature. When Theodoret of Cyr-
force of the newer Alexandrian theology and its preference
rhus wrote the Eranistes against Eutyches’ opinions, Flavian,
for orthodoxy over the harmony that Eusebius, like Constan-
the patriarch of Constantinople (446–449), sent Eutyches to
tine, had supported. During his lifetime he enjoyed good for-
the Council of Constantinople (448) for judgment.
tune. He was in imperial favor at least during his last decade,
Eutyches appeared at the council but refused to accept
and by 340 his opponent Eustathius was dead, Athanasius
the existence of two natures in Christ and was on that ac-
in exile, and Marcellus about to be deposed. The question
count condemned and deposed. Flavian’s successor on the
of his supposed Arianism has agitated historians of doctrine
throne of Constantinople, Cyril, was, however, sympathetic
for centuries, but it cannot be answered without greater
to Eutyches’ teaching, which corresponded to the general
knowledge of the theology of the early fourth century.
framework of the teaching of the Alexandrian school, rather
His place in the history of Christian learning and litera-
than that of the Antiochene school. Because Cyril assumed
ture was high during his lifetime and continued so for centu-
that Flavian was a representative of the Antiochene school,
ries. Those who wrote the history of the Eastern church in
he opposed the measures taken against Eutyches. Cyril pro-
the fifth and sixth centuries invariably refered to his work as
moted the convocation of a synod that later became known
basic and irrefutable. Less innovative or skilled in philosophy
as the Robber Synod (449), which restored Eutyches and
than Origen, he was more concerned with tradition, and this
condemned and deposed Eusebius of Dorylaeum—who also
concern led him to an exegesis often more sober and literal.
opposed the heresy of Nestorius—as well as Flavian. Despite
It was this concern, also, that led to his search for early Chris-
this, and on account of the loss of imperial favor because of
tian documents. Perhaps he succeeded to the headship of Or-
the death of Theodosius II (450), Eutyches was expelled
igen’s school at Caesarea. It is possible that the lost life of
from his monastery. The new emperors, Pulcheria and her
Eusebius by his successor Acacius resembled the panegyric
consort Marcian, convoked an ecumenical council at Chalce-
that a disciple, probably Gregory Thaumaturgus, addressed
don in 451, which denounced the Robber Synod, excommu-
to Origen. If so, there must have been significant differences.
nicated Dioscorus (patriarch of Alexandria who had presided
A disciple of Eusebius would have insisted on the importance
over the synod), restored the expelled bishops, and con-
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2886
EVAGRIOS OF PONTUS
demned Nestorianism, as well as Eutyches along with his
tian monks he encountered their hostility. They did not like
teachings.
“the cultured Greek living in their midst.” Still the Desert
Eutyches believed that after the union of the divine and
Fathers exerted a significant influence on Evagrios’s spiritual-
the human in Christ, there were no longer two natures but
ity. He was to live among these monks until his death.
one, and this one nature was a mingling of the two. After
Evagrios was a prolific author of theological and ascetic
this blending, only the divine nature remained, because the
essays, biblical commentaries, and letters. Some of his writ-
human nature was absorbed by the divine. The Council of
ings survive in the original Greek but most have survived
Chalcedon, by contrast, affirmed that within Christ there are
only in Syriac, Armenian, or Latin translations. His writings
united, without confusion or division, two natures that are
reveal his indebtedness to Origen, the Desert and the Cappa-
wholly God and wholly human.
docian fathers (Gregory of Nyssa in particular), and his con-
cern with mystical and ascetic theology.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Among some fourteen authentic works by Evagrios is
The texts of Eutyches’ Confessions of Faith and several of his letters
a trilogy: the Praktikos, the Gnostikos, and the Kefalaia gnos-
can be found, along with notes and commentary, in Eduard
tika. The first is a comprehensive exposition of his ascetic
Schwartz’s Der Prozess des Eutyches (Munich, 1929). See also
W. H. C. Frend’s The Rise of the Monophysite Movement
philosophy in short chapters intended for simple monks; the
(Cambridge, U.K., 1979), which includes sources and a bib-
second is a continuation of the Praktikos for educated monks;
liography.
and the third, the most important, known also as the Proble-
mata gnostika, develops his cosmological, anthropological,
THEODORE ZISSIS (1987)
Translated from Greek by Philip M. McGhee
and philosophical thought. It is here that Origen’s influence
on Evagrios is most apparent. This work was used for Eva-
grios’s condemnation by the Second Council of Constanti-
nople (553). Evagrios’s most important essay, known as
EVAGRIOS OF PONTUS (345–399), also known
“Chapters on Prayer,” is preserved in its original Greek under
as Evagrios Pontikos; Greek theologian and mystic. Evagrios
the name of Nilus of Ancyra.
was surnamed Pontikos because he was a native of Pontus,
Evagrios is acknowledged as an important spiritual in-
in Asia Minor. He was born to a prosperous, educated fami-
fluence on Christian spirituality and Islamic Sufism. He in-
ly. His father was a chorepiskopos, a bishop, of an area adja-
fluenced Maximos the Confessor, Dionysius the Areopagite,
cent to the family estates of Basil of Caesarea. Evagrios stud-
and John of Klimakos (John Climacus) and became the fore-
ied under Basil, who ordained him a reader. When Basil died
runner of the hesychasts of later Byzantium. Through Ru-
in 379, Evagrios became a disciple of Gregory of Nazianzus,
finus and John Cassian, Evagrios’s ascetic and mystical theol-
who ordained him deacon and took him under his aegis.
ogy influenced John Scottus Eriugena as well as Bernard of
Under the Cappadocian fathers, Evagrios became a skilled
Clairvaux and other Cistercian mystics.
theologian. Directly or indirectly influenced by the thought
of Origen and Gregory of Nyssa, he viewed Hellenism as an
BIBLIOGRAPHY
enrichment rather than as a corruption of Christianity.
Primary Sources
When Gregory of Nazianzus moved to Constantinople
Evagrios’s works (including fragments) in their original Greek can
as patriarch, Evagrios was invited along. There he participat-
be found in Patrologia Graeca, edited by J.-P. Migne, vols.
ed in the deliberations of the Council of Constantinople
40 and 79 (Paris, 1858–1860)—in volume 79, s.v. Nilus An-
(381), which brought the Arian controversy to an end and
cyranus—and in Nonnenspiegel und Mönchsspiegel des Eua-
established the Nicene Creed in its final form. The young
grios Pontikos, edited by Hugo Gressmann (Leipzig, 1913).
deacon impressed many in the council with his brilliant
Sources in other languages include The Praktikos: Chapters
mind and skillful debating.
on Prayer, translated and edited by John Eudes Bamberger
(Spencer, Mass., 1970); The Ecclesiastical History by Socrates
When Evagrios fell in love with a married woman, he
Scholasticus (London, 1884), bk. 4, pt. 23; Evagriana Syria-
decided to leave the capital and seek peace and salvation in
ca: Textes inédits du British Museum et de la Vatican, edited
the monastic life. He traveled to centers of monasticism in
and translated by Joseph Muyldermans (Louvain, 1952); and
Egypt and Palestine, where he was the guest of Melania, the
The Lausiac History by Palladios, edited and translated by
Roman aristocrat who ran a hospice on the Mount of Olives
Robert T. Meyer (Westminster, Md., 1965).
for Christian pilgrims. He also became acquainted with Ru-
Secondary Sources
finus, who had founded a monastery near the Mount of Ol-
Works about Evagrios and the milieu in which he flourished in-
ives. Later he moved to Egypt, where he spent two years in
clude Ioustinou I. Mouseskou’s Euagrios ho Pontikos (Athens,
the mountains of Nitria and fourteen in the nearby Desert
1937); Hrothrd Glotobdky’s “Euagrios ho Pontikos,” in
of the Cells (a settlement where six hundred anchorites
Ethik¯e kai threskeutik¯e enkyklopaideia, vol. 5 (Athens, 1964);
lived). In Egypt, he came under the influence of the Macarii
and Derwas J. Chitty’s The Desert a City (Crestwood, N.Y.,
monks, known as the Makroi Adelphoi (Long Brothers),
1977).
champions of Origenism. Early in his life among the Egyp-
DEMETRIOS J. CONSTANTELOS (1987)
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EVANGELICAL AND FUNDAMENTAL CHRISTIANITY
2887
EVANGELICAL AND FUNDAMENTAL
advances in technology and technique in an evangelistic
CHRISTIANITY. The term evangelicalism usually re-
struggle for human hearts. In an attempt to nurture their
fers to a largely Protestant movement that emphasizes:
constituents, especially their children, within their own sub-
culture, fundamentalists withdraw from Western culture
(1) the Bible as authoritative and reliable;
into communities and institutions of their own creation that
(2) eternal salvation as possible only by regeneration (being
often parallel the communities and institutions of secular
“born again”), involving personal trust in Christ and in
culture. Both evangelicalism and fundamentalism are com-
his atoning work;
plex coalitions reflecting the convergences of a number of
(3) a spiritually transformed life marked by moral conduct
traditions.
and personal devotion, such as Bible reading and prayer;
EMERGENCE OF EVANGELICALISM. Although evangelicalism
and
is largely an Anglo-American phenomenon, its origins give
(4) zeal for evangelism and missions.
it ties with European Protestantism. The central evangelical
doctrines, especially the sole authority of the Bible and the
Among Lutherans the term evangelical has long had a more
necessity of personal trust in Christ, reflect Reformation
general usage, roughly equivalent to Protestant, and some
teachings. Seventeenth-century Puritanism solidly implanted
neo-orthodox theologians have used the term in its broad
these emphases in a part of the British Protestant psyche, es-
sense of “gospel believer.” In the Spanish-speaking world, the
pecially in the North American colonies. In the eighteenth
term evangélico roughly parallels the Lutheran usage, refer-
century this heritage merged with parallel trends in continen-
ring in general to non-Catholic Christian groups of any
tal pietism. The influence of the Moravians on John Wesley
stripe, although historically most evangélicos have in fact been
(1703–1791) best exemplifies this convergence. Wesley’s
evangelicals as more narrowly defined above. In the English-
speaking world, evangelical designates a distinct movement
Methodist movement in the mid-eighteenth century was
that emerged from the religious awakenings of the eighteenth
part of a wider series of awakenings and Pietist renewal
century and that by the early nineteenth century had taken
movements appearing in Protestant countries from the late
clear shape in the United States, in England and the British
seventeenth century through much of the nineteenth centu-
Empire, and in many mission fields.
ry. In England the awakenings were manifested in Method-
ism, in evangelical renewals among nonconformists, and in
Fundamentalism is a subspecies of evangelicalism. The
the rise of a notable evangelical party in the Church of En-
term originated in the United States in 1920 and referred to
gland. By the mid-nineteenth century, evangelicalism was
evangelicals who considered it a chief Christian duty to com-
the most typical form of Protestantism in Great Britain.
bat uncompromisingly “modernist” theology and certain
secularizing cultural trends. Organized militancy was the fea-
In the United States, evangelicalism was even more in-
ture that most clearly distinguished fundamentalists from
fluential. Evangelical religion had fewer well-established
other evangelicals. Fundamentalism originated as primarily
competitors than in the Old World. The rise of the United
an American phenomenon, although it has British and Brit-
States as a new nation and the rise of evangelicalism coincid-
ish Empire counterparts, is paralleled by some militant
ed, so the religion often assumed a quasi-official status. Evan-
groups in other traditions, and has been exported worldwide
gelical emphasis on voluntary acceptance of Christianity also
through missions.
was well matched to American ideas of individual freedom.
Whereas fundamentalism and fundamentalist continue
The character of American evangelicalism began to take
to be useful terms for historians, they are less useful as terms
shape during the Great Awakening of the eighteenth century.
descriptive of any particular group, in part because the term
This movement, really a series of revivals throughout the
has become so pejorative in Western culture that only the
middle decades of the century, brought together several
extreme right wing of evangelicalism would welcome being
movements. These included New England Puritanism, con-
labeled as such. In addition, the distinction between funda-
tinental Pietism, revivalist Presbyterianism, Baptist anti-
mentalist and evangelical is not always an easy one to make,
establishment democratic impulses, the Calvinist revivalism
and what can be said of fundamentalists can often be said,
of the Englishman George Whitefield (1714–1770), and
at least in part, of some (even most) evangelicals. Neverthe-
Methodism (which surpassed all the others after the Revolu-
less, the term is applied with some usefulness to the more
tionary era). During the first half of the nineteenth century,
theologically and culturally conservative wing of evangelical-
evangelicalism developed a strong populist base and became
ism, although the precise parameters of that wing are open
by far the most common form of Protestantism in the United
to conjecture.
States. Evangelicalism had many denominational varieties
The two characteristics by which fundamentalists are
but tended to blend Calvinist and Methodist theologies, to
most easily recognized represent both an engagement with
emphasize conversion experiences evidenced by lives freed
Western culture and a rejection of it. Fundamentalists chal-
from barroom vices, to vigorously promote revivals and mis-
lenge Western culture in an organized, militant battle over
sions, and to view the church as a voluntary association of
secularizing cultural trends even as they appropriate the latest
believers founded on the authority of the Bible alone.
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2888
EVANGELICAL AND FUNDAMENTAL CHRISTIANITY
By the early nineteenth century evangelicals in Great
of premillennialism among most of the newer evangelical
Britain and the United States had established a formidable
movements of the day. Premillennialists looked to the second
network of nonsectarian “voluntary societies” to promote
coming of Christ as the only cure for the world’s social and
their causes. Of these the various missionary societies,
political woes. New emphasis on personal holiness, notably
founded around the beginning of the century, were the most
exemplified in the rise of the Keswick holiness movement in
prominent, providing, together with denominational agen-
Britain after 1875, reflected similar tendencies. Keswick
cies, the home support for the most massive worldwide mis-
teaching, which spread widely among American evangelical
sionary effort ever seen. Home missionary endeavors were
and later fundamentalist followers of Moody, stressed per-
comparably vigorous, supported by a host of agencies for
sonal victory over sin, personal witnessing about the gospel,
promoting evangelism, founding Sunday schools, distribut-
and support of missions as chief among Christian duties.
ing Bibles and religious tracts, establishing schools and col-
Keswick was only one of several new holiness movements
leges, and bringing the gospel to various needy groups. Re-
that flourished among evangelicals in the mid- and late nine-
vivalism spearheaded such efforts, exemplified best in the
teenth century. Most of these movements had generic ties
extensive campaigns of Charles Finney (1792–1875) both in
with Methodism and Wesley’s teachings concerning Chris-
the United States and in England. These mission and evan-
tian perfection. Some holiness groups, most notably the Sal-
gelistic efforts were accompanied by campaigns, organized by
vation Army, founded in England in 1865, combined their
voluntary societies, for charity and social reform. On both
evangelism with extensive charitable work among the needy.
sides of the Atlantic evangelicals played leading roles in com-
Others among an emerging number of holiness denomina-
bating slavery; in Great Britain, especially under the leader-
tions emphasized more the personal experience of being
ship of William Wilberforce (1759–1833), they were influ-
filled by the Holy Spirit. Such emphasis in heightened forms
ential in bringing about its abolition throughout the empire.
was apparent in the rise in the United States after 1900 of
Evangelicals promoted other reforms, including Sabbatarian
Pentecostalism, which also brought separate denominations
and temperance legislation, prison reform, and the establish-
and almost exclusive emphasis on intense personal spiritual
ment of private charities. Such reforming spirit was usually
experience. By the early twentieth century, evangelicalism
part of a postmillennial vision of steady spiritual and moral
was thus subdivided into a variety of camps on questions of
progress leading to a millennial age of the triumph of the gos-
personal holiness and the nature of spiritual experience.
pel throughout the world, after which Christ himself would
return. When linked in the popular mind with notions of
Equally important during this same era, from the later
the progress achievable through science, the focus brought
decades of the nineteenth century to World War I, was that
by romanticism to the possibilities inherent in individuals,
evangelicals found themselves in a new world intellectually.
and the manifest destiny of the Anglo-Saxon race on the
Darwinism became the focal symbol of a many-faceted revo-
North American continent, this evangelical vision lent itself
lution in assumptions dominating the culture. Some of the
to a triumphalist view of what could be achieved by Ameri-
early debates over Darwinism left an impression, damaging
cans in the New World. The downside of this heady brew
to evangelicalism, that modern science and biblical Chris-
of evangelicalism and patriotism was at times a nativist im-
tianity were inherently opposed. A deeper issue, however,
pulse that fed both racism and anti-Catholicism.
was a broader revolution in conceptions of reality and truth.
Rather than seeing truth as fixed and absolute, Western peo-
THE LOSS OF CULTURAL DOMINANCE. In the latter half of
ple were more and more viewing it as a changing function
the nineteenth century, the vigorous evangelicalism that had
of human cultural evolution. Religion, in such a view, was
grown so successfully in the early industrial era found itself
not absolute truth revealed by the deity but the record of de-
in a new world. The concentrated new industrialism and the
veloping human conceptions about God and morality. Such
massively crowded cities tended to overwhelm the individu-
conceptions were devastating when applied to the Bible,
alistic and voluntaristic evangelical programs. Conceptions
which in the higher criticism of the late nineteenth century
of dominating the culture became more difficult to maintain.
often was regarded as simply the record of Hebrew religious
Evangelicals accordingly increasingly stressed those aspects of
experience.
their message that involved personal commitment to Christ
and personal holiness rather than social programs, although
The widespread evangelical consensus was shaken to its
aspirations to be a major moral influence on the culture
foundations. The absolute authority of the Bible as the
never entirely disappeared. The evangelicalism of Dwight L.
source of the doctrine of salvation was widely questioned,
Moody (1837–1899) exemplified this trend. Moody, like
even within the churches. Moral absolutes based on Scrip-
Finney before him, had great successes in both the United
ture were also questioned; again the questioning was often
States and Great Britain. He omitted entirely, however, Fin-
from within the churches. The result was a profound split
ney’s postmillennial emphasis on social reform, stressing in-
in most of the denominations that had been at the center of
stead the importance of rescuing the perishing from the sink-
the mid-nineteenth-century evangelical alliance. Liberals,
ing ship that was the condemned world. This increasing
sometimes called “modernists” in the early twentieth centu-
sense of evangelical alienation from Anglo-American culture
ry, adjusted Christian doctrine to fit the temper of the times.
was reflected in Moody’s premillennialism and in the growth
God’s revelation of his kingdom was not so much in startling
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EVANGELICAL AND FUNDAMENTAL CHRISTIANITY
2889
supernatural interventions as in working through the best in
pensationalists in battles against liberal theology and higher
the natural processes of the growth of civilization and morali-
criticism of the Bible.
ty. Essentially, Christianity was not so much a doctrine of
The other major innovation widely accepted by funda-
eternal salvation for another world as a divine revelation of
mentalists was the Keswick holiness teaching. The same
a humane way of life for this world. Sometimes liberals advo-
groups of Bible teachers who taught dispensationalism wide-
cated a “social gospel,” based on the progressive politics of
ly promoted Keswick doctrine as well. These leaders estab-
the early twentieth century, to replace the individualism of
lished regular summer Bible conferences and, more impor-
older evangelicalism’s conceptions of salvation. Many tradi-
tant, founded a network of Bible institutes for training lay
tionalist evangelicals, on the other hand, resisted these trends
workers in evangelism. These institutes, together with local
toward more naturalistic, relativistic, and modern concep-
churches and agencies directly promoting revivalism, such as
tions of the heart of the gospel, continuing rather to preach
those of Billy Sunday (1862–1935), provided the principal
traditional evangelical doctrine of a miraculous Bible whose
institutional base for fundamentalism.
revelation centered on describing the means of divine rescue
from sin, death, and hell.
Fundamentalism was also a mood as much as a set of
doctrines and institutions. It was a mood of militancy in op-
THE RISE OF FUNDAMENTALISM. Fundamentalism arose in
position to modernist theology and to some of the relativistic
this context. It combined an organized militant defense of
cultural changes that modernism embraced. This militancy
most traditional evangelical doctrines with some of the reviv-
provided the basis for a wider antimodernist coalition that
alist evangelical innovations of the nineteenth century. The
emerged as a distinct movement in the United States during
most important of these innovations, eventually accepted by
the 1920s. The immediate occasion for the appearance of
most fundamentalists, was the elaborate system of biblical in-
fundamentalism was the sense of cultural crisis that gripped
terpretation known as dispensationalism. Dispensationalism
the United States after World War I. Reflecting this mood,
was a version of the premillennialism popularized among re-
fundamentalism gave focus to the anxieties of Protestant tra-
vivalists in the late nineteenth century. Originated in En-
ditionalists. This focus was directed first of all against the
gland especially by the Plymouth Brethren leader John Nel-
modernists in major denominations, most notably the major
son Darby (1800–1882), dispensationalism was developed
Baptist and Presbyterian churches in the northern United
and promoted in the United States principally by Bible
States. Especially in the years from 1920 to 1925, fundamen-
teacher associates of Moody, such as Reuben A. Torrey
talists led major efforts to expel such liberals from their de-
(1856–1928), James M. Gray (1851–1935), and C. I. Sco-
nominations, but these efforts met with little success. The
field (1843–1921), editor of the famous dispensationalist
other focus was American culture itself. The United States
Scofield Reference Bible, published in 1909.
seemed to many evangelicals to have lost its Christian and
Dispensationalism is a systematic scheme for interpret-
biblical moorings. World War I precipitated this sense of
ing all of history on the basis of the Bible, following the prin-
alarm, for the war sped up a revolution in morals that, de-
ciple of “literal where possible”; biblical prophecies, especial-
spite the rearguard action of Prohibition legislation, replaced
ly, are taken to refer to real historical events. This approach
Victorian evangelical standards with the public morals of the
yields a rather detailed account of all human history, which
Jazz Age. The international crisis also generated fears of social
is divided into seven dispensations, or eras, of differing rela-
upheaval at home, particularly alarm about the rise of bolshe-
vism and atheism in the United States during the “red scare”
tionships between God and humanity (such as the Dispensa-
of 1919 and 1920. Many Protestants also remained con-
tion of Innocence in Eden or the Dispensation of Law, from
cerned about the social and moral impact of the immense
Moses to Christ). The last of these eras is the millennium,
immigration of the preceding half century and were antago-
which will be preceded by the personal return of Jesus, the
nistic to the spread of Roman Catholic influences.
secret “rapture” of believers who are to “meet him in the air,”
a seven-year period of wars among those who remain on
Fundamentalists saw all these factors as signs of the end
earth (resulting in the victory of Christ), the conversion of
of a Bible-based civilization in the United States. Their chief
the Jews, and the establishment of a kingdom in Jerusalem,
social anxieties, however, centered on the question of evolu-
where Jesus will reign for exactly one thousand years before
tion. During the war, extreme propaganda had convinced
the Last Judgment. Such exact interpretations of prophecy
most Americans that Germany, the homeland of the Refor-
committed dispensationalists firmly to a view of the Bible as
mation, had lapsed into barbarism. The same thing might
divinely inspired and without error in any detail. The “iner-
happen in the United States. The “will to power” philosophy
rancy” of Scripture in scientific and historical detail accord-
of Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), said the propagandists,
ingly became the key test of faith for fundamentalists. This
had destroyed German morals. Fundamentalists contended
doctrine, while not entirely novel in the history of the
that this was an evolutionary philosophy and that evolution-
church, was also given a new and especially forceful articula-
ary and relativistic ideas had long been incorporated into
tion by nondispensationalist Presbyterian traditionalists at
German theology, now taught by liberals in America’s
Princeton Theological Seminary, especially Benjamin B.
churches. Under the leadership of William Jennings Bryan
Warfield (1851–1921), who for a time was allied with dis-
(1860–1925), fundamentalists campaigned to bring the
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EVANGELICAL AND FUNDAMENTAL CHRISTIANITY
United States back to the Bible by banning the teaching of
Another element in the generation that had been raised
biological evolution in public schools. This crusade brought
on the fundamentalist controversies of the 1920s sought to
organized fundamentalism into the American South, where
bring the movement back toward a broader evangelicalism.
homegrown Protestant antimodernist tendencies had been
Without rejecting entirely their fundamentalist heritage,
strong since the Civil War. The fundamentalist antievolu-
they nonetheless softened the militancy and often moved
tion campaign reached its peak in the 1925 trial of John
away from dispensationalism. Repudiating separatism as a
Scopes (1900–1970) in Dayton, Tennessee, for teaching bio-
test of the faith, they especially emphasized positive evange-
logical evolution in a high school. At the highly publicized
lism. By the early 1940s a distinct movement with these em-
proceedings, Bryan debated the lawyer Clarence Darrow
phases was apparent, signaled by the founding of the Nation-
(1857–1938) concerning the authenticity of biblical mira-
al Association of Evangelicals (NAE) in 1942. In contrast to
cles. Bryan was ridiculed in the world press, and his death
the smaller, militantly separatist American Council of Chris-
shortly after the trial signaled the beginning of a decline of
tian Churches, founded in 1941 by the fundamentalist Carl
early fundamentalist efforts to control American culture.
McIntire (1906–2002), the NAE included Pentecostal and
During the late 1920s the strength of fundamentalist efforts
holiness denominations as well as individual members who
to purge major northern denominations also declined dra-
remained in major American denominations.
matically. During this era organized fundamentalism had
Following World War II, some younger leaders, notably
some branches in Canada and some relatively small counter-
Harold John Ockenga (1905–1985), Carl F. H. Henry
parts in Great Britain.
(1913–2003), and Edward J. Carnell (1919–1967), orga-
In the United States, fundamentalism was only the
nized a “neoevangelical” movement with the explicit purpose
prominent fighting edge of the larger evangelical movement.
of moderating and broadening fundamentalist evangelical-
During the decades from 1925 to 1945 the public press paid
ism. Joined by Fuller, they organized the Fuller Theological
less attention to fundamentalist complaints, but the move-
Seminary in Pasadena, California, in 1947. Their efforts
ment itself was regrouping rather than retreating. During
were vastly aided by the emergence of Billy Graham as Amer-
this time fundamentalism developed a firmer institutional
ica’s leading evangelist after 1949. This group in 1956 also
base, especially in independent local churches and in some
founded Christianity Today to provide a solid periodical base
smaller denominations, although considerable numbers of
for the movement.
fundamentalists remained in major denominations. The re-
The final break in the fundamentalist-evangelical move-
vivalist heritage of the movement was especially apparent in
ment came with Graham’s New York crusade in 1957. Gra-
this era, as it turned its strongest efforts toward winning the
ham accepted the cooperation of some prominent liberal
United States through evangelization. In addition to tradi-
church leaders. Separatist fundamentalists such as Bob Jones
tional means for evangelization, fundamentalists developed
Sr. (1883–1968), founder of Bob Jones University; John R.
effective radio ministries. Particularly prominent was Charles
Rice (1895–1980), editor of the influential Sword of the Lord;
E. Fuller’s (1887–1968) Old-Fashioned Revival Hour, which
and McIntire anathematized Graham and the neoevangeli-
by 1942 had a larger audience than any other radio program
cals as traitors from within. Neoevangelicals in turn soon
in the United States.
ceased altogether to call themselves fundamentalists, prefer-
Fundamentalist evangelicals also founded new sorts of
ring the designation “evangelical.”
ministries, such as Youth for Christ, begun in 1942, which
In the meantime, Graham’s crusade in Great Britain in
soon had hundreds of chapters across the country. Bible in-
1954 set off a small flurry of ecclesiastical debate known as
stitutes, such as Moody Bible Institute in Chicago and the
the “fundamentalist controversy” in England. This designa-
Bible Institute of Los Angeles, remained important centers
tion confused the terminological issue, since in England the
for the movement, training and sending out evangelists and
friends of Graham, rather than just his more conservative en-
missionaries, conducting Bible conferences, establishing ef-
emies, were called fundamentalists. (British parlance of the
fective radio ministries, and publishing many books and pe-
era often lacked the distinction between fundamentalist and
riodicals.
evangelical that developed in the United States after the late
THE NEW EVANGELICALS. A sharp tension was developing
1950s.) In any case conservative evangelicalism remained a
in the fundamentalist-evangelical movement that survived
factor in British church life, especially in the evangelical party
the controversies of the 1920s. This tension led eventually
in the Church of England. Influenced considerably by the
to a deep split between “fundamentalists” and “evangelicals.”
long-standing university ministry of the Inter-Varsity Fel-
The fundamentalists kept in the forefront the militancy that
lowship, and less a product of the sensational promotional
had characterized the movement in the 1920s. Furthermore,
competitions that characterized American revivalism, British
they followed the logic of their military metaphors by adding
evangelicalism was often more sophisticated and less militant
ecclesiastical separatism as a test of true commitment. This
than its American counterparts and played an important role
separatist stance sometimes also reflected the influence of dis-
in the intellectual leadership of the international movement.
pensationalism, which taught that the Bible prophesied the
Throughout the English-speaking world there are also coun-
decline and apostasy of the major churches during the pres-
terparts to the more strictly fundamentalist, holiness, and
ent era.
Pentecostal groups found in the United States.
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EVANGELICAL AND FUNDAMENTAL CHRISTIANITY
2891
THE REEMERGENCE OF EVANGELICALISM IN THE PUBLIC
nominations and evangelical Methodists were only tangen-
EYE. Evangelicalism was indeed a widespread international
tially related to the organized fundamentalist evangelical
phenomenon, even if its Anglo-American manifestations
movement. So also were most Pentecostals and charismatics,
provided its most focused identity as a distinct movement.
who sponsored some of the largest television ministries and
The Pietist varieties of worldwide Protestantism were scarce-
set the tone for much of the evangelical resurgence. Peace
ly distinguishable from Anglo-American evangelicalism.
churches were generally evangelical in doctrine but preserved
Moreover, nearly two centuries of massive missionary efforts
a heritage distinct from fundamentalist evangelicalism. Con-
had planted evangelical communities in most of the nations
fessional denominations, such as the Missouri Synod Luther-
of the world. The sense of identity of an international evan-
an and the Christian Reformed Church, were close allies of
gelicalism was evidenced in world conferences, notably the
evangelicals but always kept enough distance to preserve dis-
1966 World Congress on Evangelism in Berlin and the 1974
tinct doctrinal heritages.
International Congress on World Evangelization in Lau-
Many evangelicals were in major American denomina-
sanne, Switzerland. Such gatherings were initially organized
tions, such as Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist, Disciples of
primarily by Anglo-American friends of Graham, but they
Christ, or Episcopal, but might be as much shaped by the
also marked the emergence among evangelicals of significant
distinctiveness of their denomination’s history as by a con-
voices and leadership from developing nations. The Lau-
scious evangelical identity. Others in such denominations
sanne congress, for instance, included over two thousand
might identify closely with the doctrines and emphases of a
participants from 150 countries. Traditional evangelical em-
parachurch evangelistic agency, such as Campus Crusade,
phases on the reliability and authority of Scripture and on
founded by Bill Bright in 1951. Such variety within evangeli-
the urgency for world evangelization were apparent, but so
calism, compounded by many denominational and regional
was emphasis on the necessity of social and political concern
differences, suggests that generalization about the movement
for aiding the poor and victims of injustice.
is hazardous.
In the United States, in the meantime, evangelicalism
Such hazards are especially great concerning evangeli-
reemerged on the public scene with renewed vigor. During
cals’ political stances. Whereas one important strand of nine-
the 1970s the American media suddenly discovered that
teenth-century American evangelicalism was politically pro-
evangelicalism was a major force in American life. Evangeli-
gressive and reformist, in the twentieth century most
calism had in fact been growing steadily for many years, so
fundamentalist evangelicals and other white evangelicals
the numbers of evangelicals had grown to at least forty or
were politically conservative. After the 1960s, however, more
fifty million, whereas other Protestants and Roman Catho-
variety reappeared, especially among spokespersons of the
lics were declining in numbers. Once evangelicals were dis-
sort who hold conferences and issue declarations. Evangelical
covered, they became conspicuous in the media, boasting
voices have been heard across the spectrum of political op-
many sports and entertainment stars. Being “born again”
tions, although most of the evangelical constituency is at
suddenly became a political asset, evidenced in 1976 by the
least moderately conservative.
victorious presidential campaign of Jimmy Carter, and evan-
gelicalism was reckoned as a powerful if mysterious political
THE CONTINUING IMPACT OF FUNDAMENTALIST EVANGEL-
force.
ICALS. Most hard-line fundamentalists went their separate
ways after about 1950, reorganizing themselves loosely in a
The discovery of evangelicalism reflected not only real
number of fellowships or smaller denominations. The largest
growth and change in the movement but also the power of
fellowship was the Baptist Bible Fellowship, founded by fun-
a concept. Numerous strands in American religious life were
damentalists who split with the volatile Texas fundamentalist
now viewed as part of a more or less unified “evangelicalism.”
F. Frank Norris. By the early 1980s this fellowship claimed
Such a perception was at once helpful and deceptive. It was
to represent two to three million members. During this era
helpful in pointing to a large phenomenon: Christians who
some local fundamentalist pastors built huge churches,
shared fundamental evangelical beliefs. It was deceptive,
claiming both membership and Sunday school attendance of
however, in its implication that their movement was more
over ten thousand each by the 1970s. Prominent among
unified than it actually was. Certainly evangelicalism as a
these were Jack Hyles’s First Baptist Church of Hammond,
movement that could claim forty or fifty million adherents
Indiana, Lee Roberson’s Highland Park Baptist Church in
was much larger than the consciously organized evangelical
Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Jerry Falwell’s Thomas Road
movement that had grown out of fundamentalist evangeli-
Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia. Typically, such min-
calism and that was led by associates of Graham. For in-
istries were structured as small, individually run empires, in-
stance, black evangelicals, including most of black Protes-
cluding branch chapels, a college, publications, radio and
tantism, had little to do with that fundamentalist
television broadcasts, missionary work, and specialized min-
evangelicalism, even though most of their beliefs and empha-
istries. The total number of members of strictly separatist
ses were closely parallel. The same was true, but to a lesser
fundamentalist churches in the United States by 1980 was
degree, of much of the Southern Baptist Convention, the
perhaps around five million, although the number of evan-
largest of American evangelical groups. Most holiness de-
gelicals leaning toward fundamentalism was probably much
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EVANGELICAL AND FUNDAMENTAL CHRISTIANITY
greater. Moreover, such militant fundamentalism spread
television ministry. Some strict fundamentalists condemned
throughout the English-speaking world, and active missions
such efforts because they involved cooperation with Roman
carried its doctrines to every nation where Christian missions
Catholics, Orthodox Jews, neoevangelicals, and other alleged
were permitted.
apostates.
Soul winning and church growth are the fundamental-
Nonetheless, the Moral Majority brought together sev-
ist’s first concerns, as they are for most evangelicals. In addi-
eral long-standing fundamentalist concerns with political is-
tion, extreme militancy against theological liberalism led
sues of the time. Most evangelicals and almost all fundamen-
many fundamentalists to emphasize separation even from
talists, for instance, had long held conservative views on the
other evangelicals, especially neoevangelicals, charismatics,
role of women, on the family, and on questions related to
and members of large groups, such as the Southern Baptist
sexuality. Sparked by the legalization of abortion in 1973,
Convention. The question of separation also divided funda-
the women’s movement and the proposed Equal Rights
mentalists among themselves. Some fundamentalist leaders,
Amendment, legislation proposing increased rights for ho-
especially those associated with Bob Jones University, advo-
mosexuals, and general permissiveness, many fundamentalist
cated “second-degree separation”—that is, separation even
and conservative evangelicals expressed alarm. The Moral
from fellow fundamentalists who are not strict fundamental-
Majority focused such sentiments and organized them politi-
ists. In the 1970s, for instance, Bob Jones III attacked the
cally. Reaching a constituency well beyond fundamentalists
noted fundamentalist evangelist Rice for publishing materi-
and fundamentalist evangelicals, its program included en-
als by Southern Baptists in his widely read paper the Sword
dorsement of American conservative political ideals: smaller
of the Lord.
government, larger military, patriotism, and freedom for
businesses. Fundamentalists, supported by the Moral Major-
Most fundamentalists are militant dispensationalists,
ity, also successfully revived the antievolution crusade, intro-
usually claiming that the signs of the times indicate that
ducing legislation into a number of states that would require
within a few years the dramatic events surrounding the re-
the teaching of fundamentalist “creation science” (arguments
turn of Christ will bring the present era to a violent end. The
that the earth is no more than ten thousand years old) when-
dispensationalist heritage has made most fundamentalist
ever biological evolution is taught in public schools.
evangelicals sympathetic to the state of Israel, whose exis-
tence as a nation is viewed as the fulfillment of prophecy and
Perhaps the closest parallel to such late-twentieth-
a key trigger of end-time events. Dispensationalists also take
century American political fundamentalism was the militant
literally the biblical promises of blessing to countries that
Protestantism in Northern Ireland led by Ian Paisley. Paisley,
support Israel. This sympathy by large numbers of evangeli-
an avowed fundamentalist with connections to American
cals has had a considerable impact on American foreign poli-
leaders such as Jones and McIntire, mixed conservative Prot-
cy. During the 1970s, dispensationalist prophetic views at-
estantism with aggressive political anti-Catholicism. The
tracted wide interest, as indicated by the popularity of Hal
long history of the Irish conflict, however, has given Irish
Lindsey’s book The Late Great Planet Earth (1970), of which
fundamentalism a character more violent than its American
some ten million copies were printed during the decade. The
counterparts. A far more genteel political action movement
graphic dispensationalist vision for the end times continued
with some evangelical leadership was England’s Festival of
to attract interest far beyond the fundamentalist or even
Light, an organization prominent in the 1970s and 1980s in
evangelical communities. The pastor and author Tim
its efforts to maintain public decency, particularly in matters
LaHaye’s Left Behind series of novels, essentially a fictional-
concerning sexuality. In general, evangelicalism in Great
ization of the events described earlier by Lindsey and any
Britain was less political and less confrontational than in the
number of dispensational prophecy teachers, became phe-
United States, put relatively more emphasis on evangelism
nomenal best-sellers in the 1990s and early 2000s. The
and missions, operated more through traditional denomina-
books regularly debuted at number one on the New York
tions, and was a much less influential force in the culture at
Times best-seller list, and over forty million copies (fifty mil-
large.
lion counting the graphic novels and children’s versions) had
been sold by 2003.
In the United States the organized political coalitions
of the Christian Right had their greatest influence in the pe-
Until the later 1970s most separatist fundamentalists
riod from 1980 to 1994. Contributors to the Republican
were not active politically. Some prominent fundamentalist
electoral victory of Ronald Reagan in 1980, they were none-
leaders, such as McIntire and Billy James Hargis, were in the
theless frustrated by the mainstream positions of Reagan on
forefront of anticommunist crusades during the decades fol-
cultural issues. In 1988 the television evangelist Pat Robert-
lowing World War II, but such activists probably did not
son entered the Republican presidential primaries and gained
represent the majority of the movement. Fundamentalists
considerable early attention by mobilizing approximately 10
emerged as a considerable force in American political life
percent of the Republican vote in the states where he ran.
with the formation of the Moral Majority in 1979. This po-
Robertson’s Christian Coalition reached its greatest strength
litical coalition of fundamentalists and some other political
in the 1990s, when conservative Christians were instrumen-
conservatives was led by Falwell and benefited from his large
tal in electing a strongly Republican House of Representa-
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EVANGELICAL AND FUNDAMENTAL CHRISTIANITY
2893
tives led by the outspoken Speaker of the House, Newt Gin-
remains high. Polls conducted in the late 1990s reveal that,
grich. Despite these advances, conservative Christians
whereas 13 percent of the U.S. population self-identify as ei-
continued to find most of their political goals frustrated. Per-
ther fundamentalist or evangelical, 33 percent of the U.S.
haps most important, the Christian Coalition marked the
population are members of or attend conservative Protestant
consolidation of a culturally conservative wing of evangelical-
denominations that theologically, at least, fall within the
ism solidly entrenched in the Republican Party. By the
evangelical camp.
1990s, conservative politics were taken for granted in many
In addition, evangelicalism in all its forms became one
of the largest evangelical and fundamentalist churches and
of the West’s leading cultural exports as North American
organizations, although there were always exceptions.
missions came to dominate the world missionary movement.
By the end of the twentieth century, as liberal Christians ei-
A high-water mark for fundamentalist-leaning evangeli-
ther lost the missionary impulse or transferred it to social
cals in church life was the 1990s, when they completed a
welfare agencies, such as the Peace Corps, evangelicals took
long campaign to take over control of the central agencies
over the missionary enterprise. Fundamentalists and evangel-
and theological seminaries of the Southern Baptist Conven-
icals founded “faith missions” by the score in the late nine-
tion, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, essential-
teenth century and early twentieth century. These agencies,
ly winning the kind of denominational battle they had been
modeled on J. Hudson Taylor’s (1832–1905) influential
losing since the early twentieth century. Although some
China Inland Mission (1865), refused to pay salaries or to
Southern Baptist leaders resisted following the lead of what
raise funds in any overt fashion. Influenced by Keswick piety,
they considered “Yankee-based evangelicalism,” they now
which promoted slogans such as “Let go and let God,” the
found themselves fighting over issues such as inerrancy, bat-
new missions professed to rely solely on God to supply re-
tles that had been fought among fundamentalists and evan-
cruits and the necessary funds. After enduring some difficult
gelicals in the North and the West several decades previous.
times, they learned to supplement faith in God with aggres-
In response to losing control of key institutions, Southern
sive publicity within the evangelical community. By midcen-
Baptist moderates took advantage of the decentralized Bap-
tury many of these agencies had high profiles in the evangeli-
tist polity to form their own organizations.
cal community and routinely attracted some of the most
The influence of Pentecostal and charismatic models of
committed evangelical young people. By the end of the
church life is another key development within Western evan-
twentieth century, roughly 90 percent of American foreign
gelicalism after 1970. If fundamentalist militancy set the
missionaries were evangelical. American missionary efforts
tone for much of evangelicalism in the era from the 1920s
helped spark the huge growth of evangelical Protestantism
through the 1960s, the charismatic and Pentecostal churches
in Latin America and Africa. Aided largely by the massive
set the tone after that. This is especially true in styles of wor-
growth of Pentecostal and charismatic churches, whose ad-
ship and methods of ministry. The 1960s created an atmo-
herents number in the hundreds of millions worldwide, most
sphere in which visionary evangelical pastors began experi-
of worldwide Protestantism developed a distinctly evangeli-
menting with new ways of reaching out to the broader
cal character.
culture. Many churches initially developed during this peri-
SEE ALSO Christian Social Movements; Millenarianism,
od became megachurches, pulling in thousands every Sunday
overview article; Modernism, article on Christian Modern-
and spawning virtual denominations of like-minded church-
ism; Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity; Protestant-
es around the country and the world. Churches such as Cal-
ism.
vary Chapel and the Vineyard in southern California or Wil-
low Creek in the suburbs of Chicago, whereas conservative
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2895
great size and complex plan, images of bulls’ horns, the motif
World War II he worked at intervals, when free from mili-
of the double ax, and depictions of young men and women
tary service, among the bedouin of Cyrenaica. In 1944 he
performing acrobatic feats with bulls furnished attractive
joined the Roman Catholic church. He taught at the Univer-
parallels with Greek legend: labrus means “ax,” so that
sity of London, Fuad I University in Cairo, Cambridge Uni-
labyrinthos suggests “the place of the ax,” to which, according
versity, and finally Oxford, where in 1946 he succeeded
to legend, seven young men and seven young women were
A. R. Radcliffe-Brown as professor of social anthropology.
sent from Athens each year to encounter the Minotaur.
He retired in 1970, was knighted in 1971, and died in Ox-
Evans interpreted the double ax as symbolizing, or marking
ford in September 1973.
the presence of, the Cretan Zeus, a deity of quite different
type from the Indo-European sky god of the same name with
Evans-Pritchard’s work in religion is unique. It is based
whom he became identified. The Cretan Zeus died and was
on brilliant, sensitive, and meticulous field research, on his
reborn in an annual cycle. Also important in Minoan religion
mastery of languages (he was fluent in Arabic, Zande, and
was the association of trees and pillars as cult objects, a theme
Nuer), and on his deep knowledge and understanding of the
Evans discussed in works published in 1900, in the earliest
work of his predecessors, in particular those sociologists
days of the excavation, and in 1931.
(Durkheim et al.) associated with L’année sociologique. Most
of his writings on religion fall into one of four main catego-
Evans faced the usual difficulties of interpreting reli-
ries: works on the Azande, the Nuer, the Sanusi, and com-
gious objects in the absence of verbal evidence. (The Linear
parative and theoretical topics.
B tablets, which proved to be records of tribute paid and
other stocktaking records, have added very little.) In the
Each piece of Evans-Pritchard’s research and writing is
manner of his day, Evans was an evolutionist and comparat-
based on certain central problems in anthropology, although
ist, and he drew heavily on the folklore and practice of other
never limited to them in a narrow sense. His work among
cultures. Evaluations of his interpretations vary, but in the
the Azande, a cluster of kingdoms of the southwestern
field of Greek religion, as in other branches of classical
Sudan, led to the publication of Witchcraft, Oracles, and
studies, his importance rests on the abundance of material
Magic among the Azande (1937), perhaps the outstanding
he excavated and assiduously published.
work of anthropology published in this century. It is con-
cerned essentially with questions asked, although hardly an-
B
swered in any convincing manner, by Lucien Lévy-Bruhl in
IBLIOGRAPHY
Evans’s views on Minoan-Mycenaean religion are to be found in
his writings on “primitive” and “scientific” modes of
The Mycenaean Tree and Pillar Cult and Its Mediterranean
thought. The questions as to whether there are differences
Relations (London, 1901) and The Earlier Religion of Greece
between these two modes of thought and, if so, what they
in the Light of Cretan Discoveries (London, 1931); the latter
are and how they might function in social contexts are basic
was Evans’s Frazer Lecture for 1931 at the University of
to anthropology, and Evans-Pritchard’s discussion of them
Cambridge. The full account of the Knossos excavation is
has changed the nature of anthropological inquiry. He writes
contained in The Palace of Minos, 4 vols. in 6 (London,
about Zande notions of magic, witchcraft, and divination,
1921–1935).
that is, their notions of natural and supernatural causation
New Sources
and interference in people’s everyday lives. He shows that
Harrington, Spencer P M. “Saving Knossos: The Struggle to Pre-
Zande ideas are rational and systematic; given certain prem-
serve a Landmark of Europe’s First Great Civilization.” Ar-
ises of knowledge they are closed and self-perpetuating, and
chaeology 52, no. 1 (January-February 1999): 30–40.
they are not held in isolation but are consistent with forms
MacGillivray, J. A. Minotaur: Sir Arthur Evans and the Archaeology
of authority and power found in Zande society. This is essen-
of the Minoan Myth. New York, 2000.
tially a study of rationality and corrects all earlier views about
A. W. H. ADKINS (1987)
the “irrationality” of so-called primitive peoples. Later
Revised Bibliography
Evans-Pritchard published an immense number of Zande
texts, in both Zande and English, with commentaries. This
work is probably the greatest single corpus of the myths and
tales of an African culture that has yet been published and
EVANS-PRITCHARD, E. E. (1902–1973), was an
confirms one of his strongest beliefs: that “primitive” texts
English anthropologist. Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard was
are not quaint “folkloristic” stories but are as worthy of care-
the son of a clergyman of the Church of England. He took
ful analysis as those of literate cultures.
a degree in history at the University of Oxford and in 1927
a doctorate in anthropology at the University of London,
Evans-Pritchard’s Nuer Religion (1956) is the final vol-
where he was supervised by C. G. Seligman. His thesis was
ume of a trilogy on the Nuer of the southern Sudan (the oth-
based on field research undertaken from 1926 to 1930
ers are The Nuer, 1940, and Kinship and Marriage among the
among the Azande of the Sudan. He carried out research
Nuer, 1951). In this book he presents Nuer religious thought
among the Nuer, another Sudanese people, intermittently
and ritual as a system of theology that has a subtlety and pro-
between 1930 and 1935 and also for brief periods among the
fundity comparable to those of literate cultures. Here he
Anuak, the Luo, and other East African peoples. During
takes up another basic problem raised by Lévy-Bruhl, that
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2896
EVE
of “mystical participation” between human beings and what
EVE, or, in Hebrew, H:avvah; the first woman in the cre-
in ethnocentric terms are called the supernatural and the nat-
ation narratives of the Hebrew Bible, according to which she
ural. This problem is examined within the context of a series
was formed from one of the ribs of Adam, the first man (Gn.
of related aspects of Nuer religion: conceptions of God, spir-
2:21–23). In this account the creator god wished for Adam
its, the soul, and ghosts; symbolism; sin and sacrifice; and
to have a mate and so brought all the beasts of the fold and
priesthood and prophecy. Because of Evans-Pritchard’s great
birds of the sky before him to see what he would call each
skill in unfolding the complexity of Nuer religious thought,
one (Gn. 2:19). However, among these creatures the man
never since has it been possible for scholars of comparative
found no one to be his companion (Gn. 2:20). Accordingly,
religion to dismiss a nonliterate religion as “primitive” or as
this episode is not solely an etiology of the primal naming
a form of “animism.” Throughout this work, as in that on
of all creatures by the male ancestor of the human race but
the Azande, Evans-Pritchard stresses what he considered to
an account of how this man (ish) found no helpmeet until
be the central problem of anthropology, that of translation—
a woman was formed from one of his ribs, whom he named
not the simple problem of translation of words and phrases
“woman” (ishshah; Gn. 2:23). This account is juxtaposed
in a narrow linguistic sense, but the far more complex ques-
with a comment that serves etiologically to establish the so-
tion of translation of one culture’s experience into the terms
cial institution of marriage wherein a male leaves his father
of another’s.
and mother and cleaves to his wife so that they become “one
Evans-Pritchard’s other “ethnographic” work on reli-
flesh” together (Gn. 2:24). The matrimonial union is thus
gion is rather different, taking as its basic problem the rela-
a reunion of a primordial situation when the woman was, lit-
tionship between prophets (a topic raised earlier in his work
erally and figuratively, flesh of man’s flesh.
on the Nuer) and forms of religious and political authority
Such a version of the origin of the woman, as a special
as exemplified in the history of the Muslim Sanusi order in
creation from Adam’s body, stands in marked contrast to the
Cyrenaica (The Sanusi of Cyrenaica, 1951). Here he was able
creation tradition found in Genesis 1:27b, where there is a
to use written records as well as his own field research, and
hint that the primordial person (adam) was in fact an an-
he produces a model account of religious history and change.
drogyne. Alternatively, this latter half-verse may have been
Evans-Pritchard’s last achievement in the study of reli-
concerned with correcting a tradition of an originally lone
gion is his many critical writings on the history of the anthro-
male by the statement that both male and female were simul-
pology of religion, of which the best known is Theories of
taneously created as the first “Adam.”
Primitive Religion (1965). It is a superb and sophisticated
This mythic image of a male as the source of all human
study of the relations between thought, ideology, and
life (Gn. 2:21–22) reflects a male fantasy of self-sufficiency.
society.
The subsequent narrative introduces a more realistic perspec-
The influence of E. E. Evans-Pritchard’s writings in the
tive. Thus, after the woman has succumbed to the wiles of
anthropological study of religion has been immense. There
the snake, eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and
has been little later analysis made of modes of thought, sys-
evil, and shared it with her husband, she is acknowledged as
tems of causation, witch beliefs, sacrifice, notions of sin, and
a source of new life—albeit with negative overtones, since the
ritual symbolism that has not been influenced by, if not
narrative stresses the punishment of pain that must be borne
based upon, his work. In addition, much recent research on
by Adam’s mate and all her female descendants during preg-
the philosophy of knowledge has leaned heavily on his book
nancy and childbirth. In token of her role as human genetrix,
on the Azande. Evans-Pritchard’s influence upon younger
the man gave to the woman a new name: she was thenceforth
anthropologists has been great. The anthropological, histori-
called Eve—“for she was the mother of all life” (Gn. 2:19).
cal, and comparative study of religions owes more to him
This new name, Eve (Heb., H:avvah), is in fact a pun
than to any other anthropologist.
on the noun for “life” (Heb., h:ay), since both h:avvah and
h:ay allude to old Semitic words (in Aramaic, Phoenician, and
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Arabic) for “serpent,” as the ancient rabbis noted. Another
The main works of Evans-Pritchard are cited in the article. The
intriguing cross-cultural pun should be recalled, insofar as it
most insightful view of his work, in the form of an obituary,
may also underlie the key motifs of the biblical narrative.
is by T. O. Beidelman, “Sir Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard,
1902–1973: An Appreciation,” Anthropos 69 (1974): 553–
Thus, in a Sumerian myth it is told that when Enki had a
567. Beidelman is also the editor of A Bibliography of the
pain in his rib, Ninhursaga caused Nin-ti (“woman of the
Writings of E. E. Evans-Pritchard (London, 1974). Mary
rib”) to be created from him. Strikingly, the Sumerian logo-
Douglas’s Edward Evans-Pritchard (New York, 1980) is a
gram ti (in the goddess’s name) stands for both “rib” and
fuller but rather uneven account.
“life.”
New Sources
According to one rabbinic midrash, Eve was taken from
Burton, John W. An Introduction to Evans-Pritchard. Fribourg,
the thirteenth rib of Adam’s right side after Lilith, his first
Switzerland, 1992.
wife, had left him (Pirqei de-Rabbi Eli Eezer 20). Other leg-
JOHN MIDDLETON (1987)
ends emphasize Eve’s susceptibility to guile and persuasion.
Revised Bibliography
Christian traditions use the episode of Eve to encourage the
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EVIL
2897
submission of women to their husbands (cf. 2 Cor. 11:3, 1
Moreover, the sort of fate that seems to lead the sick and
Tm. 2:22–25). Several church fathers typologically com-
aging to the threshold of death tends to make mortality the
pared Eve with Mary, the “new Eve” and mother of Jesus:
very emblem of the human condition. From this, it is easy
the sinfulness and disobedience of the former were specifical-
to take the next step and consider suffering and death as pun-
ly contrasted with the latter. The temptation motif and the
ishments. Do not guilt and mortality constitute the same
banishment of Eve and Adam are frequently found in medi-
enigma?
eval Jewish and Christian illuminated manuscripts and in
The persistence of mythical representations of evil can
Persian iconography. The theme is also found in medieval
be explained by a third phenomenon, namely the extraordi-
morality plays and in the apocalyptic tract Life of Adam
nary way in which guilt and suffering remain intertwined
and Eve.
with a stage of development in which the human mind be-
SEE ALSO Adam; Lilith.
lieves it has freed itself from the realm of mythical representa-
tions. To declare someone guilty is to declare that person de-
B
serving of punishment. And punishment is, in its turn, a
IBLIOGRAPHY
Ginzberg, Louis. The Legends of the Jews (1909–1938). 7 vols.
suffering, both physical and moral, inflicted by someone
Translated by Henrietta Szold et al. Reprint, Philadelphia,
other than the guilty party. Punishment, as suffering, there-
1937–1966. See the index, s.v. Eve.
fore bridges the gap between the evil committed and the evil
Mangenot, Eugène. “Eve.” In Dictionnaire de théologie catholique,
suffered. This same boundary is crossed in the other direc-
vol. 5, cols. 1640–1655. Paris, 1913.
tion by the fact that a major cause of suffering lies in the vio-
Speiser, E. A. “Genesis.” Anchor Bible, vol. 1. Garden City, N.Y.,
lence that human beings exercise on one another. In fact, to
1964.
do evil is always, directly or indirectly, to make someone else
suffer. This mutual overlapping of evil done and evil suffered
MICHAEL FISHBANE (1987)
prevents the two major forms of evil from ever being entirely
separate and, in particular, from ever being entirely stripped
of their enigmatic character. An essential opaqueness in the
EVIL.
human condition is therefore bound up with the experience
If there is one human experience ruled by myth, it
of evil, which is continually carried back to its darkness, its
is certainly that of evil. One can understand why: the two
obscurity, by the exercise of violence, always unjust, and of
major forms of this experience—moral evil and physical
punishment, even when it is held to be just.
evil—both contain an enigmatic element in whose shadows
the difference between them tends to vanish.
This invincible connection of moral evil and physical
On the one hand, it is only at the conclusion of a thor-
evil is expressed on the level of language in the specific “lan-
oughgoing critique of mythical representations that moral
guage game” designated by the general term lamentation.
evil could be conceived of as the product of a free act involv-
Lamentation, indeed, is not confined to the moanings rising
ing human responsibility alone. Social blame, interiorized as
up from the abyss of suffering, announcing the coming of
guilt, is in fact a response to an existential quality that was
death. It encompasses the guilty and the victims, for the
initially represented as a stain infecting the human heart as
guilty suffer twice over, first by blame, which states their un-
if from outside. And even when this quasi-magical represen-
worthiness, and then by punishment, which holds them
tation of a contamination by an external or superior power
under the reign of violence. With lamentation, the experi-
is replaced by the feeling of a sin of which we are the authors,
ence of evil becomes heard. The cry becomes a voice, the
we can feel that we have been seduced by overwhelming
voice of the undivided enigma of evil. Lamentation forms a
powers. Moreover, each of us finds evil already present in the
bridge between the evil committed or suffered and the myth.
world; no one initiates evil but everyone has the feeling of
And indeed it connects suffering to language only by joining
belonging to a history of evil more ancient than any individ-
a question to its moaning. “Why evil?” “Why do children
ual evil act. This strange experience of passivity, which is at
die?” “Why me?” In turning itself into a question, lamenta-
the very heart of evildoing, makes us feel ourselves to be the
tion itself appeals to myth.
victims in the very act that makes us guilty.
MYTHS OF EVIL. How does myth reply to the enigma of evil?
It provides the first explanatory schema available to humani-
On the other hand, it is also only at the conclusion of
ty. Myth replies to “why?” with “because”—which claims to
a comparable critique of mythical representations that physi-
fulfill the request for sense that is the mediation of lamenta-
cal evil is recognized as the effect of natural causes of a physi-
tion. We shall discuss, in conclusion, why this claim is
cal, biological, and even social nature: sickness, which often
doomed to fail. But first we must discuss the power of myth.
takes the form of great epidemics ravaging entire popula-
tions, simultaneously attacks each person in the very depths
Before stressing the fantastic, legendary, and even deliri-
of his existence by making him suffer and is spontaneously
ous side of myths, three features must be noted that define
experienced as an aggression, at once external and internal,
myth, at least provisionally, as an appropriate response to the
coming from maleficent powers that are easily confused with
“why?” that rises up from lamentation. The first characteris-
those that seduce the human heart and persuade it to do evil.
tic of myth is to state an order indivisibly uniting ethos and
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2898
EVIL
cosmos. By encompassing in a single configuration celestial
of evil. It is precisely here that the myth forms the great ma-
and terrestial phenomena, inanimate and animate nature,
trix in which are rooted the sapiential, Gnostic, and properly
seasons and festivals, labors and days, myth offers a privileged
speculative modes of the great discourse proffered by human-
framework of thought within which to link together moral
kind in the space opened up by lamentation between the cry
evil and physical evil, guilt and mortality, violence and pun-
and utter silence. In this sense, myth remains the schema for
ishment: in short, a framework that preserves, in its answer,
all subsequent speculation. The question then arises whether,
the unity of the enigma of evil as a question.
outside any hierarchical order of discourses, this great phan-
tasmagoria of evil lends itself to some typology that will not
Next, the ambivalence of the sacred, as Rudolf Otto de-
do violence to its proliferating diversity.
scribes it, confers upon myth the power of taking on both
the dark and the luminous sides of human existence. Many
A prudent reply is needed to this methodological ques-
myths point to a primordial sphere of existence that can be
tion: on the one hand, myths of evil lend themselves to classi-
said to be beyond good and evil. Finally, myth incorporates
fication by virtue of their narrative character, mentioned
our fragmentary experience of evil within great narratives of
above as the third general feature of the mythical universe.
origin, as Mircea Eliade has stressed in his many works on
Narratives of origin are presented as dramas recounting how
this topic. By recounting how the world began, myth re-
evil began; it is therefore possible to apply a structural analy-
counts how the human condition reached the wretched and
sis to them that reduces them to a relatively limited number
miserable form that we know it to take. Theogony, cosmogo-
of ideal types, in Max Weber’s sense—that is, of paradigms
ny, and anthropogenesis therefore form a single narrative
constructed by comparative science midway between the
chain that scans the “great time” of origin. Order, ambiva-
clearly transcendental a priori and empirical proliferation.
lence, and omnitemporality are thus the major features of
The ideal types are those of an exemplary story, organizing
myth, owing to which the mythical explanation can claim
segments of action, characters, fortunate and unfortunate
to provide an all-encompassing framework for evil.
events, as in the great epics that take place in our time, after
the beginning.
This is all we can say about myth in general, however,
without running the risk of applying to one precise category
The proliferation of myths can thus be mastered to a rel-
of myth characters belonging solely to another. This is not
ative degree by a typology of dramatic paradigms. On the
to imply that we must cease to speak of myth in general: the
other hand, individual myths contain so many inconsistent
case of myths of evil is exemplary in this respect. It appears,
elements, which convey a desperate attempt to explain the
in fact, that myth, considered as a type of discourse, draws
unexplainable in order to give an account of what is inscruta-
a certain unity from the place it assumes in a hierarchy of
ble, that they prove to be in large part hostile to all classifica-
levels of discourse that can be organized according to stages
tion. At the most they present “family resemblances” that
of increasing rationality. Myth constitutes in this regard the
cause a number of overlaps between types of myth. There is
lowest level, coming before wisdom and gnosis, which leads
no myth that, in some way or other, does not coincide with
to the threshold of the rationalizing theodicies of philosophy
another myth. In this way we are prevented from working
and theology. One must be aware, however, that the order-
out a table of the strict play of differences and combinations
ing principle thus alleged is the offshoot of a certain idea of
among myths. In The Symbolism of Evil, I proposed a typolo-
reason that was, in the West, born with philosophy itself. A
gy limited to the ancient Near East and to archaic Greece,
purely comparativist approach could never assume unreserv-
that is, to the cultural memory of the European. (I shall dis-
edly this “prejudice of reason.” On the other hand, if we
cuss below a vaster typology that will take into account Indi-
bracket it completely—and doubtless this must be the case
an and Buddhist mythology.)
in a purely descriptive history of religions—then we expose
The ancient Near East and Archaic Greece. The re-
ourselves to the inverse danger, which is that the universe of
stricted typology of The Symbolism of Evil verifies the two op-
myths will splinter into an infinite number of parts.
posing characteristics mentioned above. On the one hand,
It is precisely this feature that prevails in the case of
the attempt to classify myths in terms of a limited number
myths of evil when we bracket, at least for a while, the ques-
of paradigms is relatively successful; on the other, the over-
tion of the place of myth in an ordered series of levels of dis-
lapping that occurs shows that every paradigm implies in
course. Order, ambivalence, and omnitemporality then ap-
some aspect or another a very different paradigm.
pear only as inconsequential abstract and formal elements in
For a static analysis of the myths of evil, the myths of
relation to the explanatory schemas that mythical thought
the cultural sphere considered can be divided fairly easily
has produced throughout space and time. Nowhere else as
into four great paradigms.
much as in the area of the explanation of evil does myth re-
veal itself to be this vast field of experimentation, which is
1. In the myths of chaos, illustrated most strikingly by
unfolded in the literature of the ancient Near East, India,
the Sumerian-Akkadian theogonic myths but also by the Ho-
and the Far East. In this immense laboratory everything oc-
meric and Hesiodic theogonies, the origin of evil that strikes
curs as if there were no conceivable solution that had not
humans is included within the larger narrative of the final
been tried at one point or another as a reply to the enigma
victory of order over chaos in the common genesis of the
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gods, the cosmos, and humanity. The great creation epic,
extended by that of the repetition of reincarnations, is further
Enuma elish, makes the appearance of man the final act in
darkened by the model of infernal punishment, as if life in
a drama that begins with the generation of the gods. One can
the body were the image of hell. Life is then a death, which
truly speak in this connection of an epical ontogenesis to de-
calls for a death that will be true life. Only through purifica-
scribe this sort of total narrative. As regards evil in particular,
tion, at once ethical, ritual, and meditative, can the soul be
it is noteworthy that chaos precedes order and that the prin-
delivered from this quagmire of bodily existence, which itself
ciple of evil is coextensive here with the generation of the di-
mirrors hell. In a sense, this myth alone can properly be
vine. The poem does not hesitate to characterize as evil the
termed a myth of the fall, for the incarnation itself marks the
hates, the plotting, and the murders that mark not only the
loss of an infinitely superior condition and so a loss of height,
primitive struggles among the most ancient gods but also
of altitude, which is precisely what the word fall signifies.
the victory of the younger gods—Marduk, for example, in
the Babylonian version of the myth.
4. Compared with these three paradigms, the biblical
myth of paradise lost differs in three ways. First, the Adamic
Evil therefore precedes humankind, who finds it already
myth is purely anthropological, excluding any drama of cre-
present and merely continues it. Evil, in other words, belongs
ation in which evil would originally be included: creation is
to the very origin of all things; it is what has been overcome
good, very good; humankind alone initiates evil, although
in setting up the world as it now is, but it, too, contributed
tempted, to be sure, by the serpent (an important feature dis-
to this state of affairs. This is why order is precarious and its
cussed below); but the serpent too is a creature. Next, evil
genesis must continually be reenacted by cultic rites. If, in
is clearly ethical, in the sense that it results from an act of
this family of myths, the fall is mentioned, it is never in the
disobedience. It therefore cannot be a matter of hubris,
sense of the unprecedented emergence of an evil that would
which like disobedience would represent a blindness sent
be simply “human, all too human,” but as an episode in the
down by jealous gods, although “Second Isaiah” does not
drama of creation. In the same way, the failure of the quest
hesitate, after the difficulties of exile, to make his confession
for immortality, recounted in the famous Epic of Gilgamesh,
in the form of God’s own self-presentation, as in prophesy:
is tied up with the jealousy of the gods, who trace out the
“I form light and create darkness, I make weal and create war,
boundary between the sphere of mortals and that of immor-
I am the Lord, who does all these things” (Is. 45:7). Finally,
tals by an act of violence placed beyond good and evil.
evil is not the result of the fall of the soul into a body; it con-
sists of a gap, a deviation of humankind as a whole, of the
2. An evil god and a tragic vision of existence are depict-
flesh, which is unaware of the body-soul dualism.
ed in the second paradigm of evil in European culture. Here,
evil is in a way shared by humankind and gods. It calls, on
The Adamic myth is therefore anthropological in the
the one hand, for a figure with the stature of a hero, possess-
strongest sense of the term, to the extent that Adam is Man,
ing higher qualities than ordinary men but who commits a
neither a Titan nor a captive soul but the ancestor of all hu-
grave error, which can be said to be neither the effect of mere
mankind, of the same nature as all the generations springing
ignorance, in the Socratic sense, nor the result of a deliberate-
from him. If the Adamic myth nevertheless deserves the title
ly bad choice, in the Hebraic sense. Moreover, the over-
of myth, this is inasmuch as the narrative in which it consists
whelming error that precipitates his fall is deplored by the
is incommensurate to the historical time in which the exem-
tragic chorus and by the hero himself as a blindness that has
plary adventure of the people of Israel takes place. The myth
crept over him as a result of the jealousy of the gods; thus
elevates to the level of exemplary and universal history the
the hubris of the tragic hero is at once the cause and the effect
penitential experience of one particular people, the Jewish
of the wickedness belonging to the plane of the divinities.
people. All the later speculations about the supernatural per-
Aeschylus’s Prometheus Bound is the frightening document
fection of Adam before the Fall are adventitious interpreta-
of this tragic theology and this tragic anthropology in which
tions that profoundly alter the original meaning; they tend
the hero in a sense cooperates in a loss, the origin of which
to make Adam a superior being and so foreign to our own
is superhuman. It is important to note that the tragic myth
condition. Hence the confusion over the idea of the Fall.
produced a spectacle, rather than a speculation, a spectacle
that makes the spectators participate in the tragic drama
The intention of the Adamic myth is to separate the ori-
through the catharsis of the emotions of terror and pity.
gin of evil from that of good, in other words, to posit a radi-
cal origin of evil distinct from the more primordial origin of
3. The third type is illustrated by Archaic Orphic myths,
the goodness of all created things; humanity commences evil
which are continued in Platonism and Neoplatonism. This
but does not commence creation. However, it is in the form
can be termed the myth of the exiled soul, imprisoned in a
of a story that the myth accounts for this catastrophe at the
foreign body. It assumes a radical distinction between a soul,
heart of the goodness of creation; the passage from innocence
akin to the gods, and a body, perceived as a prison or a tomb.
to sin is narrated as something that took place. That is why
Life itself appears as a punishment, possibly for some fault
the explanation given here of the origin of evil is not yet ele-
committed in a previous life. Evil is therefore identified with
vated to the plane of speculation, as will later happen with
incarnation itself and even, in certain Far Eastern mytholo-
the dogma of original sin, but remains an etiological myth
gies, with reincarnation. The model of the body-as-prison,
involving legendary characters and fabulous events.
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EVIL
With respect to its structure, the myth takes on the form
The danger of the structural approach we have followed up
of a twofold conflict: on the one hand, that between the cen-
to now lies in giving an exaggerated cohesiveness to narra-
tral figure, Adam, and the Adversary, represented by the ser-
tives of origin that also possess a composite, paradoxical, even
pent, who will later become the Devil, and on the other
extravagant character, well suited to the heuristic function of
hand, that between the two halves of a split figure, Adam and
myth, when myth is considered as a thought experiment that
Eve. From this complex configuration the Adamic myth re-
unfolds in the region of the collective imagination. This is
ceives an enigmatic depth, the second pair adding a subtle
why the static analysis of myths, governed by the search for
psychological dimension and an internal density that would
and the description of ideal types, must be completed by the
not have been attained by the confrontation between Man
addition of a dynamic approach to myths, attentive to the
and his Other alone. In this way the myth universalizes the
internal discordances that make them overlap in places and
penitential experience of the Jewish people, but the concrete
in this way outline a vast narrative and symbolic cycle.
universal that it forges remains caught up in the gangue of
the narrative and the symbolic.
If we take the Adamic myth as a point of reference, we
find in it the muted echo of all the others and vice versa. We
The protohistorical myth is the only vehicle for a specu-
can therefore speak of a tragic aspect in the Adamic myth,
lation akin to sapiential literature. In order to state the dis-
expressed in the deep and shadowy psychology of tempta-
cordance between a creation that is fundamentally good and
tion. There is a sort of fatalistic side of the ethical confession
a historical condition that is already bad, the myth has no
of sins. But there is also an irreducible remainder of the theo-
other resources than to concentrate the origin of evil in a sin-
gonic combat, which can be seen in the figure of the serpent
gle instant, in a leap, even if it stretches out this instant in
and in other biblical figures related to the primordial chaos.
a drama that takes time, introduces a series of events, and in-
What is more, the essentially ethical affirmation of God’s
volves several characters. In this way the myth reflects in its
saintliness can never entirely rid us of the suspicion that God
very structure, in which the concentrated instant and the ex-
is somehow beyond good and evil and that for this very rea-
tended drama confront one another, the structure of the phe-
son he sends evil as well as good.
nomenon of evil as such, which at one and the same time
commences with each evil act and continues an immemorial
This is why later speculation will continually return to
tradition.
what is at once an unthinkable and an invincible possibility,
namely that the deity has a dark and terrible side, in which
The etiological character of the myth is further rein-
something of the tragic vision and also something of the
forced by the narrative of the maledictions that ensue, fol-
myth of chaos is preserved and even reaffirmed. If this admis-
lowing the initial act of disobedience: every human dimen-
sion shows itself to be so persistent it is precisely because the
sion—language, work, institutions, sexuality—is stamped
human experience of evil itself contains the admission that,
with the twofold mark of being destined for the good and
in positing the existence of evil, humankind discovers the
inclined toward evil. The power of naming all beings is so
other side of evil, namely that it has always existed, in a para-
deeply perverted that we no longer recognize it except in ref-
doxical exteriority that, as stated above, relates sin to suffer-
erence to the division of speech into different tongues. Work
ing within the undivided mystery of iniquity. The acknowl-
ceases to be a sort of peaceful gardening and becomes hard
edgment of a nonhuman source of evil is what continually
labor that places man in a hostile relation to nature. The na-
gives new life to theogony and to tragedy alongside an ethical
kedness of innocence is replaced by the shame that casts the
vision of the world.
shadow of concealment over all aspects of communication.
The pain of childbirth tarnishes the joy of procreation; death
The same thing should be said with respect to the typo-
itself is afflicted by the malediction of the awareness of its
logical distance between the Adamic myth and the myth of
immanence. In short, what the myth recounts is how it hap-
the exiled soul. It is not by sheer chance that, under the influ-
pened that human beings are obliged to suffer the rule of
ence of Platonism and of Neoplatonism, the Adamic myth
hardship as we know it in our present condition. The myth’s
has almost fused with the myth of the Fall. There was most
“method” is always the same: stretching out in the time of
likely in the original myth a tendency that led it to confuse
a narrated drama the paradoxical—because simultaneous—
the quasi-external character of evil as already present with the
aspects of the present human condition.
body, understood as the sole root of evil. In the same way,
the Babylonian exile provided the model of banishment,
This is the restricted typology that we can construct in
which continues with that of the expulsion from the garden
the limited sphere of the archaic state of the European. Be-
of paradise. The symbols of captivity and of exodus that un-
fore attempting to move into other cultural spheres, it is im-
derlie the Adamic myth thus lend themselves to contamina-
portant to do justice to the contrary aspect stressed above
tion by the symbolism, coming from another source, of a
concerning the level of the typology of myths of evil: the par-
fallen “soul.” Elevating the figure of Adam above the condi-
adigms, we said, are not simply distinct from one another in
tion of ordinary mortals doubtless facilitated the reinterpre-
the sense of Weberian ideal types but they overlap with one
tation of the myth of disobedience in terms of a myth of the
another to such an extent that we can discover in each one
Fall: when Adam is represented as a sort of superman en-
some aspect that lends it a family resemblance to the others.
dowed with all knowledge, beatitude, and immortality, his
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degradation could be represented in no other way than as a
fering and ignorance, is not the same as all systems placed
fall.
under the vast heading of Hinduism, we can, following
Wendy Doniger O’Flaherty in The Origins of Evil in Hindu
This play of overlappings could be considered from the
Mythology (Berkeley, 1976), class the expression of theodicies
perspective of each of the four myths that structure the sym-
on the clearly mythological level as Puranic Hinduism. These
bolic imagination in the Western world: there is no myth of
figurative and narrative theodicies lend themselves to a cer-
chaos that, at one moment or another, does not include the
tain classification of different conceptual attitudes toward
confession of sins by a repentant sinner; there is no tragic
evil, a classification that struggles with the proliferation of
myth that does not admit the deep fault tied to a hubris for
myths to the point of succumbing under their weight.
which humankind recognizes itself to be guilty. And would
the fall of the soul be such a misfortune if humankind did
O’Flaherty, our guide through this labyrinth, observes
not contribute to it at least through consent?
that four characters can assume the role of the villain in the
drama: mortals, fate, demons, and gods. The first type of
Hindu and Buddhist mythologies. The division into
myth, which recalls the Adamic myth, seems surprising if
four great paradigms that we apply to the vast—although re-
one considers the doctrine of karman, according to which
stricted—domain of Semitic archaism and Hellenic archa-
our present experience is the direct result of the good or bad
ism, which, together, structure the cultural memory of the
actions of previous existences to be the Indian solution to the
West, itself constitutes only a restricted typology. What hap-
problem of evil. Neither gods nor demons are then to blame,
pens when Westerners attempt to extend their vision to a
and even blame itself is obliterated by the recognition of an
wider field? Does the typology offer the same features of rela-
eternal cycle in which everything is justified and finds its rec-
tive order and of multiple overlappings when we try to pass
ompense. The paradox lies in the fact that the feeling gener-
from the restricted form to a generalized form? For anyone
ated by rumination on past faults opens the way for all sorts
who undertakes the perilous task of incorporating into his
of speculation on the moral responsibility of humankind for
or her own vision the universes of thought that entertain
the origin of evil, nuanced by the attitude that human beings
complex relations of distance and proximity with one’s own
are always as much victim as guilty party (as we see in the
cultural memory, two warnings should be taken into consid-
myths of the loss of a golden age).
eration: first, it is senseless to seek to be exhaustive; there is
no Archimedes point from which one could attempt to raise
After all, the very doctrine of karman posits that the
the totality of mythical universes. We must always confine
links in the endless chain of evil are our desires and our sins;
ourselves to limited incursions into the regions that we intu-
Buddhism takes this as its starting point. The paradox, how-
itively suspect will contain treasures likely to enrich our cul-
ever, is reversed when a primordial fall is evoked; then it is
tural memory, and from this results the unavoidably selective
fate rather than humankind that is to blame. This forms a
nature of the itinerary of these incursions.
second cycle of myths, where we see God or a god create evil
as a positive element in the universe, whether he acts as a
Second, we must give up the hope of any simple taxono-
willing or unwilling instrument of fate or whether he himself
my, such as a distribution into monisms, dualisms, and
decides that evil must come to be. Logical thought tends to
mixed forms of these. These distinctions are practically use-
see a contradiction here between being constrained or decid-
less on the mythical level itself, assuming they have a less de-
ing freely to create an ambivalent universe; Hindu thought,
batable validity on the level of more speculative discourse.
however, moves effortlessly between what ultimately appears
The two examples we have chosen, Hindu mythology and
to be two variants of a dharma that abolishes the distinction
Buddhist mythology, taking into account the first warning,
between what is and what ought to be.
also raise issues related to the second warning: Hindu my-
The opposite is no less true: it is because a doctrine like
thology perhaps more than Buddhist mythology confronts
that of karman proves to be emotionally unsatisfactory in
us with a profusion of explanatory frameworks requiring a
certain ways while remaining valid in the eyes of the wise that
taxonomical refinement that challenges any classificatory
mythology continually reworks the variants, producing new
principle. Buddhist mythology, perhaps more than Hindu
divergences. It is then not surprising that mythical specula-
mythology, shows us how the same “solution” can oscillate
tion turns toward gods and demons. Myths placing guilt on
among several planes of expression, from the level of legend
the shoulders of gods or demons proliferate, all the more so
and folklore to that of a metaphysical speculation. This pro-
as ethical and cosmic dualism, illustrated in its purest and
fusion and this variation of levels constitute fearsome chal-
most coherent form by Manichaeism, was never victorious
lenges for any attempt at typology.
in India: the ambiguous nature of the demons, and even of
If we admit that theodicy is not restricted to monothe-
the gods, served to thwart this clear and radical distinction.
ism but forms the touchstone of all religions, when the exis-
India prefered to struggle with the paradox of superhuman
tential need to explain suffering and moral evil is brought to
entities, which are almost all of the same nature and which
the level of language, then we can seek and find theodicies
are distinguished and opposed to another only by their com-
in all of them. If, moreover, we admit that Vedantic Hindu-
bat. Those who always win are gods, but because their adver-
ism, in which the problem of evil is dismissed rather than
saries are never really eliminated, the kinship of the gods and
resolved by a refined speculation on the relation between suf-
the demons always resurfaces.
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EVIL
Here the guide we have chosen to follow remarks with
verses previously shaped by Hinduism. What is more, Bud-
irony that as a consequence of these reversals the gods reput-
dhism has generated within its own midst, if not a new de-
ed to be good are more wicked than we might expect and
monology, at least a mythical figure of evil, Ma¯ra, somewhat
that the demons reputed to be evil prove to be good demons.
comparable to Satan in late Judaism and in early Christiani-
This gives rise to a reflection on the demonic as such, in
ty. Buddhism reinforces in this respect the hypothesis ac-
which power overrides benevolence, thus verifying the extent
cording to which one can speak of the origin of evil only by
to which myths operate as depth probes sounding the ambiv-
way of myths. At the same time it appears to constitute a
alence of the human condition itself, while on the surface
counterexample to this hypothesis, because mythology seems
they seem to operate as explanations. By recounting our ori-
at first to be so incompatible with the purified form of spiri-
gins, where we come from, myths describe in a symbolic way
tuality characteristic of Buddhism. It is, to be sure, in the Pali
what we are: the paradox of the good demon and that of the
canon and not in the Maha¯ya¯na documents that T. O. Ling,
evil god are not merely playful fantasies but the privileged
in his Buddhism and the Mythology of Evil (London, 1962),
means of unraveling the tangled skein of passions belonging
finds the most striking illustration of this phenomenon,
to the human heart. When the myth tells, for example, how
which at first sight seems paradoxical.
the gods corrupted the demons, something is said about the
hidden perversity of the “higher” part of ourselves. When the
To begin with, one must admit that a wide gap exists
myth recounts the birth of death, it touches the secret thread
between pure Buddhist doctrine and popular mythologies
of our fright in the face of death, a fright that in fact closely
concerning the origin of evil. The latter are characterized ba-
links together evil and death and confronts death as a person-
sically by the radically external nature they attribute to de-
ified demon.
monic powers, represented as threatening, terrifying, devour-
ing creatures. In addition, as is not the case in Iranian
The fact that myths are indifferent to logical coherence
dualism, these demons form a swarm in which it is difficult
is attested to by another cycle of myths, characteristic of
to distinguish the forces of evil from the forces of good. Fi-
bhakti spirituality, where we see a god create evil (for exam-
nally, the principal resource of humans in defending them-
ple, a fallacious heresy) for the good of humanity, a lesser
selves against these external forces is an action itself turned
malediction freeing a graver one. The cycle is then complete:
toward the outside, whether this is a propitiatory sacrifice,
submitted to this stringent economy, humankind is carried
an invocation addressed to higher powers or the manipula-
back to the problem of its own evil, as in the theory of kar-
tion of hostile forces through magical actions, or even the
man. This cycle, however, is considerably vaster than that of
constraint that is supposed to be exerted on the gods by self-
the restricted typology with which we began. It is also more
mortification.
loosely knit. And it is truly in the mythic theodicies of India
that we see verified the notion suggested at the beginning of
On the other hand, if, following T. R. V. Murti in The
this article, namely that the mythical world is an immense
Central Philosophy of Buddhism (London, 1955), we take as
laboratory in which all imaginable solutions are tried.
our criterion for Buddhism the “philosophical” section of the
canon, that is the Abhidhamma Pitaka and, more precisely,
This acceptance of multiplicity by the same culture con-
Buddhaghosa’s Visuddhimagga (Path of Purification), which
firms one of the conclusions arrived at by our restricted ty-
in the Therava¯da school is at once its conclusion and com-
pology (restricted to the archaic Semitic and Greek
pendium, then we are correct in speaking of a Buddhism
worlds)—namely, that in every myth, owing to its own inco-
without mythology, as Ling does. The thinking behind this
herence, we discover a sketch in miniature that another myth
radical position is easy to understand. In the first place, the
will develop on a much larger scale. The feature that has not
doctrine is entirely directed toward the purely mental condi-
received sufficient attention, however, has to do with the dif-
tions of the evils of existence. These conditions are analyzed,
ference in level that allows us to go beyond a lower truth (for
catalogued, and hierarchized with the most extraordinary
example, the struggle between gods and demons or the cor-
care; they are also submitted to an exploration of the “depen-
ruption of demons and mortals by the gods) by means of a
dent origination” of the lines of interdependence, which al-
higher truth (for example, karman), which, far from elimi-
lows the sources of evil to be tracked down in their deepest
nating the prior truth, confirms it in its subordinate place.
hiding places. What the analysis exposes are not external
This is what Buddhism forcefully demonstrates.
forces but, basically, ignorance, which itself results from false
views of the world, generated in their turn by an overestima-
Buddhism poses a singular problem for any careful in-
tion of the self. Popular demonologies are precisely the crud-
vestigation, not only with respect to the multitude of mythi-
est sort of expression of these false points of view.
cal figures of evil, but also to the oscillation between different
levels of discourse. On the one hand, indeed, no religion has
The second reason for incompatibility with mythology
gone so far toward a speculation stripped of any narrative or
is that the analysis itself, in certain schools, is confined to
figurative element on behalf of a doctrine of inner illumina-
scholasticism, due to the subtlety of its distinctions and deri-
tion. On the other hand, Buddhism seldom appears in a
vations, and is placed in the service of a wisdom aimed at es-
form completely cut off from popular beliefs and from their
tablishing a state of emptiness, a void. This state is entirely
characteristic demonology, especially in the cultural uni-
separate from the familiar realities of everyday existence and
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2903
wholly unrelated to the fantastic creatures produced by desire
a defect: an excess resulting from a proliferation that staggers
and, even more so, by fear. Demons vanish along with all ex-
the imagination (the mythical world, Lévi-Strauss observes,
ternal reality as a result of the purifying meditation that de-
is a world that is too full); its defect is due to the mutual in-
serves the name of enlightenment.
compatibility of myths, to their internal contradictions, and,
finally, to their narrative form itself: to tell a story is not to
And yet, it is not simply a matter of making concessions
explain. Rationalization has taken a number of different
to popular beliefs if the Pali canon assigns a place in its teach-
forms: in India, this involves the grand speculations on kar-
ings to the Evil One and gives him the name of Ma¯ra. This
man, on the degrees of being, on the order of things placed
entity can be termed mythical due to his resemblance to the
beyond good and evil. In Buddhism, this concerns specula-
demons of popular belief and, more precisely, due to his per-
tion on the tie between ignorance and suffering and, above
sonification of original evil. Ling confirms here the earlier
all, on the tie between wisdom, which I shall discuss below,
analysis of Ernst W. Windisch in Ma¯ra und Buddha (Leipzig,
and suffering. In Greece, myth was surpassed by philosophy,
1895). According to both of them, this figure is finally not
which essentially separates the question of origin in the sense
foreign to the central core of Buddhism to the extent that
of foundation from the question of the beginning in the
it is part of the very experience of the Buddha’s enlighten-
sense of theogonies and genealogies. By virtue of this funda-
ment, as a force that threatens, attacks, and seeks to distract
mental clarification, Plato prefers to say that God is the cause
the individual from contemplation—a force that the wise
of good alone rather than to say, along with myth, that the
person must address, confront, and finally conquer.
gods are bad or that they are beyond good and evil.
Specialists in this field argue whether this confrontation
In the Christian sphere, rationalization takes place with-
with the threat of distraction is characteristic only of the first
in theology, mainly at the time of the confrontation with
stage in the spiritual adventure or whether it is present up
gnosis, which is still no more than a rationalized myth, and
to the end; they argue whether the proliferation of legends
in connection with an overall hellenization of speculation.
that attribute to this figure of evil the status of a demon result
In this regard, the doctrine of original sin in Augustine offers
from subsequent contamination by the surrounding demon-
at once the features of an antignosis as a result of what its
ologies or whether they develop a mythical core inherent in
conceptual framework borrows from Neoplatonism (being,
the pure doctrine. The essential point is that the figure of
nothingness, substance, etc.) and the features of a quasi gno-
Ma¯ra in its barest signification is the product of Buddhism.
sis, and hence of a rationalized myth, due to the way it mixes
Ignorance driven out by knowledge; shadows dissipated by
together the legal model of individual guilt and a biological
that enlightenment, are experienced as an inner adversity
model of contamination at birth and of hereditary transmis-
that is spontaneously personified in the figure of an adver-
sion. This is why such rationalization was continued beyond
sary. As is not the case in popular demonology, however,
this quasi gnosis in onto-theologies to which we owe the the-
Ma¯ra is personified by a single figure, symbolizing the inter-
odicies as such, in Leibniz and, finally, in Hegel. To these
nal enemy, namely the adversary of meditation.
theodicies we owe, if not a solution to the enigma of evil,
If Buddhism seems to confirm in such a paradoxical
at least the transformation of the enigma into a problem,
fashion the thesis that one can speak only in mythical terms
namely whether or not we can maintain the following three
of the origin of evil, this is because the source of evil, however
propositions at once: God is all-powerful. God is absolutely
much it may be interiorized, retains a certain hostile nature
good. Evil exists. This is not the place, however, to weigh the
that calls for a figurative approximation in terms of externali-
success or failure of rational theodicies.
ty. Expressed in external terms, the myth gives a symbolic
The path of Wisdom. Assuming that a coherent reply
expression to the interior experience of evil.
could be given to the enigma that has been raised in this way
BEYOND MYTH? Myth, however, is not alone in using lan-
to the level of a rational problem, there could still be no ex-
guage to deal with the enigma of evil. I mentioned above that
clusive means for explaining it. The question of evil, indeed,
there exists a hierarchy of different levels of discourse within
is not simply “Why does evil exist?” but also “Why is evil
which myth takes its place. We can go beyond myth in two
greater than humans can bear?” and, along with this, “Why
directions, that of theodicy and that of wisdom. These two
this particular evil? Why must my child die? Why me?” The
paths often intersect but they conform to two distinct series
question is also posed, then, to wisdom.
of requirements.
It is Wisdom’s task first to develop an argument on the
The path of theodicy. Theodicy replies to a demand
basis of this personal and intimate question that myth does
for rational coherence. This requirement stems from lamen-
not treat, since it invokes an order that does not concern in-
tation itself, inasmuch as it carries within it an interrogation:
dividual suffering. Wisdom thus forces myth to shift levels.
“Why? Why must my child die? Why must there be suffering
It must not simply tell of the origin in such a way as to ex-
and death? How long, O Lord?” But it also stems from myth
plain how the human condition reached its present miserable
itself, inasmuch as it brings the reply of a vaster and more
state; it must also justify the distribution of good and evil to
ancient order than the miserable condition of humankind.
every individual. Myth recounts a story, Wisdom argues. It
This reply, however, suffers at once from an excess and from
is in this sense that we see the Book of Job question explana-
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2904
EVOLA, JULIUS
tion in terms of retribution in the name of the just man who
Geddis, Jennifer. Evil after Postmodernism: Histories, Narratives,
suffers. If the Book of Job occupies a primary place in world
and Ethics. New York, 2001.
literature, it does so first because it is a classic of Wisdom’s
Lara, Maria Pia. Rethinking Evil: Contemporary Perspectives. Berke-
argumentative mode. But it is so because of the enigmatic
ley, 2001.
and even perhaps deliberately ambiguous character of its
Matthewes, Charles T. Evil and the Augustinian Tradition. New
conclusion. The final theophany gives no direct reply to Job’s
York, 2001.
personal suffering, and speculation must be made in more
Morrow, Lance. Evil: An Investigation. New York, 2003.
than one direction. The vision of a creator whose designs are
unfathomable may suggest either consolation that has to be
Rorty, Amélie Oksenberg. The Many Faces of Evil: Historical Per-
deferred until the eschaton, or that Job’s complaint is dis-
spectives. New York, 2001.
placed, even set aside, in the eyes of God, the master of good
Swinburne, Ricjard. Providence and the Problem of Evil. New
and evil, or that perhaps the complaint has to stand one of
York, 1998.
the purificatory tests to which Wisdom, itself grafted on a
PAUL RICOEUR (1987)
certain docta ignorantia, must submit so that Job can love
Revised Bibliography
God “for nought” in response to Satan’s wager at the begin-
ning of the tale.
This final suggestion reveals the second function of Wis-
EVOLA, JULIUS. Giulio Cesare Andrea Evola (Julius;
dom, which is no longer to develop arguments or even to ac-
1898–1974) was a cultural, religious-historical, philosophi-
cuse God but to transform, practically and emotionally, the
cal, esoteric, and political author. Evola was born in Rome,
nature of the desire that is at the base of the request for expla-
most likely to Sicilian aristocracy, and was raised Catholic.
nation. To transform desire practically means to leave behind
He came under the early spiritual influence of Arthur Rim-
the question of origins, toward which myth stubbornly car-
baud (1854–1891), Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), Carlo
ries speculative thought, and to substitute for it the question
Michelstaedter (1887–1910), and Otto Weininger (1880–
of the future and the end of evil. For practice, evil is simply
1903). After returning from service in Word War I, Evola
what should not but does exist, hence what must be combat-
experienced an existential crisis, which almost ended in sui-
ed. This practical attitude concerns principally that immense
cide. According to his own statement, he was rescued by a
share of suffering resulting from violence, that is, from the
sentence from the Buddhist Pali canon. Psychological experi-
evil that humans inflict on their fellows. To transform desire
ments under the influence of ether led Evola to a transcen-
emotionally is to give up any consolation, at least for oneself,
dental experience of his self (Ego), which transformed him
by giving up the complaint itself. It is perhaps at this point
completely. He experienced his self as all-comprising and
that Job’s wisdom coincides with that of Buddhism. Whatev-
identical with the highest spiritual power in the universe.
er can be said of this meeting of two such remote traditions
During this time he became friends with the futurist Giovan-
of wisdom, it is only at this point that myth can be surpassed.
ni Papini (1881–1956), who interested Evola in the Eastern
But it is not easy to give up the question “why?” to which
wisdom teachings and the mystic Meister Eckhart (c. 1260–
myth attempts—and fails—to reply.
1328), whose extreme clarity always remained a model for
SEE ALSO Chaos; Devils; Fall, The; Myth; Sin and Guilt;
Evola. Evola was also well acquainted with the futurist theo-
Suffering; Theodicy; Wisdom.
rist and author Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (1876–1944),
who might even have introduced him to Benito Mussolini.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Soon, however, Evola turned towards Dadaism and be-
Davis, Stephen T., ed. Encountering Evil; Live Options in Theodicy.
came friends with its main proponent, Tristan Tzara (1896–
Edinburgh, 1981.
1963). Due to the quality of his paintings, poetry, and writ-
Ling, T. O. Buddhism and the Mythology of Evil. London, 1962.
ings on the theory of modern art, Evola is considered the
Murti, T. R. V. The Central Philosophy of Buddhism. 2d ed. Lon-
main representative of Italian Dadaism. He saw art as flow-
don, 1955.
ing from a “higher consciousness.” All of Evola’s work is inci-
O’Flaherty, Wendy Doniger. The Origins of Evil in Hindu Mythol-
dentally characterized by his effort to elevate mere human ex-
ogy. Berkeley, 1976.
istence to a supramundane level and to concentrate on
Ricoeur, Paul. The Symbolism of Evil. Boston, 1967.
transcendental principles. This concentration is marked,
Windisch, Ernst W. Ma¯ra und Buddha. Leipzig, 1895.
however, by a militantly active aspect, which drove the con-
New Sources
templative into the background.
Adams, Marilyn McCord. Horrendous Evils and the Goodness of
In 1922 Evola abandoned his artistic activities, and in
God. Ithaca, N. Y., 1999.
the same year, when he was just twenty-four, he completed
Adams, Marilyn McCord, and Robert Merrihew Adams, ed. The
a translation of the Dao de jing, influenced by idealist philos-
Problem of Evil. New York, 1990.
ophy; he completely revised this translation in 1959. Evola
Card, Claudia. The Atrocity Paradigm. New York, 2002.
dedicated himself subsequently to the construction of his
Copjec, Joan, ed. Radical Evil. New York, 1996.
own philosophical system, which he called “magical ideal-
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EVOLA, JULIUS
2905
ism,” after Novalis (Friedrich von Hardenberg, 1772–1801).
ciclopedia Italiana. In the 1930s Evola busied himself
Based upon German idealism (mainly Friedrich Schelling,
intensely with alchemy, a critical analysis of the then prevail-
J. G. Fichte, and Novalis) and complemented by his own
ing esoteric groups, and the myth of the Holy Grail. His un-
transcendent “ego experiences,” as well as teachings from the
derlying traditional philosophy did not see historical-cultural
Far East, Evola eventually formulated the notion of an “abso-
development as advancement, but rather as decay, a view that
lute self,” related to the idea of the Hindu a¯tman. He postu-
reflected Indian and ancient teachings on the cosmic cycles,
lated the “absolute self” as being free from all spiritual or ma-
at the “gloomy” end of which, known as the kaliyuga, people
terial constraints, wherein freedom, power, and realization
live today.
form a unity.
At the same time, Evola traveled throughout Europe to
In 1926 Evola abandoned his extensive philosophical
meet with representatives of political views that correspond-
studies because he was searching for an actual breakthrough
ed to his own sacral-holistic, antiliberalist, and antidemocra-
to transcendent “initiatic” levels. He had already formed
tic ideas, including the revolutionary conservative Edgar Ju-
close contacts with Ultra, an independent theosophical
lius Jung (1894–1934), who was later murdered by the
group in Rome, through which he got to know the most im-
Nazis, the Catholic monarchist Karl Anton Prinz Rohan
portant Italian scholar of Asian religions, Giuseppe Tucci
(1898–1975), and the founder of Romania’s Iron Guard,
(1894–1984). He also came into contact with Tantrism,
Corneliu Codreanu (1899–1938). During his visit to Roma-
which he studied intensively, drawn by its practical emphasis
nia in 1937, Evola met Mircea Eliade (1907–1986), who be-
and promise of direct transcendental experiences. Evola soon
longed to the Iron Guard. Evola and Eliade had correspond-
entered into correspondence with John Woodroffe (Arthur
ed since the second half of the 1920s, but only several of
Avalon; 1865–1936), who had brought Kun:d:alin¯ı Yoga and
Evola’s and none of Eliade’s letters have survived because
Tantrism to the West. Evola’s L’Uomo come Potenza (Man
Evola destroyed letters he received after answering them.
as power, 1925) followed. Although still having a strong
Evola wrote five contributions for the German cultural jour-
Western philosophical tendency, this work was based on
nal Antaios, published by Ernst Jünger (1895–1998) and
Woodroffe’s research and translations from Sanskrit sources,
Eliade between 1960 and 1970. Evola’s influence on Eliade
and it thus became the first work to make Tantrism known
is undeniable, even if Eliade cannot be regarded as belonging
in Italy.
to the Integral Tradition school of thought. The parallels to
Evola are particularly evident in Eliade’s early alchemic
At that time, through René Guénon (1886–1951),
works. After World War II, Evola introduced Eliade to Ital-
Evola received his first exposure to Integral Tradition, ac-
ian publishers and translated some of his works. Evola was
cording to which all fundamental religions and cultures are
also acquainted with Angelo Brelich (1913–1977), who pub-
said to arise out of a primordial tradition of transcendent ori-
lished two articles (one about Jupiter and the Roman idea
gin. From 1927 to 1929, he led the magical-initiatory Group
of state) in 1937 and 1940 in Diorama Filosofico, Evola’s cul-
of Ur, in which both esotericists and representatives of gener-
tural supplement to the Regime Fascista magazine. The article
al Italian spiritual life, including Emilio Servadio (1904–
on Jupiter and Rome testifies to Evola’s great interest in
1995), the “father of Italian psychoanalysis,” participated
Roman religion, which formed the spiritual foundation of
anonymously. The goal was complete human self-
the Imperium Romanum, which Evola hoped to see reestab-
transformation and integration into transcendental regions
lished. Letters from Evola preserved in the archives of the
by way of an experimental path, which Evola called initia-
great historian of religion Raffaele Pettazzoni (1883–1959)
tion; the Daoist wei wu wei (nonintentional doing) was a pre-
and the mythologist Karl Kerényi (1897–1973) show that he
condition for effective magical actions. The group’s maga-
was also in contact with them.
zine published, besides its own reports, first Italian
translations of the ancient Mithraic Apathanathismos, as well
Before and during World War II, Evola concentrated
as excerpts from Avalon’s texts, the Buddhist Pali canon, the
intensely on Buddhism, which he described as a path to spiri-
biography of the Tibetan Mi la ras pa, the Chinese Tract of
tual freedom that maintained its validity even in modern
the Golden Flower, and an article by the French Orientalist
times. Evola almost exclusively referred to the Pali canon,
Paul Masson-Oursel (1882–1956). After the Group of Ur
and he pointed out that the historical Buddha was a member
disbanded, Evola founded the political and literary journal
of the warrior caste. Evola rejected the widespread teaching
La Torre, which published, among others, an article by Paul
of modern Maha¯ya¯na Buddhism, which sets peacefulness
Tillich (1886–1965) about the demonic and several excerpts
and universal love in the foreground, instead of clear initiato-
from writings by Johann Jakob Bachofen (1815–1887).
ry knowledge through asceticism and exercise. Nevertheless,
However, because of its uncompromising positions, La Torre
Anagarika Govinda (1898–1985), who was the first West-
had to cease publication at the behest of Mussolini after only
erner to receive the title of lama, praised Evola’s work.
ten issues.
In 1940 Evola wrote an article for the magazine Asiatica,
Evola’s acquaintance with the then most important Ital-
published by Tucci. This work was later continued in the
ian philosophers, Benedetto Croce (1866–1952) and Gio-
subsequent renowned journal East and West, which Tucci
vanni Gentile (1875–1944), led to a collaboration on the En-
also managed. Another well-known Orientalist with whom
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2906
EVOLA, JULIUS
Evola had been closely connected since his youth was Pio
same is true for Islam. Despite this intentional one-sidedness,
Filippani-Ronconi (b. 1920) who taught at the University
his books are still appreciated in Orientalist circles, and such
of Naples. A close friendship on the basis of common esoteric
experts as Jean Varenne, Filippani-Ronconi, or Silvio Vietta
interests connected Evola with the Egyptologist Boris de
have written forewords to new editions of his works. Aca-
Rachewiltz (1926–1997). He was also well acquainted with
demic circles have become increasingly interested in Evola,
the historian and researcher of ancient Roman religion,
as evidenced by the numerous books, essays, conference pro-
Franz Altheim (1898–1976).
ceedings, and dissertations written about him, and the many
translations of his writings.
Evola’s ambivalent attitude towards fascism, which he
hoped would lead Italy back to a heathen-sacral Imperium
Although he was never a party member, Evola’s involve-
Romanum, but which lacked any transcendent basis, led him
ment with fascism, National Socialism, and racism continues
closer to National Socialism, and in particular to the
to make him an extremely controversial figure. Controversy
Schutzstaffeln (SS), which he considered a fighting spiritual
has also resulted from the numerous anti-Semitic comments
order, at least in the beginning. However, by 1938 he was
that he made, mainly in the fascist daily press, and from the
denounced as a “reactionary Roman and visionary” in an SS
introduction he wrote in 1937 for the Italian version of the
document, which led to an order that Evola’s behavior was
forged Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Evola saw in Judaism
to be observed. Starting in the mid-1930s, Evola was heavily
the modern materialist and economic dominance that he
involved with questions of race, and he hoped that official
fought against, although he highly valued Orthodox and
recognition and influence would result from this work. After
qabbalistic Judaism.
all, Mussolini had expressed positive thoughts about Evola’s
Evola passed away in 1974. He had expressly refused a
theses of “spiritual” racism, with which he wanted to oppose
Catholic burial, and his ashes were scattered in a crevasse of
the “material-biologic” racism of Hitler’s Germany. When
Monte Rosa.
American troops marched into Rome in 1944, Evola fled to
Vienna, where he suffered a severe spinal injury in a bomb
BIBLIOGRAPHY
attack in 1945. He was confined to a wheelchair for the rest
Evola’s writings comprise more than twenty books, approximately
of his life.
one hundred important essays, and some one thousand
newspaper and journal articles, of which practically all have
After spending three years in hospitals and sanatoriums,
been published in various volumes and collected works.
Evola returned to Rome in 1948. In 1951 he was accused
Evola was also an extraordinarily industrious translator. The
of being a “spiritual instigator” of secret neo-fascist terror
most readily available bibliography, although not the most
groups and arrested. Following six months of investigative
recent, is Renato del Ponte, “Julius Evola: Una bibliografia
lockup, he was acquitted. Evola’s political tendencies
1920–1994,” in Futuro Presente 6 (1995): 28–70. The defin-
changed thereafter more and more into what he called
itive editions of Evola’s books are published by Gianfranco
“apolitia,” by which he meant a firm spiritual-political posi-
de Turris, the head of the Fondazione Julius Evola in Rome,
tion far above daily politics. He also became more heavily in-
in the Opere di Julius Evola series with Edizioni Mediter-
volved with Zen Buddhism, which he made widely known
ranee in Rome. His religious-historical works include La
in Italy, especially after he began publishing other Zen Bud-
Tradizione Ermetica: Nei suoi Simboli, nella sua Dottrina e
nella sua “Arte Regia” (Bari, Italy, 1931), which describes al-
dhist authors. In his last years of life he translated the first
chemy as a spiritual discipline on the basis of numerous origi-
volume of Essays in Zen Buddhism by D.T. Suzuki, for which
nal sources; this book was used and valued by C. G. Jung,
he also wrote the introduction. The other two volumes of
and it was translated by E. E. Rehmus as The Hermetic Tradi-
these Essays appeared later on in the book series Orizzonti
tion: Symbols and Teachings of the Royal Art (Rochester, Vt.,
dello spirito, which Evola had founded and for which he se-
1995). Rivolta contro il mondo moderno (Milan, 1934), which
lected works from Avalon, Eliade, Tucci, Scholem, and Lu
is considered Evola’s main work, gives an overview of his
K’uan Yu, among others.
general weltanschauung, which is based on Guénon’s Inte-
gral Tradition. This work was positively evaluated by both
Evola’s efforts in popularizing Asian religions helped
Mircea Eliade and Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, the latter
improve the European image of Asia at a time when a posi-
publishing a chapter in 1940 in English. This entire work
tive view of Asia was not customary. However, his quest was
was translated by Guido Stucco as Revolt against the Modern
not scientific, although he remained as true to original
World: Politics, Religion, and Social Order of the Kali Yuga
sources as was possible at the time. For him, as in the case
(Rochester, Vt., 1995). Evola’s La Dottrina del Risveglio
of his esoteric writings, his work in comparative religion was
(Bari, Italy, 1943), translated by H. E. Musson as The Doc-
more about revealing paths that could extract modern hu-
trine of Awakening: The Attainment of Self-Mastery according
to the Earliest Buddhist Texts (London, 1951; reprint, Roch-
mans from rampant materialism and lead them to spiritual
ester, Vt., 1996), describes ancient Buddhism as an initiatory
freedom. Therefore, Evola’s religious-historical works exam-
path. Lo Yoga della Potenza (Milan, 1949), translated by
ine only selected aspects corresponding to this quest, and
Guido Stucco as The Yoga of Power: Tantra, Shakti, and the
they are unsuitable as surveys. This can be seen most clearly
Secret Way (Rochester, Vt., 1992), is a complete revision of
in Evola’s handling of Hinduism, where he highlighted only
Evola’s first Tantra book, L’uomo come potenza, and is much
the warrior and ascetic aspects of the Bhagavadg¯ıta¯. The
more based on Avalon’s writings than the original L’uomo
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EVOLUTION: THE CONTROVERSY WITH CREATIONISM
2907
come potenza, which had a strong Western philosophical
tionalist by Julius Evola, pp. 1–104. Rochester, Vt., 2001.
bent. Metafisica del Sesso (Rome, 1958), translated as The
Currently the most comprehensive English-language work
Metaphysics of Sex (New York, 1983), describes the connec-
on Evola; it strives to uncover Evola’s most important intel-
tions between religion, esotericism, and sexuality, whereby
lectual sources.
Evola sees sex as the only remaining force that lets modern
Rossi, Marco. “Julius Evola and the Independent Theosophical
humans perceive transcendental planes. Evola’s autobiogra-
Association of Rome.” Theosophical History 6, no. 3 (1996–
phy, Il Cammino del Cinabro (Milan, 1963), largely ignores
1997): 107–114.
his private life and is useful mostly as an annotated auto-
bibliography.
Sheehan, Thomas. “Diventare Dio: Julius Evola and the Meta-
physics of Fascism.” Stanford Italian Review 6, nos. 1–2
Periodicals that published Evola’s works include Ur (Rome,
(1986): 279–292. A critical survey of Evola’s political ideas.
1927–1928) and Krur (Rome, 1929), both of which were re-
printed in Rome in heavily revised three-volume editions in
Spineto, Natale. “Mircea Eliade and Traditionalism.” ARIES 1,
1955 and 1971 under the title Introduzione alla Magia quale
no. 1 (2001): 62–87. A well-documented study about Eliade,
Scienza dell’Io. An English edition of the first 1927 volume
which mainly shows how he integrated the influences of tra-
is available as Introduction into Magic (Rochester, Vt., 2000).
ditionalist authors, Evola included, without being a tradi-
tionalist himself.
Studi Evoliani, published by Gianfranco de Turris, was inaugurat-
ed in 1998; though an erratic sequence, it contains extensive
HANS THOMAS HAKL (2005)
essays on Evola. Despite the many books, articles, and disser-
Translated from German by Marvin C. Sterling
tations written about Evola, many aspects of his life and
work remain unexplored due to the great variety of special
fields involved, and there is still no comprehensive biography
about him. The following are recommended.
EVOLUTION
Bonvecchio, Claudio, Richard Drake, Joscelyn Godwin, et al. Ju-
This entry consists of the following articles:
lius Evola: un pensiero per la fine del millennio. Rome, 2001.
THE CONTROVERSY WITH CREATIONISM
A volume of lectures held in Milan in 1998 on the occasion
EVOLUTIONISM
of Evola’s 100th birthday.
EVOLUTIONARY ETHICS
Boutin, Christophe. Politique et tradition: Julius Evola dans le siècle
(1898–1974). Paris, 1992. The most comprehensive work
EVOLUTION: THE CONTROVERSY WITH
on Evola to date, it mainly discusses his political influence.
CREATIONISM
Consolato, Sandro. Julius Evola e il Buddhismo. Borzano, Italy,
Perhaps no topic evokes a greater visceral reaction among
1995. A sympathetic work explaining Evola’s approach to
both scientific and religious communities than that of the
Buddhism.
treatment of Darwinian evolution in Western society. On
del Ponte, Renato. Evola e il magico “Gruppo di Ur.” Borzano,
the one hand, scientists realize that this model of how the
Italy, 1994. A work that tries to shed light on the historical
observed complexity of the living world likely arose seems,
and personal background of the Group of Ur.
at this point in its history, almost self-evident. On the other
de Turris, Gianfranco, ed. Testimonianze su Evola. Rome, 1973;
hand, the media attention engendered by the vocal elements
rev. ed., 1985. Various authors’ personal memories of Evola
in opposition, whether motivated by creationism or intelli-
written in honour of his seventy-fifth birthday.
gent design, pushes the churchgoing public to think that
di Dario, Beniamino M. La via romana al Divino: Julius Evola e
evolution (and by extension all of science) and religion are
la religione romana. Padua, Italy, 2001. Discusses Evola’s
“at war.” This caricature of the relationship is not only mis-
perceptions of Roman religion, with heathen sacrality and
leading but also mistaken. Ian Barbour, in his seminal work
the imperial idea as central themes.
“Religion and Science” (1997) has shown convincingly that
di Vona, Piero. Evola, Guénon, di Giorgio. Borzano, Italy, 1993.
the warfare or conflict mode is one of four archetypes for the
The author, a Spinoza specialist at the University of Naples,
relationship between science and religion. In fact, the con-
describes the complex relationships between René Guénon
flict mode represents the reaction of the extremes in both
and his two Italian disciples, Evola and di Giorgio.
fields. In order to understand the true nature of this conver-
Fraquelli, Marco. Il filosofo proibito: Tradizione e reazione
sation as well as the specific positions taken by Darwinists
nell’opera di Julius Evola. Milan, 1994. Discusses Evola’s
and creationists, it is necessary to review both the science and
danger for democracy and the value of enlightenment.
the history of biological evolution.
Germinario, Francesco. Razza del Sangue, razza dello Spirito: Ju-
lius Evola, l’antisemitismo, e il nazionalsocialismo, 1930–
DARWIN AND HIS TIMES. It is important to place Charles
1943. Turin, Italy, 2001. A critical but well-documented
Darwin within the framework of both the English society of
work on Evola’s racist and anti-Semitic writings.
the nineteenth century and the scientific culture of western
Guyot-Jeannin, Arnaud, ed. Julius Evola. Lausanne, Switzerland,
Europe and the United States during that time. Darwin was
1997. A collection exploring various aspects of Evola; in-
a product of the British intellectual class in every sense of the
cludes an interesting appendix with various documentary
word. His father and his grandfather were both physicians.
opinions on Evola.
In addition, Erasmus Darwin, his paternal grandfather, was
Hansen, H. T. “Julius Evola’s Political Endeavors.” Preface to
among those naturalists (now called biologists) who, at the
Men among the Ruins: Post-War Reflections of a Radical Tradi-
end of the eighteenth century, challenged the notion that
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2908
EVOLUTION: THE CONTROVERSY WITH CREATIONISM
species were “fixed,” that they existed in the same form in
4. The entities come to possess traits that increase their fit-
which they were originally created. Thus the concept of spe-
ness. (Smith, 1991, p. 27)
cies changing over time was a part of Charles Darwin’s per-
sonal history.
It is important to note the emphasis on reproductive fitness
in this model. When Darwin used the term fitness in Origin
Darwin’s voyage on the HMS Beagle from 1831 to 1836
of Species, he meant it in this sense. That is, those traits that
became the means by which the Cambridge-educated stu-
increase the likelihood of the organism reproducing are de-
dent cemented his interest in biology and severed his path
fined as making the organism more fit. In trying to clarify
toward the theological training to which he seemed destined.
his meaning about this in subsequent editions, Darwin even-
He returned to England with his notebooks full of observa-
tually came to rely on a phrase penned by Herbert Spencer,
tions but with the ideas that would become his major work
his contemporary and one of the great figures of Victorian
still unformed. By 1838 his interaction with the London so-
England. In chapter three of the sixth edition of Origin of
ciety of naturalists resulted in the first formulations of his
Species, Darwin wrote: “I have called this principle, by which
model.
each slight variation, if useful, is preserved, by the term Nat-
After the voyage, Darwin did not leave England again.
ural Selection, in order to mark its relation to man’s power
His marriage to Emma Wedgewood in 1839 and their life
of selection. But the expression often used by Mr. Herbert
together at Down House in Kent were the stage for the re-
Spencer, of the Survival of the Fittest, is more accurate, and
mainder of his life. From that place, in the setting of a coun-
is sometimes equally convenient” (1872, p. 32).
try squire and consummate Victorian intellectual, Darwin
published the works through which he is known.
The image of “nature red in tooth and claw,” to use Al-
At Down House, perhaps taking one of his famous
fred, Lord Tennyson’s oft-quoted line (In Memoriam, 1850,
meditative strolls along the Sandwalk, Darwin decided to
verse LVI), comes from a misreading of this epithet from
publish his book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural
Spencer. Nonetheless, it is true that Darwin’s model does
Selection. His work on this had been ongoing since his return
propose that some individuals are less reproductively fit than
to England on the Beagle. The final stimulus to publication
others and that this will inevitably entail the die-off of spe-
was a paper by Alfred Wallace, a young naturalist working
cies. It is from this consequence of his model that the theodi-
in the Far East. The similarity of their conclusions led Dar-
cy problem arises. Darwin was keenly aware of the theologi-
win to finally complete his book for release in November
cal impact of his own physical interpretations. He wrote in
1859. Origin of Species was released in a total of six editions,
an 1860 letter to the American naturalist Asa Gray that he
all overseen by Darwin. The sixth, published in 1872, was
had trouble reconciling a loving God with some of what he
his last. Darwin died in 1882.
observed in nature. In particular, referencing a species of
wasp who lays her eggs in the living body of a caterpillar,
THE DARWINIAN MODEL. Darwin’s great contribution was
whose flesh is then used as nourishment for the wasp’s off-
to provide a physical explanation for the observed complexity
spring, Darwin wrote, “I cannot persuade myself that a be-
of the living world. Rather than assume that all things were
neficent and omnipotent God would have designedly created
created in the form in which they now occur (preformation-
the Ichneumonidae with the express intention of their feeding
ism), he posited that everything arose by descent with modi-
within the living bodies of Caterpillars, or that a cat should
fication from a common ancestor. The driving force of this,
play with mice” (Darwin, 1860).
he proposed, was natural selection. His choice of terms for
this force was not accidental. In fact, he was referring by
This theological challenge became a part of the catalyst
comparison to the commonly understood agricultural prac-
that led to the reaction against the Darwinian model in a mi-
tices of his day, by which desired traits of plants or animals
nority of Christian communities in the United States. The
were selected artificially by breeding. He argued that, in a
larger issue, as discussed below, is that of the completely ma-
similar fashion, favorable traits are selected in the natural
terialistic interpretation of nature that scientific descendants
world and that this selection results in the complexity of
of Darwin make, especially in the modern era.
species.
John Maynard Smith put forward a convenient state-
THE MODERN SYNTHESIS: NEO-DARWINISM AND TWENTI-
ment of the Darwinian model in 1991:
ETH-CENTURY BIOLOGY. The decade from 1859 to 1869
saw three scientific achievements that, nearly one hundred
1. Population of entities (units of evolution) exist with
years later, were intimately related in the modern paradigms
three properties: (a) multiplication (one can give rise to
of biology. The first was the publication of Darwin’s master-
two), (b) variation (not all entities are alike), and (c) he-
work in November 1859. During this time Gregor Mendel,
redity (like usually begets like during multiplication).
an Augustinian monk working in Brün (now Brno), Austria,
2. Differences between entities influence the likelihood of
developed a quantitative understanding of inheritance. He
surviving and reproducing. That is, the differences in-
presented his work to the Brün Academy of Sciences in 1868
fluence their fitness.
and published it in the academy’s journal a year later. In
3. The population changes over time (evolves) in the pres-
1869 Johann Fredriech Miescher, a Swiss chemist working
ence of selective forces.
at the time in Tübingen, isolated a substance from white
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EVOLUTION: THE CONTROVERSY WITH CREATIONISM
2909
blood cells found on used bandages. He named this material
a theological reaction within the Abrahamic religions, mainly
nuclein. It is now known as DNA.
the Protestant Christian denominations. At first glance it
In the nineteenth century, no one had any idea that
would seem that the problem was with the challenge to the
these three events were related in any way. Certainly both
Genesis account of creation. However, it must be understood
Mendel and Miescher, as active scientists, were aware of Dar-
that the fixity of species had also been assumed by science
win’s work and the implications of his model. However, vir-
as well. After all, the eighteenth-century Swedish naturalist
tually no scientist of the day even read Mendel’s paper or ap-
Carl von Linné (Carolus Linnaeus), whose taxonomic classi-
preciated the shift it signaled. In addition, no one could
fication system is still used in the early twenty-first century,
foresee that the genes whose behavior Mendel described and
assumed that the species he was describing in his work had
whose variants were the selectable traits Darwin’s model re-
existed in their present forms since the beginning. Even in
lied upon would be found to be sequences of nitrogenous
Darwin’s day this was the predominant model for many biol-
bases making up the structure of Miescher’s nuclein.
ogists, although challenges had already been mounted before
1859. Therefore, while this issue was a problem for theology,
In 1942 Julian Huxley, the grandson of Thomas Hux-
it was also a problem for many scientists as well.
ley, Darwin’s champion, published Evolution: The Modern
Synthesis. Huxley proposed that the Darwinian model, which
A larger theological issue concerned the explanation it-
had been relatively neglected by biologists (although popular
self. Darwin consciously wrote his book with earlier models
with social scientists), could now be “rescued” by linking it
in mind, especially the natural theology of William Paley. In
with Mendelian genetics. Mendel of course had been redis-
1802 the Reverend Paley published his view of the origin of
covered at the beginning of the twentieth century, when his
life’s complexity in a volume called Natural Theology; or, Evi-
experiments were repeated and shown to coincide with the
dences for the Existence and Attributes of the Deity, Collected
behavior of cells as observed by more powerful microscopes
from the Appearances of Nature. In this book Paley presented
than were available in the 1860s. The power of genetics was
his famous watch and watchmaker metaphor. This theistic
evident in the impressive data produced with model organ-
use of nature ultimately led the modern evolutionary biolo-
isms such as the fruit fly. In addition, the field of biochemis-
gist Richard Dawkins to title his challenge to theism The
try added to this new formulation with a search for what the
Blind Watchmaker (1986).
chemical nature of the gene might be.
Darwin, in response to Paley’s model of an interven-
The search culminated in 1942 with the discovery by
tionist God creating all things at the beginning, offered in-
Oswald Avery and his colleagues that DNA was indeed the
stead a naturalistic and materialistic explanation: descent
genetic material. Although it took another ten years for this
with modification from a common ancestor through the
idea to be accepted completely, the stage was now set for a
nonsupernatural force of natural selection. While this model
full statement of what has come to be called the neo-
does not assume the absence of a God, it certainly does not
Darwinian synthesis. This formulation includes the follow-
invoke God’s action in any direct way in its presentation.
ing features:
Darwin was not unaware of the effect his model had among
• Genes: information in the form of the linear array of
theologians and religious communities. In fact, in the second
bases that make up the DNA molecules of chromo-
edition of Origin of Species he added the following statement,
somes.
somewhat in his own defense:
• The traits of an organism (phenotype): direct expression
I see no reason why the views given in this volume
of the information found in the genes (genotype).
should shock the religious feelings of any one. It is satis-
factory, as showing how transient such impressions are,
• Variations: result of subtle differences in this informa-
to remember that the greatest discovery ever made by
tion (changes in base pairs).
man, namely, the law of the attraction of gravity, was
• Changes in genes: mutational events that occur in a
also attacked by Leibnitz, “as subversive of natural, and
“random” way. Random here means that it is not possi-
inferentially of revealed, religion.” (p. 239)
ble to predict which nitrogenous base changes within
Darwin’s view of the transience of the problem is certainly
the DNA. However, the nature of the change is predict-
touching in light of the debate that still seems to rage in some
able, given the mutagenic stimulus.
circles over his “volume.” Nonetheless, in this short and
• A population of entities: will have variations in traits
somewhat disingenuous statement he was attempting to
that are the result of mutational events (genetic drift).
make the case for two ideas: the need for science to be seen
In this new world of biology, the variant genes are acted
as not in contradistinction to religion, and the need for the-
upon by natural selection. Variants with a greater likelihood
ology-religion to take into account the latest scientific ad-
of allowing the organism to reproduce and pass these traits
vances.
on to the next generation have a positive selective advantage
In spite of Darwin’s position that there was no threat
and are said to be more fit.
to religion, the interpreters of his model had other ideas.
ENCOUNTERS BETWEEN EVOLUTION AND THEOLOGY. Im-
Thomas Huxley, one of Darwin’s chief defenders, saw the
mediately after the publication of Darwin’s book there was
evolutionary model as something that went beyond the biol-
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EVOLUTION: THE CONTROVERSY WITH CREATIONISM
ogy it described. He called for the development of a social
of the teaching against internal disagreement within the
philosophy, akin to and as a substitute for religion, based on
Christian community, as opposed to direct challenges from
the Darwinian principles. For Huxley, the highest goals and
science.
values of humanity could be seen as the continuing evolution
The move from this position to one that espouses the
of the human species. Herbert Spencer also used Darwinian
literal meaning of Genesis as a description of how creation
principals to develop a philosophical and political framework
actually took place is a matter of only a few steps. In the face
but wanted to apply the survival of the fittest model to the
of the growing social movement of secular humanism, itself
evolution of social systems. Finally, Francis Galton, Darwin’s
a spin-off of the scientific enterprise, it is not surprising that
first cousin, used the model to advocate for the purposeful
some elements of the fundamentalist community began to
direction of the evolution of humans, a process he called eu-
react against the Darwinian model itself. What developed
genics.
from this reaction is the theological stance called biblical
Among theologians of the time there were some who
creationism, which rejects the scientific models completely
tried to cling to the strict interpretative view of creation as
and relies upon Scripture as the sole source for understand-
described in Genesis, which was not at odds with the model
ing how the natural world arose.
of many naturalists of the day. Others took the new model
SCIENTIFIC CREATIONISM. A visit to the Institute for Cre-
to heart and attempted to make theological sense out of this
ation Research (ICR) in the foothills east of San Diego, Cali-
new view of the living world. Those theologians who em-
fornia, is quite instructive. It is clear that this is a facility that
braced the new idea were already, in some sense, committed
celebrates rather than rejects science. The founding mem-
to a new kind of biblical criticism that was beginning to sup-
bers, such as Duane Guish (biochemistry) and Henry Morris
plant literalism among some of the more liberal Christian
(geology) are trained in science, not theology. One is sur-
thinkers. This movement, rather than Darwinian evolution
rounded by evidence that scientific instruments and tech-
per se, gave rise to the fundamentalists.
niques are employed in their work. And yet their interpreta-
THE FUNDAMENTALISTS. It is commonly assumed that an-
tion of their investigations is given one and only one
tievolutionism is synonymous with Christian fundamental-
direction: scientific support of the creation story as given in
ism. While many Christians who identify with fundamental-
the Book of Genesis.
ism are antievolutionist, the origins of this strain of Christian
The ICR founder and president, John Morris, posted
thought did not include this tenet. When the General As-
the following introduction to their mission on the institute’s
sembly of the Presbyterian Church met in 1910 to approve
website:
those beliefs that would be considered fundamental to being
a Christian, the following five were adopted:
Our world, our church, our schools, our society, need
the truth of creation more than ever. We see the wrong
1. the inerrancy of the Scriptures in their original docu-
thinking of evolution having produced devastating re-
ments;
sults in every realm. Our passion at the Institute for
2. the deity of Jesus Christ, including the virgin birth;
Creation Research is to see science return to its rightful
God-glorifying position, and see creation recognized as
3. substitutionary atonement;
a strength by the body of Christ; supporting Scripture,
answering questions, satisfying doubts and removing
4. the physical resurrection of Christ;
road blocks to the Gospel. The Institute for Creation
5. the miracle-working power of Jesus Christ.
Research Graduate School exists to train students in sci-
entific research and teaching skills, preparing effective
Nowhere in this list is there any reference to Darwinian evo-
warriors for the faith.
lution. In fact some of the theologians involved in the formu-
lation of these basic tenets accepted evolution although they
Morris and others see themselves as scientists whose duty is
were still believing Christians. Thus, at its very foundations,
to correct the errors of the recent past and allow science to
fundamentalism was not antievolution.
resume its “correct” relationship with religion as support for
the truths revealed in Scripture. They are not theologians,
How is it then that the modern understanding of a fun-
nor do they pretend to any theological insights whatsoever.
damentalist includes this anti-Darwinian posture? Certainly
Their focus is on the instruments and methods of science and
over the years since the establishment of these basic tenets
how these can be brought to bear on the questions related
of belief as essential some things have changed. The first fun-
to the natural world as seen through the words of Genesis.
damental is the inerrancy of Scripture. As originally argued,
They apply the term young earth creationism to their view of
this tenet was directed against the liberal Protestant theolo-
the world, and they support six principles:
gians who were coming to rely more and more on historical
methods of criticism in biblical hermeneutics. The reaction
1. Creatio ex nihilo by divine action, without any subse-
was not against the scientific enterprise itself. The first fun-
quent development. Everything was created as it exists
damental deals with the divine authority of Scripture, juxta-
now.
posed against the view that these writings were but the his-
2. Mutation and natural selection cannot explain the sub-
torical works of humans. The intent was to defend the purity
sequent development of all living things. This is a rejec-
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EVOLUTION: THE CONTROVERSY WITH CREATIONISM
2911
tion of the idea that gradual change (variations) can con-
lution becomes suspect as soon as such deliberations are
fer selective advantages that lead to new species.
opened. The antiscientific and, perhaps, anti-intellectual po-
3. Speciation does not occur. That is, changes happen
sition of biblical literalism can usually be set aside as not ap-
within a species (within a “kind” in their usage), but
propriate to be taught in the same course of study as the
new species do not develop from preexisting species.
methods of science. Even scientific creationism, with its ap-
peal to those very methods, cannot make the cut as “science”
4. There is no descent from a common ancestor. With re-
in most school board meetings or courtrooms. However, the
spect to human origins in particular, this rejects the no-
new contender for attention is neither of these, but rather
tion that humans and other primates have an ancestral
the intelligent design movement. Intelligent design is best
link.
understood as the contention that the living world has fea-
5. The geology of the earth is a result of catastrophism
tures that can only be explained by the action of an intelli-
rather than evolution. In particular, much of what is
gent designer. For instance, Michael Behe, in Darwin’s Black
seen can be explained by positing a great flood, as de-
Box (1996), argues that there are examples of cellular func-
scribed in Genesis.
tion that could not have arisen as the result of gradual muta-
tional change under the pressure of natural selection. He calls
6. The earth is less than ten thousand years old.
such features “irreducibly complex” and gives a list of six ex-
All of these principles—especially the last one, with its rejec-
amples from his understanding of the biochemistry of living
tion of all modern dating techniques as inherently flawed—
systems. Of course, his position eventually devolves into a
put the scientific creationists in complete disagreement with
“god of the gaps” argument. In this sense, as soon as an expla-
any natural scientists and with most mainstream theologians.
nation for what appears to be irreducibly complex is pres-
This then raises one of the principle ironies of scientific crea-
ented with a naturalistic basis, his designer disappears from
tionism. Its proponents embrace the methodology of science
the scene. However, this is not the only issue at stake in this
but reject the standard interpretation of those results. To say
discussion. William Dembski, in Intelligent Design (1999)
that their science is influenced by their religious belief is per-
and No Free Lunch (2002), takes aim at the philosophical un-
haps self-evident from the conclusions they draw. However,
derpinnings of the modern scientific method. He proposes
a careful reading of their literature reveals that they take
the concept of “specified complexity” to describe features of
themselves to be scientists and that their argument is with
living systems that infer design. At issue for Dembski is not
what they view as the incorrect interpretations of the data.
so much the god of the gaps problem, but rather what he be-
This of course leads them into dangerous waters, both scien-
lieves to be an insufficiency within the scientific enterprise
tifically and theologically. For instance, the young earth crea-
itself. He argues that science by definition is opaque to the
tionists cannot deny the geological data that leads to the 4.5-
idea of purpose or design. This goes back to the original Aris-
billion-year age of the earth. Rather, they argue that God cre-
totelian-Thomistic uses of teleology as the fourth or final
ated the earth to have the “appearance” of age, when in
cause of a thing. The problem here is that the philosophical
reality it is only ten thousand years old. In Finding Darwin’s
assumptions of modern science derive from those post-
God (1999) Kenneth Miller, a Brown University cellular bi-
Cartesian thinkers who rejected teleological explanations as
ologist, argues that this is incorrect from the standpoints of
a part of their methodology. On the one hand, this allowed
both science and theology. He writes that their rejection of
for a more objective approach to understanding nature,
evolution leads them to characterize God as a “schemer,
opening the way for the experimentalists. On the other hand,
trickster, even a charlatan” (Miller, 1999, p. 80).
the philosophical analogy imbedded in Aquinas’s fifth way
In the end, the controversy is not really between science
of understanding God, the so-called argument from design,
and faith but between one kind of science and another. True,
seemed no longer valid. Dembski and the intelligent design
creation science assumes that the Genesis story is the literal
movement push for a fundamental shift in the philosophy
description of the origin of the natural world. However, it
of science. In this way they are distinct from the scientific
contends that science would also agree with this if only it
creationists. They are modern scientists in every sense of the
sharpened its interpretive powers and admitted the errors of
word. However, they would argue that a model of origin and
the Darwinian model.
complexification for the living world must include a recogni-
INTELLIGENT DESIGN. The controversy between creationism
tion of purpose, and through this a sense that some features
and evolution has spilled over into society, mainly in the
require the action of a designer. Therefore these features
form of debates about what should or should not be included
would be characterized as specified or irreducible complexity.
in the educational curriculum taught in elementary and sec-
There is no challenge to current science from the notion of
ondary schools. The classic case of the so-called Scopes mon-
irreducible complexity in itself, in the sense that the proper-
key trial in 1925 was just the beginning of these questions.
ties of complex systems are not explainable as the sum of the
Even into the twenty-first century, school boards are con-
parts. This is, in fact, the hallmark of the move to networks
stantly beset with requests to include “both sides” of the story
and complexity analysis in biology. However, when this
in any curriculum discussing the origins and subsequent de-
complexity is seen to be “specified” by a designer with intent,
velopment of the natural world. As such, even the word evo-
the issue is joined. The need for a designer then leads to the
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EVOLUTION: THE CONTROVERSY WITH CREATIONISM
question of who this designer might be and necessarily be-
encountered, Haught proposes, with a full acceptance of the
comes a theological problem, not a scientific one. Most com-
evolutionary history of the world.
mentators prefer to see intelligent design as just another form
CONCLUSION. Modern biology relies upon the neo-
of scientific creationism. However, a closer reading of advo-
Darwinian model as a central paradigm of the discipline.
cates such as Behe and Dembski reveals some distinct differ-
While modifications are proposed to the structure of the
ences. Those most closely associated with the scientific argu-
model, nothing appears in the early twenty-first century to
ments for intelligent design are not in any sense rejecting
be a rejection of the model in the sense that the scientific
evidence for the age of the earth or other features of the geo-
creationists wish to see. As a result, the so-called controversy
logical record. The scientific creationists accept the method-
between science and theology that this represents must be
ology of science as given, with its reductionism in place, but
thought of as a conversation waiting to be explored.
have a different interpretation of the data based of course on
their view of the Genesis description. Nonetheless, both
BIBLIOGRAPHY
movements fall within the same anti-Darwinian camp. As
Behe, Michael J. Darwin’s Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge
such, the conversations that concern curriculum focus on the
to Evolution. New York, 1996. Behe is a biochemist who
inclusion of intelligent design rather than scientific creation-
takes the position that certain features of living systems are
ism in the science classroom.
“irreducibly complex” and require the intervention of an in-
telligent designer.
THEISTIC EVOLUTION. Given the fireworks surrounding the
media reporting of creationism-evolution discussions, it is no
Darwin, Charles. Letter to Asa Gray, 1860. Quoted by Stephen Jay
Gould in “Nonmoral Nature,” available from http://
wonder that the general public, and indeed a fair portion of
www.stephenjaygould.org/library/gould_nonmoral.html.
the scientific community, believe it is one or the other; one
Darwin, Charles, The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selec-
is either a Darwinian or a Christian. However, for the major-
tion. 1859 (first edition). References here are to the Encyclo-
ity of both theologians and scientists, the truth lies in be-
pedia Britannica re-publication of the sixth and final edition.
tween these two artificial extremes.
Dawkins, Richard. The Blind Watchmaker. New York, 1986.
To see this middle position clearly, it is necessary to un-
Dawkins, Richard. Climbing Mount Improbable. New York, 1996.
derstand the nature of the scientific enterprise and its self-
Written for lay audiences by an evolutionary biologist and
imposed limits. Science restricts its investigations to the col-
champion of the Darwinian model.
lection of data and the building of physical models of expla-
Dembski, William A. Intelligent Design. Downer’s Grove, Ill.,
nation for natural phenomena. It is never the function of
1999.
science to say that certain data prove or disprove the exis-
Dembski, William A. No Free Lunch: Why Specified Complexity
tence of God. However, it is natural for a scientist, once hav-
Cannot Be Purchased without Intelligence. Lanham, Md.,
ing derived a model such as Darwin’s, to speculate on its
2002. Dembski is a mathematician and philosopher. Some
meaning beyond the data itself. While this is normal, the sci-
of the material in these two books is not easily approachable,
entist is at that point engaging in philosophy or even theolo-
but the overviews presented represent the gist of the intelli-
gent design movement.
gy. The confusion arises when a particular scientist or scien-
tific commentator attempts to make the data apply directly
Dennett, Daniel C. Darwin’s Dangerous Idea. New York, 1995.
to the philosophical point. Thus Daniel Dennett, in Dar-
Haught, John F. God after Darwin: A Theology of Evolution. Boul-
win’s Dangerous Idea (1995), argued that Darwinian evolu-
der, Colo., 2000. Haught is a Georgetown University theolo-
gian who defends the theistic evolution stance.
tion “proves” that God does not exist.
Huxley, Julian. Evolution: The Modern Synthesis. London, 1942.
The result of this confusion has been the polarized view
Institute for Creation Science. “Introduction to ICR.” Available
that many have of these issues. A more reasonable under-
from http://www.icr.org/abouticr/intro.htm.
standing of the possible positions is in John Haught’s God
Miller, Kenneth R. Finding Darwin’s God: A Scientist’s Search for
after Darwin (2000) and Michael Ruse’s Can a Darwinian
Common Ground between God and Evolution. New York,
Be a Christian? (2001). Theistic evolution is not one position
1999. An explanation of the evolutionary model and a cri-
but rather a group of related positions. Theistic evolution ac-
tique of various antievolutionist views. Written by a scientist
cepts the facts leading up to and supporting the Darwinian
for a lay audience.
model and concludes that this model is the most likely expla-
Morris, Henry M. A History of Modern Creationism. San Diego,
nation for those facts. However, theistic evolution also ac-
Calif., 1984. A discussion of scientific creationism by the
cepts the idea of divine action in all of creation and sees the
founder and president of the Institution for Creation Re-
Darwinian model as one way in which divine action might
search.
have operated.
Paley, William. Natural Theology; or, Evidences for the Existence
and Attributes of the Deity, Collected from the Appearances of
For the theistic evolutionist there is no inconsistency in
Nature. London, 1802.
this stance. It is a combination of scientific understanding
Peters, Ted, and Martinez Hewlett. Evolution from Creation to
and faith. Haught, as a theologian, argues that theology must
New Creation. Nashville, Tenn., 2003. A survey and critique
respond to the facts of evolution with introspection. The the-
of all of the positions by a theologian and a biological scien-
odicy issue that Darwin saw as a part of his model must be
tist, this work in the end supports theistic evolution.
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EVOLUTION: EVOLUTIONISM
2913
Ruse, Michael. Taking Darwin Seriously. Amherst, N.Y., 1998.
among those who considered themselves the first truly scien-
Ruse, Michael. Can a Darwinian Be a Christian? The Relationship
tific investigators of the phenomenon of humans.
between Science and Religion. Cambridge, U.K., 2001. Two
In his Phenomenology of Spirit (1807), Hegel launched
important books by one of the most important commenta-
tors on evolution and the debate with theology. Accessible
a revolution in thinking about the human past. Put simply,
to the lay person.
the Hegelian system declares that history (by which Hegel
and his followers mean the history of the world as a whole)
Smith, John Maynard. In Symbiosis as a Source of Evolutionary In-
novation: Speciation and Morphogenesis, edited by L. Margulis
reveals the progressive manifestation of Geist (spirit) in the
and R. Fester. Cambridge, Mass., 1991.
world: a process that leads eventually to spirit’s self-
actualization and to human self-understanding. History, ac-
MARTINEZ HEWLETT (2005)
cording to Hegel, propels itself forward through a dynamic
process, within which each successive age “resolves and syn-
thesizes” the antagonisms of earlier eras. Each historical peri-
od therefore not only results from what has gone before, but
EVOLUTION: EVOLUTIONISM
also in some sense contains within itself the self-
Evolutionism is a term commonly employed to designate a
understanding of earlier eras. Locating anthropological evo-
number of similar, usually nineteenth-century anthropologi-
lutionism’s foundation in Hegelian philosophy may there-
cal theories that attempt to account for the genesis and devel-
fore help one comprehend what amounts to a “genetic obses-
opment of religion. Although the term evolutionism could be
sion” on the parts of the participants in the debates that raged
used to describe a collection of theologians such as Pierre
during the late nineteenth century, debates that had as their
Teilhard De Chardin (1881–1955) and others belonging to
crux a question concerning what constitutes the essential—
the school of theistic evolution, this article will focus strictly
that is, the originary—form of religious consciousness. To
on the uses of the term within the development of anthropo-
identify this originary form would be to uncover an essential
logical science.
element of human beings, for it was generally held among
Evolutionist theories of religion’s origin hold in com-
evolutionist theorists that religious belief was the distinguish-
mon a presupposed “psychic unity of mankind”; that is, they
ing characteristic setting the human apart from the animal.
assume that all human groups are possessed of a more or less
This endeavor may seem odd given much of the later history
common developmental pattern (though the shape of this
of scientific anthropology, but it makes sense when placed
pattern differs from theorist to theorist) and that therefore
within the context of a fledgling scientific discipline that had
significant clues as to how religion originated—and in turn
not yet weaned itself of philosophical anthropology.
as to what religion essentially is—can be detected through
a study of the religious lives of the world’s “primitive” peo-
More directly influential than Hegelian philosophy
ples. If evolutionist assumptions are correct, it should follow
upon the development of scientific anthropological evolu-
that commonalities displayed among groups at each level of
tionism, however, is the work of Herbert Spencer (1820–
development will reveal, when set in diachronic order, a nec-
1903), the English polymath and, with the Frenchman
essary “psychic history” of the human race.
Auguste Comte (1798–1957), cofounder of the discipline of
sociology. Even before Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of
INFLUENCES ON EVOLUTIONIST THOUGHT. Evolutionist an-
Species by Means of Natural Selection (1859) revolutionized
thropological theories represent one manifestation of the
biological science, Spencer had landed on evolution as the
nineteenth century’s enthusiasm for developmental schemata
principle that accounts for all change, whether inorganic, or-
that find their bases in what might loosely be called a philos-
ganic, or mental (if one may so characterize the quality that
ophy of history. This philosophy of history declares that
separates the development of human societies and individu-
human development is rectilinear and progressive and that
als from mere organic growth). In his essay “Progress: Its Law
the mind tends necessarily toward greater and greater ratio-
and Cause” (1857), Spencer first gave voice to what may be
nality and complexity. The idea of progress, especially in its
called the essential element of anthropological evolutionist
component notion that history is unidirectional and pro-
dogma:
ceeds by way of identifiable stages, is older certainly than the
beginning of the nineteenth century. Indeed, one may specu-
The advance from the simple to the complex, through
late that there is a nascent “evolutionism” at work already in
a process of successive differentiations, is seen . . . in
the Pauline formulation that, with the appearance of Christ,
the evolution of Humanity, whether contemplated in
an age of grace supplanted and rendered obsolete an earlier
the civilized individual, or in the aggregate of races; it
age of law. (To trace “scientific” evolutionism’s origins to the
is seen in the evolution of Society in respect alike of its
beginnings of Christian historiography provides some insight
political, its religious, and its economical organization;
regarding the apologetic purposes that evolutionist thinking
and it is seen in the evolution of all those endless con-
crete and abstract products of human activity. (Spencer,
seems always to serve.) But for convenience one may point
1914, p. 35)
to the philosophical work of G. W. F. Hegel (1770–1831)
as having planted the seed that led, by the nineteenth centu-
Having thus laid the theoretical groundwork for his never-
ry’s close, to the full flowering of the evolutionist creed
to-be-completed “natural history of society,” Spencer never-
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EVOLUTION: EVOLUTIONISM
theless managed to construct the first systematic sociology of
the first, that is, to accord to “savages” human minds.
religion in English, one of the tasks undertaken in his three-
Though they were termed “primitive,” the religions of “low
volume Principles of Sociology (1876–1896). In this work he
races” were recognized as religions. (It is clearly a part of
identifies the origin of religion (which, Spencer says, sup-
Tylor’s purpose to put the lie to what he considered the slan-
planted an aboriginal atheism) in what he perceives to be the
derous reports of missionaries and adventurers concerning
universal practice among primitive peoples of worshipping
the godlessness of the tribal peoples they encountered.)
the ghosts of their ancestors. He then goes on to trace the
Moreover, in so doing, the evolutionists—who, through
further evolution of religious consciousness through polythe-
their examinations of “primitive” people, hoped to uncover
ism and monotheism. According to Spencer, religion culmi-
keys to human nature per se—helped overturn the privileged
nates in agnosticism—a metaphysical position girded by the
position of the European scientific observer, no matter how
“positivist” epistemological principles that are the earmarks
far such an outcome may have been from their intention.
of the scientific age and of the scientific historiography, epit-
Certainly the work of Tylor and others, especially James G.
omized in Spencerian sociology—that helps to inaugurate
Frazer (1854–1941), was instrumental in revolutionizing
this new era of human development. That Spencer consid-
classical studies and thus in altering forever the picture of an-
ered agnosticism a genuinely religious position bears noting
tiquity, and hence of the West’s own intellectual heritage.
insofar as one may be tempted to see the work of Spencer
and other evolutionists as antagonistic toward religion. It is
Tylor’s name has come to be identified with the term
nearer the case to say that at least some of these thinkers
animism or, as he also called it, “the doctrine of souls.” He
sought, among other agendas, to defend what they found to
first proposed this as the most rudimentary stage of religious
be the “spiritual maturity” of the age of science to which they
belief in a paper titled “The Religion of Savages,” published
belonged.
in the Fortnightly Review in 1866. Tylor’s monumental influ-
ence upon succeeding generations of students of religion can
TYLOR AND HIS CRITICS. Among theorists of religion, E. B.
be measured by the fact that, although Tylor’s theory of reli-
Tylor (1832–1917) perhaps best deserves to be called an
gion’s origin has long since been discredited, the term ani-
“evolutionist.” Tylor’s work, more than that of any other
mism is still widely used to describe the religious beliefs of
scholar, invites one to identify evolutionism with British
those peoples who have as yet resisted conversion to one or
“armchair” anthropology of the late nineteenth century. In-
another of the “great” missionary religions. In articulating
fluences on Tylor include Spencer (whose “ghost theory” of
the concept and the conceptual basis of animism, however,
the origin of religion closely resembles the animistic hypoth-
Tylor did not mean to describe an obsolescent form of reli-
esis forwarded by Tylor) and F. Max Müller (1823–1900),
gious consciousness but rather to identify the constant center
the German-English philologist whose etymological investi-
or core of religious belief. The following passage, extracted
gations helped inspire Tylor’s researches into the Urgrund
from Tylor’s masterwork Primitive Culture (1871), both
(primeval ground of being) of religious consciousness.
points up the universality of animistic belief and identifies
the conceptual maneuver responsible for engendering the an-
Before proceeding to a description of the theory of reli-
imistic hypothesis:
gion’s origin advanced by Tylor, one should note what is per-
haps the most significant characteristic of Tylor’s (and in-
At the lowest levels of culture of which we have clear
deed of other evolutionist theorists’) manner of thinking
knowledge, the notion of a ghost-soul animating man
about religion. It goes without saying that “religion” is, for
while in the body, and appearing in dream and vision
these writers, at root one thing. But beyond this it is worth
out of the body, is found deeply ingrained. . . .
emphasizing that in this framework religion is essentially of
Among races within the limits of savagery, the general
an intellectual or cognitive kind. Evolutionist theories of reli-
doctrine of souls is found worked out with remarkable
gious development proffer histories of religions within which
breadth and consistency. The souls of animals are rec-
ognized by a natural extension from the theory of
religion is single-mindedly construed as belief; the affective
human souls; the souls of trees and plants follow in
dimensions of religious experience are simply elided or are
some vague partial way; and the souls of inanimate ob-
written off as so much superstructure.
jects expand the general category to its extremest
This intellectualist approach to anthropological research
boundary. . . . Far on into civilization, men still act
as though in some half-meant way they believed in souls
is clearly seen in Tylor’s famous “minimum definition of Re-
or ghosts of objects. (Quoted in Waardenburg, 1973,
ligion” as “belief in Spiritual Beings.” Tylor’s intellectual-
pp. 216–217)
ism—and that of his contemporaries—has been harshly de-
rided and largely superseded by twentieth-century
Tylor’s doctrine of “survivals”—that is, his claim that, al-
anthropologists. And yet this at least ought to be said in its
though they may over the course of time lose much or even
favor: for all their concern to distinguish between modern,
most of their original meanings, elements of the primitive
Western rationality and the “primitive” mentality of “savage”
worldview perdure within and continue to exercise influence
or “low” races, it is yet the case that the nineteenth-century
upon the mindsets of more advanced cultures—is also hinted
initiators of anthropological discourse were the first Europe-
at in the foregoing passage. For Tylor, as for perhaps the lat-
ans to conceive of the human race as a single entity; they were
est of his heritors, Sigmund Freud (1856–1939), the child
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EVOLUTION: EVOLUTIONISM
2915
is truly father to the man. Both of these thinkers depended,
duct detailed, long-term studies of tribal peoples within the
whether consciously or not, upon the Hegelian principle that
contexts of these peoples’ actual habitats. One effect of this
ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny. For Tylor, as well as dec-
focus on field research was the production, especially during
ades later for Freud, the investigation of the mental life of
the middle decades of the twentieth century and within the
primitive races provided insight into the psychic infancy of
Anglo-American anthropological tradition, of great numbers
humankind and so to the inevitable hurdles that must be
of immensely detailed monographs on the day-to-day lives
overcome in order for the human species to achieve psychic
of primitive societies. The quest for a comprehensive and sys-
adulthood.
tematic natural history of humankind was gradually aban-
doned.
Within British anthropological circles, criticism of
Tylor’s animistic hypothesis came from two corners. The
This abandonment undoubtedly found one of its
first of Tylor’s critics was the Scottish folklorist Andrew Lang
sources in an awakening to the theoretical inadequacies of
(1844–1912). Though Lang’s constructive contributions to
the evolutionist approach to human culture. It began to be-
anthropological science were minimal, he dealt a devastating
come clear to anthropological researchers that the systematic
blow to the notion that animism represented the earliest
theoreticians of humankind’s development employed, in
stage of religious consciousness. In his book Myth, Ritual,
their search for the unvarying laws underlying what they per-
and Religion (1887), he pointed to the overwhelming evi-
ceived to be the relentless progress of human societies toward
dence of what he termed “high gods” among many of those
ever more complex and rational forms, a logic that was whol-
peoples who until then had been characterized by anthropol-
ly circular. In the mere designation of some societies as
ogists as being too primitive to be able to conceptualize so
“primitive” and others as “advanced” a host of culturally en-
abstractly as to arrive at any notion resembling that of an om-
gendered presuppositions were employed, and a host of sig-
nipotent, creative deity. Though Lang turned his attention
nificant theoretical questions were begged. Another inade-
toward other interests during the remainder of his career, his
quacy of evolutionist thinking that began forcibly to strike
critique of Tylor laid the foundation for the massive re-
the notice of scholars of religion was the fact that this mode
searches into the topic of “primitive monotheism” that were
of explanation ignores the trading of cultural elements,
later conducted by Wilhelm Schmidt (1868–1954).
which so evidently has always figured importantly in the
change, and especially the complexification, of human socie-
The second blow to the animistic hypothesis was struck
ties. (It should be noted that few evolutionists adhered strict-
by R. R. Marett (1866–1943), Tylor’s disciple, biographer,
ly to a doctrine of absolute rectilinear evolution. Spencer ad-
and successor to the position of reader in social anthropology
mitted the possibility that racial differences accounted for the
at Oxford University. In an essay titled “Preanimistic Reli-
multiple and apparently irreconcilable directions taken by
gion” published in the journal Folklore in 1900, Marett,
different cultures, and even the archevolutionist Tylor, in his
drawing on the ethnographic data compiled in Melanesia by
early work, proposed “diffusionist” explanations for the puz-
the Anglican missionary R. H. Codrington, advanced the
zling appearance of “high” cultures among the Indians of
claim that animism had been preceded by a pre-animistic
Mesoamerica.) This insight alone was responsible for the in-
stage of religious consciousness characterized by belief in an
stigation of what one may loosely term a school of thought
impersonal force or power that invests persons and objects,
regarding the origins and development of religious phenom-
rendering them sacred. Marett, borrowing from the Melane-
ena: that of the so-called diffusionists.
sian vocabulary supplied by Codrington, termed this “elec-
tric” force mana. In accord with the evolutionist principles
Twentieth-century anthropological science also saw the
outlined earlier, belief in mana possesses, for Marett, both
interest in religion as an (or the) essential element in the life
diachronic and ontological priority. One hears an echo of
of human societies fall out of fashion. From the 1920s
Tylor in Marett’s proposition, in the article “Mana” that he
through the 1960s, many anthropologists, especially those
contributed to James Hastings’s Encyclopaedia of Religion and
who received training in England or the United States, fo-
Ethics, that mana and taboo (which Marett conceives of as
cused their attention on kinship relations, economic arrange-
mana’s “negative” complement) together constitute “a mini-
ments, and the like—aspects of society, that is, that they con-
mum definition of the magico-religious”
sidered more tractable to the “hard,” objective studies they
were intent upon pursuing. (There were of course exceptions
While neither Lang nor Marett disavowed evolutionist
to this trend—E. E. Evans-Pritchard [1902–1973] and Ray-
principles, it is worth noting that the criticisms leveled
mond Firth [1901–2002] stand as two of the more impor-
against Tylor by these writers eventually had the effect of
tant—but even these scientists concentrated their efforts on
helping to undermine the cogency of evolutionist explana-
conducting meticulous examinations of the religious lives of
tions of the origin and development of religion, insofar as the
particular societies.) It may not be too inaccurate to general-
work of each served to invite anthropologists to a closer ex-
ize to the effect that the nineteenth-century obsession with
amination of actual ethnographic data.
origins (as a concomitant of the grandiose quest to discover
FURTHER HISTORY OF EVOLUTIONIST THEORIES. The early
the foundational design of human progress) was replaced in
twentieth century saw the demise of “armchair” approaches
the twentieth century, at least among Anglophone anthro-
to anthropological research as anthropologists began to con-
pologists, by an obsession with “objectivity.”
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EVOLUTION: EVOLUTIONISM
But to generalize in this manner is dangerous insofar as
onstrate the logical coincidence of the behavior of neurotics
it ignores, first, the continuing influence of evolutionist an-
with the “obsessional” practices of primitive peoples, Freud
thropological theory on continental anthropological science,
aimed to map a theory of culture whose purposes are both
and second, the powerful, hardly diminishing influence of
descriptive and prophylactic, insofar as (in the manner of
evolutionist theory upon Western culture generally. Though
clinical psychoanalytic method) to understand past conflicts
there is too little space in this brief treatment to do more than
that live on within an unconscious realm—whence they con-
mention them, one may list Émile Durkheim (1858–1917)
tinue to exert control over human destiny—is to take a sure
and Lucien Lévy-Bruhl (1857–1939) as among the conti-
step toward resolving these conflicts and thereby achieving
nental heritors of evolutionist theory. The debate concerning
psychic health or emotional (and by implication political)
the nature of “primitive” as opposed to “civilized” (or ratio-
maturity. It may need no pointing out that Freud identifies
nal) forms of mentation that was refueled by Lévy-Bruhl
the coming of the race’s adulthood with the waning of reli-
continues, though in different, structuralist guise, even in the
gious belief.
early twenty-first century.
Freud’s influence on anthropological science during the
middle decades of the twentieth century was minimal, but
Though his work represents what many consider a dead
Freudian-based anthropological theory seemed to experience
end in terms of a continuing influence on anthropological
a rejuvenescence in the late twentieth century, as Melford E.
thought, James G. Frazer (1854–1941) produced what must
Spiro’s Oedipus in the Trobriands (1982) demonstrates. As
count as the single most imposing monument of evolutionist
for the medical import of Freud’s program for human desti-
theory, The Golden Bough (1890), which in its third edition
ny, it again is instructive to observe that evolutionist theory
(1911–1915) ran to twelve volumes. Not only the most pro-
has consistently coupled a descriptive aim with an apologetic
lix of evolutionist theorists, Frazer was also the most doctri-
and heuristic intention. This has remained true of evolution-
naire, convinced that human culture’s development is gov-
ism from its modern origins in the thought of Hegel and
erned by unvarying natural laws and that the human race has
Spencer down through its modern embodiments both in
evolved, mentally and physically, in uniform fashion. Fra-
Marxist historiography and political practice and in Freudian
zer’s temper was utterly intellectualist; his evolutionary
theory and psychoanalytic technique.
scheme, which posits the successive replacement of an ab-
M
original magical mode of thought by first a religious and then
ODERN PERSPECTIVES: SOCIOBIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION-
a scientific mode, finds its basis in Frazer’s conviction that
ARY PSYCHOLOGY. The application of the neo-Darwinian
model prevalent in modern biology to the evolution of
human culture’s development is effected as later generations
human behaviors and social structures was brought to the
of human beings awaken to the errors and the resultant prac-
fore with the publication of Sociobiology by Edward O. Wil-
tical inefficacy of their predecessors’ worldviews. (A reading
son of Harvard in 1975. Wilson’s observations of behavior
of The Golden Bough prompted Ludwig Wittgenstein’s
among the social insects became the focal point of his theo-
[1889–1951] trenchant remark to the effect that, when Fra-
retical approach to understanding the origin and evolution
zer reports on a primitive European peasant woman pulling
of human institutions. At the heart of this theory is the as-
a doll from beneath her skirt during a fertility rite, he seems
sumption that human behaviors at both the individual and
to think that she is making some sort of mistake and actually
group levels must confer a reproductive advantage if they are
believes the puppet to be a child.)
to be preserved over evolutionary time. Furthermore, it is as-
The influence of Frazer’s work on later anthropological
sumed that, in order for selection to take place (in the Dar-
theory has been negligible, aside perhaps from the significant
winian sense), such behaviors must in fact be genetically de-
impact it had on classical studies. Yet Frazer’s Golden Bough
termined. It is only fair to say that Wilson, contrary to his
rates as one of the century’s most celebrated books because
most vocal critics, is not as strict a reductionist or genetic de-
of its profound effect on the literary and artistic dimensions
terminist as this sounds. Nevertheless the use of Darwinian
of Western culture, and because of its formative influence on
principles for understanding the origins and continued exis-
psychoanalytic theory, which with Marxism (itself utterly de-
tence of human behaviors flows naturally out of Wilson’s
pendent upon evolutionist assumptions regarding history)
approach.
stands as a ruling ideology of the twentieth century. Though
Religion was not discussed per se in Wilson’s 1975
the axioms of the psychoanalytic model for understanding
book. However, in his later book Consilience (1998) he de-
the human mind and its cultural products probably owe
votes an entire chapter to the origins of ethics and religion.
more to evolutionist biology and its philosophical anteced-
He subscribes to the same kind of primitive-origin hypothe-
ents than they do to British anthropological theory, it is nev-
sis as did Tylor and Frazer. Wilson argues that the develop-
ertheless the case that the work of Freud (especially his late
ment of religious instincts is encoded in the genes and that
work) drew heavily upon that of Frazer. Frazer’s Totemism
such genetic material conferred a reproductive survival ad-
and Exogamy (1910) was a direct influence upon Freud’s
vantage on those groups who exhibited it. He suggests that
Totem and Taboo (1918). The latter, The Future of an Illusion
tribal religious systems served to unify those groups that em-
(1928), and Civilization and Its Discontents (1930) constitute
ployed them, and that such systems spring from the inevita-
Freud’s contribution to evolutionist theory. Seeking to dem-
ble result of the human brain’s genetic evolution.
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EVOLUTION: EVOLUTIONARY ETHICS
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The Darwinian approach taken by Wilson and others
gion, among which he includes the evolutionist mode, is in
to understanding the origins of human behavior finds even
his Theories of Primitive Religion (Oxford, 1965). Edward O.
greater application in the emerging field of evolutionary psy-
Wilson’s Consilience (New York, 1998) is easily accessible for
chology. Led by Leda Cosmides and John Tooby at the Uni-
most readers; see also his Sociobiology (Cambridge, Mass.,
versity of California, Santa Barbara, this field attempts to de-
1975). A collection of essays critical of evolutionary psychol-
rive Darwinian models for the origins of all human
ogy is contained in Hilary Rose and Stephen Rose, Alas, Poor
Darwin (New York, 2000), including Stephen Jay Gould’s
behaviors.
“More Things in Heaven and Earth,” cited above. See also
One of the principle tenets of evolutionary psychology
G. W. F. Hegel, Phenomenology of Spirit (New York, 1977);
is that the current form of the human brain took shape dur-
Herbert Spencer, Essays: Scientific, Political, and Speculative
ing a period called the environment of evolutionary adapta-
(New York, 1914) and Principles of Sociology (Westport,
tion, or EEA. While most place this era in the late Pleisto-
Conn., 1975); E. B. Tylor, “The Religion of Savages,” Fort-
cene, the EEA is really thought of as a composite of selective
nightly Review (1866) and Primitive Culture (London, 1871);
Jacques Waardenburg, Classical Approaches to the Study of Re-
pressures that served the adaptation of humans’ present brain
ligion, vol. 1, Introduction and Anthology (The Hague, 1973);
structure. It is thought that during this period of evolution-
R. R. Marett, “Preanimistic Religion,” Folklore (1900) and
ary history those physical components of human brains that
“Mana,” in Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, edited by
resulted in specific behaviors conferring reproductive advan-
James Hastings; Andrew Lang, Myth, Ritual, and Religion
tage or fitness were under selective pressure. In this view, the
(London, 1887); James G. Frazer, Totemism and Exogamy
origins of religious impulse would also be accounted for as
(London, 1910) and The Golden Bough, 3d ed. (1911–1915);
a product of the EEA.
Sigmund Freud, Totem and Taboo (New York, 1918), The
Future of an Illusion (New York, 1928), and Civilization and
The physical nature of the religious experience has been
Its Discontents (New York, 1930); and Melford E. Spiro, Oe-
investigated by neuroscience. A number of investigators have
dipus in the Trobriands (Chicago, 1982).
reported that the religious impulse could be located to the
temporal lobe of the brain. In these studies the link to reli-
JAMES WALLER (1987)
MARY EDWARDSEN (1987)
gious feelings and brain structure go hand in hand with the
MARTINEZ HEWLETT (2005)
idea that the adaptation of the brain includes the origin of
religion per se.
The work of sociobiology and evolutionary psychology
EVOLUTION: EVOLUTIONARY ETHICS
has been critiqued by several evolutionary biologists, includ-
Evolutionary ethics attempts to use the biological theory of
ing Stephen Jay Gould (1941–2002). Their argument is that
evolution as a foundation for ethics. As such, its history is
the research agenda of both fields is entirely too reductionis-
closely linked with the development and popularization of
tic and deterministic. Gould in particular took issue with the
evolutionary theories starting in the nineteenth century. To
conclusions of evolutionary psychology, writing that “the
a large extent, the history of evolutionary ethics is associated
chief strategy proposed for identifying adaptation is untest-
with efforts to find alternatives to religion as a foundation
able and therefore unscientific” (quoted in Rose and Rose,
for moral law. The growth of industrialism, the establish-
2000, p. 120).
ment of German biblical criticism, and the rise of science all
Nonetheless in this modern version of evolutionism one
contributed to growing secularism during the middle of the
sees the same process as that which motivated Spencer,
nineteenth century. Like other attempts to extend an under-
Tylor, and Frazer in the nineteenth century and the early
standing of biological evolution to the human situation, evo-
twentieth century. The motivation to give an anthropologi-
lutionary ethics has been highly controversial. Although vari-
cal and even materialist explanation for the occurrence of re-
ous evolutionary ethics were proposed throughout Western
ligions persists in the early twenty-first century.
countries, its greatest popularity was in the Anglo-American
world. The history of evolutionary ethics is divided into
SEE ALSO Animism and Animatism; Durkheim, Émile; Dy-
three phases, the initial Darwin and Spencer period, an early-
namism; Freud, Sigmund; Kulturkreiselehre; Lévy-Bruhl,
twentieth-century period, and a contemporary period.
Lucien; Müller, F. Max; Power; Schmidt, Wilhelm; Struc-
I
turalism; Supreme Beings; Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre.
NITIAL PERIOD: DARWIN AND SPENCER. When Charles
Darwin published his Origin of Species in 1859, he avoided
discussion of human evolution as well as the implications of
BIBLIOGRAPHY
his theory for an understanding of human society. He was
A good introduction for the layperson to the impact on Western
fully aware, however, that others would immediately extend
thought of various ideas of history is R. G. Collingwood’s
his theory to cover human evolution and that the implica-
The Idea of History (Oxford, 1946). Good surveys of the evo-
lutionist movement in anthropology (and its decline) are
tions of his work would be discussed. In his Descent of Man
Eric J. Sharpe’s Comparative Religion: A History (London,
(1871) Darwin tackled these issues directly. Of central con-
1975) and Jan de Vries’s The Study of Religion: A Historical
cern to him was the “moral faculty,” the possession of which
Approach (New York, 1967). E. E. Evans-Pritchard’s insight-
he considered the most important difference between hu-
ful and amusing critique of “intellectualist” theories of reli-
mans and all other “lower animals.”
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EVOLUTION: EVOLUTIONARY ETHICS
Darwin’s theory of evolution attempted to understand
Contemporaries did not always carefully distinguish be-
the origin of contemporary animal and plant life in naturalis-
tween Darwin’s ideas and those of Spencer. And numerous
tic terms, that is, without reference to any supernatural
supporters of evolutionary ethics combined ideas in new and
causes. Since humans, according to his theory, were consid-
novel combinations. Consequently, evolutionary ethics var-
ered to have had a natural origin, Darwin approached the
ied considerably. In the United States, John Fiske emerged
problem of the origin of the moral faculty as he did other
as the most energetic supporter of evolutionary ethics. Fiske
physical and mental traits. His general approach in trying to
was an admirer of Spencer, but he believed that evolutionary
understand the origin of complex traits, such as the human
ideas opened up the path to a new, reborn Christianity.
eye, was to depict them as part of a continuum—instead of
Fiske’s religious orientation was somewhat unusual in the
focusing on their unique or unusual aspects, he depicted
evolutionary ethics tradition. Leslie Stephen in England was
them as part of a series. In the case of the eye, for example,
more Darwinian, and he believed that evolution provided
he constructed a series of traits starting with simple, light-
the foundation for an agnostic, liberal morality. Other im-
sensitive cells on the skin of a primitive organism and ended
portant supporters of evolutionary ethics were Woods
with the highly complex vertebrate eye. This allowed him to
Hutchinson in the United States and Benjamin Kidd in
illustrate how, over time, a trait could change by small incre-
Britain.
ments from one end of a spectrum to the other, from simple
to complex. He used this approach with the moral faculty
Evolutionary ethics had support, but also a number of
and claimed that it was the natural development of the intel-
critics. Two of the period’s major evolutionists, Thomas
lectual capacity of social animals.
Henry Huxley and Alfred Russel Wallace, were strongly op-
posed to the position and wrote critical works arguing against
Any social animal, according to Darwin, that attained
it. Huxley, citing David Hume, argued that describing what
an intelligence that was close to human intelligence would
“is” does not give one the authority to proscribe what
develop a moral faculty. He explained the moral faculty in
“ought” to be (the famous IS/OUGHT distinction). Wallace
the following manner: With increased intelligence, early hu-
took a quite different approach in his critique and was drawn
mans attained the capacity for various sentiments (e.g., cour-
to a spiritualist view of moral thought. He rejected both Dar-
age, sympathy), and these gave advantages to the group.
win’s and Spencer’s positions on ethics and contended that
Groups with these sentiments survived better than those
evolutionary biology could not provide a foundation for
without them. Over time, one of these sentiments evolved
ethics.
into a moral sense that helped consolidate the group and gave
it increased survival value. Darwin was aware of the ethno-
Of greater importance, the philosophic community was
graphic literature of his day, which suggested that all human
nearly unanimous in its rejection of evolutionary ethics. The
groups had sets of ethical beliefs, and he felt that in time peo-
leading figure at the time in ethics, Henry Sidgwick of Cam-
ple would understand the adaptive value of these beliefs.
bridge University, dismissed evolutionary ethics in his major
Darwin did not attempt to justify moral beliefs by reference
work, Methods of Ethics (1874). He wrote that the justifica-
to their origin. He was primarily concerned with how they
tion of evolutionary ethics depended upon one of two argu-
came about.
ments. The first, going from a description of a moral belief
In contrast, Darwin’s contemporary Herbert Spencer
to a belief in its validity, he rejected because he contended
sought justification for ethical positions. Spencer elaborated
that such an argument merely tells about a custom and is of
an ethical theory that he believed had evolved from nature,
no value to ethics. The second specifies a hypothetical “natu-
and he argued that his system was natural and prescriptive.
ral state” of humans and society and goes on to use that state
In his Social Statics (1851) Spencer derived a basic principle
as a foundation for ethics. He rejected it because he felt it
for ethics: “Every man has freedom to do all that he wills,
was a confused position; any impulse, desire, or tendency can
provided he infringes not the equal freedom of any other
be considered “natural.” How can one deem a particular one
man” (p. 121). This principle allowed individuals to seek
significantly natural without some prior justification? Ac-
what gave them pleasure, and in his later Principles of Ethics
cording to Sidgwick, ethics is a systematic examination of be-
(1879–1893) he elaborated an evolutionary philosophy to
liefs about what is right or wrong, with the goal of construct-
explain how seeking pleasure (and avoiding pain) drove the
ing a rational system of moral ideas. From his perspective,
evolutionary process in biology and psychology and was
evolutionary ethics was not an ethical system but merely a
therefore a natural principle on which to base ethics.
discussion of how ethical systems may have come into being
or a discussion of various held beliefs. It was not to be taken
Spencer’s evolutionary ethics was more Lamarckian
seriously as constructive ethics.
than Darwinian. That is, he did not stress the adaptive value
of the moral sentiment but rather emphasized the inheri-
In the early part of the twentieth century, Sidgwick’s
tance of acquired characteristics and thought of nature as
condemnation of evolutionary ethics was repeated and ex-
moving to a predetermined goal. For Spencer, a natural pro-
tended by the Cambridge philosopher G. E. Moore. His ar-
cess was moving human evolution toward a state where duty
guments are the ones most often cited in criticism of evolu-
became pleasure, mutual aid replaced competition, and the
tionary ethics. In his Principia Ethica (1903), Moore rejected
greatest possible individual freedom existed.
evolutionary ethics along with other forms of naturalistic
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EVOLUTION: EVOLUTIONARY ETHICS
2919
ethics, all of which he claimed were based on the “naturalistic
ory of evolution, but the old criticisms raised by Sidgwick
fallacy.” He meant by this that attempts to explain the
and Moore remained. Moreover the philosophy community
“good” by reference to some property were not valid. The
by this time had moved onto other approaches to ethics.
“good” is a simple notion that cannot be defined as pleasure
Some, like Charles Stevenson, stressed language; others fol-
or an evolutionary adaptation. Moore’s critique was aimed
lowed A. J. Ayer and his logical positivism, which tended to
at more than just evolutionary ethics, and his writings served
dismiss ethics as merely expressions of feeling and not having
to redirect ethical writing. American philosophers were no
any truth value. None of these newer approaches to ethics
more accepting of evolutionary ethics than the English. Wil-
accepted evolutionary ethics, and by the 1970s the position
liam James and John Dewey, both sympathetic to and influ-
had few supporters.
enced by evolutionary ideas, rejected evolutionary ethics.
CONTEMPORARY PERIOD: EVOLUTIONARY ETHICS AFTER
EARLY-TWENTIETH-CENTURY PERIOD. Evolutionary ethics
1975. With the appearance of Edward O. Wilson’s Socio-
entered a new phase in the early twentieth century due to
biology in 1975, a new chapter in the history of evolutionary
changes in evolutionary science itself and the extension of
ethics began. Wilson’s text synthesized research on the Mod-
evolutionary ideas into a broad worldview. The most outspo-
ern Synthesis with population biology and animal behavior.
ken supporter was Julian Huxley, grandson of Thomas
The central argument of the book is that behavior should be
Henry Huxley (who had been so critical of the position in
regarded as adaptive and can be understand best from an evo-
the previous century). Julian Huxley is famous for being one
lutionary perspective, not just animal behavior but human
of the architects of the Modern Synthesis, the neo-
behavior as well. Sociobiology had a short section on ethics,
Darwinian theory that stressed Darwin’s original insight that
and in it Wilson claimed that the time had come for ethics
natural selection of small random variations were the central
to be removed temporarily from the domain of philosophy
driving force in evolution. The new theory built on the dra-
and moved into biology. The study of the biological basis of
matic new genetic understanding of variation as well as care-
social behavior promised, according to Wilson, to provide a
ful work in natural history on geographic variation. Huxley
new Darwinian foundation for ethics and for an understand-
played a key role in synthesizing this knowledge and in popu-
ing of social sciences and humanities.
larizing it. Equally important, Huxley believed that the new
evolutionary theory provided a foundation for a new human-
Wilson followed up his suggestion with his Pulitzer
ist philosophy that had important implications for social pol-
Prize–winning book On Human Nature (1978), in which he
icy and ethical thought. He elaborated on his version of evo-
elaborated on his evolutionary understanding of ethics. Un-
lutionary ethics in his Romanes Lecture in 1943.
like Darwin, who had relied on a view of group selection to
explain the origin of the moral sentiment, Wilson built on
At the heart of Huxley’s argument was his contention
the work of William Hamilton, who argued for understand-
that evolution was a progressive process with three different
ing “altruistic behavior” as an activity that can promote pas-
stages: cosmic, biological, and psychosocial. The process of
sage of a greater number of an individual’s genes to the next
evolution had led to the emergence of humans, the highest
generation. Hamilton, in a set of classic papers in 1964,
and most advanced species, one capable of cultural evolution
showed that an “altruistic act” can have selective value if it
and ultimately of a sense of moral obligation. To explain the
leads to the survival and reproduction of near relatives with
origin of moral obligation, Huxley made reference to psy-
whom one shares common genes. Because a person shares
chology, in particular Sigmund Freud’s concept of the super-
half of his or her genes with a sibling and an eighth with a
ego, an internalized authority that allows one’s sense of guilt
cousin, if a person acts in a manner that sacrifices his or her
to repress aggression and that is the source of one’s senses of
life but that more than doubles the reproductive rate of a sib-
“wrong” and of “duty.” Moral obligation evolved over time,
ling, then copies of that person’s genes will increase in the
as did human ethical standards, the ethics accepted by social
next generation. From an evolutionary perspective, an indi-
groups. Huxley argued that the direction of moral progress
vidual passing on his or her genes is of central value. The in-
was toward greater human fulfillment and the realization of
dividual who passes on genes has a greater impact on the next
values that had “intrinsic worth” (rather than adaptive
generation than one who does not. Hamilton’s ideas were
worth). Only a society that respected individual rights,
popularized by Richard Dawkins in his The Selfish Gene
stressed education, encouraged responsibility, and promoted
(1976), which argues that all supposed selfish acts are ulti-
the arts could realize those goals.
mately selfish in a genetic sense.
Huxley’s scientific humanism enjoyed a limited popu-
Wilson used Hamilton to explain how an action that
larity with the general public in the decades after World War
“appears” altruistic, that helps another at one’s expense, in
II, as did the writings of C. H. Waddington, who argued
the long run can work for its carrier’s “benefit” and therefore
along similar lines in his 1960 book The Ethical Animal.
have a selective value. But what actions “ought” one take?
Waddington departed from Huxley, however, in emphasiz-
Here Wilson also utilized the central, modern evolutionary
ing that the “good” in evolutionary ethics had to be viewed
principle, the survival and reproduction of genes. He argued
in terms of what furthers human evolution. Their version of
that what promotes survival and reproduction of the gene
evolutionary ethics rested on a new and widely accepted the-
pool is “good” and what negatively affects it is “bad.” Atomic
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2920
EXCOMMUNICATION
warfare, from this perspective, is bad. Wilson in fact derived
Kitcher, Philip. Vaulting Ambition: Sociobiology and the Quest for
an entire set of “good” actions and “bad” actions based on
Human Nature. Cambridge, Mass., 1985. An extensive cri-
their effects on the gene pool. Ultimately, Wilson concluded,
tique of the attempt to understand human nature through
science will provide a more powerful mythology than reli-
sociobiology.
gion, and humans will be able to construct meaningful and
Midgley, Mary. Evolution as a Religion: Strange Hopes and Stranger
moral lives from a totally secular perspective.
Fears. London, 1985. A perceptive discussion of the attempt
to understand ethical issues from a biological perspective.
Although a few biologists and other intellectuals, partic-
ularly evolutionary psychologists, have embraced this new
Moore, G. E. Principia Ethica. Cambridge, U.K., 1903.
evolutionary ethics, the position has drawn considerable crit-
Murphy, Jeffrie G.. Evolution, Morality, and the Meaning of Life.
icism. Philosophers and historians have noted that the new
Totowa, N.J., 1982. A good general discussion of the issues.
ethics, which draws on evolutionary theory, although up-to-
Quillian, William F., Jr. The Moral Theory of Evolutionary Natu-
date in its biology, suffers from the same flaws that were first
ralism. New Haven, Conn., 1945. A careful philosophical
raised by Sidgwick and other early critics. The emphasis on
analysis of the central argument.
genes and their survival has also raised the question of how
Quinton, Anthony. “Ethics and the Theory of Evolution.” In Bi-
deterministic the view is. After all, if people do not have any
ology and Personality: Frontier Problems in Science, Philosophy,
free will to make decisions, if people are hardwired to act in
and Religion, edited by Ian T. Ramsey. Oxford, 1965, pp,
certain ways, how can one claim that actions are “good?”
107–131. A discussion of the philosophical problems with
Wilson has grappled with the issue and argued that genes and
evolutionary ethics.
culture interact, but that individuals have “tendencies” that
Richards, Robert J. Darwin and the Emergence of Evolutionary The-
predispose them in certain ways. Others see culture as more
ories of Mind and Behavior. Chicago, 1987. A good back-
independent. Richard Alexander, an animal behaviorist, ar-
ground work for the subject, and a spirited defense.
gued that evolutionary analysis can reveal quite a lot about
Rottschaefer, William A. The Biology and Psychology of Moral
the origin and development of laws and ethical opinions but
Agency. New York, 1998. An interesting attempt to solve
cannot reveal which ones are “right.” Such views undercut
some of the philosophical issues that surround evolutionary
the value of evolutionary ethics, because they underscore its
ethics.
inadequacy of providing a guide for action.
Ruse, Michael. Taking Darwin Seriously: A Naturalistic Approach
As with the earlier versions of evolutionary ethics, sup-
to Philosophy. New York, 1986. A modified version of evolu-
tionary ethics.
porters of modern theories of evolutionary ethics have made
little headway toward gaining acceptance. Evolutionary eth-
Schilcher, Florian von, and Neil Tennant. Philosophy, Evolution,
ics has long had an attraction for some. It serves as an essen-
and Human Nature. London, 1984. A careful analysis of the
central issues.
tial subject for worldviews based on evolution and has pro-
vided a secular foundation for moral beliefs. Unfortunately,
Sidgwick, Henry. The Methods of Ethics. London, 1901. An ex-
it has suffered from a set of serious philosophical flaws, and
tended discussion and critique of evolutionary ethics.
it has failed to meet the challenges posed by philosophers.
Spencer, Herbert. Social Statics. London, 1851.
Spencer, Herbert. Principles of Ethics. 1879–1893. 2 volumes.
SEE ALSO Ethology of Religion; Sociobiology and Evolu-
tionary Psychology, article on Sociobiology of Religion;
Waddington, C. H. The Ethical Animal. London, 1960.
Spencer, Herbert.
Williams, Cora M. A Review of the Systems of Ethics Founded on
the Theory of Evolution. London, 1893. A discussion of the
BIBLIOGRAPHY
early major statements of evolutionary ethics.
Breuer, Georg. Sociobiology and the Human Dimension. Cam-
Wilson, Edward O. Sociobiology. Cambridge, Mass., 1975.
bridge, U.K., 1982. A perceptive discussion of the debate
Wilson, Edward O. On Human Nature. Cambridge, Mass., 1978.
over sociobiology.
Wilson’s major work on evolutionary ethics.
Darwin, Charles. The Descent of Man. London, 1871.
Dawkins, Richard. The Selfish Gene. New York, 1976.
PAUL LAWRENCE FARBER (2005)
Degler, Carl N. In Search of Human Nature: The Decline and Re-
vival of Darwinism in American Social Thought. New York,
1991. A review of the impact of Darwinism on theories of
EXCOMMUNICATION. To excommunicate means
human nature.
“to cut off from communion” or “to exclude from fellowship
Farber, Paul Lawrence. The Temptations of Evolutionary Ethics.
in a community.” In a Christian setting, the term excommu-
Berkeley, Calif., 1994. A history from Darwin to Edward O.
nication also applies to exclusion from Holy Communion,
Wilson.
or the Eucharist.
Flew, Anthony. Evolutionary Ethics. London, 1967. A philosophi-
cal critique of the position.
Historically, religious practice admitted some form of
Huxley, Thomas, and Julian Huxley. Touchstone for Ethics, 1893–
putting a person outside the community. Any community
1943. New York, 1947. Contains Thomas Huxley’s critique
claims the right to protect itself against nonconforming
of evolutionary ethics and Julian Huxley’s defense.
members who may threaten the common welfare. In a reli-
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2921
gious setting this right has often been reinforced by the belief
whom contact must be completely avoided. Under the 1917
that the sanction affects one’s standing before God, inas-
code all others were tolerati, and contact with them could be
much as it entails being cut off from the community of the
permitted.
saved. In religious traditions in which nonconformity was
punishable by death, excommunication was introduced as a
An excommunicated person loses basic rights in the
mitigation of the death penalty. In medieval Christendom
church, but not the effects of baptism, which can never be
and during the early years of the Reformation, excommuni-
lost. In the revision of the code carried out after Vatican II
cated persons were turned over to civil authorities, who could
the effects of excommunication were clarified, and the dis-
inflict the death penalty upon them.
tinction of vitandi and tolerati was dropped. Instead, all are
treated as tolerati so far as the effects are concerned. These
With the shift in modern times to considering religious
depend on whether the excommunication was imposed by
affiliation a matter of free choice, doubts have been expressed
a public declaration or sentence of condemnation, or was in-
about the meaning and value of excommunication. Although
curred automatically but without much public notice.
practiced less frequently today, some current examples in-
clude the h:erem in Orthodox Judaism, “shunning” among
Generally, a person who is excommunicated is denied
some traditional Christian bodies, withdrawal of member-
any role in administering the sacraments, especially the Eu-
ship by congregation-based communities, and “excommuni-
charist. He or she may not receive any of the sacraments or
cation” as practiced by Mormons, Roman Catholics, and
administer sacramentals, such as burials, and is forbidden to
some other mainline Christian churches.
exercise any church offices or functions. If the penalty has
In the Western Christian tradition, excommunication
been declared or imposed by a sentence, any liturgical actions
is seen as based on practice reflected in scripture, especially
the excommunicate attempts are to be suspended until he or
Paul (see, for example, 1 Cor. 5:1–13, 2 Cor. 2:5–11, 2 Thes.
she leaves; the excommunicate loses any offices or other func-
3:14–15). Theoretical justification is taken from the com-
tions in the church; and may make no claim for income or
mand to bind and loose (Mt. 18:15–18). This same passage
other benefits from the church.
supplies key elements of procedure, including advance warn-
ing and attempts to lead the delinquent to conversion.
Under the reform of the law, automatic excommunica-
tion can be incurred in only six instances, including abor-
Early Christian practice mixed liturgical excommunica-
tion. It may be imposed for a limited number of other crimes
tions, which were part of the nonrepeatable public peniten-
against faith, the Eucharist, or the seal of the confessional in
tial practices, with disciplinary ones that could culminate in
the sacrament of penance. If imposed by a sentence or public
a person being declared anathema. In the thirteenth century
declaration, excommunication can be lifted only by a public
Innocent III specified excommunication as a disciplinary
authority in the church, usually the local diocesan bishop.
penalty distinct from other punishments, characterizing it as
Otherwise, it can be lifted by a priest during the sacrament
specifically medicinal, intended to heal the delinquent. The
of penance, but unlike the 1917 code the revised rules re-
number of crimes for which excommunication could be in-
curred increased steadily through the eighteenth century, but
quire that in all cases the bishop be contacted afterward for
a marked reduction in their number began with the reforms
the reconciliation to remain in effect.
of Pius IX in 1869 and continued with the promulgation of
the Code of Canon Law in 1917.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
As a medicinal, or healing, penalty, excommunication
Recommended studies of early Christian practice are Kenneth
under Roman Catholic law may be incurred only if a serious
Helm’s Eucharist and Excommunication: A Study in Early
sin has been committed, or if the person is obstinate in a po-
Christian Doctrine and Discipline (Frankfurt, 1973) and John
sition after being given formal warnings and time to repent.
E. Lynch’s “The Limits of Communio in the Pre-
Constantinian Church,” Jurist 36 (1976): 159–190. For his-
Reflecting medieval and later developments, some excom-
torical background and detailed commentary on Roman
munications are automatic (latae sententiae), incurred by
Catholic canon law through the 1917 Code of Canon Law,
committing a specified act, such as abortion or physically
see Francis Edward Hyland’s Excommunication: Its Nature,
striking the pope. Other excommunications are imposed
Historical Development and Effects (Washington, D. C.,
(ferendae sententiae) after an administrative or judicial inves-
1928), and for an overview of efforts to reform Roman Cath-
tigation. Excommunication must always be lifted as soon as
olic law on this subject, see Thomas J. Green’s “Future of
the delinquent repents and seeks peace with the church.
Penal Law in the Church,” Jurist 35 (1975): 212–275, which
includes a bibliography. Both the Dictionnaire de droit
A distinction used to be drawn between major excom-
canonique (Paris, 1953) and the Lexikon für Theologie und
munications, which cut a person off from all participation
Kirche, 2d ed. (Freiburg, 1957–1968), offer extensive arti-
in community life, and minor ones, which prohibited partic-
cles, under the terms Excommunication and Bann, respec-
ipation in the sacraments, especially the Eucharist. Current
tively.
canon law has dropped this distinction, although the 1917
code did characterize some excommunicates as vitandi, with
JAMES H. PROVOST (1987)
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EXEGESIS
EXEGESIS SEE BIBLICAL EXEGESIS;
to be God’s people. Obeying the divine commandments
HERMENEUTICS; TAFS¯IR
given to them was therefore a way out of exile both historical-
ly and spiritually. On a historical level, the Jewish people
would be led back to the Land of Israel, with the Temple re-
built and political independence restored, while on a spiritu-
EXILE. Often prompted by historical conditions, the con-
al level, as Isaiah writes (51:6), the righteous would attain
cept of exile appears in various religious traditions as a sym-
eternal salvation.
bol of separation, alienation, and that which is unredeemed.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the concept of exile gave
IN JUDAISM. With the Babylonian invasion of Judah and the
theological significance to the continued political, social, and
subsequent destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 587/6
economic oppression of the Jewish people. The tenth-
BCE, the concept of exile (Heb., golah or galut) came to reflect
century philosopher SaDadyah Gaon, in his Book of Beliefs and
both a historical reality and a communal perception. Forced
Opinions, emphasized the importance of exile as a trial and
into exile in Babylonia, members of the upper classes found
as a means of purification, while according to an anonymous
themselves uprooted from their national and spiritual home-
contemporary, exile, as a divine gift and a “blessing of Abra-
land. Literally, then, the term exile came to describe the
ham,” served as a mark of Israel’s election. According to this
forced dispersion of the Jewish people and their subjugation
view, exile was not a punishment for sin but an opportunity
under alien rule. Although according to Jewish tradition (Jer
given by God to bring God’s teachings to all of humanity.
29:10) the Babylonian exile was only seventy years in dura-
After fifteen hundred years of Jewish settlement in Spain,
tion, the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE and the
characterized by a social, economic, and political integration
triumph of Rome caused a national uprootedness that lasted
unknown elsewhere in the medieval world, King Ferdinand
for almost two thousand years. Historically, one can thus
and Queen Isabella’s edict of expulsion in 1492, left genera-
maintain that the exile of the Jewish people from the land
tions of Spanish Jewry feeling doubly exiled. As Jane Gerber
of Israel began in the sixth century BCE and came to an end
notes, the exiles and their descendents viewed Spain as a sec-
in 1948 with the establishment of the state of Israel and the
ond Jerusalem. Their expulsion, therefore, “was as keenly la-
restoration of Jewish political independence.
mented as was exile from the Holy Land,” leading to “both
Metaphorically, however, the term exile was and is still
a new dynamism and a heightened sense of despair.”
used as a symbol of alienation, reflecting the Jews’ separation
To many medieval Jewish mystics, exile took on addi-
from the land of Israel, from the Torah by which God com-
tional significance as a metaphor describing on the divine
manded them to live, from God, and from the non-Jew and
level what historically had befallen the Jewish people. One
the non-Jewish world in general.
finds in the thirteenth-century Zohar, for example, the claim
To the biblical prophets, exile was a symbol of divine
that with the destruction of the Second Temple both the
retribution. As Isaiah makes clear (44:9–20), in worshiping
Jewish people and the tenth emanation of God, identified
other deities, the people of Israel revealed a lack of fidelity
as shekhinah (God’s visible presence in the world), went into
to their God and to the covenant that God had established
exile. Thus, the separation of the Jewish people from the
with them. Their punishment, then, was the destruction of
Land of Israel became mirrored in the alienation of God
their spiritual center, Jerusalem, as well as of the Temple in
from a part of Godself. This idea is reiterated and broadened
which sacrifices were offered, and the forced removal of
in the writings of the sixteenth-century mystic Isaac Luria
many from the land that had been promised to them. At the
(1534–1572), in which the exile of the shekhinah is said to
same time, however, exile became a symbol of judgment.
reflect the exile or “fall” of humanity as a whole into the
Those who remained religiously faithful, becoming, in Isa-
domination of demonic powers.
iah’s words, God’s “suffering servants” (43:10), would reap
Finally, on a psychological level, the concept of exile
the rewards of righteousness and ultimately be redeemed.
served to reinforce the national self-consciousness among a
According to the prophet Ezekiel (14:3ff., 21:31ff.),
people who no longer shared a common culture, language,
exile was a trial through which God tested Israel’s faithful-
or land. Exclusion from non-Jewish society, coupled with a
ness to God and God’s teachings. It was also a symbol of Isra-
Jewish liturgy and calendar that reinforced the notion of the
el’s election, with the Babylonians, and later the Romans and
Land of Israel as home, underscored the alien nature of the
all those under whose rule the Jewish people were subjugat-
Jew in the non-Jewish world. After the seventeenth century,
ed, acting as instruments of a divine schema through which,
however, as European emancipation came to afford growing
as Isaiah writes, God’s “faithful remnant” (27:31ff.) would
numbers of Jews the opportunity to participate more fully
be redeemed. Exile thus became a metaphor of separation
in non-Jewish society, many began to feel that the Diaspora
not only from God but also from righteousness. As such, it
did not necessarily have to be equated with exile. One sees
was associated with a pre-messianic, pre-redemptive era. In
this most clearly in the writings of nineteenth-century reli-
exile, as John Bright maintains, one was to purge oneself of
gious reformers who, insisting that Jews were members of a
sin in order to prepare for the future, to “return,” that is, to
religious community but not of a specific nation, maintained
remember that God, the Creator of the world, chose Israel
that it was possible for Jews to view any country as home.
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2923
Since 1948, it is debatable whether Jews choosing to live
the soul can be set free only through this insight, or gno¯sis.
outside the state of Israel historically are still in exile. Yet one
To be in exile is to be unredeemed, ignorant of one’s origins
can argue, as does Arthur Hertzberg in Being Jewish in Ameri-
and of the nature of the human soul. In these and other texts,
ca, that on a psychological level the concept of exile remains
knowledge thus becomes the necessary key to salvation.
a compelling symbol. Hertzberg maintains that even in the
United States, where Jews have gained great acceptance and
Yet having attained this knowledge, the Gnostic cannot
freedom, the Jew continues to be an alien. As an externally
help but experience life in this world as “alien.” Hans Jonas
and internally imposed sense of self-identification, exile thus
maintains that this experience serves as the primary symbol
reflects the conviction of many Jews that the Diaspora can
not just of Christian Gnosticism but of other forms of gnos-
never truly be seen as “home.”
ticism as well. Life in this world is depicted as a descent into
darkness and captivity, a life of exile for which, as the Man-
IN CHRISTIANITY. The metaphor of exile appears in Chris-
daeans claimed, the only “day of escape” is death. As a meta-
tianity in two separate ways: first, as that reflecting the histor-
phor, then, exile takes on personal rather than communal
ical and spiritual conditions under which the Jewish people
significance, reflecting the experience of the Gnostic who,
have lived since the fall of the Second Temple, and second,
alienated from and in revolt against the cosmos, longs to re-
as descriptive of life in this world as opposed to life in the
turn home.
kingdom of heaven.
Like their Jewish contemporaries, the Fathers of the
Among the IsmaDiliyah, an Islamic movement of radical
early church attached theological significance to the destruc-
ShiDah founded in the late third century AH (ninth century
tion of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 CE. They maintained,
CE), one again finds the concept of exile serving as a central
however, that its destruction was not caused by sinfulness in
symbol of alienation. Here, it is the imam who leads the
general but by one particular sin, namely the rejection by
gnostic away from the world of darkness. Possessing the eso-
most of the Jewish community in Palestine of Jesus as the
teric knowledge of the soul’s true spiritual birth, the imam
Messiah for whom they had been waiting. Thus, the histori-
offers this knowledge to his disciple as a “salvatory revela-
cal exile of the Jewish people was seen to mirror the spiritual
tion.” Having attained this revelation, the disciple is freed
exile—or alienation—of the Jews from God. To “return” in
from exile and reborn as a “being of light.”
the Christian sense came to imply not only repentance but
THE ISHRA¯Q¯IYAH. Revealing the influences of Zoroastrian-
also acknowledgement of Jesus as savior.
ism, Gnosticism, Persian mysticism, and Neoplatonism, the
In the New Testament Gospel of John, one sees that
illuminative philosophy of the twelfth-century thinker
which is usually identified as a more Gnostic understanding
Shiha¯b al-D¯ın Yah:yá Suhraward¯ı (Shiha¯b al-D¯ın Yah:yá ibn
of exile. Jesus here identifies himself as one who is “not of
H:abash ibn Am¯ırak Abu¯ al-Futu¯h: Suhraward¯ı; AH 549–
the world.” Those who are “of the world,” he says (Jn.
587/1170–1208 CE) uses exile as a symbol of ignorance of
17:16), are those who have not acknowledged that he is the
one’s true spiritual nature and of reality in general. “Home,”
Christ (Messiah), sent by his father, the one true God, in
in the Ishra¯q¯ı school, is metaphorically identified with the
order to redeem his people. To be “not of the world,” he con-
world of light, while exile is described as entrapment within
tinues, is to be with God in the Divine spiritual kingdom,
the realm of darkness. In order to journey homeward, the
possible even before death. Exile thus functions here as an
Ishra¯q¯ıyun need to move beyond rational inquiry to the
individual rather than a collective metaphor of alienation or
imaginal world and illumination (ishra¯q). Only then can
separation from God. Not surprisingly, John’s understand-
the souls of the Ishra¯q¯ıyah attain mystical union with the
ing of “return,” rooted in an individual declaration of faith,
inner divine presence, experiencing an ecstatic separation
is also personal in nature.
from the physical body and an anticipation of death. Thus
IN GNOSTICISM. The concept of exile comes to play a central
to journey out of exile is to overcome the separation of the
role in a number of early Gnostic texts. Set within a dualistic
soul from the divine and to become inflamed by what Henry
framework of spirit versus matter, light versus darkness,
Corbin labels the “divine fire.”
goodness versus evil, exile again functions as a symbol of
Suhraward¯ı’s understanding of exile is developed most
alienation. Here, however, it is not a particular people that
fully in his Recital of the Western Exile, a spiritual autobiogra-
are said to be in exile or the nonbeliever per se but the human
phy that describes the struggles of the “man of light” to free
soul. Belonging to the spiritual realm of light but trapped in
himself from darkness. Associating ignorance with the West
the world of matter or darkness, it depends upon the “saving
and illumination with the East, Suhraward¯ı begins his tale
knowledge” of the Gnostic to begin its journey home.
with the exile of the soul to the western city of Kairouan.
The Apocryphon of John, written probably in the late sec-
Forgetting his origins and eventually taken captive, the man
ond century CE, the third-century Gospel of Thomas, and the
of light slowly comes to an awareness of his true identity and
fourth-century Pistis Sophia are among several Gnostic
sets out on the long journey home. Thought at first he is
Christian texts that depict Jesus as having been sent down
forced to return to the West, he is finally set free. Stripped
to earth to impart this saving knowledge to others. Remind-
of the “fetters of matter,” his soul becomes possessed by an
ing his listeners of their heavenly origin, he tells them that
angel who helps it return to its celestial condition. Thus
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2924
EXISTENTIALISM
beginning its heavenly ascent, it leaves the world of exile
tiate Tibetan Buddhism from other forms of Buddhist belief
forever.
and practice. So have the efforts by hundreds of resident
scholars and monks at the Tibetan Library in Dharamsala to
IN CONTEMPORARY TIBETAN BUDDHISM. Forced to live in
preserve and help translate original Tibetan manuscripts, in-
exile since 1959, the XIV Dalai Lama, religious and secular
cluding rare ones smuggled out of Tibet over the past forty
head of Tibet, along with well over 100,000 Tibetan refu-
years.
gees, have sought refuge in India, in the Himalayan town of
Dharamsala. With the Chinese military annexation of Tibet,
SEE ALSO Buddhism, article on Buddhism in Tibet; Bud-
the systematic attempt to destroy Tibet’s religion, and the
dhism, Schools of, article on Tibetan and Mongolian Bud-
massive influx of ethnic Chinese, Tibetan Buddhists have
dhism; Dalai Lama; Gnosticism; Ishraqiyah; Shekhinah;
lost their land, temples, monasteries, and most of their reli-
Soul.
gious leaders. Consequently, they also risk losing their iden-
tity.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Excellent summaries of the early historical development of the
Recognizing the difficulty of returning to Tibet as a free
concept of exile in Judaism can be found in John Bright’s A
people, the Dalai Lama has created in Dharamsala a Tibetan
History of Israel, 3d ed., (Philadelphia, 1981), and William
Government in Exile. In an effort to rebuild the refugees’
F. Albright’s essay on “The Biblical Period” in The Jews, vol.
shattered lives, it features new governmental departments of
1, edited by Louis Finkelstein (Philadelphia, 1949),
Education, Rehabilitation, Information, and Security, as
pp. 3–69. For insight into why Spanish Jewry came to feel
well as new Offices of Religious and Economic Affairs. It also
a sense of being doubly exiled, see Jane Gerber’s The Jews of
features a monastery built in 1968 and a temple built in
Spain: A History of the Sephardic Experience (New York,
1992). For a discussion of the significance of exile in medi-
1970, leading to what the Dalai Lama has described as a
eval Jewish mysticism, see Gershom Scholem’s Major Trends
“thriving monastic community of over six thousand strong.”
in Jewish Mysticism (1941; New York, 1961), especially lec-
The Library of Tibetan Works and Archives opened in
tures two, six, and seven. Michael A. Meyer’s The Origins of
Dharamsala in the late 1960s. Housing over forty thousand
the Modern Jew (Detroit, 1967), provides insight into the re-
original Tibetan volumes and involved in published English
lationship between European emancipation and the later
language and Tibetan books, it has become a world-wide
Jewish reevaluation of exile as a meaningful theological sym-
center of Buddhist research and study.
bol. Finally, Arthur Hertzberg reflects at length on the con-
cept of exile in the American Jewish imagination in his Being
In an effort to preserve the religion and culture of the
Jewish in America: The Modern Experience (New York, 1979),
six million Tibetan Buddhists that he represents, while pro-
and more recently, in his autobiographical A Jew in America:
moting world peace through nonviolence, the Dalai Lama
My Life and a People’s Struggle for Identity (San Francisco,
has devoted himself to building a strong Tibetan community
2002).
in exile. He also has engaged in dialogue with political and
The best study of exile as metaphor in Christian and Hellenistic
religious leaders throughout the world.
Gnosticism remains Hans Jonas’s second revised edition of
The Gnostic Religion (Boston, 1963). For a comparison be-
Among them has been a group of rabbis and Jewish
tween these ideas and those found in the New Testament
scholars first invited to meet with the Dalai Lama in 1989,
Gospel of John, see James M. Robinson’s “Gnosticism and the
the same year that he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
New Testament,” in Gnosis: Festschrift fur Hans Jonas, edited
According to Rodger Kamenetz, “in the Dalai Lama’s eyes,
by Barbara Aland (Göttingen, West Germany, 1978),
and to many of the Tibetans, Jews are survival experts. The
pp. 125–157. Bernard Lewis’s The Origins of Ismailism
idea that Jewish history, with all its traumas, is relevant to
(1940; New York, 1975) provides a good overview of this
another exiled people was inspiring.” So was the Jewish ob-
concept among the IsmaDiliyah, while Henry Corbin’s En
servance of home rituals; the preservation and renewal of reli-
Islam iranien: Aspects spirituals et philosophiques, vol. 2, (Paris,
1971) and Spiritual Body and Celestial Earth (Princeton,
gious culture and tradition; and most importantly, the Jew-
1977) offer cogent accounts of exile as metaphor in
ish emphasis on remembrance, including the memory of
Suhraward¯ı’s theosophy of light.
exile.
For a lengthy discussion of exile as symbol and reality in contem-
For over four decades, Tibetan Buddhists have experi-
porary Tibetan Buddhism, see Bstan dzin rgya mtsho, Dalai
enced exile as a political and geographical reality. Yet despite
Lama XIV, Freedom in Exile: The Autobiography of the Dalai
the longing of exiled Tibetan Buddhists to return to their
Lama (New York, 1990). Detailed descriptions of meetings
home, holy spaces are primarily symbolic in the Buddhist
between the Dalai Lama and Jewish leaders can be found in
Rodger Kamenetz’s The Jew in the Lotus: A Poet’s Rediscovery
imagination. Since ultimately, they come from an individu-
of Jewish Identity in Buddhist India (San Francisco, 1994).
al’s inner spiritual power, they can be transported. Thus
Tibet in-and-of-itself is not as central to Tibetan Buddhism
ELLEN M. UMANSKY (1987 AND 2005)
as Jerusalem is to Judaism. Nor, for that matter, is the con-
cept of physical exile. Nonetheless, ongoing attempts by the
Dalai Lama to free Tibet from Chinese control and to keep
EXISTENTIALISM is a type of philosophy difficult to
Tibetan Buddhism alive, even in exile, have helped differen-
define because it does not have any agreed body of doctrine;
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EXISTENTIALISM
2925
it is rather a way of doing philosophy in which life and
popular usage, become so widely applied and covered so
thought are closely related to each other. Thus, while some
many differences that most of the philosophers mentioned
existentialists have been theists and others atheists, they have
were unwilling to accept it. The Jewish thinker Martin Buber
arrived at their different results by rather similar processes of
(1878–1965) had existentialist affinities but criticized the in-
thought. The existentialist who believes in God does so not
dividualism of the typical existentialist. Nevertheless, all the
as a result of intellectual demonstration—he or she is more
philosophers mentioned above share a number of “family re-
likely to say that the attempts to prove God’s existence are
semblances” that make them existentialists in a broad sense.
a waste of time, or even harmful—but on the grounds of pas-
It is sometimes suggested that existentialism is a thing
sionate inward conviction; likewise the atheistic existentialist
of the past, that it was a phenomenon called into being by
rejects God not because of being persuaded by argument but
the specific events of the times in which these thinkers lived
because the very idea of God poses a threat to the freedom
but that humanity has now moved into new times with new
and autonomy of the human being, and so to the integrity
problems. Up to a point, this may be true. The very fact that
of humanity. But if such nonrational factors are allowed their
the existentialist is an existing thinker means that he or she
say, is it not a departure from philosophy altogether? Perhaps
has a concrete relation to the events of his or her own time.
not, if one thinks that reason has become so ambitious that
Yet there are some characteristics of the human condition
it ceases to perceive its own limitations and so becomes mis-
that seem to belong to all times or to recur at different times,
leading. The all-embracing rational system of Hegel pro-
and some of the insights of the existential philosophers into
voked not only Kierkegaard’s existentialism but also the
what it means to be human have a permanent value and are
skepticism of the left-wing Hegelians and neo-Kantian posi-
likely to provoke new thought and new investigations in the
tivism. The existentialists of the twentieth century emerged
future.
about the same time as the logical positivists, and both
groups shared doubts about the omnicompetence of reason.
SOME DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS. As the name im-
The existentialist would still claim to be a philosopher, in the
plies, existentialism is a philosophy of existence. It should be
sense of a thinker, but, in Kierkegaard’s expression, an “exist-
noted, however, that the word existence is used in a restricted
ing thinker,” that is, a thinker who is always involved in the
sense. In ordinary speech, one says that stars exist, trees exist,
reality being thought about, so that the thinker cannot take
cows exist, men and women exist, and so on of everything
up the purely objective attitude of a spectator; also, the
that has a place in the spatiotemporal world. The existential-
thinker is always on the way from one matter to another, so
ist restricts the term to the human existent. By doing this,
that as long as the thinker exists he or she never has a com-
there is no intention to suggest that stars, trees, cows and the
plete picture. So existentialism stands opposed to all those
like are unreal. The existentialist only wants to draw atten-
grand metaphysical systems that profess to give a compre-
tion to the fact that their being is quite different from the
hensive and objective account of all that is. Significantly,
being of a human person. When an existentialist speaks of
Kierkegaard titles two of his most important writings Philo-
a human being as “existing,” he or she is taking the word in
sophical Fragments and Concluding Unscientific Postscript, and
what may be supposed to be the original etymological sense
these titles implicitly contrast his work with that of philoso-
of “standing out.” Stars and the like have their being simply
phers who aim at a comprehensive system.
by lying around, so to speak. Their nature or essence is al-
ready given to them. The human being exists actively, by
Though some earlier writers, such as Blaise Pascal
standing out or emerging through the decisions and acts that
(1623–1662), who criticized the theistic proofs and contrast-
make this person the unique being that he or she is. In
ed the God of the philosophers with the living God of Abra-
Sartre’s famous definition, existence means that the human
ham, Isaac, and Jacob, have been seen in retrospect as fore-
person begins as nothing, and only afterward does that being
runners of existentialism, the movement belongs essentially
become something and form its essence through its chosen
to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. So⁄ren Kierkegaard
policies of action.
(1813–1855) is usually regarded as its founder. His philoso-
phy is inextricably entangled with his struggle over what it
Although existentialists use the word existence in the
means to become a Christian. Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–
sense just explained, it retains something of its traditional
1900) is in many ways at the opposite extreme from Kierke-
meaning. In the history of philosophy, existence (referring
gaard, but his proclamation of the death of God was just as
to the fact that something is) has usually been contrasted
passionate as Kierkegaard’s fascination with the God-man
with essence (referring to what something is or the basic
paradox. Some Russian thinkers of the same period showed
properties of that thing). Philosophies of essence (Platonism
similar existentialist tendencies, notably Fyodor Dostoevsky
is the great example) concentrate attention on the universal
(1821–1881) and Vladimir SolovDev (1853–1900). All of
properties of things, properties which remain the same in all
these profoundly influenced the existentialists of the twenti-
circumstances and at all times. These universals are amenable
eth century, among whom may be counted Miguel de Una-
to the operations of thinking, so that the essentialist tends
muno (1864–1936), Karl Jaspers (1883–1969), Martin Hei-
to end up as an idealist, holding that thought and reality co-
degger (1889–1976), and Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980),
incide. The philosopher of existence, on the other hand, con-
though it should be noted that the term existentialist had, in
centrates attention on the concrete, individually existing real-
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EXISTENTIALISM
ity, but this has a particularity and contingency that make
is, of course, never absolute. The human being is finite, in-
it much more resistant to the systematizing tendencies of
serted at a given position in space and time and therefore
thought, so that, for such a thinker, reality does not conform
subject to all the constraints and influences that operate at
to thought, and there are always loose ends that refuse to be
that point. Thus one’s freedom is always threatened. One
accommodated in some tidy intellectual construction.
may simply reflect the values of one’s culture, without ever
deciding one’s relation to those values, or one may be caught
It should be noticed too that the existentialist finds
up in the race for money or pleasure, though these may be
room for dimensions of human existence other than think-
inimical to the development of one’s finest potentialities.
ing. For several centuries, Western philosophy has been
deeply influenced by Descartes’s famous pronouncement, “I
Thus all human existence is lived in the tension between
think, therefore I am.” The existentialist would claim that
finitude and freedom. This tension can also be expressed as
this accords too much preeminence to thinking. Humans are
that between freedom (the areas that are still open for choice)
also beings who experience emotion, and these emotions are
and facticity (those elements in existence which are simply
not just transient inner moods but rather ways of relating to
given and reduce the area of free decision). It is because of
the world and becoming aware of some of its properties that
this tension that freedom is always accompanied by anxiety.
do not reveal themselves to rational observation. Equally im-
Existentialists, from Kierkegaard on, have laid great stress on
portant is the will. One learns about the world not just by
anxiety as a basic emotion or state of mind which illuminates
beholding it and reflecting upon it but rather by acting in
the human condition. In the case of Kierkegaard and other
it and encountering its resistances.
Christian existentialists, the experience of anxiety may pre-
dispose toward the life of faith by awakening the need for
It follows from this that existentialism is also a philoso-
salvation; but among atheistic existentialists, anxiety points
phy of the subject. Kierkegaard declared that truth is subjec-
rather to despair, for the inner contradiction in the human
tivity. At first sight, this seems a subversive statement, one
being is taken to be incapable of resolution, so that human
which might even imply the abolition of truth. But what
existence is always on the verge of absurdity. Part of human
Kierkegaard meant was that the most important truths of life
finitude is the fact that existence will in any case come to an
are not to be achieved by observation and cannot be set down
end in death. But here too there are differences in interpreta-
in textbooks to be looked up when required. They are the
tion. Heidegger believes that the fact of death, by closing off
kind of truths that can be won only through inward and per-
the future of existence, makes it possible to achieve a unifying
haps painful appropriation. The truths of religion are the
and meaningful pattern in that existence. Sartre, on the other
most obvious case—they cannot be learned from books of
hand, thinks that death, by canceling out all achievement,
theology but only by following the way of faith that is one
is the ultimate indication of the absurdity of existence.
with the truth and the life (John 14:6).
IMPLICATIONS FOR RELIGION. The existentialist recognition
The criticism is sometimes made that there is something
of the distinctiveness of human existence as over against the
morbid in the existentialists’ preoccupation with anxiety and
world of nature, together with the claim that the truth of
death, and this criticism also impinges on those Christian
human existence is to be reached by the way of subjectivity,
theologians who have used these ideas to urge the need for
is significant for the philosophy of religion. The tendency in
faith and dependence on God. But it should be noted that
modern times has been to treat the human person as one
there is another and more affirmative side to existentialism.
more natural phenomenon, to be understood objectively
Many writers of the school speak also of “transcendence,”
through human sciences which model their methods on that
and by this they do not mean the transcendence of God, as
of the natural sciences. Existentialists, however, believe that
commonly understood in theology, but the transcendence of
human nature can be understood only from the inside, as it
the human existent moving constantly beyond itself into new
were, through one’s own participation in it. The phenome-
situations. Those who stress transcendence believe that the
nological analysis of consciousness, developed by Husserl,
goal of human life is to realize more and more one’s authen-
has been adopted by existentialist philosophers, but long be-
tic possibilities. Whereas the early Heidegger believed that
fore Husserl similar methods were being used, for instance,
this is to be achieved by human effort, by a steady “resolute-
by Kierkegaard in The Concept of Anxiety.
ness” in the face of facticity and death, Christian writers such
as Gabriel Marcel have thought of human transcendence as
One obvious result of the application of such methods
a transcendence toward God, and have taught that this is to
of inquiry to the human person is the claim that freedom is
be achieved not just through human effort but through the
essential to being human. Decision, conscience, and respon-
assistance of divine grace.
sibility are major themes in existentialist writers, in opposi-
tion to the determinism or near-determinism characteristic
Most existentialists have had a bias toward individual-
of supposedly scientific views of humanity. Perhaps it would
ism. This was true of Kierkegaard, who was alarmed by the
not be going too far to say that freedom is the supreme value
tendencies toward collectivism in Hegel’s philosophy. It is
among the existentialists. Human existence is said to be “au-
also true of Sartre, who depicts interpersonal relations as es-
thentic” when the individual freely chooses who and what
sentially frustrating. On the other hand, Marcel claims that
he or she will become. The freedom to choose and decide
a relation to others is essential to an authentic human exis-
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2927
tence, while Heidegger sees “being-with-others” as an ines-
gent being (the en soi) of the physical world; there are mysti-
capable dimension of the human being. Critics of existential-
cal elements both in Heidegger’s talk of “being” and Jaspers’s
ism have reckoned its individualism as a defect, on the
of “transcendence.” Existentialist theologians have also
ground that it prevents the development of a political philos-
found that the reconstruction of Christian theology in terms
ophy, but others have praised the stress on the individual as
of human possibilities is inadequate and needs the supple-
a defense of human freedom in face of the totalitarian preten-
mentation of a theistic philosophy.
sions of the modern state. Nietzsche and Heidegger have
both sought to go beyond the biography of the individual
BIBLIOGRAPHY
to the outlines of a philosophy of history. In this, they op-
An introduction to existentialism is provided in my book Existen-
pose the so-called scientific history that seeks to establish ob-
tialism (Baltimore, 1973). Major existentialist texts include
jective facts. Nietzsche speaks scornfully of the “antiquarian”
So⁄ren Kierkegaard’s Philosophical Fragments, translated by
type of historian who seeks to reconstruct the past. He pre-
David F. Swenson (Princeton, N. J., 1936); Martin Heideg-
fers the “monumental” historian who goes to some great cre-
ger’s Being and Time, translated by me and Edward Robin-
son (New York, 1962); Jean-Paul Sartre’s Being and Nothing-
ative event of the past in order to discover its power and to
ness, translated by Hazel E. Barnes (New York, 1956); and
learn its lessons for the present and future. Heidegger like-
Fritz Buri’s Theology of Existence, translated by Harold H.
wise is uninterested in the history that confines itself to the
Oliver and Gerhard Onder (Greenwood, S.C., 1965).
analysis of past events. History, he claims, is oriented to the
future. The historian goes to the past only in order to learn
New Sources
Cotkin, George. Existential America. Baltimore, 2003.
about such authentic possibilities of human existence as may
be repeatable in the present. This view of history was very
Fulton, Ann. Apostles of Sartre: Existentialists in America, 1945–
1963. Evanston, Ill., 1999.
influential for Rudolf Bultmann’s existential interpretation
of the “saving events” of the New Testament, an interpreta-
Hardwick, Charley. Events of Grace: Naturalism, Existentialism,
tion succinctly expressed as “making Christ’s cross one’s
and Theology. New York, 1996.
own.”
Low, Douglas Beck. The Existential Dialogue of Marx and Merleau
Ponty. New York, 1987.
The stress on human freedom together with the bias to-
Murdoch, Iris, and Peter Conradi, eds. Existentialists and Mystics:
ward individualism raises the question of the significance of
Writings on Philosophy and Literature. London, 1998.
existentialism for ethics. The existentialist has no use for an
Pattison, George. Anxious Angels: A Retrospective View of Religious
ethic of law, for the requirement of a universal law ignores
Existentialism. New York, 1999.
the unique individual and conforms everyone to the same
pattern. So one finds Kierkegaard defending Abraham’s deci-
Solomon, Robert. From Rationalism to Existentialism: The Existen-
tialists and Their Nineteenth-Century Backgrounds. Lanham,
sion to sacrifice Isaac, for although this meant the “suspen-
Md., 1992.
sion” of ethics, only so could Abraham be true to his own
self and be “authentic.” Similary Nietzsche is found claiming
JOHN MACQUARRIE (1987)
that the “superman” must create his own values to supersede
Revised Bibliography
traditional values, while Heidegger claims that what is ordi-
narily called “conscience” is only the voice of the mediocre
values of society and that the true conscience is the deep in-
EXORCISM. The English word exorcism derives from
ward summons of the authentic self. In each case, the value
the Greek exorkizein, a compound of ex (out) plus horkizein
of an action is judged not by its content but by the intensity
(to cause to swear, or to bind by an oath). Whereas in Greek
and freedom with which it is done. Such an ethic is too form-
the word sometimes is used simply as a more intensive form
less for human society and represents an overreaction against
of the root, meaning “to adjure,” English derivatives usually
the cramping restraints of legalism. Nevertheless, this ex-
designate a “swearing out” of invasive spiritual forces from
tremely permissive ethic has seemed to some Christian think-
the body in a formal rite of expulsion. Thus exorcism cannot
ers to be compatible with Jesus’ teaching that love rather
fully be understood without reference to the concept of spirit
than law must guide one’s conduct, and it is reflected in the
possession, the state that it redresses.
various types of “situation ethics” that flourished for a short
time.
The spirits to be exorcised most commonly are con-
ceived either as demons or as restless ghosts. These evil spirits
Finally, although existentialism turns away from the at-
penetrate into the bodies of their victims and completely
tempt to formulate any detailed and inclusive metaphysic,
control, or at least strongly influence, their actions. Possess-
its adherents seem to find it impossible to avoid assenting to
ing spirits may also cause physical illness by interfering with
some ontology or theory of being. Kierkegaard and other
the body’s normal physiological processes or mental illness
Christian existentialists assume (but do not seek to prove) a
by affecting the will, intellect, and emotions. Yet in many
theistic view of the world as the setting of human existence;
cultures, spirit possession is diagnosed only retrospectively.
Sartre is frankly dualistic in opposing the free but fragile
That is, the victim often must display abnormal behavior for
being of humankind (the pour soi) to the massive unintelli-
some time before friends and family diagnose her as pos-
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2928
EXORCISM
sessed by a spirit. Both cross-culturally and transhistorically,
In the earliest gospel, Mark, an exorcism is Jesus’ first
spirit possession afflicts women more often than men. This
miracle:
pattern has been the subject of much discussion among spe-
cialists who study the phenomenon.
And immediately there was in their synagogue a man
with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, “What have
The forms and prevalence of exorcism within a given
you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come
culture are intimately related to the question of how the in-
to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of
God.” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent and
vading spirits are conceived. In certain contexts, possession
come out of him!” And the unclean spirit, convulsing
by neutral or beneficent spirits is highly valued, and in these
him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him.
settings exorcisms are unlikely to be an important constitu-
(Mk. 1:23–26)
ent of the local culture. Within other religious contexts,
however, spirit possession is understood as the work of evil
Mark subsequently presents Jesus as famed for his exorcism
spirits or demons dedicated to the downfall of humanity, and
ability, pairing this miracle with Jesus’ eloquence in preach-
exorcism thus is viewed as a vitally important form of heal-
ing as his two main sources of appeal throughout his travels
ing. Lastly, many cultures, both historically and worldwide,
in Galilee (Mk. 1:39). Mark’s gospel thus uses exorcism as
consider possessing spirits to be the ghosts of the dead. Re-
a way of demonstrating Jesus’ uncanny power as a comple-
sponses to possession in these cases may involve ambivalent
ment to his teaching: Jesus is shown as battling against ma-
attitudes toward the invading spirit. Communities invariably
lign spiritual forces both physically and pedagogically.
wish to heal the victim through exorcism but also may feel
The most complete account of exorcism is that of the
compassion toward the dead spirit that has invaded the liv-
Gerasene demoniac, recounted in all three synoptic gospels
ing. Moreover witnesses to exorcisms of ghosts frequently use
(Mk. 5:1–20; Mt. 8:28–34; Lk. 8:26–39). The tale concerns
the occasion to interrogate the spirit about the details of the
Jesus’ encounter with a man possessed by a multitude of evil
afterlife.
spirits. The man was living in the cemetery on the edge of
Exorcisms vary widely. Whereas some rites are purely
a city—among the tombs of the dead—because his disor-
verbal formulae, many employ objects, gestures, and actions
dered state of mind and superhuman strength rendered him
thought to be of particular power against invasive spirits. In
unfit for the society of the living. Jesus interviews the spirits
some contexts, exorcism may be accomplished simply
inside the man, which speak through his mouth, and elicits
through the charismatic power of a particularly powerful or
their collective name, Legion. Jesus then commands the spir-
righteous individual. Many cultures use dance and music as
its to depart from the man but gives them permission to
essential elements of exorcism rituals. In this article, the word
enter into a herd of pigs foraging nearby. The possessed pigs
exorcism may refer either to the procedure itself or to its end
then plunge themselves into the sea and drown, prompting
result, the liberation from spirits that it accomplishes.
the local herdsmen to flee and tell the story throughout the
city. A group of people then come out to Jesus and ask him
CHRISTIAN EXORCISM. From its origins, Christianity has in-
to leave. The passage reveals much about conceptions of pos-
cluded a strong belief in spirit possession by demons, under-
session and exorcism in this time period, including the dis-
stood as primordial forces of evil and followers of the devil.
ruption of identity and of bodily control characteristic of de-
Thus exorcism has a long history within Christianity, partic-
moniacs; the importance of learning the demons’ names in
ularly (though not exclusively) among Catholics. These tra-
order to gain power over them; and Jesus’ charismatic use
ditions continue to the modern day.
of a simple verbal command to accomplish the expulsion.
However, the conclusion of the tale suggests that Jesus’ ac-
In the New Testament. The Greek verb exorkizein ap-
tion is regarded with considerable fear and ambivalence by
pears only once in the New Testament, in Matthew 26:63,
the local community.
where the high priest “adjures” Jesus to reveal whether he is
the Christ. Yet the action of expelling demons frequently
The Synoptic Gospels report that during his lifetime
does appear in the New Testament canon. Exorcism is
Jesus empowered his disciples to cast out demons as well. Yet
among Jesus’ favorite miracles in the Synoptic tradition,
upon occasion this power failed them, as in the case of a
comprised of the Gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke, yet
dumb and deaf spirit that had entered a child, tormenting
no exorcisms appear in the latest gospel, John. The Acts of
him with convulsions. After the disciples proved unable to
the Apostles, by the same author as the Gospel of Luke, also
heal the boy, Jesus successfully completed the task through
recounts exorcisms by Jesus’ followers after his death and em-
prayer and fasting (Mt. 9:17; Mt. 16; Lk. 9:40). Jesus’ follow-
ploys the noun exorkistes to refer to some Jews who attempt
ers continued to perform exorcisms after his death. The Acts
to cast out demons using Jesus’ name (Lk. 19:13). Indeed in
of the Apostles describes several cases accomplished through
respect to exorcism, the emerging Jesus Movement was much
a noteworthy diversity of means. Paul exorcises a slave girl
in accord with developments in other Jewish sects of the peri-
through a verbal rebuke similar to those used by Jesus (Acts
od, many of which had begun to place a greater emphasis
16:18), but Peter heals the possessed simply by having them
upon exorcisms and charismatic forms of healing than had
gather in his shadow (Acts 5:16). Paul also exorcises spirits
been the case in earlier Jewish tradition.
through handkerchiefs impregnated with his power of super-
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2929
natural healing (Acts 19:11–12). Simply invoking the name
CE) provided detailed advice on how to exorcise a possessed
of Jesus was considered a powerful method of exorcism, one
woman in one of her letters. Some of the best surviving ac-
even employed by non-Christians, according to Acts. Chap-
counts of exorcisms during this time period are set at saints’
ter nineteen describes some Jews in Ephesus who attempt to
tombs, and certain shrines became known as centers of exor-
cast out demons in Jesus’ name, though without success.
cistic healing. The arm relic of John Gualbert of Florence
(999–1073 CE), for example, was famed for its exorcistic
Late antiquity and the Middle Ages. As in Jesus’ own
properties, and the miracle accounts recorded at his shrine
early career, exorcism was an important element in winning
in the later Middle Ages include a number of healings of the
new converts for the early generations of the Jesus Move-
possessed. In some cases, families traveled considerable dis-
ment. The second-century Christian apologist Justin Martyr
tances for an exorcism of a relative, vowing particular devo-
characterized exorcism as a particularly impressive gift
tion to the saint if he or she provided aid to the possessed
among Christians, noting that any demon, no matter how
at the end of the pilgrimage.
powerful, became submissive when conjured in Jesus’ name.
Indeed exorcism became a competitive arena in which
Exorcisms by living saints or their relics were not the
Roman Christians claimed triumph over Jewish and pagan
only means of casting out demons, however. Medieval peo-
rivals, suggesting that their conjurations of demons were
ple also employed a number of other techniques, often in a
more efficacious than any other form of healing. Peter Brown
somewhat improvisational manner. Friends, family, and reli-
has shown in “The Rise and Function of the Holy Man in
gious professionals might try to cast out the demon through
Late Antiquity” (1982) that the essential mark of the early
prayer and fasting; by showing the demoniac religious paint-
Christian holy person was his or her charismatic ability to
ings; by placing relics or books of Scripture on the victim’s
exorcise, and Christian saints became closely associated with
head or body; through anointing with holy water, holy oil,
this activity. Thus when a little girl in fourth-century Syria
or blessed salt; or by giving the demoniac a consecrated Eu-
wished to parody a monk in order to entertain her compan-
charistic wafer.
ions, she did so by pretending to exorcise them with all due
Medieval popular culture included its own notions of
solemnity.
spirit possession and of appropriate remedies as well. Many
With the Christian community growing in numbers,
contemporary texts attest to the northern European belief
the church began to require the exorcism both of adult con-
that demons could invade dead bodies, animate them, and
verts and of infants at baptism. The earliest Catholic baptis-
use them for nefarious purposes. In such cases, the preferred
mal liturgy incorporated exorcisms; one function of godpar-
solution to the problem was to destroy the corpse as fully as
ents, in cases of infant baptism, was to answer for the child
possible. In Mediterranean regions, the spirits that possessed
when the exorcist asked, “Do you renounce the devil and all
the living were often identified as ghosts rather than as de-
his works?” In consequence of this development, by the third
mons. As for cures, the possessed sometimes were immersed
century a designated exorcist was required in every Christian
in a running body of water as a form of cure. In some areas
community. Documents from this time period make note of
local men made names for themselves as secular exorcists and
a formal order of exorcists that constituted a lowly step on
healers, each with his own unique formula, rhyming jingles,
the ecclesiastical hierarchy. The Fourth Council of Carthage
and other procedures. Thus medieval cultures held diverse
in 398
notions of spirit possession and exorcism in addition to pure-
CE is the first surviving text to prescribe the rite of
ordination for an exorcist: “When an Exorcist is Ordained:
ly ecclesiastical definitions.
Let him accept from the hand of the priest the little book
The emergence of a liturgical rite in the fifteenth cen-
in which the exorcisms are written, and let the priest say to
tury. The fifteenth century marked an important turning
him, ‘Take this and memorize it, and may you have the
point in the history of exorcism within the Catholic Church.
power of laying on hands upon an energumen, whether bap-
At this time, as Caciola (2003) has shown, the church began
tized or a catechumen’” (Caciola, 2003, p. 229).
to use formal scripted, liturgical exorcisms, numerous exam-
ples of which are preserved in manuscripts. The change likely
As Christianity spread into northern Europe and be-
stemmed from a desire on the part of the Catholic hierarchy
came a dominant institution in the medieval west, exorcism
to standardize practices of exorcism at a time when the num-
practices continued to evolve. Whereas the order of exorcists
ber of reported possessions remained high. In so doing the
slowly declined in importance and eventually disappeared
church also arrogated control over the process of exorcism
from view, descriptions of exorcisms performed by saints
to the ecclesiastical hierarchy rather than allowing decentral-
vastly increased. Medieval hagiographies frequently mention
ized and improvised practices of exorcism to persist.
exorcisms performed during their subjects’ lifetimes as well
as postmortem exorcisms accomplished by the saints’ relics
Liturgical exorcisms are a species of clamor, a family of
or tombs. This development accelerated after the twelfth
ritual forms that cry out to God for aid against oppressors.
century, when accounts of demonic possession saw an expo-
Other examples of this kind of ritual include excommunica-
nential increase in hagiographical texts. Bernard of Clairvaux
tions, humiliations, and maledictions. These exorcisms also
(1090–1153 CE), for example, was credited with many per-
are intimately related to the baptismal liturgy, repeating ver-
sonal exorcisms, whereas Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179
bal formulations from the baptismal rite as well as other ele-
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EXORCISM
ments, such as the blessing of salt and water. A third textual
estant texts satirized the splashing of holy water and frequent
precedent for these rites is Jewish conjurations, particularly
crossing of demoniacs performed by Catholic exorcists, de-
the inclusion of exhaustive compendia of the names of God.
riding them alternately as “superstition,” “empty rituals,” or
Indeed liturgical exorcisms are rife with lists of all kinds:
“magic.” Yet beneath this general atmosphere of rejection lay
those that recount events from the life of Jesus; that call upon
a diversity of attitudes toward exorcism. Some reformers, like
the aid of all the saints and the hierarchy of angels; that cast
John Calvin (1509–1564) and Ulrich Zwingli (1484–1531),
the demon forth from each body part; and that imagine vivid
rejected all ritual exorcism; others, however, were less radical
apocalyptic scenarios of demonic defeat and eternal torment.
in their approaches. Martin Luther (1483–1546), for exam-
Several manuscripts of exorcism suggest the use of demonic
ple, defended the use of traditional rites of exorcism during
language in order to gain control over the possessing spirit,
infant baptisms, deeming them a kind of prayer on behalf
incorporating brief spells composed of unintelligible words
of the infant for divine protection. Most Protestant groups
that are said to have been personally composed by the devil.
eschewed liturgies of exorcism for adults but did not reject
After conjuring the demon in its own language, the exorcist
simpler forms of exorcism through prayer and fasting, view-
may then proceed to inquire into its precise status, its reason
ing them as acceptable pleas for divine aid against possessing
for invading the victim, and its requirements for a successful
demons.
expulsion. The following quotation from a manuscript held
in Munich gives a sense of how a typical liturgical exorcism
Among Catholics, belief in the benefits of ritual exor-
begins:
cism continued to flourish unabated. Many elements of the
liturgy that was formulated in the fifteenth century were cod-
Take the head of the possessed person in your left hand
ified in 1614 in the official Roman Ritual. Also during this
and place your right thumb in the possessed person’s
time period, plural possessions and group exorcisms became
mouth, saying the following words in both ears: ABRE
a common Catholic form of the phenomenon, usually in a
MONTE ABRYA ABREMONTE CONSACRA-
convent setting. The most famous case is the 1634 account
MENTARIA SYPAR YPAR YTUMBA OPOTE ALA-
of possessed nuns of Loudon studied by Michel de Certeau
CENT ALAPHIE. Then hold him firmly and say these
in The Possession at Loudon (1996), but plural possessions
conjurations: I conjure you, evil spirits, by the terrible
name of God Agla. . . . I also conjure you by the great
also occurred in Spain, Italy, the Low Countries, and France
name Pneumaton and by the name Ysiton, that you as-
from the mid–sixteenth century through the early seven-
cend to the tongue and give me a laugh. If they do not
teenth century.
respond, then know that they are mute spirits. The ex-
Some possession cases became closely bound up with
orcist should diligently discover and require whether it
is incubi, or succubi, or even dragons that possesses the
the witchcraft persecutions; demonological literature taught
obsessed person; whether they are attendants of Pluto,
that witches could send demons to possess their enemies.
or servants of Satan, or disciples of Astaroth; if they are
The priest of Loudon, Urbain Grandier (1590?–1634), ulti-
from the east or the west; from noonday or evening;
mately was convicted of having bewitched the nuns. For this
from the air, earth, water, fire, or whatever kind of
crime, he paid with his life. Likewise the eighteenth-century
spirit. (Caciola, pp. 248–249)
Puritan witchcraft trials in Salem, Massachusetts, originated
with charges that the witches had caused their young accusers
It was believed that once the demon was made to answer
to be possessed.
questions about itself (either through use of the demonic lan-
guage or through some other constraint) it would be easier
A significant aspect of exorcism in this time period is
to exorcise.
the degree to which spectacular cases of possession and exor-
cism entered into public discourse and became causes célè-
The liturgy continues with insults to the demon, com-
bres. Due to the spread of print technology, for the first time
mands for it to depart, and prayers for divine aid, as well as
such events could be widely known about and discussed. The
Bible readings interspersed with lists of body parts, saints, an-
publicity provided by pamphlets and broadsides, combined
gels, and the names of God. Throughout the rite, the exorcist
with the fractious confessional politics of the day, made exor-
is frequently directed to make the sign of the cross over the
cism a vehicle of Catholic polemic against Protestants and
victim or to sprinkle him or her with holy water. The rite
Jews. This dynamic was first noted by Daniel Pickering
usually concludes with a prayer of thanksgiving and a plea
Walker in Unclean Spirits (1981). Thus Nicole Obry, a
for future protection against similar attacks. This basic tem-
young Catholic woman who became possessed in 1565 and
plate was to persist as the basis for the liturgy of exorcism
was publicly exorcised in the city of Laon, regaled the vast
for centuries.
crowds attending the event in the voice of her possessing
The Reformation and beyond. The Reformation peri-
demon, which confessed that it was close friends with the
od saw a notable increase in demonological phenomena,
Huguenots (preferring them even to the Jews) and that it sus-
most notably the witch hunts that came to a peak in this time
tained the greatest torment when young Nicole was given the
period. Whereas the reformers accepted the possibility of de-
Eucharist. Here insults to other religious traditions were
monic possession, they nevertheless opened a vigorous de-
combined with an endorsement of the Catholic doctrine of
bate over the efficacy of liturgical exorcism as a remedy. Prot-
transubstantiation.
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EXORCISM
2931
Nicole’s case was widely copied, most notably in the
Some modern American Protestant groups have become
subsequent generation by the famous demoniac Marthe
interested in possession and exorcism as well. The beginnings
Brossier (1573–16??). Protestant groups were unable to en-
of modern Pentecostalism in the early twentieth century fos-
gage in widespread counterpropaganda, however, because
tered a broad, interdenominational movement of Christian
they rejected exorcism for the most part. In England, the
charismatics who placed direct spiritual interventions at the
Protestant minister John Darrell became famed in the 1590s
center of their theology. Some modern charismatics practice
for exorcisms achieved through prayer and fasting, but the
exorcism or “deliverance,” as documented by Michael Cuneo
accounts of these cases lack the explicitly propagandistic ele-
in American Exorcism. Although deliverances can take many
ments of the Catholic cases. In a slightly different polemical
different forms according to the individual practitioner, the
vein, a sixteenth-century Catholic exorcist conjured the de-
majority are simple prayer sessions for the victim’s relief. The
mons afflicting a group of young Roman girls who had been
most extensive deliverances include a clairvoyant discern-
converted from Judaism. These demons explained their pres-
ment of spirits, in which a specialist intuits what type of
ence as the result of a curse laid upon the girls by their fathers
demon is afflicting the individual: a demon of lust, stubborn-
who, angry at the loss of their children, summoned forth de-
ness, greed, or other sin. In rare cases, the demon may be
mons to possess them.
identified as an entity of “intergenerational evil,” an inherit-
Exorcism declined in Europe during the eighteenth cen-
ed demon dedicated to afflicting a particular bloodline; such
tury, though it never entirely disappeared. Indeed profes-
a diagnosis is particularly likely when the individual request-
sional exorcists like German Johann Joseph Gassner (1727–
ing deliverance has a family history involving violence or
1779) continued to appear. Among the educated classes,
mental illness. More formal rites of deliverance often begin
however, symptoms that traditionally had led to a diagnosis
with a binding of the devil, in which the indwelling demon
of demonic possession increasingly came to be regarded as
is adjured, in the name of Jesus, to remain calm and desist
indicators of natural pathologies like hysteria, epilepsy, or
from thrashing about inside the victim. Next is the prayer
melancholia. Although naturalistic diagnoses for “possessed
phase, which may be accompanied by fasting and a laying
behaviors” had been available since the twelfth century, the
on of hands. As with Catholic traditionalists who practice ex-
eighteenth century saw a more definitive shift in favor of
orcism, Protestant charismatics interested in deliverance tend
medical epistemologies. In consequence exorcism was less
to be social conservatives opposed to the increasing theologi-
frequently indicated as a cure.
cal liberalism of the mainline churches.
The contemporary Christian Churches. Perhaps the
JUDAISM. Judaism does not have a strongly attested focus on
best-known modern image of the rite of exorcism derives
spirit possession and exorcism before the middle of the six-
from the 1973 film The Exorcist, based on the 1971 novel
teenth century. At that time belief in possession by reincar-
of the same title by William Peter Blatty (b. 1928). Though
nate spirits of the dead began to emerge in the Sephardic
the account is fictionalized, Blatty’s story of a demonically
Jewish community of Safed in the Galilee. These ideas even-
possessed little girl was based upon a 1949 case of prolonged
tually were disseminated to eastern European Jewish com-
exorcism of a young Lutheran boy by a Catholic priest. The
munities, becoming particularly vigorous among eighteenth-
film spurred a revival of interest in exorcism in the United
and nineteenth-century Hasidic groups. The most familiar
States, and Catholic bishops began receiving more and more
term for the possessing spirit, dybbuk, came into use only in
requests for the procedure. Only a small proportion of such
the late seventeenth century, but it is employed by scholars
requests were granted because twentieth-century Catholic of-
of Judaism to refer to possession by a ghost even in earlier
ficials regard genuine demonic possession as an extremely
epochs.
rare phenomenon that is easily confounded with natural
mental disturbances. In recognition of this stance, the Vati-
Early history. The earliest account of an exorcism in
can in 1999 updated the ritual of exorcism for the first time
Jewish tradition is 1 Samuel 16:14–23. The text recounts
since 1614, advising consultation with doctors and psycholo-
how after the spirit of YHWH departed from King Saul, an
gists in order to rule out organic pathologies; however, the
evil spirit began to torment him. Saul’s counselors suggest
twenty-seven-page exorcism ritual was left largely intact.
that music may be able to soothe his affliction, and David
is brought to him to play the lyre. The sweet strains of the
Whereas the Catholic hierarchy preaches restraint in re-
music succeed in exorcising the spirit from Saul whenever he
gard to exorcism, certain Catholic communities reject this
feels invaded by its presence.
stance along with many other features of the modern church.
The most active Catholic exorcists of the late twentieth cen-
This is the sole account of spirit possession and exorcism
tury belonged to conservative groups that rejected the re-
in the Hebrew Bible. By the Second Temple period, howev-
forms of the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), especial-
er, the invasions of demons and forms of spiritual healing
ly the abandonment of the Latin Tridentine Mass. These
had become more prominent within Judaism. These phe-
exorcists contended that the new Mass left the faithful un-
nomena were central features of the career of Jesus, for in-
protected against demonic attack and believed that as a result
stance, as he traveled through the Jewish communities of
of Vatican II, the number of possessions had increased expo-
first-century Palestine. The Qumran texts likewise place sig-
nentially.
nificant emphasis upon demonic attacks and human coun-
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EXORCISM
terattacks, often in the form of protective spells, whereas
Already in the late fourteenth century, Spanish qabbalis-
scattered tales in rabbinic literature recount exorcisms by
tic literature had begun to explore the notion of Eibbur,
particularly righteous Jewish teachers.
“pregnancy,” as a form of spirit possession. The term was
used to designate the invasion of a living human being by
Surviving bits of material culture testify to the contem-
the transmigrating spirit of a deceased person, thus suggest-
porary interest in exorcism as well, particularly a number of
ing the coexistence of two souls within a single body. The
bowls inscribed with Aramaic exorcisms that utilize a legalis-
sixteenth-century Safedian qabbalists expanded upon this
tic language of divorcing the spirit. Josephus (37–c. 100 CE)
tradition significantly. Although Eibbur could involve either
provides a story about contemporary Jewish exorcism tech-
benign or maleficent dead spirits, the concern here is with
niques that he ascribes to traditions originating with King
the latter.
Solomon. According to this author, an exorcist named Elea-
zar gained fame for the efficacy of his cures and even was
The qabbalists explained that the soul of a sinful person
called upon to demonstrate his prowess before the emperor
might not be permitted to enter into Gehenna directly upon
Vespasian (9–79 CE) along with all his court and army. Elea-
death but instead would wander, disembodied and subject
zar’s secret was to draw the demons out from the possessed
to beatings from angels of destruction. Seeking refuge from
person’s body by employing a certain root, discovered by
the angels, such a spirit would seek to enter into a physical
Solomon, which was encased in a ring. By holding the ring
body—either animal or human—for shelter; human bodies
to a demoniac’s nose, he allowed that person to inhale the
could be made vulnerable to such invasion through certain
scent of the root, then he extracted the demon from the vic-
sins. Exorcism of the spirit should ideally be conducted in
tim’s body through the nostrils.
the presence of witnesses, a minyan of ten men. Because the
ritual did not follow an invariant form, elements such as ex-
Accounts of exorcism are rare in medieval Jewish
tensive suffumigation of the victim with strong incense, the
sources, although—as attested in the articles collected by
blowing of the shofar (ram’s horn) into the possessed’s ear,
Matt Goldish in Spirit Possession in Judaism (2003)—many
and invocation of the names of God were used to force the
scholars believe that the practice itself persisted. Medieval
dybbuk to reveal its own name and background. Once the
Catholic exorcisms include elements drawn from Jewish tra-
identity of the spirit was established, the exorcist might con-
dition, such as the use of lists of the names of God and the
verse with it, asking questions about its own former life and
acronym AGLA (for Atah Gibbor Le- Eolam Adonai, “You are
sins as well as seeking information about the afterlife. The
mighty forever, my Lord”). This interreligious borrowing
dybbuk was often adjured to exit the victim by the big toe,
may suggest that Jewish exorcism traditions remained in
lest the victim choke if it left via the throat. After the depar-
common use. An early-sixteenth-century compilation of
ture, the victim was to be given a protective amulet to wear
Jewish magical and exorcism texts, the Shoshan Yesod
to fend off further spiritual infestations. Texts recounting fa-
ha- EOlam, testifies to a vigorous tradition of spiritual heal-
mous exorcisms served hagiographic functions, glorifying the
ing; the book likely incorporates many older traditions that
rabbi who performed a successful expulsion. This is true not
are not attested in surviving earlier literature. The exorcisms
only of sixteenth-century Safed but of the later history of the
here are liturgical in character, involving verbal conjurations
dybbuk phenomenon as well.
of demons and commands to depart. One formula adjures
the demon, by the seventy-two names of God, to reveal its
It is notable that, in cases of dybbuk possession, the com-
own name and parentage, then requires it to depart from the
passion of rabbinic exorcists was directed not only toward the
human body and enter into a flask that the exorcist is direct-
possessed victim but also toward the possessing spirit. Be-
ed to have handy.
cause the latter was conceived as human, it too merited a de-
gree of concern and healing. Thus even as the exorcist cast
The emergence of dybbuk possession in the sixteenth
the demon out from the body it possessed, he often sought
century. In the sixteenth century spirit possession under-
to discover how to help the dybbuk achieve tikkun, or rectifi-
went a significant resurgence and evolution within Jewish
cation. If the spirit were permitted to enter Gehenna, it could
thought. Beginning with the case of a young boy in the
then find rest and cease tormenting other living beings. This
1540s, the Galilean village of Safed became the epicenter of
sympathetic feature of Jewish dybbuk exorcism could not
a new series of sensational possessions and exorcisms, several
find a counterpart in earlier Jewish traditions or in Christian
of which were associated with the circle of the qabbalist
traditions, which conceive of the possessing spirits as un-
Rabbi Isaac Luria (1534–1572). Not only was possession
redeemable and demonic.
suddenly a renewed topic of reportage, but the terms in
which it was envisioned seem to have shifted. Whereas earlier
Later developments. The Eibbur form of possession ap-
Jewish attestations of exorcism usually refer to the possessing
peared in 1575 in Ferrara, Italy, where the spirit possessing
spirit as a demon, the cases in Safed (which in the early twen-
a Jewish woman claimed it was the ghost of a recently execut-
ty-first century have received sustained treatment from Jef-
ed Christian. Scholars are divided as to whether this and sub-
frey H. Chajes in Between Worlds [2003]) constitute the first
sequent Italian cases resulted from a dissemination of Luri-
detailed descriptions of possessing spirits conceived as trans-
anic notions of possession and exorcism or arose from other
migratory souls of the dead.
contingencies. In the seventeenth century the Italian rabbi
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EXORCISM
2933
Moses Zacuto (1625–1697) became well known as an exor-
Participants in the za¯r dance not with one another but
cist, engaging the topic repeatedly in his correspondence.
with their individual za¯r masters. Thus the action, while col-
lective, is not truly communal. After the private za¯r ceremo-
By the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries dybbuk pos-
ny—sponsored by the family of the new initiate—the initiate
session had become common in eastern European Hasidic
will likely join a regular public za¯r group or hadrah. The ha-
communities; the term dybbuk is first attested in a Yiddish
drah meets regularly, usually on a weekly basis, and each par-
pamphlet published around 1680 in Volhynia. Sholom
ticipant contributes funds to pay for the drummers and to
Anski’s (1863–1920) 1910s play The Dybbuk; or, Between
support the kudra. The repetition of the dance ritual each
Two Worlds, which is set in a Hasidic context, popularized
week keeps the za¯r master quiet within the victim, allowing
and romanticized the notion of ghostly possession. Like Blat-
her to pursue her normal life in all other ways.
ty’s The Exorcist, the story ultimately may have influenced
the course of the religious phenomenon on the ground.
QurDanic healing. QurDanic healing is a true exorcism
Cases of dybbuk possession reminiscent of Anski’s narrative
that definitively drives out the invasive spirits, which in this
have been reported in modern Israel and have begun to be
case are often jinn or shayatin, though they can be za¯r masters
studied by modern folklorists and anthropologists.
as well. The healing usually is conducted by a sheik who spe-
cializes in QurDanic exorcism on the grounds of a mosque,
COMPETING EXORCISM FORMS IN EGYPT. In modern Islam-
perhaps in an upstairs room or other chamber; as with za¯r
ic Egypt, spirit possession may be managed by one of two
ceremonies, these usually are group meetings with several
means: through QurDanic healing or participation in a za¯r
possessed persons in attendance at once. Paticipants are seg-
cult. Islamic demonology is extensive, and the choice of
regated by sex, either by some form of barrier or by designat-
which form of healing to pursue is in part a reflection of how
ing different days of the week for gatherings of men and of
the inhabiting spirit is identified.
women. Nevertheless in Egypt—as in other parts of the
world—spirit possession tends to afflict women more often
Za¯r. Za¯r, a relatively recent invention dating only to the
than men. QurDanic healers consider themselves as a more or-
1870s, is a form of participatory ritual group healing found
thodox alternative to the za¯r cult, which they tend to deride
in several East African countries. Dominated by women, za¯r
as superstitious, corrupt, and anti-Islamic.
cults involve regular meetings at which participants dance to
drumming with the goal of entering into individual trance
The rite begins with a rapid sequence of prayers, recited
states. Islamic authorities in Egypt often denounce za¯r as a
either by the sheik himself, one of his assistants, or the whole
vulgar superstition held by women too ignorant to realize
group. As the prayers go on, some of the possessed are likely
that their actions are un-Islamic. Participants, however, re-
to become excited and to begin writhing and crying out. At
gard the meetings as fully compatible with Islamic tradition.
this point the assistants direct their prayers more loudly and
forcefully at that individual; they may strike her with a stick
Strictly speaking, the za¯r cult is not a complete form of
while repeatedly shouting at the jinn to get out immediately.
exorcism but rather a recurrent form of pacification. The
Eventually the exorcist or his assistant conjures the demon,
goal of the ceremony is to learn to coexist with the spirit, or
asking its name, other details of its identity, and its reasons
za¯r master, by temporarily lessening the intensity of the spir-
for possessing the victim. One may be possessed by a jinn
it’s hold upon the individual. As documented by Gerda
for a variety of offenses, including such sins as hitting a cat.
Sengers in Women and Demons (2003), the beginning of in-
If the demon turns out not to be Muslim, it is given the
volvement with za¯r is customarily a private initiation cere-
chance to convert. The spirit is then required to enter into
mony paid for by the possessed victim and attended by
the possessed person’s finger and to indicate its presence
friends, family, and other women who are possessed. After
there by lifting that digit. The exorcist then pricks that finger
an opening prayer drawn from the QurDa¯n, several different
with a needle, drawing a drop of blood and forcing the spirit
drum bands perform in sequence; their purpose is to get the
out with it. After the rite, the victim is often counseled to
participants dancing and help spur the onset of a trance. The
adopt a higher level of piety in everyday life by, for example,
new “za¯r bride,” dressed in a long white tunic, is led by the
dressing more modestly or praying more often.
kudya, a za¯r specialist who has assisted in the diagnosis of
the victim’s illness and identification of her invading spirit,
REGIONALISM ON THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT. The linguis-
or za¯r master. These may be of several kinds, including
tic and cultural diversity of the Indian subcontinent is paral-
(among others) Gado, master of the toilet; the atheist za¯r
leled by a wide degree of variance in exorcism practices. Cer-
master known as the Red Sultan; the Sultan of the Sea, who
tain spirit possession beliefs are widespread in India, such as
affects the brains; and even Christian za¯r masters. (The latter
the frequency with which ghosts as well as demons possess
are easily identified because they make their victims desire
the living; the predominance of women among the pos-
alcohol, which normally is forbidden to Muslims but allowed
sessed; the belief that possession may sometimes be caused
to those possessed by Christian za¯r masters at za¯r ceremo-
by another person’s act of sorcery; and the retrospective diag-
nies.) Za¯r masters often have negative qualities and cause dis-
nosis of the onset of possession as occurring at a moment
tress or illness, but they are distinct from the more purely evil
when the victim was alone and felt a sudden fear. Regional
Islamic demons and devils known as jinn and shayatin.
variations in possession beliefs—and especially in exorcism
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2934
EXORCISM
techniques—however, are legion. Indeed even within a sin-
of supernatural threats and material sacrifices. The negotia-
gle locale there may be several different exorcism techniques
tion between the two possessed individuals may consume
in play.
many hours, with the goddess-exorcist demanding that the
pey leave and hurling insults at it and the ghost attempting
North India: The Balaji temple. The North Indian
to retain hold of the possessed woman and requiring various
town of Mehndipur, Rajasthan, is home to the Balaji temple,
gifts or sacrifices before agreeing to exit. The exorcists who
dedicated to the monkey god Hanuma¯n. The latter deity is
“dance the goddess” may resort to physical violence against
an apt choice for a divine exorcist, for he is a heroic figure
the pey, beating the possessed or pulling her hair in order to
drawn from the epic Ra¯ma¯yan:a, which recounts his devoted
convince the spirit inside that it must acquiesce and depart.
service to Ra¯ma during a protracted battle with the Sri Lan-
This form of exorcism conceives of the struggle for healing
kan demon Ra¯van:a. The Balaji temple is famed throughout
as properly a battle between supernatural beings—the ghost
Rajasthan and neighboring states for its successful exorcisms,
versus the goddess—who nonetheless act through and on
attracting the possessed from as far away as Delhi. Indeed the
human bodies. The long hours of music, the dance, the con-
Balaji temple has long been a popular pilgrimage destination:
frontation between the two possessing personalities, and the
it invariably is filled with supplicants come to ask the mon-
ultimate triumph of the goddess-exorcist provides healing for
key god for release from possessing spirits of the dead, from
the possessed victim as well as entertainment for the local
demons of the Hindu pantheon, and even sometimes from
village.
Muslim jinn.
This counterpossession model of exorcism is supple-
Exorcisms performed at the temple are collective in
mented by local practices with a more restricted geographic
character. Together caregivers and temple priests intone
range. In the South Arcot District of Tamil Nadu, for in-
prayers to Hanuma¯n, with the goal of initiating the victims
stance, exorcisms sometimes are conducted by troupes of
into an altered state of consciousness or trance (peshi).
musicians known as pampaikkarar. The exorcism in this in-
Though the latter often involves convulsions, loud shrieking,
stance begins with a singer attempting to lure the possessed
and other extreme behaviors, peshi is held to be a prerequisite
woman into a state of trance, after which the ghost who is
for healing. Victims may return to the temple for several suc-
possessing her may be interviewed. The details of its biogra-
cessive days before achieving peshi, but once the catharsis of
phy, death story, and the circumstances surrounding its pos-
trance is achieved and then exited, the victim is likely to be
session of the victim are elicited; indeed the ghost is encour-
considered on the road to complete healing. The process may
aged to explain its restlessness and its desires. As the music
be swift or slow, depending on the number and nature of the
continues into the night, it is not uncommon for bystanders
possessing spirits. After the exorcism, the newly healed indi-
to dance the goddess, thus combining the better-known ritu-
vidual may report having received from Hanuma¯n a protec-
al with the more localized practice.
tive spirit, or dut, to help guard against future attacks.
After the possessing spirit and its grievances have been
South India. In South India, possession most frequent-
identified, the musicians negotiate with it, promising a sacri-
ly afflicts new, young brides; the spirit usually (though not
fice in return for its pledge to depart. The spirit is asked to
invariably) is described as the ghost of a young man. Thus
identify the specific lock of the victim’s hair in which it re-
the possession state frequently has a sexual aspect that is ex-
sides; this tress is then tied into a knot over the protestations
plicitly articulated within the local understanding of these
of the pey, which may complain that the action is painful.
events. The ghosts or peys that afflict the victims often died
Afterward the sacrifice, a chicken, is offered, with its severed
unmarried; indeed a common reason for becoming this type
head being placed in the victim’s mouth. This action shocks
of restless, possessing spirit is suicide because of unfulfilled
and frightens the pey and represents the beginnings of the ac-
love. These lonely ghosts of the untimely dead may become
tual expulsion. The possessed is then handed a large stone,
attracted to a lovely young bride with a still-fresh scent of
said to represent “the weight of the pey’s desire,” and is herd-
sexual initiation about her and try to “catch” or possess her,
ed toward the nearest tamarind tree. After the possessed per-
often gaining entry through the woman’s hair. Afterward the
son reaches the tree, the rock is laid at its roots, and the knot-
spirit becomes jealous and impels the woman to reject the
ted lock of hair that contains the spirit is cut from the
sexual advances of her husband: this act often is the initiating
possessed woman’s head and nailed to the trunk. Following
event in a diagnosis of possession.
this the exorcism is complete and the victim is considered
The exorcism ritual used to cure such afflictions usually
healed. The culminating actions of the exorcism have been
involves a controlled, benign counterpossession. Here exor-
interpreted by Isabelle Nabokov in her article “Expel the
cists are specialists in dance techniques that enable them to
Lover, Recover the Wife” (1997) as representing the final
enter into a state of trance, during which they incarnate a fe-
“divorce” of the lonely ghost from its victim and its “remar-
male deity like Ka¯l¯ı or Ankalaparamecuvari. The rite is
riage” to the tamarind tree, understood as a female entity in
known as “dancing the goddess.” Because these deities are
Tamil culture. When the pey’s desire is given to the tamarind
of superior power to the possessing ghost or demon, once the
and the pey is severed from the woman and united with the
medium has become voluntarily possessed, the incarnate
tree, the affections of the lonely ghost are thereby redirected
goddess is able to drive out the pey through a combination
to a nonhuman object.
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EXORCISM
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SCHOLARLY INTERPRETATIONS OF EXORCISM. Exorcism has
(1997), have vigorously disputed the notion that exorcism
long attracted attention from academics, thus becoming a
acts to advance the interests of marginal groups, interpreting
category of scholarly analysis as well as of religious practice.
its symbolism as, rather, a means of asserting the hegemony
The comments below identify some major strands in the in-
of dominant cultural values. Nevertheless Lewis’s “social de-
terpretation of exorcism emanating from within the disci-
privation analysis” remains a dominant influence in anthro-
plines of anthropology, psychology, and history. Many of
pological studies of exorcism. Lewis renewed his analysis in
these analyses have tried to address the question of why
a follow-up study published in 1986, Religion in Context; this
women predominate in reports of possession and exorcism.
work in turn was reissued in an expanded edition in 1996.
Anthropology. In the late nineteenth century and early
Psychology. The interest of psychologists in possession
twentieth century, the foundational literature of cultural an-
and exorcism originates with Sigmund Freud, who in the
thropology gave prominent place to divergent cultural con-
1920s wrote about the seventeenth-century case of the paint-
ceptualizations of spirits, their capabilities, and human re-
er Christopher Haizmann. (A translation of this work is in
sponses to them. This focus was characteristic of the early
Brian Levack, Possession and Exorcism [1992].) Regarding ac-
anthropological approach to so-called “folk” religions,
counts of Haizmann’s possession as descriptions of a “de-
viewed as largely indistinguishable from culture, in contra-
monological neurosis,” Freud presented an elaborate inter-
distinction to “historical” religions, based on scriptural can-
pretation centered on Haizmann’s depression due to the
ons and textual precedents. Thus the anthropological litera-
death of a close relative, whom Freud assumes to be Haiz-
ture on spirit possession and exorcism has a long and
mann’s father. The devil, Freud writes, entered into a con-
complex history within the discipline.
tract with Haizmann in which he agreed to serve as the paint-
er’s father figure for a term of nine years. Freud argues that
A well-known modern anthropological analysis of spirit
the use of the number nine in relation to a span of time re-
possession and exorcism is I. M. Lewis’s important 1971
veals Haizmann’s adhesion to a feminine aspect in relation
work, Ecstatic Religion. Lewis was struck by the frequency
to his father, indeed “a long-repressed phantasy of pregnan-
with which socially marginal groups, particularly young
cy” (nine being the number of months of gestation), com-
women, were involuntarily overtaken by spirits, a phenome-
bined with a strong castration anxiety (Levack, 1992, p. 90).
non he termed “peripheral possession.” He further noted
Haizmann’s eventual release through exorcisms and a pil-
that, while in a state of possession, the women often gained
grimage to a shrine to the Virgin Mary signal Haizmann’s
prestige and were able to act in more assertive ways than was
salutary turn toward another substitute parent, the mother.
the case in their regular daily lives. Thus they might openly
Through maternal intervention, Haizmann is sufficiently
critique their husbands or relatives, shirk household duties,
healed to enter into a religious order, thus finding a more
or act in ways deemed immodest or inappropriate for their
appropriate father substitute in these “fathers of the church.”
cultural settings. Lewis suggested that the reason for
women’s predominance among the spirit possessed in nearly
Nevertheless Freud’s interest in these phenomena set
all cultures is related to a covert desire for status enhance-
the stage for further psychohistorical and ethnopsychological
ment. Women’s possessing spirits allowed them to articulate
investigations into possession and exorcism. Understandings
resentments and desires that they normally would have had
of spirit possession as a culturally constructed idiom for ex-
to suppress while simultaneously permitting them to disavow
pressing repressed or illicit desires, as forms of wish fulfill-
personal responsibility for their transgressive actions. This
ment, as involving supernatural parent or lover substitutes,
dynamic only reached its fullest expression, however, in the
or as representative of sexual anxieties and identity distur-
process of exorcism, which in many cultures takes the form
bances are now a significant component of the scholarly liter-
of bargaining with the spirits to depart. The spirit may de-
ature. Once again the predominance of young women
mand a series of concessions before agreeing to leave, often
among the possessed has proven particularly provocative to
in the form of material gifts of direct benefit to the possessed
scholars because the notion of physical penetration by a spir-
woman: a feast, new clothes, or some other special treat.
it, often conceived as male, lends itself both to a psychosexual
analysis and also potentially to a diagnosis of disturbed gen-
Many scholars have suggested alternatives to Lewis’s
der identity.
analysis or raised critiques to his approach. Bruce Kapferer,
in his 1983 study of exorcism in Sri Lanka, A Celebration of
Exorcisms have been regarded as having therapeutic
Demons, argued that Lewis overvalued individual motiva-
value in part because they are couched in the same idiom as
tions and self-determination and undervalued broader cul-
the patient’s own expression of neurosis while nonetheless
tural forces that symbolically align women with the sphere
orchestrating the same kind of emotional buildup and ca-
of the demonic and the unclean. Other scholars, including
tharsis that underlay Freud’s early psychoanalyses. The em-
Janice Boddy in her review article “Spirit Possession Revisit-
phasis upon social reintegration that is central to many exor-
ed” (1994), have called for a reframing of the question that
cism rites has been seen as a cipher for the reintegration of
moves “beyond instrumentality” to discuss broader notions
the individual sufferer’s psychic or sexual self: “the expulsion
of gender, body, and social organization that mitigate a nar-
of the masculine and the resumption of an unfragmented
rowly functionalist view. Others, like Isabelle Nabokov
conventional sexual identity,” according to Lyndal Roper in
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2936
EXORCISM
Oedipus and the Devil (Roper, 1994, p. 191). Conversely, the
through her mouth: her lips and tongue pronounced the
psychological commonplace of “exorcising inner demons”
spirit’s sentiments and experiences. Thus for Certeau, the
forces a convergence between religious and psychoanalytic
speech of the possessed woman was a logical paradox that ex-
idioms. Exorcism and therapy are thereby defined as differ-
isted outside normally comprehensible speech patterns. The
ent terms for the same healing process.
speaking entity was both male and female, mortal and im-
mortal, powerless and powerful, the victim and the Other.
History. Historians have turned their attention to spirit
possession and exorcism relatively recently as part of the
The processes of exorcism and conjuration of the spirit,
movement toward cultural history (sometimes called history
Certeau suggests, were a means of resolving this logical para-
of mentalities). Whereas the dominant anthropological and
dox by identifying the indwelling spirit. Thus the first goal
psychological interpretations of exorcism focus upon the vic-
of an exorcism always was to categorize the speech of the vic-
tim’s experiences and desires, the leading historians working
tim as the discourse of a specific, indwelling demon known
on this problem emphasize the societal power relations de-
in advance from exorcistic and demonological literature:
ployed in the performance of exorcism. (Indeed Freud’s psy-
Beelzebub, Asmodeus, Leviathan. Through this process, the
choanalysis of Haizmann has been sharply criticized by Eric
exorcism transformed the garbled speech of the possessed
Midelfort in his article “Catholic and Lutheran Reactions to
woman into the recognizable voice of a well-known demon.
Demon Possession in the Late Seventeenth Century”
Naming the demon in turn gave the exorcist power over it:
[Levack, 1992] as anachronistic and individually overdeter-
the conjuration could then proceed as a series of conversa-
mined, with too little consideration given to the structure of
tions between the exorcist and the indwelling demon. Hence
the contextual society.) Thus the focus of historians has been
the exorcist only can gain mastery by identifying the speech
less on the person who is the object of the exorcism and more
of the victim with a specific demonic name, but in the pro-
on the ways practices of exorcism fuel larger social processes.
cess the possessed woman’s identity is occluded. Exorcism is
It has been seen then as either a dynamic or a static social
an assertion of power, Certeau suggests, insofar as it superim-
force, depending on the context.
poses traditional categorizations over the creative potential
of a paradox. It thus acts as a potent tool of social control.
An example of exorcism’s potential to propel change is
provided by the many scholars who have elucidated its value
SEE ALSO Biblical Literature, article on New Testament;
as a catalyst for conversion. These historians have pointed
Christianity, overview article; Christianity and Judaism;
out how successful public exorcisms can be instrumental in
Dybbuk; Egyptian Religion, overview article; Jesus Move-
recruiting new believers to the religion of the exorcising
ment; Judaism, overview article; QurDa¯n, overview article.
group. The rite often seems to have functioned in this way
when practiced within a context of intense competition
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Boddy, Janice. Wombs and Alien Spirits: Women, Men, and the Zar
among rival religious systems. As a visible, materially enacted
Cult in Northern Sudan. Madison, Wis., 1989. An explora-
battle with supernatural referents, exorcism easily can be-
tion of the role of fertility and gender roles in Sudanese spirit
come a testing ground for the power of one deity, doctrine,
possession and the za¯r cult.
or practice over another. In other cases, however, exorcism
Boddy, Janice. “Spirit Possession Revisited: Beyond Instrumental-
may be used to reaffirm a potentially threatened continuity
ity.” Annual Review of Anthropology 23 (1994): 407–434. An
with the past. Thus as noted above the fifteenth-century rise
excellent review essay of the major anthropological literature
of liturgical exorcism has been shown to be linked to a broad-
and interpretations.
er struggle on the part of the Catholic hierarchy to reaffirm
Bourgignon, Erika, ed. Religion, Altered States of Consciousness, and
its traditional authority at a moment of significant instability
Social Change. Columbus, Ohio, 1973. A classic collection
and stress. Here innovation in the performance of exorcism
of articles with an interdisciplinary perspective.
acted to reinforce the institutional prerogatives of the Catho-
Brown, Peter. “Sorcery, Demons, and the Rise of Christianity.”
lic Church.
In Witchcraft Confessions and Accusations, edited by Mary
Douglas, pp. 17–45. London, 1970. The relationship be-
Perhaps the most elegant historical study of exorcism
tween exorcism and the expansion of the early Christian
has been penned by the French social theorist Michel de
Church.
Certeau. The author’s article “Language Altered: The Sorcer-
Brown, Peter. “The Rise and Function of the Holy Man in Late
or’s Speech” in The Writing of History (1988) focuses on the
Antiquity.” In Society and the Holy in Late Antiquity,
ways in which early modern exorcists reasserted the hegemo-
pp. 103–152. Berkeley, Calif., and Los Angeles, 1982. How
ny of written traditions by turning to them for neat categori-
successful exorcisms functioned to cement the saintly reputa-
zations of the untidy, real-life possession cases unfolding be-
tions of holy men in late antiquity.
fore them. Certeau begins by noting that a diagnosis of
Brown, Peter. “Town Village and Holy Man: The Case of Syria.”
possession was usually applied to a woman soon after she
In Society and the Holy in Late Antiquity, pp. 153–165.
manifested a “disturbance of discourse.” No longer an indi-
Berkeley, Calif., and Los Angeles, 1982. Expands upon the
vidual, well-bounded subject, the possessed woman was
previous article with a more specific geographical focus.
viewed as displaced from herself. The invading spirit disrupt-
Caciola, Nancy. “Wraiths, Revenants, and Ritual in Medieval
ed the continuity of the victim’s selfhood by speaking
Culture.” Past and Present 152 (1996): 3–45. A study of the
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EXORCISM
2937
medieval popular-culture belief that demons can possess and
Kapferer, Bruce. A Celebration of Demons: Exorcism and the Aes-
move dead bodies.
thetics of Healing in Sri Lanka. Bloomington, Ind., 1983. De-
Caciola, Nancy. “Spirits Seeking Bodies: Death, Possession, and
tailed exposition of exorcism ceremonies in Sri Lanka with
Communal Memory in the Middle Ages.” In The Place of the
attention to notions of gender and impurity in Sinhalese
Dead: Death and Remembrance in Late Medieval and Early
ideas about possession.
Modern Europe, edited by Bruce Gordon and Peter Marshall,
Levack, Brian, ed. Possession and Exorcism. New York, 1992. A
pp. 66–86. Cambridge, U.K., 2000. An exploration of sto-
wonderful sampling that includes Freud’s study of Haiz-
ries of possession by ghosts in medieval popular culture.
mann and a number of other foundational articles.
Caciola, Nancy. Discerning Spirits: Divine and Demonic Possession
Levi, Giovanni. Inheriting Power: The Story of an Exorcist. Trans-
in the Middle Ages. Ithaca, N.Y., 2003. A study of medieval
lated by Lydia G. Cochrane. Chicago, 1988. The story of an
spirit possession, both benign and malign; chapter five ex-
unlicensed, popular exorcist in early modern Italy.
plores the history of exorcism and gives detailed descriptions
of the rite.
Lewis, I. M. Ecstatic Religion: An Anthropoloigical Study of Spirit
Possession and Shamanism. Harmondsworth, U.K., 1971. A
Certeau, Michel de. “Language Altered: The Sorcerer’s Speech.”
classic in the anthropological study of possession with partic-
In The Writing of History, translated by Tom Conley,
ular attention to gender issues and “social deprivation” analy-
pp. 244–268. New York, 1988. A close study of the process
sis.
of categorizing spirit possession through the qualification of
the possessed woman’s speech as demonic.
Lewis, I. M. Religion in Context: Cults and Charisma. 2d ed. Cam-
Certeau, Michel de. “What Freud Makes of History: ‘A Seven-
bridge, U.K., 1996. An extension of the positions advanced
teenth-Century Demonological Neurosis.’” In The Writing
in the previous work with more range.
of History, translated by Tom Conley, pp. 287–307. New
Mageo, Jeannette, and Alan Howard. Spirits in Culture, History,
York, 1988. A historian meditates on Freud’s discussion of
and Mind. New York and London, 1996. Focuses on posses-
Haizmann.
sion in the cultures of various Pacific islands.
Certeau, Michel de. The Possession at Loudon. Translated by Mi-
Midelfort, Eric. A History of Madness in Sixteenth-Century Germa-
chael Smith. Chicago, 1996. Closely examines the famous
ny. Palo Alto, Calif., 1999. Discusses early modern European
case of plural possession among the nuns of Loudon in the
concepts of madness, spirit possession, and folly.
seventeenth century.
Chajes, Jeffrey H. “Judgements Sweetened: Possession and Exor-
Nabokov, Isabelle. “Expel the Lover, Recover the Wife: Symbolic
cism in Early Modern Jewish Culture.” Journal of Early Mod-
Analysis of a South Indian Exorcism.” Journal of the Royal
ern History 1– 2 (1997): 124–169. A general discussion of
Anthropological Institute 3, no. 2 (1997): 297–316. A fasci-
early modern Jewish belief in possession by ghosts.
nating case study of a local exorcism ritual.
Chajes, Jeffrey H. Between Worlds: Dybbuks, Exorcists, and Early
Obeyesekere, Gananath. “The Idiom of Demonic Possession: A
Modern Judaism. Philadelphia, 2003. A detailed study of the
Case Study.” Social Science and Medicine 4, no. 1 (1970):
history of Jewish possession and exorcism with emphasis on
97–111. A psychoanalytic approach to Indian spirit
the shift toward dybbuk possession in the sixteenth century;
possession.
chapter three presents Jewish technologies of exorcism.
Patai, Raphael. “Exorcism and Xenoglossia among the Safed Kab-
Crapanzano, Vincent, and Vivian Garrison. Case Studies in Spirit
balists.” Journal of American Folklore 91, no. 361 (1978):
Possession. New York, 1977. A classic collection of anthropo-
823–833. Close reading of a case studies in early modern
logical articles.
Jewish exorcism with particular focus on the process of veri-
Csordas, Thomas. The Sacred Self: A Cultural Phenomenology of
fying the possessing ghost’s identity.
Charismatic Healing. Berkeley, Calif., and Los Angeles,
Roper, Lyndal. Oedipus and the Devil: Witchcraft, Sexuality, and
1994. Discussion of Catholic Pentecostal faith healing.
Religion in Early Modern Europe. London, 1994. Covers a
Cuneo, Michael. American Exorcism: Expelling Demons in the Land
broad array of topics, including exorcism.
of Plenty. New York, 2001. Investigation into the relation-
Sengers, Gerda. Women and Demons: Cult Healing in Islamic
ship between contemporary American popular culture
Egypt. Leiden, Netherlands, 2003. A detailed study of the za¯r
images of exorcism and the rising demand for real-life
cult and QurDanic healing based on fieldwork in Cairo,
exorcisms.
Egypt.
Dyer, Graham. The Divine and the Demonic: Supernatural Afflic-
tion and Its Treatment in North India. London, 2003. A gen-
Sluhovsky, Moshe. “The Devil in the Convent.” American Histori-
eral study of supernatural illness and healing in India with
cal Review 107, no. 5 (2002): 1379–1411. A close study of
focus on the psychology of the emotions involved in these
plural possessions in early modern Europe.
processes; discussion of the Balaji temple.
Tambiah, Stanley. “The Magical Power of Words.” In Culture,
Goldish, Matt, ed. Spirit Possession in Judaism: Cases and Contexts
Thought, and Social Action: An Anthropological Perspective.
from the Middle Ages to the Present. Detroit, Mich., 2003.
Cambridge, Mass., 1985. An important discussion of man-
This excellent collection brings together contributions from
tras and “demonic language” in Sri Lankan exorcisms.
most of the modern scholars working on this topic.
Walker, Daniel Pickering. Unclean Spirits: Possession and Exorcism
Kakar, Sudhir. Shamans, Mystics, and Doctors. Delhi, India, 1981.
in France and England in the Late Sixteenth and Early Seven-
A psychoanalytic approach to Indian religion with discussion
teenth Centuries. Philadelphia 1981. Focuses on the uses of
of the Balaji temple.
public exorcisms for purposes of interreligious propaganda.
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EXPERIENCE, RELIGIOUS
Wooley, Reginald. Exorcism and the Healing of the Sick. London,
ing communism. In Solzhenitsyn’s case the demise of the
1932. How possession relates to illness in the Christian
communist regime in the early 1990s enabled him to return
tradition.
to his beloved country freed from the dictatorial power that
NANCY CACIOLA (2005)
had expelled him.
EXILE. A person can be excommunicated from a community
for denying beliefs held to be central to that community or
EXPERIENCE, RELIGIOUS SEE RELIGIOUS
for actions judged unacceptable by the community. In such
EXPERIENCE
instances a prescribed path is sometimes offered to enable the
excommunicant to return to the community. Instances of
such banishment and subsequent restoration are in the histo-
EXPIATION S
ries of such groups as the Amish, the Mennonites, and the
EE ATONEMENT; CONFESSION OF
SINS
Hutterites. Expulsion from such groups is often the penalty
for some member becoming too “modernistic” in belief or
action. A return is sometimes achieved by the person’s re-
nouncing or recanting her or his offending beliefs or prac-
EXPULSION. Expulsion can be harmful but also benefi-
tices. In such instances the power and authority of the com-
cial, depending on the purposes toward which it is directed.
munity and its traditions is affirmed first by the expulsion
Associated concepts are alienation, banishment, excommuni-
and then by its allowing the offender to return on terms the
cation, exile, exorcism, expurgation, purification, repen-
community establishes. Temporary expulsion is a form of os-
tance, scapegoating, defilement, and cleansing. Greeks, Ro-
tracizing a person or group for a time of chastisement.
mans, and Indians practiced expulsion as a means of exerting
Thus a person can either voluntarily enter into exile to
social control over individuals or groups over millennia.
protest a turn of events within a community, often a nation
Against that cultural background, religious communities
in which a person has held a position of leadership, or one
adopted and adapted expulsion to their own purposes and
can be banished and thereby become an exile. In the instance
provided some of the most dramatic instances of one or an-
of voluntary exile a person makes a principled move aimed
other form of expulsion.
at calling attention to, and seeking allies to oppose, whatever
The story in the book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible
is objectionable. In either case, if the situation changes in the
of Yahweh sending Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden
community or nation, the person in exile sometimes returns,
as punishment for their disobedience of his commands is an
even triumphantly. A prominent historical instance of this
archetypal story of expulsion that is widely known, particu-
is the case of Martin Luther (1483–1546), who was declared
larly in the West. One widespread and persistent interpreta-
a heretic by the Roman Catholic Church after the Diet of
tion of the story asserts that ever since that momentous ex-
Worms in 1521 and simultaneously was declared an outlaw
pulsion humans have been estranged and alienated from
by the Holy Roman Empire. However, Luther was protected
their proper relationship with the divine. Religious commu-
by Prince Frederick the Wise against any move Emperor
nities often seek to provide means to restore the relationship,
Charles might have made to enforce the death penalty pro-
sometimes through rituals, sometimes through recommend-
nounced against him.
ed ethical behaviors, sometimes through doctrines said to ar-
After two years in hiding, Luther returned to Witten-
ticulate the proper understanding of the divine-human rela-
berg, the university city in which he had written his critique
tionship to which intellectual assent by believers is required.
of many of the central beliefs and practices of papal Roman
Further narratives abound in the literature of many
Catholicism. That Luther made this return and lived there
other religions indicating that similar experiences occur
until his death in 1546 demonstrates that the power and con-
within their residual memories of the realm of human rela-
trol of both the pope and the Holy Roman emperor were in-
tions as individuals are estranged from and by other individ-
sufficient to make Luther’s expulsion effective. He freely
uals. Humans also experience alienation from themselves and
moved about in those Germanic territories in which he lived.
from their feelings and thoughts, sometimes referred to as
His banishment by and from Catholicism had no practical
“self-alienation.” This underscores the necessity to attend to
consequences for him in that Luther defied both church and
spiritual and psychological dimensions to provide a rounded
Empire and lived to tell the story. In addition, his actions
account of expulsion.
and thoughts led to the emergence of a new interpretation
Being alienated from family, friends, communities, or-
of Christianity called Protestantism.
ganizations, and nations happens as a result of beliefs, ac-
BANISHMENT. Expulsion is neither voluntary, as exile some-
tions, and even attitudes that run counter to prevailing
times is, nor is there usually any possibility of return, as ex-
norms. Although sometimes voluntary, when for principled
communication sometimes offers. Expulsion is a decision
reasons a person goes into exile, more often it is a punish-
made by people holding power to enforce the judgment
ment imposed by others. Think of Alexandr Solzhenitsyn,
against a person or group based on a claim that the larger
banished by Soviet Union in the 1970s for his books criticiz-
community will be improved or enhanced by ridding itself
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2939
of those objectionable or corrupting people. Such a draconi-
PURIFICATION. There are, however, other considerations
an judgment leaves those expelled without the support of a
pertaining to expulsion. The eminent twentieth-century his-
society or institution. Thus expulsion is synonymous with ir-
torian of religions Mircea Eliade notes that expulsion is not
reversible banishment. It is one of the cruelest acts that can
always a negative or reactive matter, at least in connotation.
be perpetrated against humans, for it is a deliberate cutting
Rather, he convincingly demonstrates that in many cultures
off of individuals or groups from the social, economic, spiri-
and religious traditions expulsion is a rite of purification in-
tual, and other resources of the expelling community. It is
corporated into rituals of regeneration. He observes that “de-
a sentence of “social death.”
mons, diseases, and sins” are all subject to expulsion by ritual
actions and that they are regarded as evils that must be ex-
The ideology of expulsion rests upon two bases. First,
pelled in order for the cleansing to be complete (Eliade,
those who hold sufficient power to impose expulsion typical-
1959). If one recognizes these “expulsions” as having con-
ly regard themselves as the sole authentic power center of the
temporary analogues, this positive connotation takes on a
institutions over which they rule or within which they hold
deeper resonance. For example, in the practice of scientific
authority. Any opponents who are perceived to hold views
medicine, prescriptions of certain medicines are precisely
antithetical to those held by the rulers are regarded as threats
meant to expel symptoms and the disease they manifest. Fur-
to the established status quo, and thus as dangerous. This
ther, certain surgical interventions are designed to remove
justifies the decisions to rid the institution, the community,
diseased organs or intrusive growths that are compromising
or the nation of the purported threat. “Away with them,” is
the health of a person’s body.
the response. Second, those who impose the expulsion re-
Confession of sins is a prominent dimension of certain
duce those who are victims in some way or another to either
modern religious practices. Confession leads to repentance
a real or virtual subhuman characterization. This attitude de-
and, in some traditions, to the requirement that the penitent
humanizes those who thereby become “others” and both al-
person engage in certain actions designed to purge the sins
lows and legitimizes cruelty and banishment of those “here-
that have been confessed. This is a kind of expulsion that is
tics” or infidels. Sometimes such practices are forms of
accomplished in the combination of confession and penance.
creating a scapegoat, which is the practice of identifying an
innocent person, group, or even animal to bear the guilt and
The idea of demons still awakens deep anxiety and even
blame that rightly belongs to others (cf. Lv. 16 in the Hebrew
fear in large numbers of people. “Demon possession” is a di-
Bible). Scapegoating is the false accusation of an offense that
agnosis not confined to persons but also applied to physical
results in the persecution or even murder of those so accused.
places, such as buildings and homes. The depth of this sensi-
tivity gives rise in some traditions to the practice of exorcism.
One of the most widely known instances of a collective
Two definitions of exorcise are to expel (an evil spirit) by, or
expulsion is that of Jews being driven from Spain in 1492,
as if by, incantation, command, or prayer; and to free from
ironically the date that also marks the voyage of exploration
evil spirits or malign influences. Popular culture bears wit-
of Christopher Columbus. The notorious Tomás de Torque-
ness to the power of the ideas of demon possession and exor-
mada (1420–1498) persuaded King Ferdinand and Queen
cism through both the novel and the movie from the 1970s
Isabella to expel the Jews. He argued that the Catholic faith
entitled The Exorcist. The extraordinary longevity of both
was in peril due to the corrupting presence and influence of
book and movie and the remarkable breadth of their popu-
the false converts from Judaism (and from Islam as well) who
larity demonstrate that demons still occupy a lively place in
were called conversos or, even more insultingly, marranos, the
the contemporary human imagination.
Hebrew word for pig. This dogmatic and literalistic perspec-
Thus, if diseases, sins, and demons are regarded as reali-
tive insisted on one and only one interpretation of Christian-
ties in the lives of humans from antiquity until the twenty-
ity. It overruled any vestige of Christian charity and forced
first century, then means for expelling them—and thereby
a major eastward movement of Jews. In the twentieth centu-
purifying and regenerating their hosts—will also predictably
ry the Holocaust perpetrated by Nazi Germany focused its
be of widespread interest and concern. Such instances of ex-
horrendous persecution and extermination upon the Jews in
pulsion are valued and sought after.
many European countries. The goal was the annihilation of
all Jews everywhere. This is quantitatively one of the most
Finally, another form of expulsion is manifest in the act
radical instances of expulsion and destruction in history.
of expurgation that aims to remove or expel objectionable
material from a book or magazine or some other word-based
The powerful residual memory of this expulsion con-
medium before it can be published. This, like exorcism, aims
tributed significantly to the idea of Jewish immigration to
to cleanse or purify a text of some kind or other as targeted
the “promised land” of Zion. In the nineteenth century some
material. In text-based religious traditions great care is ex-
Jewish thinkers, such as Theodor Herzl (1860–1904), devel-
pended by designated guardians who comb earlier editions
oped the ideology of Zionism. The combination of the
to identify any items that need expurgation to ensure that
Holocaust and Zionism propelled the migration of Jews
new editions of the sacred writings are as accurate and error-
from many nations to Palestine and the creation of the State
free as possible. This practice demonstrates another instance
of Israel in the twentieth century.
of expelling what is objectionable and unwanted by partici-
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2940
EYE
pants in a community who are committed to living in con-
is likened to the sun. Like the luminous star, it sees all,
formity with the pure words of their texts.
shines, and sparkles. Its glances are rays that pierce like ar-
In the contemporary world, formal religious expulsion,
rows. Among the Semang, the Boshiman, and the Fuegians,
or even expurgation, is comparatively rare, in large measure
the sun is the eye of the supreme god. This isomorphism of
owing to the heterogeneity of modern societies. People are
the eye and the sun reveals moral and religious values accord-
less confined to participation in only one social, or even reli-
ing to which all vision introduces clairvoyance, justice, and
gious, grouping. Thus the power of expulsion is reduced to
righteousness. Just as the sun illuminates by projecting its
a degree. But informal and powerful instances of ostracizing
light everywhere, the eye seeks to discover and see everything,
or banning people still persist in some communities. To the
even faults and crimes. It thus becomes the emblem of a su-
extent that such practices are employed under any circum-
perior being who punishes and takes vengeance. To be all-
stances, they serve to demonstrate that expulsion resonates,
seeing is to become omnipotent. Such valorization of the eye
even in the contemporary world, as a tool of imposing con-
sometimes leads to its sacrificial oblation, which results in a
formity of beliefs, attitudes, and actions.
supernatural second sight that replaces and sublimates sim-
ple, corporeal vision. This second sight is like the inner eye,
SEE ALSO Excommunication; Fall, The; Scapegoat.
or the “eye of the heart,” so common among mystics who
perceive the divine light.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
THE EYE AS DIVINE ATTRIBUTE. In Egypt, as in the most
Dumont, Louis. Homo Hierarchicus: An Essay on the Caste System.
ancient cultures of the eastern Mediterranean Basin, the
Rev. ed. Translated by Mark Sainsbury. Chicago, 1980.
presence of a symbolic eye signifies the power of the supreme
Eliade, Mircea. Cosmos and History: The Myth of the Eternal Re-
divinity to see and know everything. Thus “the eye of
turn. Translated from French by Willard R. Trask. New
Horus” appears on the stelae of Memphis, and eyes are en-
York, 1959. Rev. ed. published as The Myth of the Eternal Re-
graved on a Cretan ring in the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford
turn; or, Cosmos and History. Princeton, N.J., 1971.
University), the symbol of an anonymous divinity who looks
Frazer, James George. The Scapegoat. Part 6 of The Golden Bough:
at and listens to men. The sacerdotal myths and traditions
A Study in Magic and Religion, 3d ed., rev. and enl. London,
of ancient Egypt testify that the eye has a solar nature and
1913.
is the fiery source of light and knowledge. Re, the sun god,
Girard, René. Violence and the Sacred. Translated by Patrick Greg-
is endowed with a burning eye and appears in the form of
ory. Baltimore, 1977.
a rearing cobra with dilated eyes. In the cult of Harmerti, Re
J
and Thoth are the two eyes of Horus, the god of the sky. One
AMES B. WIGGINS (2005)
Harmerti story relates the struggle between Horus and Seth;
Seth pokes out the eye of Horus, who is later cured by
Thoth. The healed, healthy eye is the oudjat eye that shines
EYE. The eye is one of the most widespread symbols in all
in the dark and vanquishes death. The Book of Going Forth
religious representation. As the active organ of visual percep-
by Day (17.29ff.) recapitulates that mythical episode in a for-
tion, it is closely linked with light. Without light, the eye
mula that is said to the dead person by the one playing the
could neither see nor discern clearly. It is therefore only natu-
role of Thoth: “I restore to the eye the fullness it possessed
ral that in most cultures the eye is the symbol of intellectual
on the day of the fight between the two adversaries.” This
perception and the discovery of truth. The eye knows be-
means that light and darkness, life and death, are reconciled
cause it sees. As early as the fifth century BCE, Democrites
in the beyond. This oudjat eye was painted on the inner sides
thought that certain images exist already in the body and that
of the coffin, on each side of the head, and an inscription
they emerge from the gaze of certain persons. Pliny the Elder
affirmed that they were hereafter the eyes by which the dead
explained that the small image inscribed in the pupil is a sort
person would see in the afterlife and which would permit
of miniature soul (Natural History 21.12.51). Similarly, the
him to follow the spectacle of the exterior world while re-
Bambara of West Africa say that the image perceived by the
maining in his tomb. The oudjat eye was provided for the
eye is, in fact, the double of the object or being that is seen:
dead person “in order that he be animated by it” (Pyramid
“Man’s world is his eye.” Thus the eye is often considered
Texts 578). This is why Horus’s eye made an excellent
the mirror of the soul, the body’s window, which reveals each
amulet.
person’s deep thoughts by means of his gaze. As the mirror
At Tell Brak in eastern Syria, the excavation of a sanctu-
of the interior, the eye is the place where the mysterious life
ary going back to 2500 BCE has revealed the worship of a di-
of the soul is glimpsed. In seeking to discover the reality be-
vinity with a thousand eyes. In this temple consecrated to In-
hind the physical appearances it perceives, the eye becomes
anna (Ishtar), hundreds of statuettes with multiple eyes have
the locus of inner revelation. The expression “His eyes were
been found, votive offerings or apotropaic images attesting
opened” means that a rational or religious truth has been un-
that the eye was the emblem of that all-seeing and omnipres-
veiled.
ent feminine divinity. Analogous finds have been made at
According to the symbolic conception of man as micro-
Ur, Lagash, and Mari. Inanna’s brother Shamash is the sun
cosm, which is found in the most ancient cultures, the eye
god, whose eye sees everything and who knows the most se-
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EYE
2941
cret thoughts. He can reward or punish deliberately. In Bab-
joy of sensitive contemplation is the climax of the initiation
ylon, Shamash was invoked before every divination, for he
into the great mysteries of Eleusis, the epopteia, and the very
was the one who wrote the signs in the entrails of sacrificial
source of all philosophy, repeats Plato (Timaeus 47a). For the
victims. Without his help, the diviner could not see them.
knowledge of truth rests on a vision that moves upward from
tangible realities to timeless and eternal things: “Holy is the
The Indo-European world attached the same value to
man who has the gods before his eyes” (scholium on Pindar,
the eye as to the sun and to the gods, that is, the quality of
Pythian Odes 4.151b).
being able to see everything. In the R:gveda, the god Su¯rya,
son of Dyaus, is called “the eye of the sky” (10.37.2) and “the
The Germanic and Celtic worlds also valued the magi-
eye of Mithra and of Varuna” (1.115.1, 7.61.1, 10.37.1). He
cal power of the eye. Óðinn (Odin), god of war and magic,
sees from afar and everywhere, and spies on the whole world.
is a one-eyed god, for he voluntarily gave an eye in payment
Varun:a, the celestial god, is described as sahasra¯ta, god of a
to the sorcerer-giant Mímir, or Memory. In return, Óðinn
thousand eyes, for he sees everything. According to the hymn
was permitted to drink every day at the spring of knowledge
of Purus:a (R:gveda 10.90), the sun was born from the eye of
and thus to learn the science of the runes. The loss of an eye
the cosmic giant Purus:a so that at death, when a man’s soul
is therefore the means of acquiring superior vision and the
and body return to the cosmic primordial man, his eye will
supernatural powers that flow from it. After the Vanir killed
go back to the sun. It is understandable why, in the
Mímir, Óðinn practiced divination by interrogating the
Bhagavadg¯ıta¯ as well as in certain Upanis:ads, eyes are identi-
head, which he succeeded in preserving (Ynglingasaga 4, 7).
fied with the two celestial lights, the sun and moon, which
This theme of knowledge acquired as a result of blindness—
are the eyes of Vi´svakarman, the divine architect with multi-
even ocular mutilation—is found elsewhere in other Indo-
ple eyes who ordained everything. The Tamil caste of the
European traditions. Thus, the Greek diviner Tiresias attains
Kammalans, who claim to descend from him, have as their
the ability to see the future by becoming blind; Oedipus
main task painting the eyes of divine statues according to a
learns the will of the gods by blinding himself; and the blind
ritual as sacred as that of the oudjat eye, the eye of Horus,
king Dhr:tara¯s:t:ra in the Maha¯bha¯rata has special powers.
in Egypt. In Iranian tradition, the sun is also the eye of Ahura
Blindness, or voluntary mutilation of the eyes, becomes the
Mazda¯ (Yasna 1.11), whereas in the tenth Yasht of the Aves-
sign of the superior sight possessed by the druids and the di-
ta, Mithra is called the “master of vast plains who has a thou-
viners. Indeed, this quasi-magical power of the eye is found
sand ears and ten thousand eyes,” thus assimilating him to
again in Celtic myths. The god Lugh keeps only one eye
the sun.
open. He makes a tour of the enemies’ camp, hopping and
singing in an act similar to Óðinn’s during the battle be-
For the Greeks, the gods “with piercing gaze” saw every-
tween the Æsir and the Vanir. The same attitude is found
thing belonging to the past, present, and future in a single,
in the Celtic hero Cú Chulainn, who, when seized by furor,
unified vision. This panopteia is the very mark of their divini-
closes one eye and enlarges the other, or sometimes swallows
ty. Thus there is Kronos, who has four eyes, two in front and
one eye and places the other on his cheek to frighten his ad-
two in back; Zeus, whose “vast gaze” pierces through to the
versary. Many Gallic coins show a hero’s head with an eye
most secret things (Hesiod, Works and Days 240, 265); Apol-
disproportionately enlarged.
lo, the solar god, who sees everything (Iliad 3.277, Odyssey
11.109); and Dionysos, whose Bacchic hymn repeats that he
Other myths also valorize the magical power of the one-
“shines like a star with his eye of fire that darts its rays over
eyed person, as if the reduction of vision to a single eye in-
the whole earth” (Diodorus of Sicily, 1.11.3). All the Greek
creased the intensity of the gaze. Thus a glance from Medu-
gods cast a sovereign and pure gaze on man. The gaze of
sa’s single eye petrifies anyone who crosses its path, for it is
Athena Glaukopis shines and fascinates; the eye she fixes on
the glance of death that leads to Hades. To overcome it, Per-
her enemies is “a sharp one, an eye of bronze.” When Achil-
seus must first escape the other two Gorgons and hide the
les, driven by rage, tries to kill Agamemnon, Athena seizes
one eye they share between them. He conquers Medusa only
by making use of Athena’s mirror, which allows him to see
him by his hair and forces him to look at her. The hero cries
the monster without being seen by her.
out, “It is terrifying to see the light of your eyes” (Iliad
1.200), for the light in her eyes is the light of reason. In
THE EVIL EYE AND MAGIC. The belief in the unlucky influ-
Greek poetry, the image of the eye or the pupil is used to
ence of the evil eye is universal. It rests on a valorization of
mark the quality of a person and the affection one feels for
the gaze reputed to be harmful because the eye is abnormal
him: “Where is the eye of my beloved Amphiaraos, this hero
(eyes of different colors, double pupils, squinting); such a
who was both a seer and a valiant warrior?” (Pindar, Olympi-
gaze magically reveals the malevolent intention of the soul
an Odes 6.16.7). The Greek religious experience consisted
whose window the eye is. The evil eye, cast for vengeance or
primarily of a vision. Since Homeric times, an indissoluble
out of envy, is an invisible threat against which one must
relationship has existed between knowing and seeing: knowl-
protect oneself with countermagic, as, for example, in this
edge is based on sight, on an optical intuition. In his Meta-
Babylonian incantation: “Take the eye, attach its feet to a
physics, Aristotle speaks of that joy of seeing, which makes
bush in the desert, then take the eye and break it like a pot-
a better basis for knowing than any other perception. The
tery vase!” In Egypt it was common practice to bear apotro-
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2942
EYE
paic names, wear amulets, and recite formulas. In the Roman
“a single stone decorated with seven eyes,” symbol of God’s
world, fear of the fascinum was constant. Many mosaics have
vigilant presence in his temple. They are the seven planets,
as a central motif a dangerous eye pierced by an arrow, sur-
or seven divine eyes that sweep over the earth without rest-
rounded by animals, and defended by an owl (the bird of evil
ing. Likewise Ezekiel, in his vision of the chariot evoking
omen) perched on its eyelid. Against this danger, people re-
Yahveh’s throne, sees wheels whose rims are decorated with
sorted to amulets picturing an eye or a phallus. Eyes were
open eyes (Ez. 1:18), signs of Yahveh’s omniscience.
even painted on the prows of boats.
Although, as the apostle John says, “No one has ever
Ever since the time of the apostle Paul (Gal. 3:1), Chris-
seen God” (1 Jn. 4:12), Jesus promised the pure in heart that
tian preachers never ceased to raise their voices, in vain,
they shall see God (Mt. 5:8). This beatitude makes of the eye
against the belief in the evil eye. Some rituals of the Greek
a symbol of inner purity (Mt. 6:22–23); otherwise the eye,
Orthodox church as found in the Mikron Euchologion con-
as the opportunity for scandal, ought to be plucked out and
tain a formula for exorcism against baskania (“witchcraft”)
thrown far away. Early Christian preaching insists on the op-
similar to that found in certain Babylonian curses. The same
position between the eyes of flesh and those of the spirit; in
belief is found in pre-Islamic Arabia and in the Muslim
Paul’s case, physical blinding symbolically preceded the
world. Muh:ammad himself recited incantations to preserve
opening of the eyes of the heart (Acts 9:18). Furthermore, the
his grandson from the evil eye, reviving the formulas that
function of the Son is to render visible his Father: “Whoever
Abraham made use of in order to protect Ishmael and Isaac,
sees me has seen the Father,” says Jesus to Philip (Jn. 14:9).
the legend says. One Arabic proverb states that “the evil eye
But at the end of time, full vision will be given to everyone
empties houses and fills tombs.” The eye frequently occurs
and “man’s eyes will contemplate the glory of God just as
in the magical preparations of certain African ethnic groups
he is” (1 Jn. 3:2). Gnosticism especially retains the Pauline
as well as in the Eastern Orthodox world, where the eyes of
theme of “the eye of the heart,” an image already frequent
the figures in icons were poked out and crushed and then
in the writings of the Greek philosophers and the Hebrew
made into a magical powder.
rabbis. For the gnostic, “the eye is the inner light to the man
RELIGIOUS AND MYSTICAL VALUES OF THE EYE. The word
of light” (Gospel of Thomas, logion 24), and the prototype
eye recurs 675 times in the Hebrew scriptures (Old Testa-
of the man of light is “the eye of light” (Sophia of Jesus
ment) and 137 times in the New Testament; this indicates
Christ).
the richness of its symbolic meanings. It designates, first, the
organ of vision fashioned by the creator for the good of man
In numerous philosophical and religious traditions, the
(Ps. 94:9, Prv. 20:12), for “it is a joy for the eye to see the
inner eye allows access to wisdom. Plotinus explains that the
sun” (Eccl. 11:7). But the eye is also a privileged organ of
eye of the soul dazzled by the light of understanding is fixed
knowledge that scripture always associates with the charac-
on pure transparency; the soul therefore sees the light found
teristics of the wise and learned: for example, Balaam, the di-
at the interior of his own gaze, and the eye of understanding
viner whose eye is closed to the terrestrial realities that sur-
contemplates the light of nous by participating in the very
round him but is open to the hidden and the invisible once
light of this sun-spirit (Enneads 5.3[17].28). Recalling that
he meets the All-Powerful (Nm. 23–24). The Targum Yeru-
the wise man is he who sees and that the fool is blind, Philo
shalmi makes Balaam a one-eyed seer, thus taking up again
Judaeus explained that formerly the prophets were called
the theme of a second sight superior to normal corporeal vi-
“seers” (1 Sm. 9:8). For him, wisdom is not only what is ob-
sion. Symbolically, the eye designates the consciousness of
tained by the vision of the inner eye, just as light is perceived
man that Yahveh opens to the knowledge of his law and
by the carnal eye; but wisdom also sees itself, and this is the
therefore of good and evil (Dt. 29:3, Is. 6:10). For Yahveh
splendor of God, who, in opening the soul’s eye to wisdom,
sees all (Ps. 14:2); he is the witnessing God from whom noth-
shows himself to man (De migratione Abraham 38).
ing escapes (Ps. 139:7–8). This ability to see all is an essential
In Hinduism, the god S´iva is endowed with a third eye,
characteristic of his transcendent sovereignty, and the divine
the frontal eye that gives him a unifying vision. His look of
eye is the administrator of justice: before it the just man can
fire expresses the pureness of the present without any other
find grace (Dt. 31:29, Jb. 11:4). But it is also the paternal
temporal dimension, as well as the simultaneity of beings and
eye of Providence, “who turns toward those who fear him”
events, which he reduces to ashes in revelation of the all.
(Ps. 33;18), like Nehemiah praying night and day for the
Likewise Buddha, the “awakened one,” received inner en-
people of Israel (Neh. 1:6, Lv. 16:2, Nm. 4:20).
lightenment through the celestial eye, which permitted him
But however great his desire, man may not see God face
to see the life of all beings simultaneously and gave him the
to face (Ps. 42:3), for no one can see Yahveh without dying
knowledge of the chain of the fundamental forces of exis-
(Ex. 19:21, Lv. 16:2, Nm. 4:20). Even Moses saw only the
tence as well as its previous forms. This eye of wisdom,
back of the glory of God (Ex. 33:20–23). If some prophets
prajña¯caks:us, is found at the limit of unity and multiplicity,
have had a vision of divine glory, it is in a fugitive and sym-
of emptiness and creation; it permits the wise man to grasp
bolic fashion, through a cloud or in human shape. Thus
them simultaneously. The organ of inner vision, it is the very
Zachariah (c. 520 BCE) saw Yahveh put before the high priest
sign of Buddhist wisdom.
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2943
But the inner eye is the organ of wisdom only because
him. For example, the opening verse of Ezekiel reads: “In the
it is capable of actually experiencing the divine. Every revela-
thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth of the
tion presents itself as a veil that has been pulled back before
month, when I was among the exiles on the Chebar canal
the gaze of religious man, for whom the beatific vision and
[in the vicinity of the Babylonian city of Nippur], the heav-
the contemplation of God are the very essence of eternal life.
ens opened and I saw a divine vision” (a description of God’s
The eye of the heart is thus a frequent theme in spiritual and
majesty borne on the divine “chariot” follows). The time of
mystical literature. Just as the eye can neither see nor discern
his prophesying is fixed by some fifteen dates scattered
its object without light, so the soul cannot contemplate God
through the book, which, apart from the obscure first one
without the light of faith, which alone opens the eyes of the
cited above, belong to the era of “our exile”—that is, the exile
heart. “Man must therefore become entirely eye”; such is the
of King Jehoiachin of Judah, his courtiers, and his adminis-
teaching of the Desert Fathers reiterated by Symeon the New
trative staff, in 597 BCE); it may be inferred that Ezekiel was
Theologian (Hymns of the Divine Loves 45), for the soul’s eye,
among those deported to Babylon with the king. The dates
relieved of carnal passions, can perceive the divine light that
fall between 593 and 571, all within the reign of the Babylo-
opens up on the heavens. Following Origen and his theory
nian king Nebuchadrezzar II (605–562), who is mentioned
of spiritual senses, Gregory of Nyssa, Augustine, Bernard of
several times in the book as a world conqueror. No references
Clairvaux, and all the Fathers state that it is God who, by
to events subsequent to the reign of that king are made, nor
opening the heart’s eye, makes one see. Meister Eckhart
does the editorial work on the book necessitate assumption
again picks up this teaching (Sermons), and Teresa of Ávila
of later hands, so that its contents—internally consistent
specifies that what we know otherwise than by faith, the soul
though literarily varied—may be considered the record of a
recognizes at sight, although not by eyesight. Leon Bloy
single author’s career. The only personal details given of Eze-
writes in his Journal (June 6, 1894) that “we must turn our
kiel’s life are his priestly descent and the death of his wife in
eyes inward” in order to speak our desire for a vision of truth,
exile. That the enigmatic “thirtieth year” of the opening verse
for the carnal eye only allows us to see “in enigma and as in
(cited above) alludes to the prophet’s age at the start of his
a mirror.” The eye of the heart is therefore man seeing God
vocation is an unsupported guess that goes back at least as
and, at the same time, God looking at man; it is the instru-
far as Origen.
ment of enlightenment and inner unification: “We shall find
Two determinants of the prophet’s outlook stand out
the pearl of the kingdom of heaven inside our hearts if we
in his prophecies: his priesthood and his exile. The former
first purify the eye of our spirit” (Philotheus of Sinai, Forty
is reflected in his schooling in the full range of Israel’s literary
Chapters on Spiritual Sobriety 23).
traditions (legal, prophetic, historiographic), his manner of
expression (echoing the Priestly writings of the Pentateuch),
SEE ALSO Sun; Visions.
and his preoccupations (the Temple, God’s holiness, offenses
against his worship). The response to exile is reflected in Eze-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
kiel’s anguish and rage at what he perceives as God’s rejection
Bleeker, C. Jouco. The Sacred Bridge. Leiden, 1963.
of his apostate people. Ezekiel’s prophecy is characterized by
Boyer, Régis. La religion des anciens scandinaves. Paris, 1981.
a leaning toward systematization; he propounds doctrines
Crawford, O. G. S. The Eye Goddess. London, 1957.
permeated by a severe logic that centers on the injury Israel
inflicted on the majesty of God and its reparation rather than
Durand, Gilbert. Les structures anthropologiques de l’imaginaire. 3d
ed. Paris, 1969.
on the piteous situation of the people. The Book of Ezekiel
may be divided into three sections:
Hocart, Arthur M. “The Mechanism of the Evil Eye.” Folk-Lore
49 (June 1938): 156–157.
• Chapters 1–24 are composed mostly of dooms against
Jerusalem that date before its fall in 587/6 BCE. (Chapter
Pettazzoni, Raffaele. The All-Knowing God. Translated by H. J.
33 is an appendix related to this section.)
Rose. London, 1956.
• Chapters 34–48 contain prophecies of the restoration
Seligman, Siegfried. Der böse Blick. Berlin, 1910.
of Israel, composed, presumably, after the city’s fall. The
Vries, Jan de. Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte. 2d ed. 2 vols. Ber-
first six of these chapters are rhapsodic, the latter nine
lin, 1956–1957.
legislative.
Vries, Jan de. Keltische Religion. Stuttgart, 1961.
• Chapters 25–32 link the two main divisions in the form
MICHEL MESLIN (1987)
of prophecies against Israel’s neighbors, settling ac-
Translated from French by Kristine Anderson
counts with them for their exploitation of, or participa-
tion in the collapse of Judah.
No other prophetic book shows so thorough a working
EZEKIEL (sixth century BCE), or, in Hebrew, Yeh:ezqeDl,
through of principles in its arrangement, pointing to the
was a Hebrew prophet. A hereditary priest, Ezekiel is known
hand of this prophet.
primarily from the biblical book of prophecy named after
MAIN THEMES OF EZEKIEL’S PROPHECY. The chief burden
him that contains first-person reports of revelations made to
of Ezekiel’s pre-586 prophecies (chaps. 2–24) was that Jeru-
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2944
EZEKIEL
salem was inevitably doomed to destruction by Nebucha-
To the exiles he addressed calls for repentance. For their
drezzar. This contradicted the mood both of the exiles and
conversion he propounded the doctrine of the eternal avail-
of the homelanders, among whom prophets of good tidings
ability of divine forgiveness, thus countering the despair that
were at work (chap. 13). Patriotism, faith in the security of-
was bound to follow on acceptance of his interpretation of
fered by God’s presence in the Jerusalem Temple, and the
events. For if Israel indeed lay under a generations-long accu-
encouragement by Egypt of anti-Babylonian forces in Judah
mulation of guilt—Ezekiel once went so far as to describe
combined to rouse the people’s hopes, indeed their expecta-
Jerusalem as congenitally depraved (Ez. 16:3–45)—so over-
tion that subjection to Babylonia was ephemeral; that the ex-
whelming it caused God to forsake his Temple and his land,
iles would shortly return home; and that resistance to the
what future had they to look forward to? Ezekiel met despair
overlord, supported by Egypt, would be successful. Like Jere-
with the twin doctrines of the moral autonomy of each gen-
miah, his contemporary in Jerusalem, Ezekiel regarded such
eration—that is, the nonbequeathal of guilt from fathers to
hopes as illusory; worse, they revealed spiritual obtuseness in
sons and God’s ever-readiness to accept the penitent wicked.
their blindness to the divine purpose realizing itself in
God judges each according to his own ways, not those of his
Judah’s plight. As Jeremiah and Ezekiel saw it, the people’s
ancestors, and he judges him as he is now, not as he was yes-
idolatrous infidelity to their covenant with God, reaching
terday. Hence each generation may hope for reconciliation
back to the beginnings of their history and peaking during
with God, and anyone can unburden himself of a guilty past
the reign of King Manasseh of Judah (2 Kgs. 21), had finally
by renouncing it and turning a new leaf. God does not desire
outrun God’s patience. And alongside apostasy was the cor-
the death of the wicked person but his or her repentance, so
ruption of the social order (idolatry and immorality were
that they may live (chaps. 18, 33).
bound together in the minds of biblical authors): the oppres-
sion of the governed by their rulers, the trampling of the
As Jerusalem suffered under the protracted siege that
poor, the unfortunate, and the aliens by the people at large,
was to end in its fall (in 587/6), Ezekiel began to deliver his
until not one righteous person could be found in Jerusalem
oracles against foreign nations; the first is dated in 587, the
to stem the onset of God’s retributive fury (Ez. 22). Another
last in 585 (except for an appendix dated to 571, in chap.
form of infidelity to God that Ezekiel denounced with par-
29). Judah’s small neighbors, formerly co-rebels with it,
ticular vehemence was the resort of Judah’s kings to Egypt
abandoned it in the crisis. Some gloated over its fall; Edom
for help against Mesopotamian powers (Assyria, Babylonia),
seized the occasion to appropriate some of Judah’s territory.
instead of trusting in divine protection. These offenses are
These countries are denounced for their hubris and their
set out in bills of indictment ending in sentences of doom:
show of contempt toward their downfallen neighbor, and
God had resolved to abandon his Temple (desecrated by the
their own ruin is predicted (chaps. 25–28). On the other
people) and to deliver his city and land to be ravaged by the
hand, Egypt, which had encouraged Judah to revolt, is con-
Babylonians (chaps. 8–11, 16, 23). In listing the evidences
demned to temporary exile and permanent degradation for
of Jerusalem’s guilt and stressing the unavoidability of its fall,
having proven to be a “reedy staff” in the hour of need, col-
Ezekiel sought to disabuse his fellow exiles of their misplaced
lapsing when Judah leaned on it (chaps. 29–32). When God
hopes, turn their minds to consider their evil ways, and lead
punishes his own so ruthlessly, the perfidy and contemptu-
them to repentance. (Because his dooms are addressed rhe-
ousness of their neighbors will not be ignored. Some of the
torically to Jerusalem, it has been thought that they were in-
most vivid passages in the book occur in these prophecies:
tended to dissuade the Judahite court from pursuing its re-
a unique list of the Phoenecian trade (Tyre’s imports and ex-
bellious policy against Babylonia, but their emphatic
ports and the nations with which it traded); a mythical depic-
unconditionality could hardly serve that end.)
tion of the king of Tyre as the denizen of Paradise, expelled
from it for his sin; and a picture of the underworld realm of
Ezekiel conveyed his messages in deeds as well as words,
the dead receiving Pharaoh and his defeated army.
making much use of dramatic and symbolic acts. He arrayed
toy siege works against a representation of Jerusalem drawn
The fall of Jerusalem gave rise to a new concern: the
on a brick; he lay on his side eating scant siege rations for
only nation on earth that acknowledged the one true God
many days; carrying an exile’s pack on his shoulder, he acted
(however imperfectly) had suffered a crushing defeat on the
out the clandestine flight of the king from the fallen city; he
field and the cream of its population had, for a second time,
repressed his sighs of mourning for his dead wife to presage
been deported. However justified these punishments were in
the stupefaction of those who would live through the coming
terms of Israel’s covenant with God, to the world they could
carnage (chaps. 4–5, 12, 24)—all these and more. No proph-
only signify the humiliation of Israel’s God—or so at least
et went to such lengths to impress his audience because none
Ezekiel portrayed it in chapter 36. The extreme measures
was so convinced of their imperviousness to his message
taken to punish Israel for flouting God (in Ezekiel’s words,
(chaps. 2–3). Still, although at his commissioning he was
for “profaning God’s name”) resulted in a still greater “profa-
forewarned of his audience’s adamant hostility, in actuality
nation”: the nations pointed to the exiles and jeered, “These
he became the cynosure of exiles in his hometown, Tel Abib:
are the Lord’s people and from his land they have come
indeed, he complains that they flock to him as to an enter-
forth!” It followed as an ironbound consequence that God
tainment but fail to act on his admonitions (chap. 33).
must now vindicate his authority by restoring Israel to its
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EZEKIEL
2945
homeland and so redeem his reputation. This key idea of
fane by cordons of sacred personnel surrounding it. God will
chapter 36 is the motive of the rhapsodic restoration prophe-
dwell forever in his holy city, renamed accordingly YHVH
cies of chapters 34–39. All is done for the greater glory of
Shammah, “The Lord is there” (replacing Yerushalayim, “Je-
God: Israel’s “dry bones” are vivified and the miraculously
rusalem”).
re-created people are gathered into their land; the former two
LATER INFLUENCES. In later times, Ezekiel’s justification of
kingdoms (Israel and Judah) are united under the rule of a
the collapse of Israel influenced the revision of the old history
new David; the land is blessed with peace and unprecedented
of the monarchy (the Book of Kings) undertaken under Per-
fertility. The crowning transformation is in the very nature
sian rule embodied in the Book of Chronicles. The Chroni-
of the Israelites: their “heart of stone” will be replaced with
cler’s story of the conduct of the last Judahite kings (from
a “heart of flesh.” God’s spirit will animate them to observe
Manasseh on) shows the effect of Ezekiel’s doctrines with
his laws effortlessly, thus averting forever the recurrence of
particular clarity. On the other hand, Ezekiel’s rhapsodic de-
the terrible cycle of sin, punishment, exile, and profanation
scriptions of restoration were far removed from the modest
of God’s name among humans. Moreover, because the resto-
dimensions and achievements of returned exiles. And their
ration of Israel will not be for their sake, but for the sake of
mood of repentance (surely owing at least in part to Ezekiel’s
God’s name (reputation), it will not depend on Israel’s tak-
teachings) kindled in them a resolve to adhere scrupulously
ing the initiative to reform itself but will happen at God’s
to the ancient covenant laws of Moses rather than to Eze-
initiative. Israel’s self-recrimination and remorse over its evil
kiel’s newfangled revisions (which anyway supposed a very
past will follow, not precede, its salvation (chap. 36). To im-
different geodemographic reality from that of the postexilic
press his sovereignty finally on the minds of all, God will,
community). Ezekiel had to give way before Moses, and his
after restoring Israel, engineer an attack on them by the bar-
program was relegated to messianic utopia. His vision of the
barian Gog of Magog. Attracted by the prospect of plunder-
divine “chariot” (chaps. 7, 10) was to play a decisive role in
ing the prospering, undefended cities of Israel, Gog and the
Jewish mystical experience from Second Temple times
armies mustered from the far north under his banner will de-
onward.
scend on them, only to be miraculously routed and massa-
cred. Then all will realize that the misfortune that befell Isra-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
el was punishment for their sins (not a sign of God’s
A number of commentaries on Ezekiel may be consulted, among
weakness!), and their restoration, a “sanctification of God’s
which the following, listed chronologically, are recom-
name” in the sight of all humankind (chaps. 38–39).
mended.
Herrmann, Johannes. Ezechiel, übersetzt und erklärt. Kommentar
The last major section of the book is legislative and pre-
zum Alten Testament. Leipzig, 1924.
scriptive: a unique series of revisions of certain Israelite insti-
tutions designed to maintain the sanctity of the Temple pre-
Cooke, G. A. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book
cinct. The section consists of a vision of the future Temple
of Ezekiel. 2 vols. New York, 1937.
climaxed by God’s return to it (chaps. 41–43:12), and in-
Fohrer, Georg. Ezechiel. Handbuch zum Alten Testament, vol.
structions for righting past misconduct in relation to it so
13. Tübingen, 1955.
that it would never again be abandoned (chaps. 43:13–48).
Eichrodt, Walther. Der Prophet Hesekiel. Das Alte Testament
Deutsch. Göttingen, 1965–1966. Translated into English as
The future Temple is envisaged as laid out with a well-
Ezekiel: A Commentary, “Old Testament Library” (Philadel-
defined gradation of sacred areas, access to which is rigorous-
phia, 1970).
ly controlled in accordance with grades of personal holiness.
Wevers, John W. Ezekiel. Century Bible, n.s., pt. 1, vol. 26. Lon-
The corps of Temple servants is restructured, with a sharp
don, 1969.
division between priests and nonpriests, the latter being
strictly excluded from access to the highest grades of holy
Zimmerli, Walther. Ezechiel (1–48). 2 vols. Biblischer Kommen-
space. The role that the future king (archaically entitled
tar Alter Testament, vol. 13, nos. 1–2. Neunkirchen, 1969.
Translated into English in two parts: Ezekiel 1, by R. E.
“chief”) is to play in worship is so defined as to prevent him,
Clements (Philadelphia, 1979), and Ezekiel 2, by James D.
a layman, from trespassing on the areas of highest sanctity
Martin (Philadelphia, 1983).
(as preexilic kings were accustomed to do), while at the same
time making allowances for his superior dignity. New peri-
Greenberg, Moshe. Ezekiel 1–20. Anchor Bible, vol. 22. Garden
City, N.Y., 1983.
odic sacrifices of purgation are instituted to keep the inevita-
ble contamination of the sanctuary by the natural impurities
For general surveys, consult Walther Zimmerli’s “The Message of
and inadvertencies of the people from accumulating danger-
the Prophet Ezekiel,” Interpretation 23 (1969): 131–157,
ously. Finally, the land is redistributed among the ingathered
and my own article “Ezekiel” in the Encyclopaedia Judaica
(Jerusalem, 1971). Bernhard Lang’s Ezechiel: Der Prophet
population, archaically defined as the twelve tribes, with
und das Buch, “Erträge der Forschung,” no. 153 (Darmstadt,
boundaries derived from the ancient idea of the promised
1981), is a good review of modern scholarship on Ezekiel.
“land of Canaan” rather than from the actual boundaries of
The influence of Ezekiel on Jewish mysticism is treated in
the land under the monarchy. The disposition of the tribes
David J. Halperin’s The Merkabah in Rabbinic Literature,
is such as to isolate the Temple from contact with the pro-
“American Oriental Series,” no. 62 (New Haven, 1980).
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2946
EZRA
New Sources
Syria-Palestine. He also received considerable monetary sup-
Biggs, Charles R. The Book of Ezekiel. Epworth Commentaries.
port for the cult in Jerusalem. Ezra set out from Babylon with
London, 1996.
five thousand companions and great treasure and arrived in
Block, Daniel Isaac. The Book of Ezekiel. New International Com-
Jerusalem safely five months later. Shortly after he returned
mentary on the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, Mich., 1997.
to Jerusalem he discovered that many Jews had intermarried
Eynde, Sabine M. L. van den. “Interpreting ‘Can These Bones
with non-Jews, and after much soul-searching he set about
Come Back to Life?’ in Ezekiel 37:3: The Technique of Hid-
to dissolve all the mixed marriages. In the second year after
ing Knowledge.” Old Testament Essays 14 (2001): 153–165.
his arrival, in the seventh month, at Sukkot, Ezra brought
Vawter, Bruce, and Leslie J. Hoppe. A New Heart: A Commentary
forth the Law and read it to the people in a great public cere-
on the Book of Ezekiel. International Theological Commen-
mony (Neh. 8). This is now followed (in Neh. 9) by a fast
tary. Grand Rapids, Mich., and Edinburgh, 1991.
on the twenty-fourth day of the seventh month, in which
Wright, Christopher J. H. The Message of Ezekiel: A New Heart
Ezra leads the people in a great confession of sins and a cove-
and a New Spirit. Bible Speaks Today. Leicester and Dow-
nant renewal (Neh. 10) by which the people commit them-
ners Grove, Ill, 2001.
selves to the support of the sanctuary, the observance of the
Sabbath, and other laws of the Torah.
MOSHE GREENBERG (1987)
Revised Bibliography
There are various layers in the biblical tradition con-
cerning Ezra. The one that identifies Ezra as the scribe who
brought the Law to the restored community in Jerusalem is
EZRA (late fifth and early fourth centuries
clearly the oldest tradition. Many scholars believe that this
BCE) was known
for his restoration of the Law of Moses in the postexilic peri-
tradition reflects the introduction of the Pentateuch into,
od and is generally regarded as the founder of Judaism.
and its formal acceptance by, the Jewish community in Jeru-
salem. For this reason the figure of Ezra represents a new era
LITERARY SOURCES. The account of Ezra’s activity is con-
in which the community stands under the Law and its inter-
tained in Ezra and in Nehemiah 8–9. The history covered by
preters and becomes, in this view, a religion “of the book,”
Ezra is a continuation from 2 Chronicles and is probably by
so that it is often regarded as the beginning of Judaism. How-
the same author. It begins with the edict of Cyrus (538 BCE),
ever, any notion of a radical discontinuity with the religion
which permitted the return of exiles from Babylonia to their
of the Jews in the late monarchy or exilic periods is quite un-
homeland and the chance to rebuild the Temple. Using some
warranted, because the Pentateuch itself embodies much
independent sources whose chronology is not clearly under-
from these periods.
stood, the author attempts to trace the history of the Jerusa-
lem community down to the time of Ezra (Heb., EEzraD),
Nevertheless, the mission of Ezra is now seen in the
which begins only in chapter 7. Within chapters 7 to 9 there
Bible through the eyes of the Chronicler, who considered his
is a first-person narration by Ezra, often considered to be a
presentation of the Law as the climax of his history, and later
separate source, “the memoirs of Ezra,” although it cannot
Judaism did much to further enhance the significance of this
easily be separated from its context in 7:1–26 and chapter
event. Already within the biblical account the later levels of
10, where Ezra is referred to in the third person. It appears
the Ezra tradition that portray him as a judge and reformer
to have been composed after the style of the so-called Nehe-
(Ezr. 9–10), or as an intercessor and covenant mediator
miah memoirs.
(Neh. 9–10), cast him more and more in the image of a sec-
On the basis of the Greek version (1 Esd.) it appears that
ond Moses.
Nehemiah 8 originally followed and was a part of Ezra, so
HISTORICAL PROBLEMS. The exact dating of Ezra’s activity
that the climax of the history was Ezra’s reading of the law
within the Persian period and especially his relationship to
book to the Jerusalem community. A later editor who want-
his near contemporary Nehemiah have long been matters of
ed to make the activity of Ezra and Nehemiah appear con-
disagreement among scholars. The Book of Ezra dates the be-
temporary transposed this part of the history to its present
ginning of Ezra’s activity to the seventh year, and Nehemiah
position. Nehemiah 9, the prayer of confession of Ezra, also
to the twentieth year, of Artaxerxes. If these dates refer to the
fits badly as a continuation of chapter 8 and is a later addi-
same king, then Ezra would be prior to Nehemiah, as the
tion. At any rate the biblical portrait of Ezra is not a contem-
present biblical tradition suggests. But there is reason to be-
porary record but, in my view, is Hellenistic in date and must
lieve that Ezra should be dated to the reign of Artaxerxes II
be used with caution in any historical reconstruction of the
(404–359 BCE) which would put him about 397 BCE, well
period.
after Nehemiah. Ezra’s return seems to presuppose a revital-
BIBLICAL TRADITION. Ezra’s introduction, in Ezra 7:1–5,
ized Jerusalem community with protective walls (Ezr. 9:9),
identifies him as a priest and gives him a pedigree back to
while Nehemiah seems to know nothing of the large band
Aaron. But he is especially known as “the scribe of the law
of exiles that returned with Ezra. It also seems most unlikely
of God.” The account indicates that he was given a special
that Ezra waited thirteen years after his arrival before pro-
commission by the Persian king, Artaxerxes, to promulgate
mulgating his law if this was his primary commission. An-
the Law of Moses not only in Judah but in the whole of
other possibility is to view Ezra as coming during Nehemi-
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EZRA
2947
ah’s second term of office, in the thirty-seventh year of
such as Enoch are also attributed to his prophetic recollec-
Artaxerxes I, but this involves a textual emendation for which
tion. Whether there were two Ezras, the prophet and the
there is little justification.
priest-scribe, or just one was a matter of debate.
Another area of debate is how to understand the law
The QurDa¯n contains only one curious remark about
book that Ezra brought to Jerusalem from the Babylonian
Ezra, that the Jews believed him to be the son of God (su¯rah
exile. Was it a particular part of the Pentateuch, such as the
9:30). The basis for this statement is not clear and not re-
so-called Priestly code, or was it a more complete form of
flected in any extant Jewish source.
the Torah, much as it is today? And just exactly what was
the nature of Ezra’s commission from the Persian court and
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The many literary and historical problems associated with Ezra
the scope of his authority? The way in which one answers
make the literature on this subject enormous and controver-
these questions greatly affects one’s understanding of the his-
sial. For the historical reconstructions of the times of Ezra
tory of the restoration and the development and interpreta-
and Nehemiah one should compare the histories of John
tion of the Pentateuch.
Bright, A History of Israel, 3d ed. (Philadelphia, 1981); Sieg-
THE APOCALYPSE OF EZRA. Also known as 4 Ezra, the Apoc-
fried Herrmann, Geschichte Israels in alttestamentlicher Zeit,
alypse of Ezra is a Jewish work of about 100
2d ed. (Munich, 1973), translated by John Bowden as A His-
CE that presents
Ezra (also called Salathiel) as a prophet who experiences
tory of Israel in Old Testament Times, 2d ed. (Philadelphia,
1981); and Peter R. Ackroyd, Israel under Babylon and Persia
dreams and visions of an apocalyptic nature in the thirtieth
(London, 1970).
year after the destruction of Jerusalem. In addition, just like
For a treatment of Ezra’s place in the religion of Israel and espe-
Moses he hears the voice of God speaking from a thornbush
cially his relationship to the Law, compare the very influen-
and then withdraws from the people for forty days to receive
tial but somewhat controversial treatment by Yeh:ezkel Kauf-
a revelation from God. This revelation includes not only the
mann, Toledot ha-emunah ha-Yisre Delit, vol. 4 (Tel Aviv,
Law of Moses that had been lost in the destruction of Jerusa-
1956), translated by Clarence W. Efroymson as History of the
lem but also the complete twenty-four books of the Hebrew
Religion of Israel, vol. 4, From the Babylonian Captivity to the
scriptures and seventy secret books for the “wise.” Like
End of Prophecy (New York, 1977), with the work of J. G.
Moses, Ezra also experienced an assumption to heaven.
Vink et al., The Priestly Code and Seven Other Studies, “Oud-
testamentische Studien,” vol. 15 (Leiden, 1969).
How this earlier Ezra the prophet was thought to relate
Very helpful on matters of literary composition, text, and versions
to the later Ezra the scribe is problematic. The common ele-
is the commentary by Jacob M. Myers in Ezra, Nehemiah,
ment is Ezra’s association with the Law of Moses and his por-
vol. 14 of the Anchor Bible (Garden City, N.Y., 1965).
trayal as a second Moses. This seems to have been carried to
For a review of recent scholarship and a comprehensive bibliogra-
the point where in one form of the tradition, Ezra, like
phy, see the article “Esra/Esraschriften” by Magne Saebo, in
Moses, never got back to the land of Palestine. This extraca-
Theologische Realenzyklopädie, vol. 10 (New York, 1982).
nonical form of the tradition received great elaboration in the
New Sources
medieval period.
Bedford, Peter Ross. “Diaspora: Homeland Relations in Ezra-
EZRA IN JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY, AND ISLAM. The Jewish
Nehemiah.” Vetus Testamentum 52 (2002): 147–165.
aggadah regarded Ezra with great honor. He was not just a
Esler, Philip F. “Ezra-Nehemiah as a Narrative of (Re-invented)
priest but the high priest and a second Moses. He was espe-
Israelite Identity.” Biblical Interpretation 11 (2003): 413–
cially revered for restoring the Law of Moses, which had been
426.
forgotten, and for establishing the regular public reading of
Janzen, David. “The ‘Mission’ of Ezra and the Persian-Period
the Law. He is also credited with setting up schools for the
Temple Community.” Journal of Biblical Literature 119
study of the Law. The law that Ezra brought to the people
(2000): 619–643.
was not only the written Law of Moses but included the un-
Japhet, Sara. “Composition and Chronology in the Book of Ezra-
written law as well. In addition, he is also credited with writ-
Nehemiah.” In Second Temple Studies: Community in the Per-
ing parts of Chronicles and the Book of Psalms and is identi-
sian Period, edited by Tamara C. Eskenazi and Kent H. Rich-
ards, vol. 2, pp. 189–216. Sheffield, 1994.
fied by some as the prophet Malachi.
Pfann, Stephen J. “The Aramaic Text and Language of Daniel and
Following 4 Ezra early Christian authors regarded Ezra
Ezra in the Light of Some Manuscripts from Qumran.” Tex-
as a prophet who under inspiration recovered all the ancient
tus 16 (1991): 127–137.
scriptures that had been destroyed by the Babylonian inva-
JOHN VAN SETERS (1987)
sion—not just the Law of Moses. Some extracanonical works
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

F
FACKENHEIM, EMIL (1916–2003) is best known for his sustained commitment
to refashion Judaism in the shadow of the Nazi holocaust. He was born in Halle, Germa-
ny, on June 22, 1916. In 1935 he moved to Berlin where he entered the rabbinical pro-
gram at the Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums; he also began a degree in philos-
ophy at the University of Halle. Fackenheim’s academic career in Germany was
interrupted by Kristallnacht and internment for several months in Sachsenhausen. In the
spring of 1940 he fled to Aberdeen, Scotland, and matriculated in a degree program in
philosophy at the university. A year later Fackenheim and other refugees were interred
in camps and then dispersed throughout the British Empire.
Fackenheim traveled by ship to Canada, spent months in a camp in Sherbrooke, On-
tario, and was eventually released, whereupon he went directly to the University of Toron-
to and was accepted into the doctoral program in philosophy. Fackenheim received his
degree in 1945 with a dissertation on medieval Arabic philosophy and its classical anteced-
ents. From 1943 to 1948 he served as rabbi for congregation Anshe Shalom in Hamilton,
Ontario. Invited to teach philosophy at the University of Toronto in 1948, he remained
there until 1983, when he retired as University Professor. He and his family then immi-
grated to Israel in 1983. He taught at the Institute for Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem for several years. Fackenheim died in Jerusalem on September
19, 2003.
FACKENHEIM’S 614TH COMMANDMENT. In the postwar period Fackenheim pursued two
intellectual interests. First, he began a philosophical examination of faith and reason from
Kant (1724–1804) to Kierkegaard (1813–1855), with special attention to Hegel (1770–
1831). Second, he explored the role of revelation in modern culture, in particular dealing
with Jewish faith, autonomy, the challenge of naturalism and secularism, and the defense
of revelation in the thought of Martin Buber (1878–1965) and Franz Rosenzweig (1886–
1929).
Until 1966 Fackenheim largely avoided dealing with the Nazi assault on Jews and
Judaism and the atrocities of the death camps. On March 26, 1967, at a symposium titled
C LOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT CORNER. Stone relief of the Buddha’s footprints on a pillar at the Great
Stupa in Sa¯ñc¯ı, India. [©Adam Woolfit/Corbis]; Saint Francis Preaching to the Birds by Giotto
di Bondone (c. 1267–1337). S. Francesco, Assisi, Italy. [©Scala/Art Resource, N.Y.]; The hand
of Fa¯t:ima, an Islamic good luck symbol. [©Bernard and Catherine Desjeux/Corbis]; Fifteenth- to
sixteenth-century bronze of Atropos, Greek goddess of fate. Kunsthistorisches Museum,
Vienna. [©Erich Lessing/Art Resource, N.Y.]; Thirteenth-century French painting of God
creating the universe. [©Bettmann/Corbis] .
2949

2950
FACKENHEIM, EMIL
“Jewish Values in the Post–Holocaust Future,” convened by
against all attempts to diminish human dignity and the value
the American Jewish Committee and organized by the editor
of human life (see essays collected in his The Jewish Return
of its journal Judaism, Steven Schwarzschild, Fackenheim
Into History and selections in Morgan [ed.], The Jewish
first formulated and presented his imperative for authentic
Thought of Emil Fackenheim). On the other hand, he turned
Jewish response to the Holocaust, what he called the 614th
to important philosophical problems with his existential and
commandment: “The authentic Jew of today is forbidden to
hermeneutical argument. The crucial one had to do with the
hand Hitler yet another, posthumous victory.” He elaborat-
possibility of performing the imperative of resistance or, as
ed the reasoning that led to this imperative and its herme-
one might put it, the possibility of confronting the radical
neutical content in “Jewish Faith and the Holocaust,” which
threat of rupture and not giving way to total despair. This
appeared in Commentary and, in a slightly different form, in
was to become the central problem of the book he always
the introduction to his collection of essays, Quest for Past and
took to be his magnum opus, To Mend the World, first pub-
Future (1968). His argument appeared in its most developed
lished in 1982. In the earlier period, culminating in 1970,
form in the third chapter of God’s Presence in History, pub-
Fackenheim had argued from the necessity of the command-
lished in 1970 and based on his 1968 Deems Lectures at
ment or imperative to its possibility, either on Kantian
New York University.
grounds, that duty entails the freedom to perform it, or on
In these central writings, Fackenheim argues that al-
Rosenzweigian grounds, that along with the commandments
though no intellectual response—historical, political, theo-
that God grants in an act of grace, he also gives humankind
logical, or psychological—to the evil of Auschwitz is satisfac-
out of the same love the freedom to perform them. By the
tory, an existential response is necessary. But neither
late 1970s Fackenheim had come to see how both responses
philosophy nor theology is capable of framing what a genu-
failed to respect the victims of the Nazi horrors. In the crucial
ine response should be. One can and must turn to actual
chapter of To Mend the World, he systematically and dialecti-
lived experience, during and after the event, to grasp how
cally explores the agency of evil and its victims, in order to
Jews have responded and hence how one ought to respond.
arrive at a moment of lucid understanding that grasps the
Such ongoing Jewish life, Fackenheim claims, can be inter-
whole of horror and reacts in opposition to it with surprise,
preted as a response to a sense of necessity, and this necessity
and he confirms this intellectual grasp with an emblematic
takes the shape of a duty to oppose all that Nazism sought
case of a victim of the atrocities who both sees clearly what
to accomplish in its hatred of Jews and Judaism and in its
she is being subjected to, what the evil is, and senses a duty
rejection of human dignity. Although for secular Jews, such
to oppose it in her life. This episode constitutes an ontologi-
a duty has no ground but is accepted as forceful without one,
cal ground of resistance. Judaism, through the idea of a cos-
for believing Jews, the only ground that is possible is the
mic rupture and a human act that respects and yet opposes
voice of a commanding God. Hence for them, it has the sta-
it, what is called in the Jewish mystical tradition (Qabbalah)
tus of a divine command, alongside but not superseding the
tikkun olam, provides philosophy with a concept essential to
other, traditional 613 biblical commandments. It is, in his
grasp this moment of horrified surprise and recovery from
famous formulation, a 614th commandment.
it, the possibility of genuine post-Holocaust life. To Mend
the World proceeds to apply these lessons in three domains—
Fackenheim’s route to this imperative of resistance to
philosophy, Christianity, and Jewish existence—in each case
Nazi purposes capitalized on several crucial insights. One was
locating an emblematic case of tikkun (mending or repair)
that after Auschwitz, as he put it, even Hegel would not be
that respects the evil of Auschwitz as a total and unqualified
a Hegelian, that is, that Auschwitz was a case of evil for evil’s
rupture and yet finds a route to hope and recovery.
sake and was therefore inassimilable into any prior conceptu-
al system. Even the most systematic philosophic thought was
In the last two decades of his life, Fackenheim once
historically situated and was ruptured by the horrors of the
more extended the lines of this argument: with a book on
death camps. The second was his commitment to existen-
the Bible and how it ought to be read by Jews and Christians,
tial–dialectical thinking about the human condition and to
together, in a post–Holocaust world (The Jewish Bible after
its hermeneutical character. The third was the recognition
the Holocaust, 1990); with a survey of Jewish belief and prac-
that although Auschwitz threatened all prior systems, ways
tice of Jews in the 1980s (What Is Judaism?, 1987); and with
of life, and beliefs, Judaism must and could survive exposure
a number of essays on the State of Israel as a paradigmatically
to it. The work of Elie Wiesel (b. 1928) and Wiesel himself,
genuine response to the Nazi assault, that is, as a unique
a survivor and a novelist, confirmed this hope and this real-
blending of religious purposes and secular self-reliance, com-
ization.
bining a commitment to a homeland for Jews against the
most extreme assault and to its defense.
TO MEND THE WORLD. In the 1970s Fackenheim’s thought
extended the lines of thinking summarized above. On the
Fackenheim’s philosophical commitments were deeply
one hand, he applied this framework to a variety of themes—
immersed in existential and concrete realities, most notably
most notably to the State of Israel, its reestablishment and
the historicity of philosophical and religious thought, the
defense, but also to the belief in God, the relationship be-
hermeneutical and situated character of human existence,
tween Jews and Christians, and the necessity of struggling
and the unprecedented evil of Nazis and the death camps.
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FAIRIES
2951
Auschwitz led him to expose philosophy, culture, and reli-
zation reflects the world of humans. In Irish Fairy and Folk
gion unconditionally to historical refutation; yet his deepest
Tales (1893) the poet William Butler Yeats distinguished be-
yearnings were to find continued hope and to avoid despair,
tween trooping fairies and solitary fairies. The trooping
to appreciate the necessity of Jewish life and the defense of
fairies appear in medieval Arthurian legend and romance and
human value and dignity. These dispositions, however, were
are most popular in the literature of Elizabethan England;
what one might call “rationally defended yearnings” and
since that time stories about them have ceased to be written.
hence necessities (duties and obligations) only in a deeply
They are handsome, aristocratic, and beautifully dressed, and
contextual sense. In this respect, Fackenheim bears some
they take part in the Fairy Ride. Like their human counter-
similarity to the contemporary Anglo-American philoso-
parts, they hunt and hawk, trotting in procession behind
phers such as Charles Taylor, Hilary Putnam, Richard Rorty,
their king and queen, who ride white horses decorated with
and even the French philosopher Emmanuel Levinas (1906–
silver bells. Their fairy realm, which is centered on their royal
1955), although except for Levinas, the motivation for Fack-
court, is noted for the excellence of its music, dancing, and
enheim’s philosophical and theological work was the experi-
feasting as well as for the beauty of its women. The Irish
ence of Auschwitz and not theoretical considerations. In this
Tuatha Dé Danann (“people of the goddess Danu”) are
respect, in the twentieth century, his thought is distinctive
trooping fairies; they are immortal and live in Tír na nDOg,
and significant and in Jewish life and thought virtually
the Land of Youth.
unique.
The nonaristocratic, solitary fairies are described as ugly
and often ominous and ill-natured. Some are engaged in
BIBLIOGRAPHY
trade, like the Irish leprechaun shoemaker, who is quite
Fackenheim, Emil L. “Jewish Faith and the Holocaust.” Commen-
harmless. A third category of fairy comprises those who live
tary 46 (1968): 30-36.
in family groups. They work the land, hold their own mar-
Fackenheim, Emil L. God’s Presence in History. New York, 1970.
kets, and visit human fairs.
Fackenheim, Emil L. Quest for Past and Future (1968). Boston,
1970.
Nature fairies are spirits of streams, lakes, and trees. The
Fackenheim, Emil L. What Is Judaism? New York, 1987.
Russian rusalki are water nymphs, who take the form of
young maidens. Dryads are tree spirits. So are oak men;
Fackenheim, Emil L. To Mend the World (1982). 3d ed. Bloom-
hence there is a saying, “Fairy folks are in old oaks.” In En-
ington, Ind., 1994.
gland, hawthorn is haunted by the fairies, especially if it
Fackenheim, Emil L. The Jewish Bible after the Holocaust. Bloom-
grows near fairy hills, and the Gooseberry Wife, in the form
ington, Ind., 1990.
of a great hairy caterpillar, stands guard over the fruit bushes.
Greenspan, Louis, and Graeme Nicholson, eds. Fackenheim: Ger-
man Philosophy & Jewish Thought. Toronto, Canada, 1992.
Tutelary fairies, the family guardians and domestic spir-
Morgan, Michael L., ed. The Jewish Thought of Emil Fackenheim.
its, look after the fortunes of a particular household. The
Detroit, Mich., 1987.
Scottish MacLeods on the island of Skye were given a fairy
Morgan, Michael L., ed. Emil Fackenheim: Jewish Philosophers and
flag by their supernatural guardian. Germans call their house
Jewish Philosophy. Bloomington, Ind., 1996.
spirit der Kobold (“gnome”), an unreliable creature whose
name survives in the modern cobalt. (German miners called
Morgan, Michael L. Beyond Auschwitz: Post–Holocaust Jewish
Thought in America. New York, 2001.
this slightly magnetic element after the famous sprite because
they found it tiresome and difficult to use.) Danes have their
MICHAEL L. MORGAN (2005)
nis; the French their esprit follet; the Spaniards their duende;
and the Faeroese Islanders, in the North Atlantic, their nia-
gruisar.
FA-HSIEN SEE FAXIAN
Russians call their domestic spirits domovois, after dom
(“house”). Legend says that these creatures were rebellious
spirits who opposed God and so were thrown down from
heaven, falling on people’s roofs and into their yards. They
FAIRIES. Fay, the old word for “fairy,” is thought to
are amiable and live in the warmth near the hearth. Because
come from the Latin fata, which signifies the Fates, supernat-
it is considered important to please the domovoi, peasants
ural women who appear beside the cradle of a newborn in-
leave egg pancakes for him on the threshing floor. When a
fant to decide its future. The fairies invited to Sleeping Beau-
peasant family moves, they put a piece of bread beside the
ty’s christening are an echo of this belief. During the Middle
stove in hopes that the domovoi will come with them. In his
Ages fairy meant the state of enchantment and the land of
autobiography Childhood (1913), the Russian writer Maxim
enchanted beings as well as those who live in it.
Gorky describes how his family moved from their house: His
Fairies are found under various names in many coun-
grandmother took an old shoe, held it under the stove, and
tries, but they are more typical of Europe and Asia than of
called to the household spirit, asking him to ride in the shoe
the Americas and Africa. To some extent their social organi-
and bring the family good luck in their new home.
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2952
FAIRIES
English brownies are also associated with the hearth.
the Jews in the thirteenth century. But Jewish merchants had
They are active at night and do work that the servants have
very little connection with the tin trade, and no evidence
neglected: cleaning and drawing water for the house, tending
supports these improbable suggestions.
farm animals, reaping, mowing, threshing, and churning
Pixies are another group of fairies belonging to English
butter. Families can leave food, such as a bowl of cream or
west-country tradition. They are found in Somerset, Devon-
little cakes spread with honey for the brownies, but direct
shire, and Cornwall. Anna Eliza Bray first brought them to
gifts, such as money or clothes, will drive the spirit away.
the attention of the public in a series of letters to the poet
Domestic spirits can be very tiresome. A folktale well
Robert Southey that were published under the title The Bor-
known all over Europe tells of a farmer so bothered by the
ders of the Tavy and the Tamar (1836). The chief characteris-
pranks of a boggart (or mischievous brownie) that he decides
tic of pixies is that they mislead travelers; as recently as 1961,
to move. The family packs their household belongings and
a woman claimed to have been misled by pixies in a wood
loads the cart. As they are leaving, a voice from inside the
near Budleigh Salterton. Local tradition says that pixies are
milk churn says, “Yes, we’re moving!” It is the boggart. The
the souls of those who died before Christ was born or of un-
family gives up and decides to stay, for what would be the
baptized children.
point of moving if the creature was coming too? In other ver-
Closely related to the pixie and its habit of leading trav-
sions of the story the boggart immigrates with the family to
elers astray is the will-o’-the-wisp (Fr., le feu follet; Ger., das
the United States.
Irrlicht), also called jack-o’-lantern or ignis fatuus (“foolish
The most tragic tutelary fairy is the banshee, an Irish
fire”). This sprite appears in the folklore of many countries
and Highland Scottish spirit of death. The word means a
and is often an omen of death. In England the will-o’-the-
woman (ban) of the fairy folk (sídh, pronounced “shee”).
wisp is also identified with the mischievous sprite Puck, or
This apparition materializes when someone is about to die.
Robin Goodfellow. Traditional legends about this spirit who
In Scotland the banshee is seen washing the doomed person’s
lures folks to their death in the bog may be an attempt to
graveclothes or bloodstained garmets and can be heard wail-
account for marsh gas, which emanates from rotting organic
ing and lamenting, her eyes red with tears. Mélusine, daugh-
matter and is ghostly in appearance.
ter of the fairy Pressina, became the banshee of the house of
Other malevolent spirits are also linked with the envi-
Lusignan in France. When the family was wiped out and its
ronment. The malicious yarthkins of Lincolnshire, England,
castle fell to the crown, she appeared, foretelling the deaths
another damp area, disappeared when the fens were drained.
of the kings of France.
The English goblin, or hobgoblin, is a generic term for
Some supernatural creatures are closely associated with
evil spirits. It is difficult to distinguish between goblins and
a particular historical era or geographic area. The gnomes of
imps, however. Originally imp referred to an offshoot or a
Europe, for example, were a product of the ancient Hermetic
cutting, but in its sense as a supernatural creature it means
and Neoplatonic doctrine from which medieval medicine
a small demon, an offshoot of Satan. In England the Puritans
and science derived. According to medieval thought, all mor-
thought all fairy creatures were devils, and thus the preacher
tal creatures are a blend of earth, air, fire, and water, and the
John Bunyan, in his famous book Pilgrim’s Progress (1678),
four elemental beings are gnomes (who inhabit the earth),
numbers the hobgoblin and the “foul fiend” among the
sylphs (who inhabit the air), salamanders (who inhabit fire),
forces of evil to be resisted.
and nereids (who inhabit water). The Oxford English Dictio-
Elves reached England from Norse mythology, where
nary suggests that the word gnome is an elision of the Latin
they were known as huldre folk, closely resembling fairies.
genomus (“earth dweller”). Paracelsus (1493–1541), the
The girl elves are very beautiful but they are hollow behind
Swiss physician and alchemist, provides in his De nymphus
and have long cow’s tails. Trolls are another Norse group of
the first description of gnomes as elemental beings of the
supernatural beings. Originally they were thought of as giant
earth. According to tradition, gnomes live underground and
ogres, but in later Swedish and Danish tradition they become
are treasure guardians. Also known as dwarfs, they are skilled
dwarfs who live in hills and caverns. Like the German dwarfs,
metalworkers, supplying medieval knights with armor and
they are fine craftsmen and treasure guardians, noted for
weapons that they themselves forge. They are also often asso-
their stupidity. In the Shetland Islands, north of Scotland,
ciated with mines.
where Scandinavian influence is strong, these beings are
called trows.
The knockers are said to live in the tin mines of En-
gland’s Cornwall. They are friendly creatures and will knock
Not all mischievous, supernatural creatures are of an-
on the mine walls to indicate veins of ore. An anti-Semitic
cient origin. The gremlin, a supernatural being who causes
legend claims that they were the ghosts of Jews who had been
trouble for pilots and aircrews, dates from World War I. An
sent to work the mines as a punishment for taking part in
explanation for human error, flight fatigue, and high-altitude
the Crucifixion. Richard, earl of Cornwall (1200–1272), is
pressures, the gremlin may originate from the Old English
said to have put the Jews to work in the Cornish tin mines,
word gremian (“to vex”).
and Robert Hunt, in his Popular Romances of the West of En-
The relationships that fairies enjoy with human beings
gland (1865), claims that the tin mines were farmed out to
has varied considerably. Some can be very helpful; such help-
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FAIRIES
2953
fulness is said to be how the MacCrimmons, the most distin-
other obvious example. The ancient Pictish areas of Scotland
guished Scottish pipers, learned their skill. As mentioned,
contain the remains of brochs, round, hill-shaped farm-
guardian spirits look after the families in their care, and
houses with stone walls and a turf covering. These structures
brownies do household chores. But they become malevolent
are often referred to as fairy knowes. Burial mounds have also
if badly treated—or simply disappear. Anybody who spies on
been linked with fairyland. Sudden, disabling illness, such as
them is severely punished.
that caused by a stroke, was traditionally considered to be the
result of an elf shot, a wound from one of the flint arrows
In folk tradition human beings are sometimes abducted
that are found in low-lying areas, and many Anglo-Saxon
by the fairies. Thomas the Rhymer (Thomas of Erceldoune),
charms meant to protect against such attacks have been pre-
the poet and prophet, lived in thirteenth-century England.
served. Various other illnesses whose origin seemed puzzling
His tale is told in The Ballad of True Thomas and by Sir Wal-
centuries ago, such as a slipped disk, rheumatism, and any-
ter Scott in Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border (1802). Legend
thing that deforms the body, were attributed to invisible
says that Thomas received the gift of prophecy from the
blows from the little creatures. Paralysis, skin disease, wasting
Queen of Elfland, who loved him and took him away to live
illnesses such as tuberculosis, and animal disorders such as
with her for seven years.
swine fever and brucellosis have all been blamed on the
Stories of fairy brides are common and usually end in
fairies.
tragedy. The lovely creature marries a mortal and imposes
some taboo on him. When it is broken, the fairy bride re-
Unusual topographical features are also sometimes attri-
turns to fairyland, deserting her husband and children. Seal-
buted to fairies. Those curious, dark green circles that appear
maidens and swan-maidens are usually captured against their
on grassy lawns and meadows, often surrounded by a circle
will by the theft of their skin or feathers. As soon as they can
of mushrooms, are known as fairy rings, and it is considered
retrieve the stolen item, they escape.
very unlucky to damage them in any way. They are in fact
caused by Marasmius oreades, a type of fungus, but people
When a mortal visits fairyland, the result is often equally
believe that they are spots where the fairies dance.
tragic. The visitor cannot escape and becomes the victim of
the supernatural passage of time, whereby one day represents
Sometimes supernatural origins are attributed to excep-
hundreds of years. King Herla was able to return home with
tionally large or beautiful objects. There are various stories
his knights, but when they dismounted they crumbled into
of a cup stolen from the fairies. The “Luck of Eden Hall”
dust because they had been away for three hundred years.
in Cumberland, England, is a lovely green glass goblet, a tal-
isman that was supposed to preserve the Eden family’s for-
Although fairies lead independent lives, there are many
tunes. Legend says that the goblet was snatched from the
examples of their dependence on mortals. Narratives tell of
fairies by a servant; if it broke, the family would be destroyed.
midwives summoned to help a fairy in labor and of fairies
Eden Hall was pulled down in 1934, but the “Luck” is pre-
anxious to possess human children. Stories of the theft of ba-
served in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
bies continue from the Middle Ages to the present time.
Typically the fairies steal an unbaptized child and leave an
In the thirteenth-century Church of Saint Mary at Fren-
ugly fairy baby in its place. If the changeling is surprised, it
sham in Surrey, England, stands a huge caldron, measuring
will speak, revealing its true identity; then it can be driven
one yard across. Local tradition says that it was borrowed
away. Various methods may be used to trick the spirit, such
from the fairies who lived on nearby Borough Hill and was
as serving him beer brewed in eggshells. In German tradition
never returned. Probably it was employed in parish feasts and
the creature would exclaim, “I am as old as the forests of
celebrations and then this early usage was forgotten.
Bohemia, and I’ve never seen beer brewed in an eggshell
before.”
Sightings and eyewitness accounts of fairies are com-
mon. A striking example was provided by Robert Kirk
These legends conceal much human suffering and cruel-
(1644–1692), a folklorist who became the subject of a fairy
ty to children. Malformed babies were put over a fire in order
tale. Kirk was a Gaelic scholar and a minister of the Scottish
to pressure the fairies into returning the supposedly stolen
church. Evidently his parishioners disapproved of his re-
child. Such cases have been recorded as late as the early twen-
searches in the supernatural, for when he died and his body
tieth century in Ireland. Until recently it was thought that
was found lying beside a fairy knowe, rumor said that he was
a defect in a child resulted from a defect in the parents. Basi-
living with the fairies inside it. This legend is recorded by
cally, changelings were sickly, backward, or deformed chil-
Scott in his Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft (1830).
dren. Simple people, unwilling to accept that such a child
Kirk’s own account of fairy beliefs in the Scottish Highlands,
could be theirs, maintained that the fairies had stolen the real
The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies, was not
baby and left this wretched thing in its place.
published until 1815, long after his death. The brilliant and
Belief in fairies thus has an aetiologic function: It pro-
eccentric English painter and poet William Blake (1757–
vides an explanation for mysterious objects and events that
1827) claimed to have seen a fairy funeral. The body, he said,
are otherwise not understood. The remains of earlier civiliza-
was laid out on a rose leaf and carried in procession by crea-
tions, which puzzled the uneducated in days gone by, are an-
tures the size and color of grasshoppers.
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2954
FAITH
In Ireland, places once associated with fairies are point-
enthusiastically received by the public of its day. Jacob and
ed out and treated with great respect. To interfere with them
Wilhelm Grimm translated it into German, and Sir Walter
is thought to bring bad luck. More than once new roads have
Scott corresponded with the author. It remains a valuable
been rerouted for such a reason. Recently a fairy bush was
contribution to the development of folklore studies.
cut down in front of a Dutch-owned factory in Limerick.
Gardner, Edward L. Fairies. London, 1945. A book that claims
Dutch workmen performed the task because local workers
to present photographs of real fairies.
refused. When the works closed not long after and well over
Hunt, Robert. Popular Romances of the West of England. 2 vols.
a thousand jobs were lost, the disaster was blamed on the re-
London, 1865. The fruits of a ten-month walking tour in
moval of the fairy bush.
Cornwall during 1829, when the author collected, as he put
it, “every existing tale of its ancient people.”
Traditionally, the fairies dress in green. Green is their
color, and even today, many people regard it as unlucky and
Keightley, Thomas. The Fairy Mythology (1828). 2 vols. in 1. New
will not wear it, although they no longer remember the
York, 1968. An early study of comparative folklore by an
Irish writer with an interest in oral tradition.
reason.
Sikes, Wirt. British Goblins. London, 1880. A collection of Welsh
Various theories have been put forward to explain the
material assembled by the U.S. consul for Wales.
origins of the fairies. A British tradition suggests that fairies
represent memories of an ancient Stone Age race. When the
New Sources
Brasey, Edouard. Fées et elfs: l’universe féerique. Paris, 1999.
Celts arrived in England from central Europe in about 500
Doulet, Jean-Michel. Quand les démons enlaivent les enfants: les
BCE, the earlier inhabitants were driven back into the hills
and hid in caves. They lived underground and were so adept
changelins: étude d’une figure mythique. Paris, 2002.
at hiding in the woods that they seemed to be invisible. The
Letcher, Andy. “The Scouring of the Shire: Fairies, Trolls and Pix-
popular belief that iron provides protection from the fairies
ies in Eco-Protest Culture.” Folklore 112 (October 2001):
is in line with this view, for the Celts possessed iron weapons,
147–161.
whereas the earlier inhabitants used objects of bronze or
Mack, Carol K., and Dinah Mack. A Field Guide to Demons,
stone. The many stories of fairies’ borrowings and thefts also
Fairies, Fallen Angels, and Other Subversive Spirits. New York,
lend weight to this theory, for it was thought that these earli-
1998.
er inhabitants borrowed grain and implements, and one can
Purkiss, Diane. Troublesome Things: A History of Fairies and Fairy
easily imagine a conquered people in hiding, creeping anx-
Stories. London, 2000.
iously about to see what they could steal or borrow from their
Silver, Carole G. Strange and Secret Peoples: Faeries and Victorian
conquerors.
Consciousness. New York, 1999.
Another view suggests that fairies originated as memo-
Wilby, Emma. “The Witch’s Familiar and the Fairy in Early
ries of ancient pagan gods and heroes. They are small in stat-
Modern England and Scotland.” Folklore 111 (October
ure because their significance has been reduced. Still another
2000): 283–305.
theory sees fairies as personified spirits of nature. Modern
VENETIA NEWALL (1987)
supporters of this argument believe that spirits fertilize plants
Revised Bibliography
and care for flowers. But this explanation excludes other
types of fairy, such as the family guardians and the fairy com-
munities with their elaborate social organization. A fourth
FAITH, in probably the best-known definition of it, is
suggestion is that the fairies are ghosts. Certainly there are
“the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things
many connections between fairies and the realm of the dead:
not seen.” Although this definition itself comes from the
They live in burial mounds, and many are obviously ghosts
Christian scriptures, specifically from the anonymous epistle
and are described as such. None of these theories is entirely
to the Hebrews in the New Testament, it can, mutatis mu-
adequate, and the answer may well lie in a blend of them all,
tandis, be applied across a broad spectrum of religions and
coupled with the natural desire to find an explanation for
religious traditions. Whether or not the term faith appears
puzzling phenomena throughout the world.
in those traditions is, at least in part, a matter of how various
SEE ALSO Celtic Religion; Demons; Germanic Religion.
terms are translated into modern Western languages. More
importantly, however, faith is used, even in Judaism and
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Christianity (where it has been the most successfully domes-
Briggs, K. M. The Anatomy of Puck. London, 1959. An examina-
ticated), to cover an entire cluster of concepts that are related
tion of fairy beliefs among Shakespeare’s contemporaries and
to one another but are by no means identical. If there is truth
successors.
in the contention that faith is the abstract term with which
Briggs, K. M. The Fairies in Tradition and Literature. London,
to describe that attitude of the human mind and spirit of
1967. Provides an account of fairy traditions, traffic between
which prayer is the concrete expression, then one or more
humans and fairies, and the literary use of these beliefs.
of these concepts may probably be said to play some part in
Croker, Thomas Crofton. Fairy Legends and Traditions of the
every religious tradition, and in that sense at least, “faith”
South of Ireland. 3 vols. London, 1825–1828. This work was
may likewise be said to appear there. Hence an enumeration
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FAITH
2955
of these discrete concepts, each of them in some way a syn-
learning the specific methods of such ritual observance, with
onym for faith, may serve to provide, if not a logical defini-
rites of passage frequently serving as the occasion for such
tion, then at any rate a cumulative description, of it.
learning. Where the divine will was conceived of as having
F
laid down rules not only for ritual actions but for ethics, the
AITH-AS-FAITHFULNESS. In its most fundamental meaning,
faith has been defined as faithfulness, and as such, it has been
obedience of faith meant moral behavior in conformity with
taken as an attribute both of the divine and of believers in
divine commands; thus in Hinduism, dharma as moral law
the divine. The Latin adjective pius, for example, was used
required righteous conduct. Ordinarily there was no explicit
in Vergil’s Aeneid to describe pius Aeneas or pius Achates, but
antithesis between ethics and ritual action, which together
it also appeared there in such a phrase as pia numina to char-
were the content of authentic obedience, often enjoined in
acterize the reciprocal fidelity that the gods manifested in
the same gnomic saying or story. But the declaration of the
their dealings with human beings; something of both senses,
prophet Samuel in the Hebrew scriptures, “Has the Lord as
presumably, attached to the word when it became a standard
great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying
part of the official title of the Roman emperor, most familiar-
the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
ly in the case of Antoninus Pius (r. 138–161 CE). Pius went
and to hearken than the fat of rams” (1 Sm. 15:22), articulat-
on having both meanings also in postclassical Latin, as the
ed the awareness, which other religions have shared with Ju-
usage of the “Dies Irae” attests. The reciprocity implied in
daism, that faith-as-obedience was above all a compliance
the concept of faith when predicated of human social rela-
with the moral imperative. Presupposed in those words was
tions, where (as in the notion of “keeping faith” with some-
the belief, central to Judaism, that the moral imperative had
one) “faith” has become almost synonymous with “loyalty,”
been made known in the historical revelation of the word of
has carried over likewise into its use for the divine-human
God to Moses, and through him to the people of Israel. But
relation. Wherever the gods were said to promise something
they have been no less applicable in those religious and philo-
in that relation, faith would seem to be an appropriate term
sophical traditions that have emphasized the inner impera-
for their keeping or fulfilling the promise. Conversely—and
tive of conscience rather than the outer imperative of law as
much more customarily—it was the appropriate term for the
the norm of ethical action: Here, too, faith has been above
loyalty or “fealty” (that English word is indeed derived, via
all obedience, in Immanuel Kant’s formula, “the recognition
medieval French, from the Latin fidelitas) that the gods in
of all our duties as divine commands.” Even where faith has
turn rightly expected of mortals. In those religions in which
been defined primarily as trust or as worship or as creed
the initiates received a mark on their body as a sign of their
(see below), obedience was inevitably a constitutive element
special bond with the divine, these marks have often been
of it.
seen as a pledge and a reminder to those who wore them that
FAITH AND WORKS. The definition of faith as obedience,
they were expected to remain faithful to the terms of that
and yet as somehow not reducible to obedience, points to the
special bond. The consequences of a breach of faith-as-
perennial and unavoidable problem of the relation between
faithfulness formed the basis for practices of discipline, pun-
faith and works. On the one hand, even the most theocentric
ishment, and in most traditions possible reinstatement,
versions of faith have found themselves obliged to assert,
though only after a period of purgation and testing (see “The
often in self-defense against the charge that they were sever-
Community of Faith,” below). Even where the other conno-
ing the moral nerve, that they were in fact reinforcing ethics
tations of “faith” discussed below have appeared to predomi-
precisely by their emphasis on its vertical dimension: It has
nate, this emphasis on faith-as-faithfulness, both divine and
been a universal conviction of believers, across religious
human, has never been absent, pertaining as it does to the
boundaries, that “faith without works is dead.” On the other
very concept of adhering to the practices, structures, obliga-
hand, those religious systems that have appeared to outsiders,
tions, or beliefs of any particular way of having faith. When
whether critical or friendly, to equate faith and works and
it has been divorced from some or all of those other connota-
to be indifferent to any considerations except the “purely”
tions, however, faith-as-faithfulness could all too easily be re-
moral ones prove, upon closer examination, to have been no
duced to the formalism and external propriety that the
less sensitive to the dialectic between works and faith. Espe-
prophets and critics in many religious traditions have at-
cially since the Enlightenment, Western critics of traditional
tacked.
supernaturalism have taken Confucianism as the ideal of a
FAITH-AS-OBEDIENCE. Faith as faithfulness has expressed it-
religion that eschewed metaphysical subtleties to concentrate
self not only in loyalty but in obedience, yet obedience has
on the one thing needful, and they have either criticized tra-
meant even more than faithfulness. The precise content of
ditional Western religions for not conforming to that ideal
such obedience has varied enormously with the content of
or reinterpreted them in accordance with it. For in the Ana-
what was perceived to have been the divine will or law. Obe-
lects Confucius repeatedly professed ignorance about the
dience, therefore, carried both liturgical and moral connota-
mysteries of “Heaven” and avoided discussing the miracu-
tions. An imperative to reenact, periodically or once in a life-
lous phenomena in which conventional faith had sought
time, the acts of the divine model required the obedient and
manifestations of supernatural power; even the question of
meticulous observance of the demands that those acts had
personal immortality did not admit of a clear and definite
placed upon the believer. Initiation into the faith involved
answer. Rather, he concentrated his attention on works of
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FAITH
piety and of service to others, preferring generosity to greed
flections of the Muslim mystics or in the discourses of Job,
and virtue to success. All of this Confucius (like many other
the ambiguities and difficulties of such confidence in the face
religious teachers) called “the way,” but it is an unwarranted
of concrete reality have served to deepen the understanding
modern reductionism to see in this attitude a moralistic pre-
of trust and to transform Pollyanna-like optimism into ma-
occupation with works alone, at the expense of “faith.” For
ture faith-as-trust.
“Heaven,” which he said had “infused the virtue that is in
FAITH-AS-DEPENDENCE. This combination of mystery and
me,” was the authentic source of the works themselves, as
reliability in the divine will, even after that will has made it-
well as the ultimate foundation for the serenity that made the
self known, has introduced into the definition of faith the
works possible. The faith of Confucius may have been less
element of dependence and submission. For if obedience to
detailed than that of some teachers in its information about
the divine will was the completion of the circle of faith in
the ontological status of “Heaven” and similar speculative
the moral realm, dependence on the divine will was the way
questions, but he knew and expressed a confidence in its
faith-as-trust affirmed the relation of human weakness to di-
providential care as the basis for the works with which he and
vine power. In those traditions in which the divine has been
his disciples were to serve the will of “Heaven.”
seen as creator and/or preserver, faith-as-dependence has
FAITH-AS-TRUST. Such a confidence in the providential care
been, in the first instance, an affirmation of the origin and
of “Heaven” underlies the definition of faith-as-trust. In the
derivation of humanity and of its world; in those traditions
classic formulation of Martin Luther, “to ‘have a god’ is
that have tended not to distinguish as sharply between
nothing else than to trust and believe him with our whole
“being” as applied to the divine and as applied to human be-
heart,” because “it is the trust and faith of the heart alone
ings, dependence has been the basis for identifying the loca-
that makes both God and an idol” (Large Catechism). Many
tions of both the divine and the human within the “great
of the conventional metaphors for the divine in various tradi-
chain of Being”; in those traditions that have emphasized the
tions, from “rock” and “mountain” to “mother” or “father,”
recurrence of patterns known to be embedded within the
have served as representations of the conviction that “the
very structure of the cosmos, dependence has made it possi-
trust and faith of the heart” could appropriately be vested in
ble for the community and its individual members to partici-
such an object, and that the divine object would prove wor-
pate, through myth and ritual, in such patterns; and in those
thy of human trust. Conventional practices like divination
traditions that have interpreted human history as the arena
and prayer may likewise be read as expressions of the belief
in which the will and way of the divine could above all be
that the divine will—if it could once be known, or perhaps
discerned, dependence has employed the recitation of the de-
even if it was mysterious and ultimately unknowable—
cisive events in that history to reinforce the sovereignty of
deserved trust. The historic triad of faith, hope, and love
God as the one who was active and knowable within, but al-
(best known from the New Testament, but paralleled else-
ways transcendent over, such saving and revelatory events.
where) has made it necessary for expositors to clarify the dis-
Thus in Islam (a term that is commonly translated into En-
tinction between faith and hope as they were both applied
glish as “submission,” but that might perhaps as well be
to the expectation of future blessings. However, the defini-
translated as “dependence”), the saying of the QurDa¯n, “God
tion of faith-as-trust has been a way of focusing such expecta-
causes whom he wills to err, and whom he wills he guides;
tion on the reliability of divine providence in both prosperity
and you shall assuredly be called to account for your doings,”
and failure: For good or ill, the ways of the divine will could
gave voice to the Prophet’s conviction that the believer must
be counted on, even though the details of their specific intent
depend on the divine will regardless of circumstances, but
might not be discernible at any given moment. Such faith-as-
that such dependence did not preclude human accountabili-
trust even in the inscrutable goodness of the divine order pre-
ty. In Islam, the Five Pillars of Faith were the specific moral
supposed a pattern of divine guidance in the past, which
and cultic duties for which every Muslim believer would be
made it safe to conclude that there would be a continuity of
held accountable, yet the first two Pillars (the recitation of
such guidance into the future. Historically as well as psycho-
faith in the oneness of God and the daily prayers) were decla-
logically, therefore, it is difficult to conceive of faith-as-trust
rations of the paradoxical affirmation that God was not de-
in the absence of such a pattern, be it the outcome of the in-
pendent on creatures or their performance of these duties but
dividual’s own cumulative autobiography or of the history
would be sovereign regardless. That paradox has been central
of the community to which the individual has come to be-
to the definition of faith-as-dependence in many religious
long (or of both). Once established on the basis of this pat-
traditions, with theories ranging all the way from thorough-
tern of divine guidance, faith-as-trust has implied that the
going determinism to apparent moralism (for example, to
vicissitudes of the moment could not, or at any rate should
use the terms familiar to the Western tradition, all the way
not, undermine the confidence that ultimately the object of
from Calvinism to Pelagianism) as efforts to come to terms
that trust would be vindicated. As Johann Wolfgang von
with both poles of a dialectical truth.
Goethe said in his autobiography, Dichtung und Wahrheit,
FAITH-AS-EXPERIENCE. In one way or another, each of these
“Faith is a profound sense of security in regard to both the
definitions of faith has been derived from faith-as-
present and the future; and this assurance springs from confi-
experience. For even the most transcendent notions of the
dence.” In the choruses of the Greek tragedians or in the re-
mystery of the divine will have, by their very act of affirming
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2957
the mysteriousness of that mystery, laid claim to an experi-
that the individualized experience of faith has repeatedly
ence in which the individual believer or the community tra-
taken place during or after corporate worship: The setting
dition has caught a glimpse of just how mysterious the divine
of the private vision has often been the temple itself; or when
could be. Although mystics and prophets—and, following
the vision has come in the solitude of the desert or in the pri-
their lead, historians and philosophers of religion—have
vacy of the soul, it has come as a consequence of participation
often spoken of such experiences in isolation from the con-
in the ritual of the temple or as a response to instruction in
tinuum of human consciousness, that is not, of course, how
the lore of the community’s tradition. Just as the distinction
they have actually occurred. From the biographies of seers
between the experience of faith and general human experi-
and saints it is obvious that these experiences often came in
ence has engaged the interest of psychologists of religion, so
response and in reaction to specific moments of exaltation
sociologists of religion have probed the connection (in the
or depression, in feverish intensity or in the excitement and
formulas of Joachim Wach) between “religion and natural
release of love and death. That inseparability of faith-as-
groups,” as well as then the “specifically religious organiza-
experience from all the other experiences of life has persuad-
tion of society.” The community of faith, as coextensive with
ed some observers of the phenomenon to see it as in fact the
the family or tribe, has conferred its authority on that social
sublimation and “supernatural” reinterpretation of an essen-
organization in marriage, war, and commerce, and has de-
tially “natural” event. Ludwig Feuerbach, both as historian
rived its sanctions from it in turn. Then exclusion from the
and as philosopher, penetrated deeply into this aspect of
believing community was identical with ostracism from the
faith-as-experience; and Freudian psychology has been espe-
natural community. But with the more sophisticated identi-
cially successful in explaining religious experience in its rela-
fication of the specific nature of faith has come a distinction
tion to the totality and complexity of how the human mind
between the two, often through the emergence of an ecclesiola
has attempted to cope with all the data of its experience. But
in ecclesia as a more precisely delineated community of faith
in opposition to the reductionism that has frequently been
or (using a pejorative word in a nonpejorative sense) a “sect.”
represented as the only acceptable conclusion from this qual-
FAITH AND WORSHIP. The community of faith has always
ity of faith-as-experience, the philosophical interpretation of
been a community of worship; in fact, worship has been far
religion, systematized perhaps most effectively by Rudolf
more explicitly a part of its definition than has faith. Western
Otto, has sought to identify what was distinct about this ex-
observers of “primitive” societies have sometimes been pre-
perience even if it was not separate from other experience.
vented from recognizing this, either (as in the case of some
Otto’s formulation, which has since become all but canoni-
Christian missionaries) by too particularistic an understand-
cal, is “the experience of the Holy.” He called it “a category
ing of worship or (as in the case of some modern anthropolo-
of interpretation and valuation peculiar to the sphere of reli-
gists) by too reductionistic an understanding of ritual. One
gion,” and declared that “there is no religion in which it does
of the most important scholarly sources for the new and
not live as the real innermost core, and without it no religion
deeper recognition of faith-as-worship has been the investi-
would be worthy of the name.” Yet precisely because faith’s
gation of the interrelation between myth and ritual: Myth
experience of the holy has upon further reflection come to
came to be read as the validation, in the deeds of the ancients
include the recognition of its inherent ineffability, the lan-
or of the gods, of what the ritual now enjoined upon believ-
guage of faith has drawn upon other experience—aesthetic,
ers; and ritual acquired a new dimension by being under-
moral, intellectual—to be able to speak about the unspeak-
stood as not merely outward ceremonial performed ex opere
able at all.
operato but as the repetition in the believers’ actions of what
THE COMMUNITY OF FAITH. In the sacred literatures of reli-
the myth recited in words about the divine actions that had
gious faith, faith-as-experience has often been described in
made the world and founded the community. Amid an infi-
highly individualistic terms: How the poet or prophet has
nite variety of ritual forms and liturgical prescriptions, there-
come to know the holy in personal experience has dominated
fore, worship has defined “faith.” For example, the fourth
how he or she has described that experience for others, so
and last of the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism as formulat-
that they in turn, one at a time, might also come to share
ed by Gautama Buddha himself was the recognition of the
in such an experience and duplicate it for themselves. Indi-
methods by which the believer could overcome the inner
vidualism of that kind underlay, for example, the recurring
yearning for pleasure out of which the misery of dukkha
definition of religion as “what one does with one’s solitari-
sprang. Similarly, the eighth and last part of the Eightfold
ness.” Except for passing moments of intense mystical rap-
Path of Buddhism consisted in proper meditation, which was
ture, however, such individualism has been shown to be illu-
inseparable from the first seven. Methodologically, the task
sory. And except for occasional glossolalia, the very language
of discovering the specifics of the faith expressing itself in a
in which the individual has spoken about faith-as-experience
particular worship ritual continues to challenge the ingenuity
has been derived from the history of the community, even
of historians of religion, as is manifested by their disputes
when that language has been aimed against the present cor-
over the meaning of (to cite an example present in several
ruption of the community or when it has been directed to-
traditions) the ritual of circumcision. Even the widely shared
ward the founding of a new and purer community. When
assumption that the ritual antedated the myth, which in turn
examined in its total context, moreover, it becomes apparent
antedated the theological explanation of both, must be mod-
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FAITH
ified by the repeatedly attested rise of new rituals out of the
faith-as-trust over the Roman Catholic faith-as-credo, still
composition of the myth or after the adoption of the theo-
retained, and in some ways even intensified, the insistence
logical doctrine. Yet in the absence of any verifiable statistical
on right doctrine, a knowledge of which and an assent to
data it does seem a safe generalization to suggest that, even
which were the necessary presupposition for a correct faith-
more than faith-as-obedience to a moral imperative or com-
as-trust.
mandment, faith-as-worship has defined faith for most of the
FAITH AND TRADITION. Acceptance of a “deposit of faith”
human race through most of its history. Even the term ortho-
has implied some notion of tradition as that which has been
doxy, which has acquired the meaning “right doctrine” in
traditum, first “handed down” and then “handed on.” Al-
most of the languages where it appears and which carries that
though the thinkers of the eighteenth-century Enlighten-
meaning also when it is used in a secular sense for political
ment drew a sharp distinction between “traditionary reli-
or literary theories, really means “right worship,” as the Rus-
gion” and “natural religion,” vastly preferring the latter to
sian translation of the word, pravoslavie (“the right way to
the former, it was in fact only the former that was to be
celebrate”), demonstrates.
found in the history of religion; eventually even the “natural
FAITH-AS-CREDO. Yet orthodoxy does mean primarily “right
religion” of the Enlightenment acquired a certain traditional
doctrine” now, and one of the definitions of “faith” is
content and was transmitted from one generation to the next
“credo” (which is the Latin for “I believe”). Because so much
by way of an intellectual tradition. “Traditionary religion,”
of the history and interpretation of world religions has been
therefore, has defined itself and its faith on the basis of re-
the work of Christian thinkers trained in the doctrinal theol-
ceived tradition. The myth of how holy things have hap-
ogy of the several Christian churches, early scholarship in
pened; the ritual of how holy acts were to be performed; the
“comparative religion” regularly consisted of a review, doc-
rules of conduct by which the faithful were expected to guide
trine by doctrine, of what the various religions were per-
their lives; the structure through which the holy community
ceived as having taught. As often as not, such reviews were
was founded and governed; the doctrine by which the com-
organized according to the schema of categories devised by
munity gave an account of the myth and ritual—all these ex-
Thomistic or orthodox Lutheran and Reformed systematic
pressions of faith have been the subject and the content of
theologians, even, for example, in so sensitive a treatment as
the holy tradition. In all those religions that have ascribed
Karl Friedrich Nägelsbach’s Homeric Theology (1840) and
normative status to a holy book, the question of faith-as-
Post-Homeric Theology (1857). The artificiality and arbitrari-
tradition has taken a special form, as they have sought to deal
ness of imposing these categories from the outside on literary
with the question of the relation between the revelation in
and religious traditions having an integrity of their own led
the book, as given once and for all, and the continuing reve-
later generations of scholars to employ greater caution in
lation in the tradition. Reformers in each of those groups
claiming to have discovered “doctrinal” meanings (in the
have drawn an antithesis between the purity of the original
sense in which Christian theology spoke of “doctrines”) in
scripture and the accretions of later tradition, which needed
non-Christian religions, even sometimes in postbiblical Ju-
to be expunged, while defenders of tradition have posited a
daism. Significantly, however, one outcome of the tensions
continuity between the scripture and the tradition, some-
that have arisen between various of those religions and mod-
times by characterizing them as “two sources of revelation”
ern thought (see “Faith and Knowledge” below) has been the
but sometimes by describing the ongoing tradition as the
development, within the traditions themselves and at the
process through which the properly validated authorities had
hands of their own faithful devotees, of something very like
gradually made explicit the content of the faith already im-
systematic doctrinal theology, which has included compara-
plicit in scripture. Thus a twentieth-century Russian Ortho-
tive judgments about their relation to other traditions and
dox thinker, Vladimir Lossky, defined tradition as “the life
their “doctrines.” As already suggested, nevertheless, the defi-
of the Holy Spirit in the Church, communicating to each
nition of faith-as-credo has been especially prominent in
member of the Body of Christ the faculty of hearing, of re-
Western and Christian thought.
ceiving, of knowing the Truth in the Light which belongs
In medieval usage, for example, the Latin word fides
to it, and not according to the natural light of human rea-
must commonly be translated as “the faith” rather than sim-
son.” By setting faith into the framework of such a theory
ply as “faith,” because it referred in the first instance to the
of tradition, Lossky and his counterparts in other faiths (who
content of what was believed (fides quae creditur) rather than
could have used much of the same language, substituting
to the act of believing (fides qua creditur), and specifically to
other proper names) have sought to combine the static view
one of the orthodox creeds of the church, generally the Apos-
of tradition as a “deposit of the faith” in the past with a dy-
tles’ Creed or the Nicene Creed; once defined, orthodox doc-
namic view of tradition as “living faith” in the present and
trines were binding de fide, by the authority of the faith. To
future.
“have faith,” then, meant first of all to “hold the faith” as this
FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE. Whether it has been interpreted
had been laid down in the apostolic “deposit of faith” and
as a second channel of revelation for faith or as the develop-
legislated by church fathers, councils, and popes. And even
ment of a truth already implicitly present in the original de-
the repudiation of the medieval system by the Protestant Ref-
posit of faith, tradition has been a way of knowing the truth.
ormation, a major plank of which was Luther’s elevation of
Faith, therefore, has been taken to be a species of knowledge,
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FALL, THE
2959
differing from ordinary knowledge by its superior claims: An
Otto, Rudolf. The Idea of the Holy. New York, 1928.
arcane character, a transcendent content, privileged channels
Smith, Wilfred Cantwell. Faith and Belief. Princeton, N.J, 1979.
of communication, or divine certainty (or all of the above).
Söderblom, Nathan. The Living God: Basal Forms of Personal Reli-
So long as such claims remained publicly uncontested, faith
gion. Oxford, 1933.
could stand as objectively sure, even when subjectively the
Wach, Joachim. Sociology of Religion. Chicago, 1944.
individual believer might question or doubt it. There is no
reason to suppose that such existential questioning and
JAROSLAV PELIKAN (1987)
doubting have ever been absent from the experience of faith,
and plenty of reason to find evidence of their presence in the
artifacts and literary remains of various religious faiths from
FAKHR AL-D¯IN AL-RA¯Z¯I SEE RA¯Z¯I, FAKHR
the past. What has made the situation of religious faith in
AL-D¯IN AL-
the present unique, however, is the gravity and the universal-
ity of the tension between faith and knowledge. One by one,
each of the world faiths has been obliged to confront the
competing truth claims not only of other faiths, as it had per-
FALL, THE. The concept of the fall appears in myths,
haps done before, but of other forms of knowledge that
traditions, and religions of a great many peoples and presents
seemed to render any faith-as-knowledge, regardless of which
a number of interrelated themes of primary importance in
faith was involved, superfluous or absurd. The identification
the history of religious thought. In general, the fall is to be
of faith with accounts of miracles and similar wondrous
thought of as an accident that arose after the creation or gen-
events that a later generation has found to be, quite literally,
esis of the world bearing consequences for the present human
incredible has undermined the authority of the faith itself.
condition; this accident explains a new situation in the world
Orthodox methods of harmonizing away contradictions in
that is recognized as a decline or degradation when contrast-
the authoritative tradition through allegory or a theory of
ed to the original state of humankind and the cosmos. This
multiple meanings have not been able to withstand the pres-
fundamental conception of the fall takes different forms in
sures of the historical method of dealing with the tradition.
different cultures and religions.
The discovery or invention of alternate means of dealing
PERSPECTIVES ON MYTHS OF THE FALL. The theme of the
with those crises of life and needs of society for which faith
fall may be considered from the perspective of (1) historical
had served as the divinely prescribed cure relegated it to a sec-
time and its unfolding; (2) theogony; (3) cosmogony; and
ondary status as a superstitious nostrum still needed only by
(4) anthropogony, which encompasses the creation of hu-
those who did not know any better. When Immanuel Kant
manity and its present condition.
said in his Critique of Pure Reason (1781) that he had “found
Historical time. Considered temporally, the fall takes
it necessary to deny knowledge of God, freedom, and immor-
place between Urzeit and Endzeit, between the beginning
tality in order to find a place for faith,” he was speaking for
and the end of creation. Within historical time, it is very
believers in many traditions who have salvaged faith by mak-
close to the beginnings of time conceived as a golden age in
ing it invulnerable to the claims and counterclaims of knowl-
contrast to which the fall and its consequences represent a
edge; but in so doing, they have also brought into question
break or degradation. This temporal and historical concep-
most of the other functions of faith. At the same time, the
tion of the fall can be found in various popular traditions as
very challenge of knowledge to faith has produced a clearer
well as myths of the golden age and paradise lost.
understanding both of faith’s relation to other aspects of
human experience and of its distinctive meaning and power.
Theogony. The theogonic aspect of the fall deals with
the degradation of the divine and is found in the numerous
SEE ALSO Doubt and Belief; Knowledge and Ignorance;
myths concerning the origin of the gods, of their victory over
Obedience; Orthopraxy; Physics and Religion; Tradition.
chaos, or of the victory of the more recent forces of divinity
over older ones. Coextensive with the creation, the fall as
BIBLIOGRAPHY
presented in theogony implies the identification of evil and
Eliade, Mircea. Patterns in Comparative Religion. New York, 1958.
chaos on the one hand and of salvation and creation on the
Feuerbach, Ludwig. The Essence of Christianity. Translated by
other. This conception of the fall is found especially in
George Eliot. London, 1854.
Sumero-Akkadian theogonic myths that recount the victory
Freud, Sigmund. The Future of an Illusion. London, 1928.
of order over preexisting chaos; it is found also in the Egyp-
Heiler, Friedrich. Prayer: A Study in the History and Psychology of
tian myth of the battle between Seth and Horus. Strictly
Religion. Oxford, 1932.
speaking, these theogonic myths are not true myths of the
Hügel, Friedrich von. The Mystical Element of Religion. 2 vols.
fall, but two of their recurrent themes justify their inclusion
London, 1961.
in a typology of myths of the fall. First, they emphasize the
James, William. The Varieties of Religious Experience. New York,
ritual celebration of the maintenance of the creation and cos-
1902.
mic order, as in the festival of Akitu in Babylon. Second, they
Lossky, Vladimir. In the Image and Likeness of God. Scarsdale,
present, through a variety of mythologies, the theme of the
N.Y., 1974.
degradation of divinity that results from the fall of some por-
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FALL, THE
tion of the divine substance into matter, body, or darkness.
The Jorai cosmogony of the autochthonous peoples of
This theme is central to the three most important forms of
Indochina gives an idyllic description of original humanity.
religious dualism: Orphism, Gnosticism, and Manichaeism.
Living with the god Oi Adei, humankind enjoyed a deathless
Cosmogony. From the perspective of cosmogony, the
existence in a paradise where one could fly like a bird and
fall is seen as an accident occurring after the genesis of the
talk with plants and animals, where bundles of wicker grew
world that affects cosmic forces and explains the present con-
on trees and shovels turned over the earth by themselves.
dition of earth or the universe. Myths that tell of the progres-
Man had only to feed his tools; but he got drunk and did
sive degradation of the universe and its destruction and recre-
not do so, and the tools revolted. In the Sre cosmogony of
ation in successive cosmic cycles exemplify this cosmogonic
Indochina, humans had no need to work in the earthly para-
view of the fall. The flood is an important example of this
dise, because the god Ong Ndu had made them immortal;
type of fall, and numerous myths of the flood are found
but when the primordial couple refused the god’s command
among religious traditions of the world.
to dive into a well, they were punished for their disobedience
by suffering, old age, and death.
Anthropogony. Anthropogony, however, offers the
most important perspective on the fall. From this perspec-
The cosmogonies of Bantu speakers from the Mayombe
tive, the contemporary human condition—a condition of
region north of the Kongo River, the cradle of the old Kongo
degradation in contrast to that of the golden age of humani-
civilization, contain significant stories of the fall. In the
ty—is explained as the consequence of a fall, a tragic event
Yombe tradition, humankind’s golden age was brought to an
that bursts into human history. Around this event are clus-
end by Nzondo, a spirit whose magic also created the Zaire
tered those myths and symbols that seek to explain the ori-
River after a flood. Nzondo drove people from their original
gins of illness and death and the tragic nature of the human
home, dispersing them over the earth and setting in motion
condition after the fall.
the chain of disasters that have since befallen the race.
From these four perspectives, it is possible to develop
In a Dogon myth from Mali, heaven and earth were
a typology through which the myriad myths of the fall in cul-
originally very close to each other. But God separated them
tures throughout the world become comprehensible. Fur-
and made men mortal, after being disturbed by the noise of
thermore, these perspectives illuminate the fundamental as-
the women crushing millet. Similarly, in a myth from Cam-
pect of the concept of the fall and the inherent meaning that
eroon and Burkina Faso (Upper Volta), the vault of heaven
emerges from these myths: The present human condition is
was originally within humanity’s reach, but when a woman
explained by the accident that occurred after creation and
who touched the vault with a load of wood she was carrying
ended the golden age.
on her head asked God to move it out of her way, he moved
Myths of the fall clearly show three essential elements:
it so far that he abandoned humankind to death. These
(1) the concept of a golden age in the beginning, (2) the acci-
myths tell of a paradise lost; but they also stress the theme
dent that is a break or degradation of original harmony, (3)
of God’s rejection of a disobedient humankind, of his con-
the explanation of the present human condition. From these
signing humanity to death as punishment for a variety of
three elements, it is possible to trace a historico-
sins, that is, for violating a divine prohibition, for lying or
phenomenological picture of the traditions dealing with the
theft, for domestic rivalries, for lack of charity. Death is ex-
fall. One final remark needs to be added, however, before
plained as divine punishment prompted by human disobedi-
proceeding to an analysis of this picture. An understanding
ence. Similar myths are found among the Diola in Senegal,
of the complexity of the problems related to the concept of
the Nupe in Nigeria, the Bena Kanioka in Zaire, and the
the fall must not lose sight of the intimate relationship of this
Anyi in the Ivory Coast.
concept with the problem of evil; any conception of the fall
Myths of the fall as fate, though less frequently encoun-
has implications concerning the origins of evil, as well as inti-
tered than those of the fall as punishment, are also significant
mations of a possible overcoming of evil through a recovery
in sub-Saharan Africa. These myths involve an archetypal
of the state that existed previous to the fall. Thus a philo-
badly delivered message—a divine message of immortality
sophical and ethical dimension is grafted onto, and is coex-
that reaches humanity either too late or in abridged or altered
tensive with, the idea of the fall and forms an important part
form. Here, the original separation of heaven and earth re-
of a hermeneutical approach that tries to come to terms with
places the earthly paradise where God and humans live to-
its relationship to guilt or fault. The scope of this article,
gether; from heaven, God sends messages to people on earth.
however, does not permit an envisage of these other aspects
In a Tsonga myth, a chameleon carries the message of eternal
of the fall.
life, while the giant lizard Galagala carries the message of
ARCHAIC RELIGIONS AND ORAL TRADITIONS. The myth of
death. The lizard, moving faster, arrives first, and humanity
an earthly paradise, where humans are immortal, is an inte-
so becomes mortal. In a Bete version of the same myth, from
gral part of cosmogony and descriptions of the world’s begin-
the Ivory Coast, the lizard advises the chameleon to walk
ning in many cultures. That primordial person enjoys a bliss
slowly. Animals are always the messengers in these myths,
and freedom that it lost as the result of a fall is the dominant
and the message of mortality always arrives first. Other
theme of this myth, a theme offering many variations.
myths emphasize the change and deterioration of the mes-
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2961
sage in the course of its transmission; myths of this sort are
those that stress lack of charity, or the race’s capacity for do-
found among the Mossi in Burkina Faso, the Ashanti in
mestic violence, as in a Chiga myth from Uganda. The curi-
Ghana, the Kabiye in Togo, and the Kikuyu in Kenya.
osity of the primordial couple who aspire to the secrets of the
gods is a frequent mythical theme in Africa, where myths of
In Australia, the Aranda regard their totem ancestors as
the fall also emphasize the cohesiveness of individual and
the heroic forgers of civilizations who gave form to the coun-
group (Thomas, 1982, pp. 32–48).
tryside, who allotted individual lives to humans by creating
separate embryos, who lived in a mythical golden age where
ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS. Important approaches to the
they were untouched by the woes of contemporary human-
theme of the fall are found in the great civilizations of antiq-
kind. These totem ancestors were immortal, and those
uity. This section examines those myths and traditions found
among them who apparently died in battle in fact went to
in the civilizations of Egypt, Sumer and Babylonia, ancient
heaven, where they became tjurungas, sacred beings who
India, ancient Iran, and ancient Greece.
were powerful and creative, traveling to and fro above or
below the earth.
Egypt. Egyptian religious thought also shows an aware-
ness of a golden age existing at the beginning. The study of
Exhausted when they completed their creative work,
archaic texts has prompted the hypothesis that this age was
and seized by an overwhelming lassitude, these mythical an-
thought to have had two stages, the first of which was Urzeit,
cestors sank into the earth. But before they disappeared they
primordial time before the creation. The idea of a primordial
laid down, by some of their actions, the rudiments of death;
time is expressed by such formulas as “that did not yet exist”
thus, the first people knew both death and the pains of the
(nhprt) or, in the wording of Pyramid Texts 1040 and 1043,
human condition. The myth of the magpie Urbura explains
“When the heavens did not yet exist . . . there existed nei-
the permanence of death. When the first mortal tried to leave
ther death nor disorder.” In contrast to this mythic primordi-
his tomb, Urbura struck at him with her claws, thrust a spear
al time is the time that follows it, the time of creation and
through his neck, and nailed him to the ground, establishing
of creator gods such as Re and Osiris (Otto, 1969,
forever humanity’s mortal condition.
pp. 96–99).
Common to myths of the fall and to nostalgia for a lost
Whatever the validity of this hypothesis, the time of cre-
golden age is the view that the original human condition was
ation, the Schöpfungszeit, was definitely considered a golden
a condition of paradise. Heaven lay close to the earth, and
age. A variety of texts make it possible to assert this interpre-
people could go there merely by climbing a mountain, a tree,
tation with certainty. “Law was established in their time. Jus-
a ladder, or a vine (Eliade, 1960). Enjoying the friendship
tice (Maat) came down from heaven to earth in their age and
of both the gods and the animals—and speaking their lan-
united herself with those on the earth. There was an abun-
guage—man enjoyed a life that was immortal, free, sponta-
dance on the earth; stomachs were full, and there was no lean
neous, and perfectly happy.
year in the Two Lands. Wall did not collapse, thorn did not
That this paradise was lost as the result of the fall is a
prick in the time of the primeval Gods” (Kákosy, 1964,
second commonly held view. Often, the fall is an accident,
p. 206). An inscription from the temple of Idfu speaks in the
as in Australia, where myths of the Aranda tribe merely re-
same way: “There was no sin on the earth. The crocodile did
cord it. In various African traditions the accident is equated
not seize prey, the serpent did not bite in the age of the pri-
with sleep: The god had asked humans to remain awake
meval Gods.” This golden age is depicted in other temple in-
through the night to await a message from him, but when
scriptions and is found again in the Coffin Texts; it is, in fact,
it arrived they were asleep. If sleep is understood as a symbol
a very ancient doctrine in which myths of a golden age and
for death, the accident of sleep explains both the precarious
fall are tied to the problem of death.
human condition and the establishment of death.
Three great Egyptian cosmogonies explain the creation
The fall may also result from human failings. Once
of the world. In the Memphis theology, the word of the god
again, the most important documentation is found in sub-
Ptah created all things; at Heliopolis, the creation takes place
Saharan Africa. A Maasai myth known in both Africa and
with Re-Atum’s separation of heaven and earth; at Hermop-
Madagascar tells of a package that humans were given by
olis Magna, the creator is the god Thoth, who fashions an
God but forbidden to open; driven by curiosity, they opened
egg from which the sun, organizer of the cosmos, emerges.
it and let loose sickness and death. The divine prohibition
The Memphis theology makes it clear that, by putting the
takes other forms in other traditions. In a Pygmy story of
cosmos, the gods, and the gods’ images and cults in place,
central Africa, it is against looking at something; in a story
Ptah established a definitive cosmic order in which Maat, the
of the Luba in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, it for-
principle of order, replaced disorder (Pyramid Text
bids the eating of certain fruits; in a Lozi myth found in the
265.1775b).
Democratic Republic of the Congo and Malawi, it prohibits
The myth of the celestial cow, a myth of archaic origin,
the taking of wild game.
although known from a text of the New Kingdom, is the
Sometimes humanity’s fault is best understood an-
most important witness to the Egyptian doctrine of the fall.
thropologically, as in myths describing theft or lying, or
It tells of insults hurled by humans at the god Re (variously
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FALL, THE
called “silver-boned Re,” “golden-limbed Re,” “Re of the
Sumer and Babylonia. The numerous Mesopotamian
lapis lazuli hair”) and of Re’s attempt to determine their pun-
traditions dealing with the origins of the gods, the cosmos,
ishment in a secret council of the gods held in the Nun, or
and humanity go back to the Sumerian period, well before
primordial chaos. From his throne, Re glared fixedly at the
the third millennium BCE, and become completely inter-
rebellious humans, as the gods had advised; immediately, his
mixed over time with Sumerian, Akkadian, and Babylonian
eye became the goddess Hathor, henceforth called Sekhmet,
myths. Thus, it is possible to present these traditions coher-
the Powerful; she organized a massacre of the rebels as they
ently by selecting characteristic examples from these three
fled into the desert. Re, however, preferred to save remaining
groups of myths.
humankind; ordering that pomegranates be brought to him,
Samuel Noah Kramer (1981) finds the first document
he extracted their juice, and at dawn carried the juice to the
of the Golden Age in the Sumerian story called Emmer-kai
flooded area of humanity’s impending extermination. There
and the Lord of Aratta. The story speaks of “an earlier time,”
he determined to spare the human race; but he also withdrew
before the fall, when humankind lived in peace and harmo-
to the highest place in heaven, and sat on the back of Nut,
ny, without fear and without rival. During that time, before
the vault of heaven transformed into a cow, assigning to
the creation of snake or scorpion, hyena or lion, wolf or wild
Thoth the role of scribe and the task of civilizing humanity.
dog, all peoples of the universe worshiped the same god,
Enlil. But the gods brought about humankind’s fall when
The Book of Going Forth by Day is another witness to
Enki cast an evil spell and stole Enlil’s empire.
the Egyptian doctrine of the fall. Chapter 17, alluding to
Re’s enemies, declares: “I was All when I was in the Nun,
The creation poem Enuma elish, which dates from 1100
and I am Re. . . . When Re first appeared as king of all that
BCE but actually goes back to the first Babylonian dynasty
he had created, when the uprisings of Shu did not yet exist,
at the beginning of the second millennium, relates the gene-
he was on the hill that is at Hermopolis and at that time the
sis of the gods before it describes the genesis of the world or
children of the fall at Hermopolis were delivered over to
humanity, and shows that strife and murder existed among
him.” To this passage, which tells of the revolt against Re,
the gods from the moment of their creation. The younger
correspond the lines at the beginning of chapter 175, which
gods banded together against their mother, Tiamat; they be-
speak of the disorder created by the children of Nut: “O
haved riotously and spread fear throughout the dwelling
Thoth, what is to be done with the children of Nut? They
places on high. The goddess Ea caused the god Apsu—who
have fomented war, they have provoked quarrels, they have
would himself have murdered the other gods, had his scheme
not been betrayed—to fall into a deep sleep, then undressed
caused disorder, they have massacred. . . . They have
him to take away his strength, and finally put him to death.
brought low that which was great in all that I created. Show
The Atrahasis myth, dating from the reign of the Babylonian
strength, Thoth, says Atum. . . . Shorten their years, cut off
king Ammisadaqa (1646–1626 BCE), gives another version
their months. For they have secretly destroyed all that you
of these events, in which the gods declared war on Enlil and
created.”
gathered in arms before his temple for the decisive battle.
From such texts, it is clear that pharaonic Egypt was ac-
In these two myths, evil is coextensive with the first gen-
quainted very early with a doctrine of a golden age, an age
eration of the gods, and disorder begins in the divine world
followed by the fall that explains the Jetztzeit, the present
itself when the younger gods kill their mother, Tiamat (who
human condition of death and degradation. Nevertheless,
in any case had planned to murder them). From this perspec-
the Egyptian theology that viewed royalty as a divine contin-
tive, the gods are responsible for evil, and order appears
uation of Maat, the cosmic and moral order, had a para-
among them only with the advent of the god Marduk, the
mount influence on three thousand years of Egyptian history
principle of an ordered divine world. Hence, humans simply
under the pharaohs and the Ptolemies, and although each
find evil in the world; they are not the cause of it.
great historic era ended in a period of disorder, the disorder
Both the Atrahasis myth and the poem Enuma elish
itself gave rise to the reestablishment of Egyptian society
show that the gods created humans with the intention of im-
under renewed pharaonic rule. Life and survival were insepa-
posing burdensome tasks upon them: food gathering, the
rable in Egypt, and the optimism running throughout Egyp-
building of waterways, dikes, canals, and so forth. In the
tian culture is made obvious by the absence of traditions
Atrahasis text, the god Weilu is killed by the other gods, who
dealing with great cosmic disasters such as the flood.
then mix his flesh and blood with clay to make humankind,
There was also, however, a darker side to Egyptian
upon whom they immediately impose the gods’ “basket”
thought, one that does relate that evil, incarnate in the god
(i.e., workload); in a story dating from the seventeenth cen-
Seth, existed before the creation of humans. Hence some
tury BCE and found in a bilingual text from the reign of King
Egyptologists interpret the verses quoted above from chapter
Tiglath-pileser I (1114–1076 BCE), An, Enlil, and Enki kill
175 of the Book of Going Forth by Day, referring to the chil-
the Alla gods and from their blood create humankind, which
dren of Nut, as an allusion to a quarrel among the gods and
they also charge with tasks previously borne by the gods.
evidence of a primordial sin that stood at the origin of the
In these texts, and in many others that echo them, it is
fall.
clear that Mesopotamian thought saw the human condition
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2963
as one of total subordination to the gods, who were absolute
dusk), all creatures lived in a state of spiritual perfection,
masters of the world. This dualistic thought presents a hu-
doing as they pleased, free from heat and cold, fatigue and
manity fashioned both from the blood of a murdered god
suffering, ignorant alike of justice and injustice. Possessing
and from mere clay, a humanity knowing no primordial fall
similar forms, their pleasures, their life span, and their ever-
but only a destiny of submission to the gods and subordina-
youthful bodies ensured a life of abundant happiness, joy,
tion to divine power. The gods reserve a deathless, happy life
and light, knowing neither classes nor different ways of
for themselves, imposing on humanity a precarious existence
being. Whatever was sought after by the spirit sprang from
that ends in death, itself a divine decision. The dead lead
the earth, and all enjoyed truth, forbearance, satisfaction, and
only a shadowy existence in the realm of the god Nergal.
contentment.
Two ancient texts provide Akkadian and Babylonian
The Va¯yu Pura¯n:a does not describe a fall, but simply
versions of the Mesopotamian flood. The earlier, dating from
a decline, from this golden age. The second age, treta¯yuga,
the beginning of the third millennium, was found on a Su-
was still, at its beginning, part of the golden age; beings still
merian tablet unearthed in the ruins of Nippur; the other is
lived without suffering, joyous and satisfied. With time,
found in tablet 11 of the Epic of Gilgamesh.
however, they became greedy; they laid waste the fruit trees
and the honey that had fed them in ease. Afflicted now by
The Sumerian tablet describes the creation of the world
wind, heat, and cold, people built houses, then villages and
and humans and the building of the first cities, including
cities. Now too rains came, bringing streams, rivers, and rank
Eridu and Shuruppak. The rather fragmentary story of the
vegetation. Humans were divided into four classes:
flood tells of how the gods decided upon a deluge, from
bra¯hman:a, ks:atriya, vai´sya, and ´su¯dra; and, because humans
which only the pious king Ziusudra was spared. After the di-
no longer fulfilled their duties, the bra¯hman:as assigned spe-
saster, Ziusudra sacrificed an ox and a sheep to the sun god
cific functions to each class. The bra¯hman:as were to make
Utu and thereby reconciled the gods and humankind.
sacrifices on behalf of others, to read the Veda, to receive of-
In the Babylonian version, from the Epic of Gilgamesh,
ferings; the ks:atriyas were to exercise power, make war, and
the man saved from the flood was Utanapishtim, to whom
dispense justice; the vai´syas were to raise livestock or practice
the gods gave immortality. After the flood, the quarrel that
agriculture or commerce; the ´su¯dras were to practice the vari-
had divided the gods started up again, and Enlil, the lord of
ous trades. The bra¯hman:as likewise introduced and named
earth and sky who had been the cause of the flood, wanted
the four stages of life: first, the quest for knowledge, followed
to destroy its sole survivor; but Ea and Ishtar, protectors of
by domestic life, the retreat into the forest, and, finally, re-
humankind, intervened and Utanapishtim was saved.
nunciation.
In neither version of the flood does the question of
It is clear from the Va¯yu Pura¯n:a that by the end of the
human responsibility for the cosmic disaster arise; as in Mes-
second yuga the conditions of humanity and the cosmos were
opotamian stories of humanity’s creation, the stories of the
such that the golden age had been lost, the victim not of a
flood deal only with theogony and with quarrels of the gods.
fall in the usual sense but of a progressive decline, and of the
The Atrahasis myth does indicate the gods’ motive for the
negative effects of time. As differences appeared among
flood—the noise and disturbance produced by the ever-
them, humans lost their original vitality, turning to passion,
increasing number of humans—but this motive is analogous
vice, and greed, and ceasing to carry out their duties faithful-
to that behind the gods’ first quarrel. Thus, whatever the rea-
ly. The Va¯yu Pura¯n:a emphasizes the role of human responsi-
son for the gods’ displeasure with humanity, the human fail-
bility in this cosmic and social decline.
ings that appear at the time of the fall are simply part of a
From the sixth century BCE on, the idea of karman, spe-
divinely ordained chaos. In the final analysis, myths of the
cific to Hindu religious thought, was used to explain the de-
fall in Sumero-Babylonian thought are intimately tied to
cline of the human condition. Linked to the idea of sa¯m:sara,
theogonic and cosmogonic myths in which the fall, like ev-
the incessant whirlpool of rebirths, the ethical idea of kar-
erything else that happens, results from the will of the gods.
man, gradually replacing older Vedic ritual notions, placed
Ancient India. In India, which has experienced its past
the human soul under the necessity of being reborn in ani-
far more through myths than through historical interpreta-
mal, human, or divine forms. Thus humanity by its actions
tion of actual past events, the most important documents of
was made responsible for its decline and for the repercussions
mythic history are the Pura¯n:as, or “ancient tales.” One part
of that decline in the cosmos. Holding humankind account-
of the speculations of the Va¯yu Pura¯n:a treats the four yugas,
able for his position in the universe, the law of the karman
or ages, of the world. The present age, the fourth yuga, is
became a law of just retribution for actions.
called the kaliyuga. The first age, named kr:tayuga or satyayu-
The Indian idea of the flood, of “cosmic disaster,” ap-
ga, is described in the Va¯yu Pura¯n:a as a golden age when Pra-
pears within a cyclical conception of time—a conception
japati created all things from a superabundance of light and
analogous to the idea of the karman involving the periodic
intelligence.
destruction and rebirth of the cosmos. The oldest of numer-
During this yuga, a perfect age that lasted four thousand
ous Indian versions of a cosmic fall in the form of a flood
years (plus an additional four hundred for its dawn and
is that of the S´atapatha Bra¯hman:a 1.8.1; it presents the story
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FALL, THE
of Manu, the first man and the survivor of the flood, in a
Describing Yima’s meeting with Ahura Mazda¯, Vendi-
typically Vedic context. Warned of the flood by a fish, Manu
dad 2.21–22 mentions hard winters of bitter cold and heavy
takes the fish under his protection and then is saved by it as
snow; in Bundahishn 7, there is a story of what appears to
the waters rise and carry away all other creatures. Left alone,
be a flood; and al-MasEu¯d¯ı (d. 957) relates how, according
Manu offers the pa¯ka sacrifice, and, after a year, a woman—
to one tradition, the flood came during Yima’s time. In the
his daughter, called Id:a¯, the offering—is born; through her
nineteenth century, scholars such as C. P. Tiele, François
Manu will create his posterity, the renewed humanity.
Lenormant, and A. V. Rydberg saw an allusion to the flood
in this evidence; but early in the twentieth century, Nathan
Ancient Iran. The Avesta preserves ancient Iran’s mem-
Söderblom, in a lengthy discussion of the question, showed
ories of the golden age that existed in the beginning, during
that it is impossible to know whether the devastating winters
the reign of the first king, Yima (Vendidad 2.1–20, Yasna
mentioned in these passages were considered part of a real
9.4–5, Yashts 9.9, 13.130, 15.15, 17.29, 19.32). According
past before they came to symbolize the end of the world later
to Yasna 9.4, Yima, the good shepherd, the most glorious of
incorporated into Mazdean eschatology. Söderblom leaned
mortals ever born, looked benevolently on all creatures; his
toward a strictly eschatological meaning of the myth of the
reign was one with neither drought nor heat nor cold, when
vara of Yima and the winter of Mahrkuska; more recently,
food was always plentiful, and when people and animals lived
Geo Widengren has observed that in the few traces of a flood
without want or old age or death. The Vendidad (2.7) says
linked to the myth of Yima two different themes have been
that Ahura Mazda¯ brought Yima the two implements sym-
combined: one of the golden age of Yima, the other of a peri-
bolizing a prosperous reign, a golden seal and a sword en-
od when the more fortunate of humankind took refuge in
crusted with gold. Yima also asked for a thousand-year reign
the vara because winters threatened their existence (Widen-
of immortality in the world created by the Lord. For three
gren, 1968, pp. 70–71). Going over the evidence once again,
hundred years after the creation, the world filled up with hu-
Mary Boyce still finds the narrative of the vara of Yima puz-
mans and animals; then Yima, advancing in the path of the
zling; but she argues that, because the editing of the Vendi-
sun, smote the earth with his seal and pierced it with his
dad in the Parthian period is comparatively recent, the Aves-
sword, and the earth increased in size by a third; he did this
tan story very probably was contaminated by the
again after six hundred winters, and again the earth became
Mesopotamian and biblical stories of the cosmic flood
a third larger; when he had repeated this act yet again, the
(Boyce, 1975, pp. 92–96).
earth was enlarged to three times its original surface (Vendi-
dad 2.7, 2.8–9, 2.10–11, 2.17–19). Thus ends the story of
Ancient Greece. The term golden age (Gr., chruseon
the paradise of Yima, a paradise that in a Pahlavi text, the
genos) comes from the ancient Greek world. In Works and
D¯enkard 8.1.24, is compared to the highest heaven.
Days, Hesiod provided the myth of the Golden Age to which
later Greek and Latin poets would return again and again,
The Avestan text Yashts 19.34–38 describes the fall that
a myth of five races of humans to which correspond five ages
marked the end of this felicity. When Yima began to take
of the world: ages of gold, silver, and bronze, of heroes, and,
pleasure in false and deceitful speech, the khvarenah—the ce-
finally, of iron. Created when Kronos reigned in the heavens,
lestial light, the mark of divinity, the sign of the elect and
the race of gold lived as gods on the earth, perfectly happy
of power—at once abandoned him. He thus lost the three
and secure, sheltered from all woe, fatigue, pain, or illness.
marks of glory associated with the khvarenah, the marks of
The earth gave forth abundantly all things that people de-
the priest, the warrior, and the agriculturalist-herdsman.
sired, and although this first race of humans was not immor-
Seen in the context of Indo-Iranian thought, the loss of these
tal, its death was a mere going to sleep. This age of paradise,
marks represents the loss of the three great Aryan functions
when humans enjoyed the blessing and friendship of the
of sovereignty, power, and fecundity. Confounded and dis-
gods, ended with the fall of Kronos; then Zeus made benevo-
traught, Yima fell to earth and became mortal.
lent gods of these first humans.
The cause of the fall, the “lie against the truth,” is
Plato elaborated on the conditions of this golden age in
stressed in Yashts 19.34; this lie deprived Yima of his aura
the Politics (271c,d–272a); in that age, he says, the gods were
of light and delivered him over defenseless to the Evil Spirit,
responsible for different parts of the cosmos, and demons
who hounded him with demons and forced him to flee. Yima
served as shepherds for the various species and groups of ani-
actually made two mistakes: The first was “the lie and the
mals; the earth’s climate was always temperate, and every-
error,” or druj, condemned by the entire Mazdean tradition
thing was designed to serve men, who lived on fruit picked
and still decried in Manichaeism, for Mani taught that lying
from trees. There were neither cities nor even women or chil-
and deceit constitute the evil that resides in matter and dark-
dren, because they were reborn from the earth without any
ness; the second mistake was the offense to God caused by
memory of earlier lives.
pride (Widengren, 1968, p. 72). Because, in this very ancient
myth, Yima is the archetype of the cosmic king who holds
Horace, Vergil, and Ovid later take up this theme,
sovereignty over the gods and humans, the king of the three
adapting it to the legendary history of Rome; thus Kronos
functions that correspond to the three classes of society, his
will become Saturn and Latium will have the name Ansonia
fall will mark both the cosmos and the human condition.
during the golden age—a time when, according to the Latin
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poets, springtime was perpetual, and, because lying and theft
upon which Zeus has at last imposed himself to an earlier,
did not yet exist, houses had no doors.
primordial chaos; Orphic theogony, on the other hand, pres-
ents a primordial Eros, or Protogonos (“firstborn”), or
Four races will follow that of the golden age. Extremely
Phanes (“light”), that itself creates night, Ouranos, Kronos,
slow in coming to maturity, the silver race will lose the quali-
Zeus, and, finally, Dionysos.
ties of life that characterized the previous age. Although cre-
ated by the Olympian gods, the people of this race could not
Orphic anthropogony, in sources that date from later
refrain from foolish excesses, even refusing to sacrifice to the
antiquity, recounts the myth of a Dionysos torn apart and
gods, and Zeus buried them, transforming them into the
cut to pieces by the Titans, who then divided the dead god
spirits of the underworld. He then created the fearless and
among themselves and ate him. Zeus hurled lightning bolts
warlike race of bronze, a race so given to violence that it de-
at them as a punishment and killed them; he then created
stroyed itself and was followed in its turn by the race of he-
the present race of humans from their ashes. Thus, humans
roes, heroes who founded famous cities, fought beneath the
possess both the evil nature of the Titans and the divine na-
walls of Troy and Thebes, and ended their days in the Isles
ture of Dionysos whom the Titans had assimilated by eating
of the Blessed. At last came the present race of humans, the
him. The Neoplatonist Proclus talks of three races of hu-
race of iron, whose ephemeral and vulnerable existence is
mans: the race of gold ruled by Phanes, the god of the begin-
plagued by illness and want.
ning of things; the silver race over which Kronos was lord;
and the Titanic race, created by Zeus from limbs of Titans
The myth of the races of humans, which recalls the Indi-
whom he had punished for their crime. Plato himself had al-
an myth of the four yugas, is, like it, a myth of decline rather
ready referred to this race, Titanic in origin, who likewise re-
than fall; like the text of the Va¯yu Pura¯n:a, the Hesiodic text
fused to obey both laws and parents, refused to abide by
emphasizes progressive degeneration. Gradually humanity
oaths, and despised the gods. Both Diodorus Siculus and Fir-
loses the virtues and qualities of the primordial period; its
micus Maternus repeat these basic elements of the Orphic
strength and endurance diminish, and finally it loses the lon-
myth; and the dualism of Orphic anthropogony, in which
gevity of the first age. Recent analyses of this myth have also
the story of the Titans is presented as an etiological myth ac-
laid stress on the evil pointed out by Hesiod: human pride,
counting for the present human condition, has been further
the hubris that makes humans refuse to sacrifice to the gods
confirmed by the discovery, in 1962, of the fourth-century
and to defy dike (“justice”).
Dervani Papyrus.
In his Theogony, Hesiod describes the triumph of an or-
Orphism explains the human condition through the du-
dered world over chaos and proclaims the sovereign power
alistic myth of the exiled soul. Humankind is composed of
of Zeus, who imposes himself upon both the universe and
a divine soul, daughter of heaven, and of an evil, Titanic na-
the other Olympian gods, to whom he distributes functions
ture; the tragedy of his condition comes from this mixture,
and privileges. In Works and Days, before recounting the
itself the outcome of an earlier, prehuman crime. Evil is the
myth of the races of humankind, he tells the story of Pando-
legacy of an event that stands at the origin of the mixed
ra, the first woman, created by Zeus’s command to bring
human nature; it originates in the murder of Dionysos, but
punishment upon the human race. All the Olympians joined
that murder signifies both the death of the god and the par-
in making this special gift to humans. Zeus sent her to the
ticipation of his slayers in his divine nature. The original sin,
naive Epimetheus, who was seduced by her beauty and mar-
the sin of the fall, is murder, and with the murder of Diony-
ried her.
sos the soul experiences a brutal descent into a body that be-
At pains to stress how humans had originally enjoyed
comes its prison (see Ricoeur, 1960, pp. 264–279).
the earth free from troubles, weariness, or illness, Hesiod
The myth of Deukalion and Pyrrha presents the Greek
now relates that Pandora had barely arrived on earth when
version of the flood, but the fragmentary Greek texts do not
she was devoured by curiosity to learn the contents of the
give Zeus’s reasons for suppressing humankind. However, as
vase she had brought with her and lifted its lid, thus sending
Roman mythology disappeared, it absorbed Greek mytholo-
throughout the world all the present and future afflictions
gy (a phenomenon discussed by Georges Dumézil, La reli-
and woes of humankind, leaving only hope at the bottom
gion romaine archaïque, 2d ed., Paris, 1974, pp. 63–75), and
of the vase when she replaced the lid. Henceforth, innumera-
it is therefore legitimate to seek Zeus’s reasons in Roman my-
ble miseries will plague humanity, and thus, Hesiod con-
thology, especially in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, which provides
cludes, none can escape the plan of Zeus (Works and Days
a fuller account of the Greek version of the flood (Metamor-
90–102, 105). In the myth of Pandora, the themes of hubris
phoses 1.230, 7.352–356). Taking up the Hesiodic theme of
and fate come together, and the description of the fall shows
the ages of the world, Ovid emphasizes that humans were
the fundamental link between divine will and human fate.
progressively perverted by crime and lust. Zeus, before hu-
Orpheus seems to be a figure of the archaic religious
manity’s destruction, visited Lycaon, king of Arcadia, who
type that, in certain traditions, is thrown back to the earliest
served him a feast of human flesh; outraged and at the end
time; he stands in sharp contrast to the Olympian gods. He-
of his patience, Zeus swept away all creatures, cities, almost
siod’s theogony and cosmogony oppose an ordered world
the whole of earth itself, in the flood. Only one couple, De-
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FALL, THE
ukalion and his wife, Pyrrha, were saved, and from them
Pleroma is the union of the Aeons that emanate from the All
Zeus re-created the race.
and constitute, with the First Father, the harmonious uni-
verse of peace and light.
WORLD RELIGIONS. Each of the world religions discussed
in this section—Gnosticism and Manichaeism, and the three
The symbol of the fall is omnipresent in gnostic texts;
great monotheisms, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—lend
indeed, the precosmic fall of a portion of the divine principle
great richness to the concept of the fall.
is the underlying reason for the genesis of the cosmos and
humanity (Jonas, 1963). In the different metaphysical specu-
Gnosticism and Manichaeism. From the second cen-
lations that explain this fall, it is generally held that the divine
tury CE onward, Gnosticism, a religious movement com-
principle descended voluntarily, and that guilt came into
posed of a number of different sects, came to maturity
being as the Aeons turned toward the lower world. Turning
throughout the Mediterranean world and in the Near East.
toward matter by a burning desire to know it, the soul then
The central element of Gnostic metaphysical speculation is
sank into it and was swallowed up. Hence, the fall that gave
a dualistic doctrine according to which humanity possesses
birth to the cosmos also imprisoned the soul in matter.
a divine spark that, although originating from on high, has
fallen into matter, into body, which holds it prisoner in the
In Gnostic writings, important groups of symbols sug-
lower world. The myth of the fall, therefore, is an integral
gesting captivity describe the tragic fate of this dualistic, im-
part of Gnostic teaching. Each Gnostic sect offered salvation
prisoned soul. One group of symbols suggests pain or dan-
through its specific creed and rites of initiation into these du-
ger: violence, fear, and the wounds and bites of animals;
alistic mysteries. These constituted its particular gnosis. Un-
another suggests the soul’s forgetfulness: torpor, sleep, death,
derstood only by adherents who were gradually initiated into
darkness, drunkenness, lack of conscience, ignorance. As a
it, the gnosis brought about an identity of the initiate with
snake’s bite causes an infection that debilitates the body, so
the means of his salvation and with divine substance.
the poison of darkness causes an infection of the soul that
makes it lose awareness of its divine origin. In a frequently
Because it claims to possess the most perfect gnosis,
used image, the soul falls asleep in matter, and the gnostic
Manichaeism holds a special place in the spectrum of gnostic
message strives to awaken it; hence, gnosticism attaches great
thought. Its founder, Mani (216–276), taught that, as the
importance to its call. Also characteristic of gnostic writings
transmitter of the gnosis, he was the greatest of the prophets
are the images used by Valentinus when describing the be-
and the ultimate revelation, sent by the Holy Spirit, after the
havior of Sophia (“wisdom”) after she had fallen into error.
trials and failures of his predecessors—most notably
The youngest Aeon of the Pleroma, Sophia was the cause of
Zarathushtra, the Buddha, and Jesus—to establish the
her own fall, through the passion that carried her away—the
church of the end of time, the church of light, and to provide
origin of a fall that brought about the lower world of the
the definitive revelation that would enlighten all people. Ac-
Demiurge, who created the material world.
cording to Mani, the soul, a spark detached from divine light
and held prisoner by matter, must tear itself away from the
A true religious genius endowed with uncommon imag-
darkness of the body in order to return to the realm of light
ination, Mani brought together a number of Eastern cosmo-
where it had originated.
gonic myths and from them produced a synthesis in which
the entire range of dualistic cosmogony, soteriology, and es-
The Manichaean gnosis offers the clearest conception of
chatology is included.
the beginning, the middle, and the end, the three divisions
In the beginning, Mani taught, the Prince of Darkness,
of time. In the beginning, there existed two radically opposed
jealous and envious of the Father, hurled a war cry against
natures, darkness and light, eternal and unborn principles.
the realm of light, signaling the beginning of a gigantic cos-
These two natures created two earths, two different realms.
mic conflict. Primordial Man, the first emanation of the Fa-
The realm of light is located on high, in a city of incompara-
ther, marched against the forces of darkness, but he was
ble beauty, in the house of the Father of Greatness; the
wounded and defeated and fell among the archons (cosmic
breath of the spirit breathes life and light throughout this
rulers). This was the fall, the moment when the living soul,
realm, where all things exude blessing and peace. But be-
the divine portion of Primordial Man, was engulfed by dark-
neath this realm, and separated from it by an impregnable
ness; it was also the beginning of the second division of time,
border, lies the realm of darkness, the domain of matter and
the middle, when divinity fell into matter and humanity’s
of demons, a realm governed by the Prince of Lies. Obvious-
mixed nature became fixed. Henceforth, salvation became an
ly, the Manichaean gnosis presents the golden age within a
imperious necessity. The liberation of Primordial Man from
context of radical gnostic dualism.
this fallen state is the prototype of the salvation of each soul;
In other forms of gnosis, dualism appears against a mo-
and the second emanation of the Father, the Living Spirit
nistic background, because the world on high—everlasting,
(also called the Friend of Light or the Great Architect), ex-
immutable, and incorruptible—is held to have existed before
tends his right hand to Primordial Man and leads him back
the lower world. Indeed, many gnostic writings speak of the
to the realm of light. But the fall has permanent conse-
Pleroma, of the world on high in all its plenitude, emanating
quences, because a part of the light remains captive in the
from a being that is the source of all things. The gnostic
lower realm.
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The first moment of middle time, the moment of the
although the creation of the world and of animal and vegeta-
fall, is followed by the moment of the creation and the free-
ble life are all deemed “good,” the crowning work in the be-
ing of another part of light, as part of the punishment of the
ginning is the creation of humankind.
archons. The Living Spirit chained down the archons and cut
The second, so-called Yahvistic, creation story (Gn. 2:4–
them to pieces; from their skins he made the vault of heaven,
25) does not talk of the creation of the earth and sky but
from their bones the mountains, from their flesh and excre-
rather of a desert made fertile by Yahveh; it stresses God’s
ment the earth, and from the light taken from them he creat-
action, his fashioning the first man from clay and breathing
ed the sun, moon, and stars. When a Third Messenger de-
the breath of life into his nostrils. It is in the Yahvistic story
scended from on high in the form of a luminous virgin, the
that God plants a garden in Eden, where humans are the
semen of the archons excited by this apparition fell on the
creatures of unequaled importance, the rest of creation being
earth and produced trees and vegetation. Animals were next
made in relation to them. Together, the two stories of cre-
created, and finally the first couple was born, the work of de-
ation provide genetic explanations of important aspects of
mons. This couple was Adam and Eve, creatures of mixed
the human condition; in both, huamity occupies a privileged
nature whose posterity nonetheless carried with it the greater
position in creation. The biblical stories stress that humanity
part of light.
is free and not controlled by fate.
The third moment of middle time is the moment of the
In Hebrew, the word gan—paradeisos in Greek (related
messengers of the gnosis, the moment of true and divine hy-
to the Iranian paridaida)—designates the place where, ac-
postasis brought about by the fourth emanation of the Fa-
cording to Genesis 2:8, God placed humanity. The Yahvistic
ther, Jesus the Splendid, a transcendent, cosmic being, fifth
creation story speaks of an arid land on which Yahveh caused
Greatness of the Realm, the life and salvation of humanity.
rain to fall, after which he took man and placed him in the
Messengers of the gnosis have followed one after another
garden of Eden, created especially for him. This paradise ap-
from Sethel, the son of Adam, to Jesus (here considered as
pears as an oasis in the Oriental desert, although its name
a historical figure), who both announced and sent the final
is linked by some scholars to the Sumerian word edin, for
messenger, Mani. Hence, everything was made ready for the
which several Assyrologists read “plain” or “countryside.”
third division of time, the end, when all things will become
The word paradeisos adopted by the Greek Bible denotes the
as they had been at the beginning, and the total separation
pleasure gardens and royal hunting lands of Iran and Asia
of the realms of darkness and light will be reestablished.
Minor. For the Greek reader the word suggests a garden of
The Eastern myths of the fall brought together by Mani
fruits and fruit trees. Certainly the biblical garden is the ar-
constitute one great myth of the fall and redemption of the
chetype of all regions of luxuriant vegetation (Gn. 13:10, Is.
divine soul. Each human soul is part of the divine soul that
51:3, Ez. 31:8).
is partly imprisoned in bodies, partly in plants, trees, and
The text of Genesis 2:10–14, which mentions the four
earth; in all its imprisoned parts, that divine soul is the soul
rivers flowing out of Eden, is clearly intended to locate the
of the world and the third representation of Jesus, Jesus pati-
garden symbolically at the center of the cosmos; a story in
bilis. In the great Manichaean myth of the fall is found the
Mesopotamian mythology also places a divine residence at
gnostic myth of the exiled soul; but, in contrast to most gnos-
the source of rivers. The biblical text seeks to establish a rela-
tic creeds, in Manichaeism the soul is not responsible for its
tionship between a divine garden and a human earth, thereby
fall and exile in the body, because that exile is a part of a
emphasizing the marvelous fertility of humanity’s first home.
greater, cosmic fall of light. To this cosmic myth of the fall
The garden of Eden is also characterized by the presence of
corresponds the cosmic salvation by a gnosis accessible to in-
two special trees—the tree of life and the tree of the knowl-
dividual souls in a church that is both the location and the
edge of good and evil (Gn. 2:16–17). The tree of life is part
means of individual salvation, a church charged with pro-
of a larger Mesopotamian group of symbols, known through
claiming the message of the fall and issuing the call to salva-
a number of texts. The tree of the knowledge of good and
tion, as well as awakening human souls and initiating them
evil, however, has no parallel in any other ancient text; it is
into the dualistic mysteries.
specific to the Yahvistic story of creation and stresses the rela-
Judaism. Central to the biblical message is the view that
tionship between life and obedience to God.
the creation of humankind and the cosmos is the work of a
Adam and Eve enjoy a life of paradise in the garden, liv-
unique and transcendent God who freely willed and effected
ing together in harmony and at peace with the animals, as
a creation that also marks the beginning of time.
in Mesopotamian myths of the golden age. Both the Yahvis-
Two different stories of the creation are given in Genesis.
tic and the sacerdotal text stress the privileged situation of
The Bible opens with the so-called sacerdotal account of the
humans in Eden—their intimacy with God, their hope of
creation, “the work of six days” (Gn. 1:1–31, 2:1–3). In this
immortality, suggested by the tree of life—and evoke the
cosmogony, primordial chaos is replaced by order through
harmony that exists there, seen in humanity’s relations with
the creative power of God’s word. The sacerdotal account
the rest of creation and its life of ease. The presence in Eden
emphasizes the transcendence of the creator God and pres-
of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil shows that obe-
ents his creative activity in an order of ascending importance;
dience to God is essential to maintaining this privileged situ-
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FALL, THE
ation. The biblical text emphasizes considerations that are
vistic and its sacerdotal forms, the biblical story is very differ-
absent in all other myths of the golden age—considerations
ent from the Mesopotamian one. The latter sees in the flood
of freedom, of moral choice in the face of good and evil.
simply the decree of gods annoyed with a despised humanity.
Through a choice of its own, humanity decides its standing
In the Bible, the memory of the flood serves as the prototype
before God and at the same time the direction of its destiny.
of God’s judgment against a sinful humankind; the human
situation as a responsible being is stressed, and humanity is
The testing of humanity in Eden is related to the prob-
not abandoned to the blows of blind destiny. In this myth
lem of human freedom. In mythical language, Genesis 2–3
of the universal fall, a new alliance is foreseen, in which
describes the situation of humans in the world and in the face
Urzeit leads to Endzeit.
of God. The garden of Eden is the place where humanity
lives in easy familiarity with God, but it is also the symbolic
Genesis 6:1–4 contains the story of the benei Elohim who
microcosm where its has been given mastery, and where it
take the daughters of humans as wives. This unusual text pre-
enjoys the free use of all other created things; thus the con-
supposes an oral tradition and possibly other written texts.
quest and humanization of the world will become the condi-
It appears as a preface to the flood and may be interpreted
tion of its vocation. The prohibition against eating from the
as further evidence of the sins that will provoke the flood,
tree of knowledge belongs to another order, for it deals with
but it is also the starting point for numerous speculations
the basic human appreciation of the value of earthly things
about the fall of the angels. The rabbinical interpretation has
and of the human situation before God (Gn. 3:5–6). It will
seen in the benei Elohim, “the sons of God,” angels who
bring about humankind’s fall from paradise.
sinned with the daughters of humans and were for that rea-
The story of Eden stresses the primordial couple’s dis-
son shut up in the depths of the earth; at the last judgment,
obedience to God and their expulsion from the garden, and
they will be thrown into the fire.
it emphasizes that they lost the privileged status of Eden for
Christianity. Allusions to humanity’s fall appear
themselves and for their descendants. Thus, their sin is pres-
throughout the New Testament, although the Gospels speak
ented as the prototype of that part of human sin that is uni-
of it only in Matthew 19:4–6, Mark 10:6–8, and John 3:5
versal. The essence of hubris is the desire to be like God;
and 8:41–44. It was Paul who was especially interested in the
when this desire becomes action, the fall takes place and ush-
relationship between the fall and sin. In chapters 1–3 of Ro-
ers in the woes of humankind. The Yahvistic document as-
mans, he asserts that no one can escape the domination of
serts both directly and symbolically that human experience
sin, and in chapter 7 he gives a lengthy description of the
of evil had an absolute beginning, a beginning that coincides
human condition in the earthly paradise, where as yet hu-
with the beginning of human history, the history of freedom.
mans knew neither covetousness nor death, and contrasts
Although the first exercise of that freedom resulted in disas-
this with the actual condition to which they have been re-
ter, through it humanity inaugurated the drama of choice
duced by sin and death. He asserts that the actual human
that gives particular significance to human life and its rela-
condition comes from the first sin, the sin of Adam and Eve
tionship to God. Subsequent biblical books and apocryphal
in the earthly paradise (Rom. 7:13–15); and in 1 Corinthians
texts repeatedly return to these lessons of the fall (Ez. 28; Dt.
15:21–22, he opposes the first Adam, the author of death,
30:15–20; Prv. 3:2, 3:22, 6:15, 10:25; Sir. 37:3; Wis. 1:13–
to Christ, the second Adam, the author of life. In general,
14, 10:1–2).
Paul sees in the story of Eden not only humanity’s hereditary
The editors of chapters 4–11 of Genesis saw in the fall
punishment of suffering and death but also its hereditary fall-
of humanity in Eden not only the loss of paradise and the
en state, a state of sin transmitted to all humankind.
transformation of the human condition but also the source
of a whole series of evils that subsequently beset humankind.
Islam. The QurDa¯n demonstrates the importance Islam
Thus, at each stage in the rise of civilization and the institu-
attaches to the idea of God the creator, the all-powerful. God
tionalization of the social developments that formed human
is the creator (al-kha¯liq), the creator par excellence
lives in antiquity, the biblical text notes humanity’s corrup-
(al-khalla¯q); all things are created by virtue of the divine reso-
tion, variously described as fratricidal war, polygamy, desert
lution that precedes their appearance. The QurDa¯n describes
warfare, or the division of nations and tongues (Gn. 4:8,
a God who creates through his word, a word that is creative,
4:19, 4:23–24, 11:5–9). Since the fall, evil is born in the
eternal, and ever present (su¯rahs 11:9 and 41:8–11).
hearts of humans and always remains at the heart of history,
God created humankind and called it khal¯ıfah, vicar or
an inevitable force in human affairs.
viceroy (2:28). Adam, khal¯ıfat Alla¯h, vicar of a God who had
The most important biblical event having the character-
placed him at the center of the world, is the preeminent crea-
istics of a universal fall is the flood (Gn. 6:5–8:14). The story
ture, although, made of mud and clay, it owes everything to
of Noah in the Bible reinforces elements of the Epic of Gil-
God (15:26). Many verses of the QurDa¯n stress the preemi-
gamesh, but its editors have taken over and reinterpreted
nent dignity of humanity; even the angels must bow down
Mesopotamian themes in order to transform them into an
before humankind (2:32), and when the evil angel Ibl¯ıs re-
episode in sacred history and to show the progressive degen-
fuses to do so, God damns him and Ibl¯ıs falls, followed by
eration of humanity that justifies the flood. In both its Yah-
other angels (15:26–35, 17:63–67). The continuing work of
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FALL, THE
2969
creation is also stressed by the QurDa¯n; because every person
where sought to explain their present condition through the
is made by God, the activity of God the creator is permanent.
contrast it provides to their supposed primordial condition;
in light of that contrast, they have also classified and inter-
God put Adam and his wife in the midst of a garden
preted their mythical, historical, and symbolic heritage and
where they could take fruit from the trees, but he forbade
related these to sacred history.
them to approach one tree, under pain of falling among sin-
ners (2:33). But the demon made Adam and his wife sin by
SEE ALSO Ages of the World; Death; Evil; Flood, The; Gar-
eating fruit from that tree and thereby caused their expulsion
dens; Golden Age; Paradise.
from the place where God had placed them. God said to
them, “Leave the garden. You are now enemies one of anoth-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
er, and on earth you will have only brief enjoyment, and brief
Baumann, Hermann. Schöpfung und Urzeit des Menschen im My-
lives” (2:34). The episodes in the QurDa¯n concerning Adam
thos der afrikanischen Völker. Berlin, 1936.
are reminiscent of Genesis: his creation out of earth, his title
Boyce, Mary. A History of Zoroastrianism, vol. 1. Leiden, 1975.
of vicar, his temptation, fall, and expulsion from paradise.
Dexinger, Ferdinand. Sturz der Göttersöhne oder Engel vor der Sint-
Only the episode of Ibl¯ıs is not found in the Bible.
flut. Vienna, 1966.
Su¯rah 7 mentions the story of the fall and punishment
Eliade, Mircea. Patterns in Comparative Religion. New York, 1958.
(7:21–24). Here it is the demon who suggests that humans
Eliade, Mircea. “Nostalgia for Paradise in the Primitive Tradi-
break the divine prohibition in order to obtain immortality.
tions.” In his Myths, Dreams and Mysteries. New York, 1960.
After Adam has sinned, God declares that henceforth men
Feldmann, Joseph. Paradies und Sündenfall. Münster, 1913.
born of the first couple will be enemies one of another (2:34,
Frazer, James G. Folklore in the Old Testament. 3 vols. London,
7:23, 20:21), and the QurDa¯n relates the first fratricidal strug-
1919.
gle, between two unnamed sons of Adam whom later Mus-
Jonas, Hans. The Gnostic Religion. 2d rev. ed. Boston, 1963.
lim authors call Qa¯b¯ıl and Ha¯b¯ıl.
Kákosy, L. “Ideas about the Fallen State of the World in Egyptian
Noah appears in the QurDa¯n as a great prophet who op-
Religion: Decline of the Golden Age.” Acta Orientalia (Bu-
poses unbelievers (11:27–36, 23:23–26). He receives from
dapest) 17 (1964): 205–216.
God the command to build an ark in order to survive the
Kramer, Samuel Noah. History Begins at Sumer (1957). 3d ed.
flood; but, contrary to Genesis, which stresses the universal
Philadelphia, 1981.
character of the flood, the QurDa¯n appears to restrict divine
Lambert, W. G., and A. R. Millard. Atra-Hasis: The Babylonian
punishment to Noah’s own people, who had become impi-
Story of the Flood. Oxford, 1968.
ous. The QurDa¯n treats their punishment as both a warning
Otto, Eberhard. “Das goldene Zeitalter in einem aegyptischen
and a sign.
Text.” In his Religions en Egypte hellénistique et romaine.
Paris, 1969.
CONCLUSION. Reflection on the fall is a constant preoccupa-
Ricoeur, Paul. La symbolique du mal. 2 vols. Paris, 1960. Translat-
tion of homo religiosus. In his “nostalgia for beginnings,” he
ed as The Symbolism of Evil (Boston, 1967).
turns instinctively toward a primordial, sacred history, where
he finds a golden age that corresponds to what humankind
Söderblom, Nathan. La vie future d’apres le mazdéisme à la lumière
des croyances parallèles dans les autres religions. Paris, 1901.
must have been in the beginning. He sees that humanity’s
present situation no longer corresponds to that of the golden
Thomas, Louis-Vincent. La mort africaine. Paris, 1982.
age, and he strives to explain the accident that has taken place
Widengren, Geo. Les religions de l’Iran. Paris, 1968.
and the consequences of that accident, of that break with pri-
New Sources
mordial harmony.
Blocher, Henri. Original Sin: Illuminating the Riddle. New Studies
in Biblical Theology. Downers Grove, Ill., 2001.
This article has sought to present the theme of the fall
Clatworthy, Jonathan. “Let the Fall Down: The Environmental
as it appears in the religious thought of the greater part of
Implications of the Doctrine of the Fall.” Ecotheology 4 (Jan-
humankind, although it has been necessary to limit the dis-
uary 1998): 27–35.
cussion of myths of the fall to those that describe the fall in
Korsmeyer, Jerry. Evolution and Eden: Balancing Original Sin and
relation to a supposed golden age—an age that has haunted
Contemporary Science. New York, 1998.
human memory—and that locates humanity’s fall and its
present condition between Urzeit and Endzeit. Most of this
Linzey, Andrew. “Unfinished Creation: The Moral and Theologi-
cal Significance of the Fall.” Ecotheology 4 (January 1998):
article’s attention was given to myths of the human fall; but,
20–27.
when pertinent, myths of a cosmic fall, or of the fall of lesser
Minois, Georges. Les origines du mal: une histroie du péché originel.
deities, have also been considered.
Paris, 2002.
Nostalgia for the beginning of things is clearly a perma-
Norman, Andrew. “Regress and the Doctrine of Epistemic Origi-
nent feature of humankind’s collective memory, and repre-
nal Sin.” Philosophy Quarterly 47 (October 1997): 477–495.
sentation of a golden age provides the archetype through
Rees, G. “The Anxiety of Inheritance: Reinhold Niebuhr and the
which that nostalgia is repeatedly expressed. As can be seen
Literal Truth of Original Sin.” Journal of Religious Ethics 31
by the study of various peoples and cultures, peoples every-
(spring 2003): 75–100.
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2970
FALSAFAH
Suchocki, Marjorie. The Fall to Violence: Original Sin in Relational
ic theologians, particularly those who followed the school of
Theology. New York, 1994.
kala¯m of al-AshEar¯ı (d. 935). At issue between falsafah and
Wetzel, James. “Moral Personality, Perversity, and Original Sin.”
kala¯m was not the question of God’s existence; rather, the
Journal of Religious Ethics 23 (spring 1995): 3–26.
question was the nature of God.
Williams, Patricia. Doing without Adam and Eve: Sociobiology and
Another difference between them was historical. Kala¯m
Original Sin. Minneapolis, 2001.
antedated falsafah; its beginnings are traceable to the period
JULIEN RIES (1987)
of the Umayyad caliphate (AH 41–132/661–750 CE) and
Translated from French by Jeffrey Haight and Annie S. Mahler
more definitely, to the second half of the eighth century.
Revised Bibliography
Moreover, it arose out of religious and political conflicts
within Islam. Although subject to foreign influences, partic-
ularly Greek thought, kala¯m’s modes of argument and per-
FALSAFAH.
spectives remained to a great extent indigenous. Falsafah, on
The term falsafah is the Arabized loan word
the other hand, was the direct result of a concerted effort to
from the Greek philosophia, “love of wisdom,” and hence in
translate Greek science and philosophy into Arabic begin-
its general sense simply means “philosophy.” It is, however,
ning early in the ninth century. The first Islamic philoso-
also used (as it will be in this account) in a more specific sense
pher, al-Kind¯ı, it should be noted, died around 870.
as an abbreviation of the expression al-falsafah al-isla¯m¯ıyah,
“Islamic philosophy.” Similarly, the general Arabic word for
Falsafah was thus rooted in Greek philosophy, or more
“philosophers,” fala¯sifah (sg., faylasu¯f), is used more specifi-
accurately, Greek philosophy in its translated form. The
cally as an abbreviation for the expression al-fala¯sifah
fala¯sifah regarded themselves not only as guardians of the
al-isla¯m¯ıyu¯n, “the Islamic philosophers.”
truths arrived at by the ancient Greek philosophers but also
Because for many Muslims, past and present, falsafah re-
as participants in a continuous quest after truth: As al-Kind¯ı
mains at best doctrinally suspect, the sense in which it will
expressed it, the attainment of truth is difficult and requires
be referred to here as “Islamic” requires clarification. This
the cooperative efforts of generations past and present. Thus,
term, as applied to falsafah and fala¯sifah, will first of all be
the fala¯sifah did not simply accept ideas they received
used in a broad cultural sense, for falsafah was developed
through the translations. They criticized, selected, and reject-
within an Islamic cultural milieu by men whose culture was
ed; they made distinctions, refined and remolded concepts
Islamic. This cultural use of the term Islamic is implicit in
to formulate their own philosophies. But the conceptual
medieval Arabic usage. Thus, for example, one famous intel-
building blocks, so to speak, of these philosophies remained
lectual who condemned some of the fala¯sifah as “infidels”
Greek.
nonetheless referred to them as “Islamic,” while another in-
THE TRANSLATION MOVEMENT. Although there are indica-
cluded among the Islamic philosophers the Christians of
tions that some translations of Greek scientific works were
Baghdad who wrote in Arabic. This latter example calls for
made in the period of the Umayyad caliphate, the translation
a narrowing of the sense in which Islamic will be used, how-
movement properly speaking took place during the caliphate
ever, for in addition to being “Islamic” in the cultural sense,
of the Abbasids, who came to power in 750. Translations
the fala¯sifah were “Islamic” in that they regarded themselves
were undertaken sporadically just after the establishment of
as Muslims, claiming that their conceptions of God and the
Abbasid rule but flourished in the ninth and tenth centuries.
world were consistent with the QurDanic view. Most of them
The ruler who gave this movement its real impetus was the
attempted to demonstrate the harmony between their respec-
caliph al-MaDmu¯n, who ruled from 813 to 833, and his active
tive philosophies and Islamic revelation, and whether such
sponsorship of the translation of Greek philosophy and sci-
attempts proved convincing or not, they represent a charac-
ence into Arabic was continued by his successors and by fam-
teristic feature of falsafah.
ilies attached to the caliphal court. The Bayt al-H:ikmah
(House of Wisdom), a center for scientific activity and trans-
It should be stressed that while the fala¯sifah were theists,
lations that al-MaDmu¯n built in Baghdad, symbolized this
they were not theologians. For a proper understanding of fal-
Abbasid sponsorship of the translation movement.
safah, it must be distinguished from kala¯m, Islamic specula-
tive theology. Both disciplines used reason in formulating
The motives for this concern with translations were var-
their respective conceptions of God and his creation, but
ied. There were practical considerations, such as the need for
they differed in approach and motivation. The starting point
medical and astronomical knowledge. There was also the
of kala¯m was revelation. Reason was used in defending the
probable motive of prestige: The Byzantines could boast of
revealed word and in interpreting the natural order in con-
the Greek philosophical and scientific tradition, and the Ab-
formity with a QurDanic view of creation. With falsafah, the
basids likewise wanted to avail themselves of the intellectual
starting point was reason; the motivation, the quest after “the
treasures of the ancients. This was also a period of intellectual
true nature of things.” The fala¯sifah maintained that this
ferment and genuine interest in learning, and scholars were
quest led them to a demonstrative proof of the existence of
available to undertake the task of translation. In particular,
a first cause of the universe, which they claimed was identical
within the Abbasid realm and close to the heart of their em-
with the God of the QurDa¯n—a claim contested by the Islam-
pire were the Syriac-speaking people, a culture within a cul-
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FALSAFAH
2971
ture who were themselves partly Hellenized. The utilization
the Neoplatonic Theology of Aristotle, a paraphrase of books
of this rich intellectual resource by the intelligent leaders of
4, 5, and 6 of the Enneads, and the work based on Proclus
the Islamic state seemed natural.
known in Arabic as F¯ı mah:d: al-khayr (On the pure good),
which was translated into medieval Latin as the Liber de
Apart from the Syriac-speaking scholars, who were
causis.
mostly Nestorian and Jacobite Christians, there were schol-
ars in the north Syrian city of Harran who also undertook
A substantial body of commentary, particularly on Aris-
translations. The Harranians adhered to the Sabian sect, a
totle, was also translated. Thus such commentators as
religion that included star worship but also had a Greek
Themistius, Simplicius, and Alexander of Aphrodisias were
philosophical base. Among the Christian scholars, there were
influential in the development of falsafah. There was knowl-
two traditions of scholarship. One was the tradition of the
edge of pre-Socratic philosophy and late Stoic philosophy
medical and philosophical school of Alexandria; members of
and logic, and the translations also included a body of medi-
this school seem to have moved in the Umayyad period to
cal works, particularly those of Galen, and mathematical and
Antioch and then in the Abbasid period to Harran and final-
scientific works such as Euclid’s Elements and Ptolemy’s Al-
ly to Baghdad. The other tradition was that of the medical
magest.
school and hospital of the Nestorians of Jund¯ısha¯pu¯r in Per-
AL-KIND¯I AND AL-RA¯Z¯I. The philosophical venture in medi-
sia. Originally a camp for Roman captives built in the third
eval Islam was pioneered in different ways by two remarkable
century CE by the Sasanid emperor Sha¯pu¯r I, Jund¯ısha¯pu¯r
thinkers, Abu¯ Yu¯suf YaEqu¯b al-Kind¯ı and the physician-
became a refuge for Nestorians after the deposition of their
philosopher Abu¯ Bakr al-Ra¯z¯ı (d. 926). Their philosophies,
patriarch, Nestorius, at the Council of Ephesus in 431. The
particularly in their doctrines on the world’s creation and the
school flourished in Sasanid times, and although little is
nature of the Creator, differed radically from the thought of
known about it in the Umayyad period, it became promi-
the major philosophers who succeeded them. As fala¯sifah,
nent under the Abbasids as well; from 765 to 870, its
they were atypical; moreover, they differed radically from
Bakht¯ıshu¯E family provided court physicians for the caliphs.
each other.
Among the early translators, mention must be made of
Ironically, al-Kind¯ı was atypical because his philosophy
Yah:ya¯ ibn al-Bit:r¯ıq (d. 830?); Astat (Eustathius), about
conformed with fundamental, generally accepted Muslim
whom very little is known, but who made a translation of
beliefs. Thus he argued vigorously and at great length to
Aristotle’s Metaphysics, a work known to al-Kind¯ı; and Ibn
prove that the world was created ex nihilo and at a finite mo-
NaE¯ımah al-H:ims:¯ı (d. 835), who translated the very influen-
ment of time in the past relative to the present. He also up-
tial if apocryphal Theology of Aristotle. The best-known and
held the doctrine of bodily resurrection. At the same time,
most influential of the translators was the Nestorian physi-
his writings were thoroughly philosophical in approach and
cian and scholar H:unayn ibn Ish:a¯q (d. 873), who was known
spirit. “We must not,” he insisted, “be ashamed of deeming
for his translations of medical works but who was responsible
truth good and of acquiring truth from wherever it comes,
for translating logical and philosophical treatises as well. Un-
even if it comes from races remote from us and nations dif-
like earlier and some later scholars, H:unayn knew Greek; he
ferent from us” (Ra¯sa Dil al-Kind¯ı al-falsaf¯ıyah, ed. M. A. A.
followed a system of collating Greek manuscripts before
Abu¯ R¯ıdah, Cairo, 1950, p. 103). Al-Kind¯ı was born around
translating and undertook revision of earlier translations
the year 800 in Kufa. Little is known about his education
from the Syriac. He worked with a team of other translators,
except that he was associated with Christian translators and
who included his son Ish:a¯q, his nephew H:ubaysh, and EIsa¯
the caliphs who sponsored the translation movement. He
ibn Yah:ya¯. Among the Harranians the most important trans-
alights on the philosophical scene quite unexpectedly, yet
lator was Tha¯bit ibn Qurrah (d. 901), who also wrote a com-
with full confidence, betraying none of the hesitancy of the
mentary on Aristotle’s Physics. Later translators included
novice. Like the Islamic philosophers who succeeded him,
Qust:a¯ ibn Lu¯qa¯ (d. 912?), also noted for his treatise The Dif-
he was also a physician and a scientist, and the range of his
ference between Soul and Spirit, Abu¯ EUthma¯n SaE¯ıd
learning was encyclopedic.
al-Dimashq¯ı (d. 900), the logician Abu¯ Bishr Matta¯
Of his numerous writings, only a few treatises, philo-
(d. 940), Yah:ya¯ ibn EAd¯ı (d. 974), Ibn ZurEah (d. 1008), and
sophical and scientific, have survived. Fortunately, these in-
Ibn al-Khamma¯r (d. 1020).
clude the very important work On First Philosophy, a relative-
The three ancient philosophers who conditioned the
ly long treatise consisting of four chapters. In the first,
rise and development of falsafah were Plato, Aristotle, and
al-Kind¯ı offers an introduction to philosophy, which he de-
Plotinus. As with medieval western Europe, Aristotle was the
fines as “knowledge of things in their true nature, to the ex-
most authoritative figure; his influence lay in the realms of
tent of man’s capability.” The chapter is also a justification
logic, physics, and metaphysics. Plato, whose thought was
and promotion of its pursuit: Philosophy’s ultimate concern,
known largely through the expositions of others, particularly
he argues, is the quest after “the True One,” the supreme
the translated works of the physician Galen, had his greatest
good, the cause of all things.
influence on the political philosophy of the fala¯sifah. Ploti-
The chapters that follow constitute a remarkable piece
nus was likewise known indirectly, through two main works,
of vigorous, sustained argument. Most of the second chapter
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2972
FALSAFAH
is devoted to proving the creation of the world ex nihilo at
times, was born in 865 in the Persian town of Rayy, and he
a distant but finite past. The argument rests on a basic prem-
practiced medicine there as well as in Baghdad. Very few of
ise, the impossibility of an infinite magnitude. Al-Kind¯ı be-
his philosophical works have survived, and consequently,
gins by arguing that an infinite body is impossible. If one
much of his philosophical thought has to be reconstructed
supposes the existence of such a body, he maintains, then
from medieval Islamic accounts that are, for the most part,
theoretically it is possible to remove from it a finite part.
highly critical of his ideas.
What remains would also be infinite, but less than the origi-
In his cosmogony, al-Ra¯z¯ı was greatly influenced by
nal infinite by the amount of the finite body removed. The
Plato’s Timaeus. The world, he holds, was created at a finite
consequence would then be the existence of two unequal in-
moment in time, but not out of nothing. As with Plato, cre-
finities, amounting, for al-Kind¯ı, to a contradiction. But if
ation for al-Ra¯z¯ı means the imposing of order on disorder.
a body must be finite, he then tries to show, time and motion
He subscribes to the doctrine of the five eternal principles:
must also be finite. The temporal existence of the world
atomic matter, space, time, the world soul, and the Creator.
could not then go back to infinity; it must have a temporal
The atoms, flitting about in disorder, are given order by God
beginning. Moreover, he argues, creation in time cannot
at a moment in time. The now-organized atoms allow the
simply mean that a static world (and hence a world outside
world soul to join matter and to become individuated by it,
time) was put into motion at some past finite moment rela-
forming individual living beings. Just as this ordering of the
tive to the present. A body by definition, he argues, must be
atoms, that is, creation, came about at a finite moment of
in motion; a static world is a contradiction in terms. Hence
time in the past, the order will cease at a finite moment of
not only did the world begin at a finite moment in the past,
time in the future when the five eternal principles revert to
but it came into being out of nothing.
their original state. Al-Ra¯z¯ı offers discussions of atomic mat-
Having proved the doctrine of creation ex nihilo to his
ter, absolute space, and absolute time that are scientific in
own satisfaction, al-Kind¯ı then offers a proof for the exis-
spirit and approach. But when it comes to explaining ulti-
tence of God, “the True One,” and an investigation of the
mates, namely, the reason for the world’s creation, he resorts
nature of this oneness. The Neoplatonic influences on this
to myth, and his philosophy is noted for its myth of creation.
part of the treatise are very manifest, particularly in
For al-Ra¯z¯ı, creation poses two related questions: Why
al-Kind¯ı’s exposition of the nature of divine oneness. The
is it that the world was created at one particular moment of
proof for God’s existence is a causal one, based, however, on
time and not at any other, and why was the world created
the phenomenon of plurality and unity in the world. The
at all? In answering the first, al-Ra¯z¯ı holds that it is precisely
proof, given in a short version and a lengthy one, is quite
because all the moments of time are similar that God’s choice
elaborate. The fundamental point al-Kind¯ı makes is that the
of one moment rather than another was utterly free. If the
unity that one experiences in things and that is the cause of
moments of time were not similar, then his choice of one
plurality does not belong essentially to things; it is a deriva-
moment rather than another would have been determined
tive, accidental unity. He then argues that it must derive ulti-
by “a giver of preponderance” (murajjih:) outside him. Hence
mately from a being who is essentially one and the only being
it is because the Creator’s will is utterly free that he arbitrarily
who is essentially one. This is the True One who bestows ac-
chooses one moment for his creation to take place. It is in
cidental unities on things. The giver of this unity is the giver
his answer to the second question that al-Ra¯z¯ı provides his
of existence.
famous myth.
In this and other treatises, al-Kind¯ı also makes state-
The world soul became infatuated with matter and
ments about prophecy and the nature of revelation. These
sought union with it. To achieve this union, the soul endeav-
are not detailed statements, but the ones concerning prophe-
ored to give disorganized matter form. Matter, however, re-
cy are suggestive of the kind of developed theories encoun-
sisted this forming activity of the soul, leaving the latter in
tered later on in the thought of al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı and Ibn S¯ına¯ (Avi-
sorrow. God, being powerful and compassionate, then inter-
cenna). Thus, anticipating Ibn S¯ına¯, al-Kind¯ı argues that
vened to help the soul and introduced form, order to the ma-
prophetic knowledge is received “instantaneously,” requiring
terial atoms; in other words, he created the world. In creating
neither intellectual exertion on the part of the prophet nor
humankind, God endowed humans with reason, an emana-
the disciplines of mathematics and logic. In conformity with
tion of his very essence, so that the soul would awake from
generally accepted Islamic belief, al-Kind¯ı maintains that the
its bodily slumber and seek a return to its original eternal ex-
inimitability of the QurDa¯n lies in the excellence of its literary
istence. This, for al-Ra¯z¯ı, is salvation. At some finite moment
expression, in the way it conveys divine truths directly and
in the future, all people’s souls, awakened by philosophy, will
succinctly.
shun their bodies. The individual souls then will reunite with
the eternal world soul, and the atoms will resume their chaot-
Although al-Kind¯ı had followers, notably al-Sarakhs¯ı
ic state for eternity.
(d. 899), properly speaking it cannot be said that he founded
a school of philosophical thought. The same is true of the
Salvation, as defined by al-Ra¯z¯ı, is possible only through
major faylasu¯f to succeed him, al-Ra¯z¯ı. Abu¯ Bakr Zakar¯ıya¯D
philosophy. He thus maintains that there is no need for
al-Ra¯z¯ı (Rhazes), one of the foremost physicians of medieval
prophets. All people are capable of pursuing truth through
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FALSAFAH
2973
reason. The fact that many do not pursue this rational course
gence and the sphere of the fixed stars. Successive intelli-
is not due to inability, but to willful choice. He further ar-
gences repeat this cognitive process, causing the existence of
gues that it would also be unjust for the Creator to favor ei-
the spheres of the planets, the sun, the moon, and finally,
ther one individual or one nation with prophethood. The
from the last of the intelligences, the Active Intellect, which
mistaken belief that God has favored individuals and nations
is this world, the world of generation and corruption.
with prophets has caused nothing but strife, so that, al-Ra¯z¯ı
maintains, for the most part wars are caused by religion. If
This entire cosmic order is rational and harmonious,
to this is added that al-Ra¯z¯ı also subscribed to a theory of
with each sphere governed by an intelligence. Humanity in
the transmigration of souls, one can see why his ideas did not
the world of generation and corruption, endowed with rea-
find favor within Islam. Nonetheless, he helped the fermen-
son and free will, must actualize its potentialities and attain
tation of philosophical ideas, and the responses to his philos-
the highest good, happiness. This is achieved when in their
ophy constitute a body of intense argument, philosophical
way of life people emulate the rational cosmic order, but they
and theological.
can only do this in the society of others. Hence they must
strive to form a society that is itself in tune with the rational
Apart from the intrinsic interest of their philosophies,
cosmic order, a hierarchical society ruled by reason, where
both al-Kind¯ı and al-Ra¯z¯ı showed in their respective ways
the various ranks actualize their potentialities in harmony.
how philosophizing is possible within medieval Islam, and
thus they prepared the ground for the flowering of falsafah
In order to achieve this ideal political order, which
in medieval Islam.
al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı refers to as “virtuous,” its first ruler must be both
A
a philosopher and a prophet, an individual who receives the
L-FA¯RA¯B¯I AND IBN S¯INA¯. In the tenth and early eleventh
centuries, Islamic philosophical thought was dominated by
revealed law. Because this law is received from the Active In-
two intellectual giants, al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı (d. 950) and Ibn S¯ına¯
tellect in the form of images that symbolize universal philo-
(d. 1037). Their philosophies have much in common, but
sophical knowledge or represent particular examples of it,
remain quite distinct. Al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı, born shortly after 870 in
revelation is the “imitation” of philosophy, a copy of it in
Transoxania, studied and taught in Baghdad until 942. He
images and symbols that the nonphilosopher can under-
studied logic with the Nestorian logician Yuh:anna¯ ibn
stand. Revelation and philosophy are thus in total harmony.
Hayla¯n (d. 910) and was associated with Abu¯ Bishr Matta¯
Another necessary condition for achieving a virtuous politi-
ibn Yu¯nus, who was another renowned Nestorian logician.
cal regime, however, is that the philosopher-ruler must be
He also studied Arabic grammar with Ibn al-Sarra¯j (d. 929),
endowed with exceptional practical powers, for it is necessary
a leading grammarian of the period. In 942, for reasons not
to persuade, lead, and educate a majority of citizens incapa-
fully known, he left Baghdad for Syria, and he seems to have
ble of philosophical understanding. In fact, the philosopher-
lived the remaining years of his life in relative seclusion in
ruler must not address the nonphilosophical majority in
Damascus, where he died.
philosophical language.
The foremost logician of his time, al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı wrote com-
Al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı’s political philosophy is comprehensive, de-
mentaries on Aristotle’s Organon and on other works of Aris-
tailed, and subtle. It includes, for example, detailed discus-
totle and other Greek writers. He was medieval Islam’s great-
sion of the existence of nonvirtuous states, the majority of
est musical theorist and musicologist and is reputed to have
which he characterizes as “ignorant” because they are led by
been a skilled instrumentalist. He developed a Neoplatonic
people who are ignorant of the true nature of happiness.
emanative scheme that greatly influenced the development
While his view is certainly Platonic in its essentials, one
of emanative systems by his Islamic successors. But perhaps
meets in al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı a tendency toward universalism that is less
above all else, he was the founder of a Platonic theory of the
perceptible in Plato. Thus al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı does not speak only of
state that was adopted (with variations) by the major fala¯sifah
the virtuous “city” but also of a desirable nation consisting
who succeeded him. It should be noted, however, that his
of virtuous “cities” and of a desirable world consisting of vir-
philosophical writings pose problems of dating and raise the
tuous “nations.” He also maintains that inasmuch as people
question of whether they always reflect his real views.
in different parts of the world differ in language and in their
symbols, it is quite possible that the differences among reli-
For al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı, the world is an eternal emanation from
gions are merely differences in symbols, not in what is being
God, forming a hierarchically ordered series of existents with
symbolized.
the closest to him being the highest in rank. This highest ex-
istent is a first intelligence, overflowing directly from God.
It was on the foundations laid by al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı in logic,
From it the emanative process continues in the form of
metaphysics, and political theory that his successor, the re-
dyads: The intelligence undergoes two acts of cognition, an
nowned Ibn S¯ına¯, built his imposing philosophical system.
act of knowing God and an act of self-knowledge, from
Born in 980 near Bukhara and largely self-taught, Ibn S¯ına¯
which in turn proceed two existents, a second intelligence
was one of medieval Islam’s leading physicians, an astrono-
and a body—the outermost body of the universe. The sec-
mer, and a scientist. He held positions as court physician,
ond intelligence undergoes a similar act of knowing God and
sometimes as vizier as well, in various Persian principalities
knowing itself, resulting in the emanation of a third intelli-
until his death in 1037.
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FALSAFAH
Of his numerous writings, mostly in Arabic, but some
until from the last of the celestial intelligences, the Active In-
in Persian, two in particular were very influential in Europe,
tellect, the world of generation and corruption emanates.
namely, the encyclopedic Al-qa¯nu¯n f¯ı al-t:ibb (Canon of
The human rational soul, an emanation from the Active
medicine) and his major philosophical work, the voluminous
Intellect, is immaterial, becomes individuated when it joins
Al-shifa¯D(Healing). His writings include short mystical narra-
the body, and retains its individuality as an immortal soul
tives and treatises where the language of symbolism is used.
when it separates from the body after death. Good souls, un-
This mysticism, encountered in his writings, is not inconsis-
tarnished by having succumbed in their earthly existence to
tent with his “rationalism.” The mystic’s journey to God is
animal passions, live an eternal life of bliss contemplating the
the journey of the rational soul to the ultimate source of all
celestial intelligences and God; bad souls live an eternal life
reason. God, for Ibn S¯ına¯, is pure mind ( Eaql mah:d:).
of misery, being deprived from such contemplation yet for-
Ibn S¯ına¯’s philosophical system is “rationalist.” He
ever seeking it. All theoretical knowledge is received from the
maintains that in addition to the self-evident first principles
Active Intellect. This knowledge consists of primary intelligi-
of logic, not dependent on one’s sense perception of the ex-
bles, which are the self-evident logical truths and primitive
ternal world, there are self-evident intuitive concepts, also
concepts received by all people without the need of experi-
not dependent on sense experience. These intuitive concepts
ence and learning. It also consists of the secondary intelligi-
include the “existent,” the “thing,” and the “necessary,” the
bles (received only by those capable of abstract thought),
last with its correlates, the “possible” and the “impossible.”
namely, deductions from the primary intelligible as well as
A rational consideration of these concepts is sufficient to
more complex concepts. Normally the reception of these in-
yield a demonstration of God’s existence. In itself, an “exis-
telligibles from the Active Intellect requires preparatory ac-
tent” is either necessary or only possible. If it is necessary in
tivities of the soul such as sensation, memory, imagination,
itself, Ibn S¯ına¯ then tries to show, it must be the only such
and cogitation and the learning processes associated with
existent, devoid of multiplicity and uncaused. If it is only
them. Only the prophets do not require these preparatory ac-
possible in itself, he then argues, it must be necessitated by
tivities of the soul; they receive all or most of the secondary
another existent, the latter by yet another, and so on, form-
intelligibles directly and instantaneously, and this theoretical
ing a chain that must be finite, having as its beginning the
knowledge is then translated through the prophet’s imagina-
existent necessary in itself. Hence each alternative affirms the
tive faculty into symbols and images that the nonphilosopher
existent necessary in itself, which is God.
can understand. These constitute the revealed word, which
is in total harmony with philosophy, and here Ibn S¯ına¯ em-
But what does it mean to say that every existent other
braces al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı’s doctrine that religion is the “imitation” of
than God is in itself only possible? This is the distinction on
philosophy.
which Ibn S¯ına¯’s philosophy rests, the distinction between
the quiddity or essence of the possible and its existence. From
Ibn S¯ına¯ thus believes in the oneness of God, the pro-
what a thing is, one cannot infer that it exists, because exis-
phethood of Muh:ammad, and the individual immortality of
tence is not included in the definition of the possible exis-
the soul. His philosophical interpretations of these beliefs,
tent. The quiddity considered in itself excludes not only exis-
however, were found unacceptable by his chief critic,
tence, but unity and plurality, particularity and universality.
al-Ghaza¯l¯ı.
From this concept of the quiddity considered in itself, Ibn
AL-GHAZA¯L¯I’S CRITIQUE OF THE FALA¯SIFAH. Falsafah, as
S¯ına¯ develops a theory of universals (where universality is
represented by al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı and Ibn S¯ına¯, received its most se-
something added to the quiddity as such) that is of intrinsic
vere rational criticism at the hands of Islam’s great religious
philosophical interest and one that had great influence on
thinker, the lawyer, AshEar¯ı theologian, and mystic Abu¯
medieval Latin thought.
H:a¯mid al-Ghaza¯l¯ı (d. 1111). Tension between kala¯m and
falsafah had existed prior to al-Ghaza¯l¯ı’s critique of the
Although the existent, other than God, is in itself only
fala¯sifah, although it was expressed in reciprocal, but on the
possible, it is necessitated by another. Ibn S¯ına¯ uses this con-
whole, muted criticism. Underlying this tension were differ-
cept of the possible in itself but necessary through another
ences in starting point and ethos, which crystallized in irrec-
to transform al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı’s dyadic emanative scheme into a tri-
oncilable metaphysical outlooks.
adic system. God, the existent necessary in himself, under-
goes an eternal act of self-knowledge that necessitates the ex-
Kala¯m in its AshEar¯ı form was atomic in its theory of
istence of a first intelligence, an existent in itself only
matter and occasionalist in its interpretation of causal se-
possible, but necessary through another. This intelligence
quences. Accordingly, the temporal and transient conglom-
then undergoes three acts of cognition: knowledge of God,
erates of atoms forming the physical world were not seen to
knowledge of itself as a necessitated being, and knowledge
interact causally with each other in reality. Causal efficacy re-
of itself as a possible being. These three acts produce three
sided with God; what appear as natural causes and effects are
other existents respectively: another intelligence, a soul, and
in reality concomitant events created directly by God. The
a body, the outermost body of the universe. This process is
uniform order of nature has no intrinsic necessity but is arbi-
repeated by each successive intellect, giving existence to the
trarily decreed by the divine will; the divine act is not the
various heavenly spheres, each with its soul and intelligence,
outcome of any necessity within the divine nature. Causal
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action proceeds only from a living, willing, powerful agent,
pronouncements that God knows all things. The denial of
not as the necessary consequence of an existent’s nature or
bodily resurrection is also a denial of divine power,
essence. By contrast, al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı and Ibn S¯ına¯ embraced the
al-Ghaza¯l¯ı argues; bodily resurrection is not logically impos-
Aristotelian theory of matter as potentially infinitely divisi-
sible, and what is logically possible is within God’s power.
ble. Moreover, Ibn S¯ına¯ maintains quite explicitly that the
In the Seventeenth Discussion of the Taha¯fut,
world proceeds from God as the necessitated effect of God,
al-Ghaza¯l¯ı argues for the possibility of certain kinds of mira-
the supreme cause of all other existents, and this doctrine
cles that are rejected as impossible by the fala¯sifah, who base
seems implicit in al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı’s emanative scheme as well. God,
their rejection on a theory of natural, necessary causal con-
in his essence an eternally active, changeless cause, necessarily
nection. Al-Ghaza¯l¯ı first tries to show that this theory is
produces an eternal effect—the world.
provable neither logically nor empirically—observation
It is the conflict between these two worldviews that
shows only concomitance, not necessary causal connection.
al-Ghaza¯l¯ı makes explicit in his attack on philosophy. Be-
In this he voices the AshEar¯ı position that all change is caused
tween 1091 and 1095, while teaching Islamic law in Bagh-
directly by God and then suggests another possible causal
dad, he made a systematic study of falsafah, particularly that
theory, modifying the philosophers’ theory to allow the pos-
of Ibn S¯ına¯. It should be emphasized that al-Ghaza¯l¯ı was
sibility of the miracles the philosophers reject. In the
greatly impressed by Ibn S¯ına¯’s logic and wrote a number
Taha¯fut, he declares that both these theories are possible, but
of works explaining this logic to his fellow theologians and
in his Iqtis:a¯d f¯ı al-i Etiqa¯d (Moderation in belief), the theolog-
lawyers, urging them to adopt it. He considered this disci-
ical work that complements the Taha¯fut, he reaffirms the
pline doctrinally neutral, a mere tool of knowledge, nothing
AshEar¯ı occasionalist position as the only true one.
more, a view that he expresses in one of the four introduc-
Al-Ghaza¯l¯ı’s attack on falsafah put it on the defensive,
tions to his incisive critique of al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı and Ibn S¯ına¯,
more so than it had hitherto been. At the same time, his at-
Taha¯fut al-fala¯sifah (The incoherence of the philosophers).
tack made falsafah better known, because in order to refute
In these introductions he asserts that his concern is only with
the fala¯sifah, al-Ghaza¯l¯ı had to explain them to the non-
those philosophical theories that contravene religious princi-
philosophers. In the same way, he legitimized and popular-
ple and that he will show how, contrary to their own claims,
ized the study of Ibn S¯ına¯’s logic, and this had the effect of
the fala¯sifah have failed to demonstrate such theories. More-
making Greek modes of thinking accessible to the more tra-
over, he states that in this work he will not adopt any particu-
ditional Muslims. Finally, his criticism evoked replies, the
lar doctrinal position, his task being only to refute, and it is
most important of which came from Islamic Spain.
true that in the Taha¯fut, for the sake of arguing against the
fala¯sifah, al-Ghaza¯l¯ı sometimes adopts non-AshEar¯ı views. It
FALSAFAH IN ISLAMIC SPAIN. In the intellectual history of Is-
can be shown, however, that for the most part the premises
lamic Spain, or al-Andalus, as the Arabs called it, falsafah was
underlying his attack on falsafah remain AshEar¯ı.
a latecomer. A lone Andalusian faylasu¯f, Ibn Masarrah
(d. 931), appeared relatively early, but he was a shadowy fig-
Al-Ghaza¯l¯ı directs logical arguments against twenty
ure who made no real philosophical impact. The first major
philosophical theories, seventeen of which he regards as he-
Andalusian faylasu¯f was Ibn Ba¯jjah (Avempace, d. 1138), and
retical innovations and three as utter Islamic unbelief. His
he was followed by two major thinkers, Ibn T:ufayl
method is to present the opponents’ position clearly, object
(d. 1185) and Ibn Rushd (Averroës) (d. 1198), the greatest
to it, raise possible objections to his objection, answer these,
of the Andalusian fala¯sifah. The late flowering of falsafah in
and so on, until he is satisfied that the theory in question has
Spain was partly due to its geographic remoteness from the
been refuted. Thus, before condemning these theories, he
centers where the translation movement took place. Scientif-
strives to show on rational grounds either that they have been
ic and philosophical ideas, however, did travel from the Is-
unproven or that they are outright inconsistent. The three
lamic East to Spain, stimulating a very significant scientific
theories he condemns as utterly irreligious are those of the
and philosophical movement.
world’s pre-eternity, Ibn S¯ına¯’s theory that God knows the
particulars in the world of generation and corruption only
A number of Ibn Ba¯jjah’s philosophical treatises have
in a universal way (which means that he does not know every
survived, including his Tadb¯ır al-mutawah:h:id (Governance
individual in the terrestrial world), and the doctrine of the
of the solitary), a major work in the tradition of al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı’s
soul’s individual immortality, which denies bodily resur-
metaphysical and political thought. It expands on a theme
rection.
that appears in al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı almost in passing, namely that of
the philosopher in a corrupt political state. Al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı had
The most detailed of his discussions is the first, in which
stated that such a philosopher should immigrate to a virtuous
he attacks the theory of the world’s pre-eternity. The main
city, but that if no such city existed at the time, the philoso-
thrust of his attack is that such a theory is based on the un-
pher would be “a stranger in the world, live poorly in it,
proven premise that God’s acts proceed by necessity, a prem-
death for him being better than life” (al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı, Fus:u¯l mun-
ise that, in effect, denies the divine attribute of will. Further,
taza Eah, ed. F. M. Najja¯r, Beirut, 1971, p. 95). Ibn Ba¯jjah,
Ibn S¯ına¯’s theory that God knows terrestrial individuals only
however, argues that if no virtuous city exists at the time, the
in a universal way is unproven and contrary to the QurDanic
philosopher must be isolated from society, associating with
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2976
FALSAFAH
others only to ensure survival, and must be devoted to inner
return to Absa¯l’s island, where H:ayy endeavors to teach some
intellectual and moral growth. Ibn Ba¯jjah discusses psycholo-
of its religious citizens the inner meaning of their religion.
gy, epistemology, ethics, and metaphysics as he outlines the
In this he fails because they are incapable of understanding
path the solitary philosopher must pursue to attain the high-
him. He then adjures them to forget everything he has told
est good, the state of union with the Active Intellect. The
them and to continue to take their religion literally. He and
philosopher’s isolation, Ibn Ba¯jjah admits, is “essentially” an
Absa¯l leave for their deserted island to live their mystical exis-
evil, because one by nature is a social or political animal.
tence to the end of their days.
Under the circumstances of the philosopher’s having to live
This story, amenable to a variety of interpretations,
in a corrupt political regime, however, such isolation be-
gives dramatic illustration of two of al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı’s principles:
comes “accidentally” a good.
that religion is the “imitation” of philosophy, and that the
Most of the writings of Ibn Ba¯jjah’s successor, Ibn
nonphilosopher ought not be addressed in philosophical lan-
T:ufayl, physician, astronomer, and administrator at the
guage.
court of the Almohad (al-Muwah:h:id) dynasty then ruling al-
It was Ibn T:ufayl who introduced Ibn Rushd to the Al-
Andalus, are lost. The notable exception is his masterly
mohad court. Born in 1126 in Cordova, Ibn Rushd was the
philosophical story, H:ayy ibn Yaqz:a¯n, written as an answer
son and grandson of noted Islamic judges. Trained in medi-
to a friend (real or fictitious) who asks Ibn T:ufayl to divulge
cine, philosophy, and Islamic law, this most Aristotelian of
to him the secrets of Ibn S¯ına¯’s mystical philosophy. In the
the fala¯sifah was a noted Islamic lawyer and, according to
introduction, which includes criticisms of al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı,
medieval accounts, an authority on Arabic poetry. In 1169
al-Ghaza¯l¯ı, and Ibn Ba¯jjah, Ibn T:ufayl answers, in effect,
he was appointed judge in Seville and in 1171, chief judge
that because the mystical experience is ineffable, he can only
of Cordova. He then became attached to the Almohad court,
suggest to his friend the sort of thing its pursuit involves by
serving its philosophical ruler Abu¯ YaEqu¯b until the latter’s
narrating the story of H:ayy.
death in 1184, and then his son, al-Mans:u¯r, for another ten
H:ayy ibn Yaqz:a¯n (literally, “the living, son of the
years. Largely because of the opposition of conservative reli-
awake”) is the name of the story’s hero. In a lush equatorial
gious scholars, as it seems, al-Mans:u¯r exiled Ibn Rushd in
island, uninhabited by humans, a baby boy, H:ayy, comes on
1194 but reinstated him soon afterward. The philosopher
the scene. (The author gives two possible explanations for his
died in the service of this monarch in 1198.
being there.) A deer that had lost its young discovers the in-
Ibn Rushd is noted in the history of philosophy for his
fant, suckles him, and rears him. H:ayy then undergoes a pro-
substantial body of commentaries, largely on Aristotle but
cess of self-education, learning how to clothe himself and
also on other thinkers. These commentaries had great impact
fend for himself, but he continues to live with his mother,
on medieval Latin philosophy as well as the philosophy of
the deer. She eventually dies, and in his anguish, H:ayy tries
the Italian Renaissance. Although Ibn Rushd never set out
to bring her back to life by dissecting her, only to realize then
to formulate a philosophical system of his own, from his
that his real mother was spirit, not the material body that
commentaries, and perhaps more so from his philosophical
died. At this point his education takes a reflective turn:
reply to al-Ghaza¯l¯ı’s criticism of falsafah, an Aristotelian
Through observation and rational thought, he discovers that
philosophical view emerges, informed by Ibn Rushd’s indi-
every event must have a cause, that an actual infinity of
vidual insights and stamped by his personality. The view is
causes is impossible, and hence that there must be one cause
powerful and compelling.
of all existents, which is God. He now seeks knowledge of
God, and through contemplation, asceticism, and spiritual
Al-Ghaza¯l¯ı’s attack on falsafah in his Taha¯fut, although
exercises he achieves his goal: direct experiences of the divine
logically incisive, was theologically motivated. Moreover, his
condemnation of al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı and Ibn S¯ına¯ as “infidels” was a
and of the emanative chain of being descending from him.
pronouncement in terms of Islamic law. Thus Ibn Rushd’s
Meanwhile, on a nearby island, a community ruled by the
reply to al-Ghaza¯l¯ı encompasses the legal, the theological,
revealed law, which is a replica of philosophical truth, there
and the philosophical. The legal and theological replies are
are two brothers named Sala¯ma¯n and Absa¯l (or A¯sa¯l) who
embodied in two main works that are relatively short, name-
have different attitudes toward scriptural language. Sala¯ma¯n
ly, the Fas:l al-maqa¯l (Decisive treatise) and the Kashf Ean
and the rest of the community accept it literally, being inca-
mana¯hij al-adillah (Expositions of the methods of proof); the
pable of comprehending its inner meaning. Absa¯l, on the
philosophical reply to al-Ghaza¯l¯ı’s Taha¯fut is the Taha¯fut
other hand, pursues its inner meaning. Finding no one on
al-Taha¯fut (Incoherence of The Incoherence), a much larger
the island who understands his quest, he seeks seclusion on
book.
a deserted island, which turns out to be H:ayy’s abode. The
two meet. Absa¯l teaches H:ayy language and discovers that
In the Fas:l, Ibn Rushd raises the general question of
H:ayy is an unusual philosophical mystic who, unaided, has
whether Islamic law commands, allows, or prohibits the
attained the highest truth, of which Absa¯l’s own religion
study of philosophy. He answers that the law commands its
gives symbolic expression. For his part, H:ayy recognizes
study but that this command is incumbent only on the one
Absa¯l’s religion to be true and believes in its prophet. Both
class of scholars, the demonstrative class (i.e. scholars who
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FALSAFAH
2977
understand and use Aristotle’s demonstrative method in ac-
gions of Persia. He is also noted for criticizing the Aristote-
quiring knowledge), capable of understanding philosophy;
lians for their rejection of the Platonic doctrine of eternal
nonphilosophers must not pursue it. Ibn Rushd’s position
forms. From the thirteenth century onward, al-Suhraward¯ı
is essentially that of al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı, but it is now couched in Islam-
was succeeded by a series of Persian philosophers who either
ic legal language. The Fas:l also includes a theory of scriptural
adopted his doctrine of al-ishra¯q or, such as the philosopher-
interpretation and a defense of the fala¯sifah’s three doctrines
scientist Na¯s:ir al-D¯ın al-T:u¯s¯ı (d. 1274), were greatly influ-
against al-Ghaza¯l¯ı’s charge that they were irreligious. The
enced by it. Those who adopted it included such leading
Kashf complements the Fas:l but offers more specific criti-
thinkers as M¯ır Da¯ma¯d (d. 1631), Mulla¯ S:adra¯ (d. 1640),
cisms of AshEar¯ı theological principles.
and the latter’s commentator, Sabzawa¯r¯ı (d. 1866), to name
but a few.
In the Taha¯fut al-Taha¯fut, Ibn Rushd quotes almost all
of al-Ghaza¯l¯ı’s Taha¯fut, commenting on it paragraph by
Of al-Suhraward¯ı’s successors, Mulla¯ S:adra¯ is generally
paragraph. Although his main criticisms are directed against
recognized as the most important and most original. Al-
al-Ghaza¯l¯ı, at times he criticizes Ibn S¯ına¯, particularly for his
though he adopted al-Suhraward¯ı’s metaphysics of illumina-
Neoplatonism. Ibn Rushd’s Taha¯fut is a sober work of criti-
tion, he disagreed with him on a basic idea concerning the
cism that tracks down ambiguities, draws distinctions, refor-
relation of essence to existence. Al- Suhraward¯ı had argued
mulates positions, corrects misunderstandings, and offers
for the priority of essence over existence. Mulla¯ S:adra¯ main-
analyses. It reasserts and defends an Aristotelian causal view,
tained the reverse, arguing for the priority and “primacy of
arguing incessantly against the AshEar¯ı conception of divine
existence” (as:a¯lat al-wuju¯d). By “existence,” he meant real ex-
causality and against their denial of natural causes.
istence as distinct from the static concept of existence in the
Ibn Rushd’s writings on the hereafter, however, pose the
mind. Real existence is grasped intuitively, the act of intuit-
question of what he actually believes on this matter. His
ing it being itself part of the flow of existence. The key idea
“technical” discussions of the question of the soul’s immor-
governing his whole philosophy is that of existence as a dy-
tality—whether in his commentaries on Aristotle or in those
namic process. This manifests itself in his theories of motion
parts of the Taha¯fut where he is highly critical of Ibn S¯ına¯’s
and time. Motion is not simply the rotation of forms over
doctrine of the soul’s individual immortality—leave no room
a static substratum, but is inherent in the substratum itself.
for a theory of the soul’s individual immortality, to say noth-
Similarly, time is not merely the measure of motion: Physical
ing of a doctrine of bodily resurrection. In the Kashf, howev-
body has an inherent time dimension. There is an ever up-
er, he affirms a doctrine of individual immortality, whether
ward moving process of existence (imperceptible to humans)
this is confined to the soul or involves bodily resurrection.
that is irreversible, a manifestation of God’s ceaseless creative
Again, at the end of the Taha¯fut (where the discussion is not
impulse.
technical) he seems to affirm a doctrine of bodily resurrec-
In Western Islam, philosophical mystical thought at-
tion. The indications are that in these conflicting statements
tained its heights with two thirteenth-century thinkers, both
he is practicing what he preaches as a follower of al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı’s
from Murcia, Spain. The first was the great philosophical
political thinking. In other words, he is addressing the phi-
mystic Ibn al-EArab¯ı (d. 1240), noted for his doctrine of the
losophers philosophically and the nonphilosophers in lan-
unity of being (wah:dat al-wuju¯d), which exerted a very great
guage they can understand. He also seems to be protecting
influence on Persian mystical thought. The second was Ibn
himself against charges of unbelief.
SabE¯ın (d. 1270), a mystic-philosopher who expounded a
Falsafah did not end with Ibn Rushd. But the period
doctrine of the unity of being in terms of Aristotle’s concept
from al-Kind¯ı to Ibn Rushd witnessed some of its greatest
of form. A much more empirical approach is encountered in
practitioners and established a rich philosophical tradition
the thought of the Tunisian-born historian-philosopher Ibn
on which later Islamic thinkers, men of originality and ge-
Khaldu¯n, one of Islam’s most original minds. He served vari-
nius, were to build and enrich falsafah even more. The ma-
ous Islamic rulers as ambassador, envoy, and chief judge.
jority of these thinkers came from Persia and were in a real
Combining a thorough legal, theological, and philosophical
sense the spiritual descendants of Ibn S¯ına¯. But some came
education with firsthand experience in politics, he utilized
from other parts of the Islamic world—Spain and North Af-
this background to write his universal history, best noted for
rica, for example.
its muqaddimah (“prolegomena”). It is in this muqaddimah
that he sets forth his conception of history as a science con-
Persia became noted for its mystical philosophy of illu-
cerned with the causal explanation for the rise, decline, and
mination, al-ishra¯q. The founder of this tradition was
fall of civilizations and that he probed the rise and develop-
al-Suhraward¯ı (d. 1191), a contemporary of Ibn Rushd. The
ment of social institutions. In doing this, he realized, in ef-
basic idea of his philosophy is that reality consists of light of
fect, a philosophy of history.
varying degrees of intensity. Light, which for al-Suhraward¯ı
is neither material nor definable, proceeds from the Light of
Both Ibn Khaldu¯n and Mulla¯ S:adra¯ in their very differ-
lights (nu¯r al-anwa¯r), God. Its emanation and diffusion at
ent ways are examples of philosophers who broadened the
various levels constitute the created world. In this metaphys-
dimensions of falsafah. They certainly made advances over
ics of light and illumination, he harks back to the old reli-
the thought of their predecessors. But these were advances
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2978
FALSIFICATION
within a rich philosophical tradition whose first foundation
Li Hongzhi (1951–). Although most Western scholars would
stone was laid in the ninth century by al-Kind¯ı.
classify it as a “new religious movement,” Li and his followers
understand Falun Gong not as a religion but as a “cultivation
SEE ALSO Ishra¯q¯ıyah; Kala¯m.
system,” based on principles of qigong that are widely accept-
B
ed in China. Falun Gong rapidly became very popular in
IBLIOGRAPHY
China, attracting millions of followers in the years immedi-
General Histories
Corbin, Henry. Histoire de la philosophie islamique. Paris, 1964.
ately after its founding. For complex reasons, Falun Gong
Fakhry, Majid. A History of Islamic Philosophy. Rev. ed. New York,
soon ran afoul of the Chinese state, and a massive protest in
1983.
Beijing by Falun Gong practitioners against media censure
Sharif, M. M., ed. A History of Muslim Philosophy, vol. 1. Wiesba-
at the end of April 1999 led to a harsh crackdown by the
den, 1963.
Chinese government on the grounds that Falun Gong was
Collections of Studies
a dangerous “heterodox sect.”
Anawati, Georges C. Études de philosophie musulmane. Paris, 1974.
QIGONG AND THE QIGONG BOOM. To understand the rise
Hourani, G. F., ed. Essays on Islamic Philosophy and Science. Alba-
and popularity of Falun Gong, it is essential to understand
ny, N.Y., 1975.
the rise and popularity of qigong. In Chinese, qi means “vital
Marmura, M. E., ed. Islamic Theology and Philosophy: Studies in
breath” or “energy” and refers to a force existing in nature
Honor of G. F. Hourani. Albany, N.Y., 1984.
that can be harnessed for a variety of purposes. Gong means
Morewedge, Parvis, ed. Islamic Philosophical Theology. Albany,
N.Y., 1979.
“skill” or “technique,” and the two characters together mean
Morewedge, Parvis, ed. Islamic Philosophy and Mysticism. Delmar,
“the cultivation of qi energy.” Qigong practice includes a vari-
N.Y., 1981.
ety of techniques, some stressing physical movement, some
Stern, S. M., Albert Hourani, and Vivian Brown, eds. Islamic Phi-
stressing meditation or visualization. The goal of practice is
losophy and the Classical Tradition. Columbia, S.C., 1972.
self-healing, stress reduction, and the cultivation of super-
Walzer, Richard. Greek into Arabic: Essays on Islamic Philosophy.
normal powers.
Cambridge, Mass., 1962.
The practices and principles of qigong are drawn from
Translations
traditional Chinese medicine, folk healing, martial arts, and
Fa¯ra¯b¯ı, al-. Alfarabi’s Philosophy of Plato and Aristotle. Translated
popular religion, many varieties of which have claimed magi-
by Muhsin Mahdi. New York, 1962.
cal healing powers. These practices did not, however, exist
Fa¯ra¯b¯ı, al-. Al-Farabi’s Commentary and Short Treatise on Aristot-
le’s De Interpretatione. Translated by F. W. Zimmerman.
as a coherent whole prior to the Communist revolution of
London, 1981.
1949, nor did the notion of qigong exist as such. Ironically,
Hyman, Alfred, and James J. Walsh, eds. Philosophy in the Middle
given the state’s later opposition, qigong was created and nur-
Ages: The Christian, Islamic and Jewish Traditions. New York,
tured by the Chinese government in the 1950s as part of an
1967. Includes translations of al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı, Avicenna,
effort to preserve traditional Chinese medical practices in the
al-Ghaza¯l¯ı, and Averroës (pp. 20–235).
face of a massive importation of Western medicine. The goal
Ibn Rushd (Averroës). Taha¯fut al-Taha¯fut. Translated by S. Van
of those who “invented” qigong in the 1950s was to separate
Den Bergh as The Incoherence of the Incoherence. London,
pure qigong technique from its traditional spiritual underpin-
1953.
nings so as to preserve the scientific benefits of qigong while
Ibn S¯ına¯ (Avicenna). Avicenna’s Philosophy. Translated by Fazlur
discarding its dangerous and “superstitious” wrappings. The
Rahman. London, 1952.
first “consumers” of qigong were high-level cadres of the Chi-
Ibn S¯ına¯. The Life of Ibn S¯ına¯. Edited and translated by William
nese government, who practiced qigong in sanatoria run by
E. Gohlman. New York, 1967.
the Chinese traditional medical establishment.
Kind¯ı, al-. Al-Kind¯ı’s Metaphysics. Translated by Alfred L. Ivry.
New York, 1963.
After the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, qigong became
Lerner, Ralph, and Muhsin Madhi, eds. Medieval Political Philoso-
a mass phenomenon in the freer, less politically charged at-
phy: A Source Book. New York, 1963. Includes translations
mosphere of post-Mao China. One important element of
of al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı, Avicenna, Ibn Ba¯jjah, Ibn T:ufayl, and Averroës
this transformation was the emergence of charismatic qigong
(pp. 21–190).
masters who in the late 1970s and early 1980s took qigong
MICHAEL E. MARMURA (1987)
out of the sanatoria and into the public parks of urban
China, where qigong was taught to any and all who were in-
terested. As the popularity of qigong grew, masters sought
FALSIFICATION SEE DOUBT AND BELIEF;
larger venues, even renting sports stadiums at the height of
LOGICAL POSITIVISM
the boom and selling tickets to eager followers. The credibili-
ty of qigong was enhanced by the “discovery” by well-known
Chinese scientists that qi was a material substance and that
FALUN GONG. Falun Gong, also known as Falun
the development of supernormal powers based on the mas-
Dafa, is a Chinese spiritual movement founded in 1992 by
tery of qi had a scientific foundation.
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FALUN GONG
2979
Encouraged by the scientific endorsement of the reality
schools, there was something different about Li Hongzhi. Li
of qi and qigong, the Chinese government lent its support to
condemned other qigong schools for their crass materialism,
the qigong movement. From a practical point of view, mass
in effect accusing them of fraud. More fundamentally, he re-
practice of qigong promised to improve the health of the Chi-
proached the entire qigong establishment for an unhealthy
nese people and reduce demands on the health care system
obsession with healing and supernormal powers, which
at a time when the leadership hoped to economize by shrink-
came, in his view, at the expense of a deeper spiritual orienta-
ing its investment in public health. In addition, after the fail-
tion. To Li, Falun Gong was qigong taken to a higher plane.
ure of Mao’s Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), the post-
Falun Gong, he claimed, could heal illnesses and confer su-
Mao Chinese leadership sought legitimacy as much in Chi-
pernormal powers, but the more important objective was to
nese nationalism as in Marxism-Leninism, and the
arrive at a physical transformation of the body and a funda-
government was pleased that many Chinese people were be-
mental transformation of one’s understanding of the compo-
coming reacquainted with China’s traditional culture
sition of the universe and one’s role therein. These transfor-
through their practice of qigong, which qigong masters linked
mations were to be effected through Falun Gong practice,
to China’s rich cultural heritage. China’s leaders were equally
which, like other styles of qigong, included physical move-
proud to tout qigong to the world as China’s contribution
ments, but which also accorded an importance to scripture
to modern science—yet another manifestation of post-Mao
(i.e., Li Hongzhi’s writings). This emphasis on the master’s
Chinese nationalism. At the same time, China’s leaders
writings was unusual in the context of the qigong movement.
sought to regulate qigong, and to this end set up the Chinese
Unlike other qigong schools, Falun Gong also stressed the
Qigong Scientific Research Association in April 1986.
miraculous, godlike powers of Li Hongzhi (i.e., the ability
to assure the health and welfare of all of his followers at all
Over the course of the 1980s and 1990s, China went
times) in a way that differed from other qigong schools.
wild for qigong in what was known as the “qigong boom.”
Hundreds of millions of people participated, and thousands
Li’s teachings are an eclectic mixture of Buddhism,
of articles on qigong appeared in official media, as well as in
Daoism, popular religion, and “scientism.” His theology
newly created journals and newspapers wholly devoted to qi-
draws largely on Buddhism, and he calls on followers to sever
gong. Hundreds of qigong masters competed for public atten-
all “attachments,” be they to meat, alcohol, medicines, mate-
tion. The most visible symbol of the qigong boom was the
rial possessions, or other human beings. Practitioners are to
appearance of nationwide networks of qigong practitioners,
be compassionate to all, but such compassion should not en-
all of whom were organized around charismatic qigong mas-
gender attachments that detract from salvation. Li frequently
ters, who gave lecture tours, appeared on television, and pub-
evokes the traditional Buddhist concept of karma—the no-
lished and sold books and cassettes. Chinese interest in qi-
tion, linked to reincarnation, that the merits and demerits
gong had become a mass movement, which began to take on
of one’s present life will be reflected in one’s status at the mo-
the character of a new religious movement. Masters, in their
ment of rebirth in a future life. The “scientistic” cast of Li
explanations of the workings of qigong, began to elaborate
Hongzhi’s message is reflected in its conception of karma,
theories that went beyond the technical aspects of qigong
which in Falun Gong literature has a material basis: karma
practice and the achievement of physical well-being; they
is a black substance present in the body, which can be trans-
linked qigong to morality, spirituality, the meaning of life,
formed by suffering and virtuous practice into a white sub-
and the meaning of the universe. In addition, qigong practi-
stance. The transformation, according to Li, occurs at the
tioners began to fall into trances, experience visions, and suf-
molecular level and accounts scientifically for the improved
fer “possession,” and a widespread enthusiasm for the pursuit
health of Falun Gong practitioners. Indeed, the promise of
of supernormal powers through qigong practice signaled the
improved health has been the primary attraction of Falun
embrace of qigong as a force capable of altering ordinary
Gong for many practitioners, who consider disease a form
reality.
of karma to be eliminated through suffering and cultivation.
Most Falun Gong practitioners avoid doctors, hospitals, and
LI HONGZHI AND FALUN GONG. Li Hongzhi and Falun
medication.
Gong emerged as part of the qigong boom. Both were initial-
ly embraced as part of the movement, and Falun Gong was
Another aspect of Li’s teachings concerns world destruc-
welcomed into the Qigong Scientific Research Association,
tion and renewal. He argues that the world has been de-
which sponsored and helped to organize many of Li’s activi-
stroyed and re-created eighty-one times, and that signs indi-
ties between 1992 and 1994. Notable among those activities
cate that another cycle of world destruction and renewal is
were fifty-four major lectures given throughout China to a
imminent. Li drew these ideas from traditional strains of
total audience of some twenty thousand. Like other masters,
Chinese apocalyptic thinking, found especially in popular-
Li published books of his teachings, which achieved such
ized versions of Daoism and Buddhism. Interestingly, Li did
success that he was soon able to offer his lectures free of
not stress this teaching prior to the Chinese government’s
charge.
suppression of Falun Gong.
Still, if Li Hongzhi and Falun Gong owed their initial
Li argues furthermore that truth (zhen), benevolence
success to their kinship with other qigong masters and
(shan), and forbearance (ren), the three cardinal principles of
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2980
FALUN GONG
Falun Gong practice, are in fact the forces that make up the
in such a way as to avoid conflict with the authorities, Li
physical universe. Falun Gong practitioners achieve oneness
seems to have worried little about the response his writings
with cosmic reality in cultivating truth, benevolence, and
might evoke. Zhuan Falun, for example, teems with refer-
forbearance in their personal lives. Rather than present scien-
ences to spirit possession, the destruction and re-creation of
tific arguments to illustrate his contentions, Li claims to have
the word, extraterrestrial interference in the affairs of human-
transcended science and thus to understand all of reality
kind—in short, a host of references unlikely to please Com-
from another, higher level. His writings are full of scientific
munist authorities.
(or parascientific) references (his reflections on the proper
understanding of gravity, for example), which his followers
As a nationwide mass movement organized around a
take as seriously as the rest of his writings.
charismatic leader who largely ignored the Chinese Commu-
nist Party, Falun Gong represented a potential threat, but as
Falun Gong practice is simple, albeit time-consuming.
such it was not much different from other qigong schools.
The exercises, described in the book China Falun Gong
What distinguished Falun Gong as an organization was its
(1993), are to be performed on a daily basis if possible, alone
propensity to react quickly and vigorously to perceived
or with other practitioners. The more important aspect of
slights from the media, a practice that rapidly became “politi-
Falun Gong practice is the reading and rereading of Li
cal,” since most media outlets in China are little more than
Hongzhi’s most important work, Zhuan Falun (The revolv-
mouthpieces for the government. Sources hostile to Falun
ing wheel of the Buddhist law), first published in Chinese
Gong report more than three hundred such instances, begin-
in 1995. This work is held to be the source of all truth; many
ning in the summer of 1996, none of which were violent and
practitioners report having read it in a single sitting and hav-
all of which essentially demanded that “erroneous” informa-
ing experienced an immediate revelation. In China prior to
tion about Falun Gong be corrected. Falun Gong practition-
the suppression of Falun Gong, a nationwide network of
ers later likened their protests to those of Mahatma Gandhi
practice centers brought practitioners together on a regular
in India or Martin Luther King Jr. in the United States. But
basis, which allowed for the rapid diffusion of the Falun
China has little tradition of civil rights demonstrations, and
Gong message to interested parties. The centers offered no
actions such as surrounding the state-owned and state-run
worship services, however, and Li Hongzhi forbids anyone
Beijing television station, which Falun Gong practitioners
to speak in his place; all “teaching” is thus carried out via
books or video and audio recordings, or via other materials
did in May 1998, were perceived as audacious, if not sedi-
made available on the Falun Gong websites.
tious, in the Chinese setting.
This same basic structure has been copied on a smaller
Criticism of Falun Gong in the official media suggested
scale outside of China. Many followers exercise daily and
that the movement had detractors in high places. Indeed, of-
meet weekly with other practitioners to read Li Hongzhi’s
ficial opinion about Falun Gong, and about the qigong
works and to exchange experiences. Large “experience-
movement in general, was divided. At various points during
sharing conferences” are an important part of the North
the qigong boom, some critics expressed concern that qigong
American Falun Gong experience. These are regional events,
and Falun Gong were little more than a return to “feudal su-
held on a rotating basis in cities where there are significant
perstition” and that organizations built on such foundations
numbers of Falun Gong practitioners. Such events add wit-
were not to be trusted. It was probably due to such criticisms
ness statements to the Falun Gong repertoire of exercises and
that Li Hongzhi decided to leave China for the United States
reading of scripture; practitioners deliver prepared state-
in 1996, roughly the same time that Falun Gong “protests”
ments of their experience before and after coming to know
began in China. Subsequently, problems over Falun Gong’s
Falun Gong. Li Hongzhi frequently appears at such events,
continued recognition as an “official” qigong organization
the only occasions at which ordinary members can see the
signaled that the Chinese government was particularly wor-
master.
ried about Falun Gong.
Chinese practitioners in North America are in general
The Falun Gong encirclement of Communist Party
highly educated and reasonably wealthy, in part because
headquarters in Beijing in 1999 was sparked by a media affair
American and Canadian immigration procedures attempt to
in the neighboring city of Tianjin, and should thus be under-
filter out the poorly educated and those who are likely to be-
stood as a continuation of previous protests. The huge dem-
come wards of the state. In China, Falun Gong, like qigong,
onstration on April 29, 1999, when some ten thousand prac-
appealed to a broad range of the population—rich and poor,
titioners surrounded party headquarters at Zhongnanhai,
educated and uneducated, powerful and powerless, urban
was surely designed to draw the attention of the authorities
and rural, women and men, as well as members of the Com-
to the ongoing criticism of Falun Gong in the media. The
munist Party.
demonstration may even have been intended to suggest the
FALUN GONG’S CONFLICT WITH THE CHINESE GOVERN-
power of Falun Gong (it was the largest protest China had
MENT. In his pre-1999 writings, Li Hongzhi appears to be
experienced since the student democracy movement of
nationalistic and patriotic, but largely apolitical. Neverthe-
1989), and it apparently came as a complete surprise to
less, while other qigong leaders took care to cast their message
China’s leadership.
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FAMILY
2981
If Li Hongzhi expected the Chinese authorities to back
hommage à Léon Vandermeersch, edited by Jacques Gernet
down, he must have been sorely disappointed, for the state
and Marc Kalinowski, pp. 267–281. Paris, 1997.
responded to the demonstration with a fierce campaign
Li Hongzhi. Falun Gong, rev. ed. (English version). Hong Kong,
against Falun Gong. Laws passed during the summer and fall
1998. Originally published as China Falun Gong in 1993.
of 1999 defined Falun Gong as a “heterodox sect” and au-
Available from http://www.falundafa.org/eng/books.htm.
thorized confiscation of Falun Gong books, recordings, and
Li Hongzhi. Zhuan Falun. 2d ed. Hong Kong, 1998. Original
other paraphernalia. Consistent with their tradition of pro-
Chinese edition published in 1995. Available from http://
test, Falun Gong practitioners—encouraged, one assumes,
www.falundafa.org/eng/books.htm.
by the Falun Gong leadership—sought out Chinese authori-
Madsen, Richard. “Understanding Falun Gong.” Current History
ties at all levels, insisting that Falun Gong was benevolent.
99 (2000): 243–247.
The most visible of these Falun Gong protesters were the
Nova Religio 6, no. 2 (2003). An entire issue devoted to Falun
practitioners who demonstrated in Beijing’s Tiananmen
Gong.
Square, in essence demanding a confrontation with the au-
Ownby, David. “A History for Falun Gong: Popular Religion and
thorities in China’s central political space. Confrontation en-
the Chinese State since the Ming Dynasty.” Nova Religio 6,
sued, as the state arrested, imprisoned, and tortured tens of
no. 2 (2003): 223–243.
thousands of Falun Gong practitioners beginning in the fall
Palmer, David. “The Doctrine of Li Hongzhi.” China Perspectives
of 1999.
35 (2001): 14–23.
After the campaign against Falun Gong, Li Hongzhi’s
Penny, Benjamin. “Falun Gong, Prophesy, and Apocalypse.” East
Asian History 23 (2002): 149–168.
message began to change. Li largely disappeared from circu-
lation between the spring of 1999 and the fall of 2000. When
Tong, James. “An Organizational Analysis of the Falun Gong:
Structure, Communications, Financing.” China Quarterly
he reemerged, delivering impromptu addresses at experience-
171 (2002): 636–660.
sharing conferences in North America and Europe, he em-
Vermander, Benoît. “Looking at China Through the Mirror of
phasized the apocalyptic aspects of his discourse in ways he
Falun Gong.” China Perspectives 35 (2001): 4–13.
had not done prior to April 1999. He began, for example,
Wong, John. The Mystery of Falun Gong: Its Rise and Fall in China.
to depict the suppression of the Falun Gong movement in
EAI Background Brief, no. 39. Singapore, 1999.
China as a part of a “final trial,” and he seemed to promise
that those who martyred themselves to the cause would re-
Zhu Xiaoyang and Benjamin Penny, eds. “The Qigong Boom.”
Chinese Sociology and Anthropology 27, no. 1 (1994).
ceive instant “consummation” or enlightenment, the final
completion of their cultivation efforts.
DAVID OWNBY (2005)
Falun Gong practitioners outside of China began to or-
ganize during this period, both to ensure that the truth about
Falun Gong and about the suppression reach China, and to
FAMILY is vitally important to most religious traditions
bring pressure on Western governments to condemn the ac-
in two closely interconnected ways: Various ritual processes
tions of the Chinese state. These efforts, particularly those
enacted by, to, and for the family help to create and sustain
addressed to Western governments, achieved considerable
it as well as give it meaning, and it functions as an important
success. However, an important moment in this conflict was
symbol of deity. Historically and cross-culturally, family in
the alleged self-immolation of a number of Falun Gong prac-
various forms has (until the late twentieth century in pos-
titioners in Tiananmen Square in late January 2001. Al-
tindustrialized cultures) been so basic to human existence as
though doubts persist as to the identity of those who set
to be a universal symbol of ultimacy.
themselves on fire (Falun Gong practitioners insist that the
DEFINITION. Exactly what constitutes family is not always
event was staged by Chinese authorities), the incident
clear. Some scholars equate family with household, another
marked an important public relations victory for the Chinese
imprecise construct that variously includes all permanent
government within China. Many Chinese who had re-
members such as servants or else excludes unrelated house-
mained neutral to that point came to share the authorities’
holders. Further confusion results because most anthropolo-
view that Falun Gong was indeed a dangerous heterodox
gists posit two basic kinds of family: the nuclear family, con-
sect. The Chinese authorities succeeded in suppressing Falun
sisting of mother, father, and unmarried children, and the
Gong, as well as other qigong schools, within China, but at
extended family, typically including mother, father, all un-
great cost in terms of the regime’s international prestige and
married children, and one or more sons with their wives and
the loss of money and energy that could have been more use-
children. Numerous complicated variations exist, including
fully invested elsewhere.
different polygynous arrangements in which two or more co-
wives live under the same roof. A few domestic groupings,
SEE ALSO Chinese Religion; New Religious Movements,
such as those of the Nayar of India, whose men never live
overview article.
with their wives, defy all categories. Nonetheless, family, in
some variant, is considered universal.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Despeux, Catherine. “Le Qigong: Une expression de la modernité
Also confusing is the fact that all married people simul-
chinoise.” In En suivant la voie royale: Mélanges offerts en
taneously belong to two different families. Family as seat of
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2982
FAMILY
origination stresses ties of blood, whereas family as affiliation
believe that spirits of tribal ancestors return to earth to warn,
emphasizes bonds of marriage. To keep separate these two
protect, and instruct the living, although only specially
different kinds of family, some anthropologists designate the
trained shamans are capable of seeing them.
first as “kin” and the second as “family.” Kin are those who
Babylonian mythology and artifacts incorporate impor-
share common ancestors, as do mother and child (in contrast
tant motifs of ancestor veneration. The failed attempt of the
to mother and father, who do not). Strictly speaking, al-
hero Gilgamesh to escape mortality by visiting his ancestor
though family incorporates kin, the reverse is not true be-
Utanapishtim, the Babylonian Noah who did escape it, indi-
cause, excepting incestuous marriages, spouses usually are
cates the salvific role hoped for from ancestors. Between the
not blood relatives.
third millennium BCE or earlier, when sacrifices were offered
Consequently, family is basically a reconciliation of
to the departed kings Shulgi and Gudea, and about 2500
many different opposites: female and male, life and death,
BCE, when Grimalsin of the second dynasty of Ur appears to
ascendants and descendants, kin and affines (relatives by
have been deified while still living, two other important
marriage), biology and culture, freedom and servitude, cor-
themes emerge: Ancestor worship by actual descendants
poration and individuality. The differing ways in which fam-
tends to merge with homage paid by a whole people to de-
ily contains these opposites represent diverse systems of order
parted rulers or “fathers.” Thus, in many cultures ancestors
in which family roles are valued according to accepted local
function variously as objects of domestic and state devotion,
religiocultural belief and custom. Valuation of all members
a situation that became pronounced in the Roman Empire.
is almost never equal; therefore, family as a whole embodies
Attribution of divine ancestry has been common for kings,
and symbolizes order of a particular sort—hierarchy.
as notably in post-Meiji Restoration Japan, where the emper-
or was officially proclaimed a direct descendant of the sun
In its entirety this “natural” order of human relation-
goddess Amaterasu O
¯ mikami. Such ancestry has even been
ships, presumed to have evolved out of earlier hominid bands
assigned to whole peoples, as repeatedly shown in epic
of approximately thirty, has frequently been deified, with
poetry.
members typically reflecting family as experienced in a par-
ticular culture. Thus Kwoiam, the warrior hero of Mabuiag,
So important are the honored ancestors in cultures such
an island off New Guinea, lives with his mother, her brother
as those in China, Japan after Chinese contact (seventh cen-
and sister, and his sister’s son in a matrilineal “family” (tech-
tury CE), and areas of Aryan influence, particularly India and
nically, a kin system) that omits the father. Very different is
Rome, that the traditional family often seems to exist more
the Homeric extended patriarchal family of Zeus and Hera,
for their sake than for that of the living. This point indicates
which includes variously begotten offspring. The smaller nu-
one theme present in the traditional family, its orientation
clear family is symbolized in various cultures, as for example
toward death. Furthermore, because typically in these cul-
the Egyptian Osiris, Isis, and Horus; the holy family of
tures ancestors collectively overpower and stifle the individu-
Christianity consisting of Joseph (or God the Father), Mary,
ality now common in the Western world, ancestor venera-
and Jesus; and the holy triad of the Yurak Samoyed: Nyebye-
tion also highlights a second important theme: Family as
haha, the mother deity; Wesako-haha, her spouse; and Nyu-
corporate entity strongly opposes the individuality of its
haha, their son. Curious variants appear in the enneads (tri-
members.
ple triads) so characteristic of dynastic Egypt.
Emphasis on ancestors indicates that family is not only
In its smallest possible configuration (apart from the
the matrix within which an individual enters life but also the
single individual sometimes defined as family in the post-
means by which he (less commonly she) achieves a kind of
industrialized West)—as husband and wife—family appears
immortality. Paradoxically, this denial of death that leads to
in almost all mythologies. Universally, tales of the hieros
ancestor veneration makes the family a kind of perpetual cult
gamos tell of the sacred marriage of Heaven and Earth from
of the dead enacted by the living.
whom humanity springs, as illustrated by the Zuni Awitelin-
tsita, the fourfold-containing Mother Earth, and Apoyan Ta
CHILDREN. In contrast to dead family members, who are al-
DChu, the all-covering Father Sky. Often such etiological sto-
most universally venerated, children are often treated ambiv-
ries of how the world came to be tell how one or more of
alently. Though desired in the abstract for perpetuating the
the children produced by the union separate the pair, often
family, children may be abused or even denied life, as in the
forcibly, to form the realms of earth and sky. Such is the case
ancient classical world. Hippocrates illustrates this point
in the Vedic account of Dyaus and Prthivi.
when he asks, “Which children should be raised?” The essen-
tially universal theme of infanticide is clearly present in the
ANCESTORS. Probably no members so fully embody both the
biblical stories of Isaac and Moses, who were saved. To this
ritual and the symbolic significance of the traditional extend-
day the practice continues sporadically for girls in parts of
ed family as do ancestors. From the Paleolithic period to the
India and China, as historically had been the case almost
present, many cultures have venerated ancestors to varying
worldwide.
degrees, although Herbert Spencer’s theory that ancestor
worship stands behind all religious practice has been general-
The countertheme of life orientation surfaces most
ly discarded. For example, almost all Native American tribes
strongly in connection with those newborns elected to sur-
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vive. Yet even here the tension of opposites is strained, for
ens. One day a Haida woman was digging on the beach.
only some attain family membership. Commonly thought of
Hearing a cry from a cockle shell, she uncovered it and found
as “natural,” family construction is actually often highly arti-
the baby Shining Heavens. She took him home and soon dis-
ficial.
covered his supernatural power, manifested in his ability to
grow up almost immediately. This common motif of the
Birth, mating, and death, the three natural methods of
wonder child who grows almost instantly from baby to
creating, maintaining, and pruning families, are simulta-
strong youth or man is also illustrated by the Siouan Young
neously both biological and socioreligious events. Successful
Rabbit and the Algonquian Blood-Clot Boy. Sometimes the
delivery of a live baby does not guarantee the existence of a
child-hero even makes plans in the womb, as do the Iroquoi-
new family member. In many cultures, once a child is born
an twins Good Mind and Evil Mind. Such “unnatural” capa-
(notably, in patriarchal Hellenic Greece or even contempo-
bilities illustrate the power of godhead to transcend nature.
rary China or India), the father must determine whether or
not to keep it. Then it must be incorporated into the family.
Such capability is even more apparent in the Vallabha
The contemporary Islamic Malays illustrate one variant of
and Caitanya sects of Hinduism, in which worship of the
this once nearly universal practice: First, the father whispers
cowherd Kr:s:n:a as the divine child has been popular from at
into the infant’s ear the Islamic call to prayer; next, a specially
least 900 CE. In the spontaneity of his laughter, pranks, danc-
selected person touches certain objects to the baby’s lips to
ing, disobedience, and play, the child Kr:s:n:a symbolizes the
guard against future lying and gossiping; then, forty-four
unconditional nature of divinity. In such activity, engaged
days later, the father buries the placenta beneath a coconut
in for no purpose beyond sheer joy, the play of the child met-
palm seedling. These and other birth rituals help place the
aphorically expresses an aspect of divinity less easily rendered
child in its familial and socioreligious context. Thus a new
by “adult” personifications.
family member is “created” only in the most superficial way
MOTHERS. So important is a woman’s role as mother in most
by its actual birth. Subsequent actions of family members,
societies that the biblical Hebrews, for example, insisted that
often other than the mother, bring the child fully into family
a wife who failed to bear children was obligated to provide
life.
her husband with a concubine (Gn. 16:2). According to pop-
As a symbol of deity, the divine child appears in various
ular Islamic tradition, the main duty of a woman is to obey
traditions. Archaeological finds such as vase paintings and
and serve her husband respectfully; her second duty is to give
figurines depicting infancy themes and rituals place this con-
him male heirs. In traditional China with its strong Confu-
cept at least as far back as the Neolithic and Chalcolithic pe-
cian ethic, life was meaningless without sons. Without sons,
riods (c. 7000–3500 BCE) in Old Europe (roughly, south-
a wife could count on a second wife essentially replacing her.
eastern Europe from Czechoslovakia to the Aegean). Motifs
Theorists assume that the discovery of stockbreeding
of birth and maturing of the infant later took shape mythical-
and planting taught humans about male reproductive capa-
ly and cultically in many variations that recount the passion
bility. That means that for only about twelve thousand of the
of the young god of vegetation. Representative is the cult of
million years of hominid existence have humans understood
the infant Dionysos, originally Boeotian and Cretan but sub-
paternity and reckoned male as well as female lineage. Thus
sequently almost universal in Greece, in which the infant
was the ancient mother-child kin tie challenged by the famil-
Dionysos-Zagreus is dismembered. According to myth, the
ial tie. The nineteenth-century belief in mother right, es-
Titans lured the child with rattles, knucklebones, a top, a
poused by J. J. Bachofen, Robert Stephen Briffault, Henry
ball, and a mirror, then cut him to pieces, cooked him, and
Maine, and others, whereby women were thought to have
devoured him. In some versions he is resurrected by the earth
held social and political power during a prepatriarchal era,
mother, Rhea. This death and resurrection theme, common
has long been invalidated; but current scholarship makes in-
to the complex of images central to agrarian religion, finds
disputable the existence of a practice of prehistoric mother
in the child (or alternatively in the seed) an appropriate
worship in Europe and Asia Minor.
image of renewal.
Material evidence in the form of large numbers of “Ve-
Worship of the divine child was originally shared by or
nuses,” often with exaggerated secondary sex characteristics
even predominantly directed to the mother goddess, as in the
and pregnant bellies, as exemplified by the well-known
case of Ishtar, Astarte, and Cybele, whose son-consorts were
Venus of Willendorf, firmly roots the idea of divine mother-
of secondary importance. With time, however, the child,
hood in the Upper Paleolithic period in Eurasia (c. 22,000
originally of either sex as suggested by numerous Sumerian
BCE). By the time of the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods
female Marduks, ceases to be merely the child or sacrificial
(c. 7000–3500 BCE) in Old Europe and the Near East, the
consort and becomes more and more an object of veneration
Great Mother, with her accumulated Paleolithic traits, is well
in its own right. Christianity epitomizes this process whereby
established in the variant forms that generally characterize
the divine child eclipses its mother.
her in agricultural societies around the world. (In patrilineal
In a very different form, images of the divine child as
totemic and patriarchal nomadic cultures she figures less
divine hero are also common in Native American mythology.
prominently, as an adjunct to the dominant sky god.) Under
This pattern is typified by the Haida story of Shining Heav-
various names she appears almost universally wherever agri-
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FAMILY
culture develops—as Ishtar (Babylon and Assyria); Astarte
DAtse.) With polarization come goddesses of the underearth
(Canaan); Isis (Egypt); Cybele (Phrygia); Rhea, Gaia (pre-
realm such as the Greek Persephone and the dread Sumero-
Hellenic Greece); Pr:thiv¯ı (Vedic India); Di (ancient China);
Akkadian Ereshkigal, who are separate from beneficent
Pachamama (Inca); and so on.
counterparts such as Demeter and Ishtar.
In cultures such as those of Old Europe, pre-Hellenistic
In a variant process the single goddess multiplies, usual-
Greece, and pre-Vedic India (Harappa, Mohenjo-Daro),
ly into a triad, as in the case of the Scandinavian Norns, the
which were not dominated by nomadic pastoral peoples,
Greek Fates, or the strange matres and matrones figures from
motherhood is typically aligned with a concept seemingly
the Celtic and Germanic provinces of the Roman Empire.
opposed to it—that of virginity. But this belief reflects the
Such trinitarian representations often involve different stages
archaic notion that birth results from parthenogenesis, an
of motherhood, as in various ubiquitous virgin-mother-
understandable belief for those unaware of the male role. Far
crone triads (the Hindu Pa¯rvat¯ı, Durga¯, and Uma¯ and the
from being a moralistic concept, as it subsequently became
Celtic Macha, Morríghan, and Badhbh, for example).
in patrilineal and patriarchal cultures, it originally reflected
an understanding of woman as creator and powerful figure
FATHERS. Next to ancestors and frequently amalgamated
in her own right.
with them conceptually, fathers hold the greatest power in
traditional patriarchal families, whether or not their father-
Earth and related vegetal phenomena such as grains are
hood is biological. This paradox is logical when fatherhood
not the only natural elements associated with motherhood.
is divided into three categories: The genetic father fertilizes
Water, the medium from which humans originally emerge
the ovum; the genitor contributes to the child’s growth in
onto land, also functions this way, as with the ancient Mexi-
the womb, as when the Holy Ghost causes Mary to conceive
can goddess of the waters, Chalchiuhtlicue, and the water
through her ear; and the social father, known as the pater,
mother common to the ancient Karelians and other Finno-
dominates family life. Whether as genetic father, adoptive fa-
Ugric peoples. Sometimes, as with the Japanese sun goddess
ther, or maternal uncle, the pater supplies the child’s social
Amaterasu, or the pre-Islamic mother of the heavens Allat,
position.
or the Egyptian sky goddess Nut, the traditional association
of earth with motherhood and of sky with fatherhood are re-
In a patrifocal extended family the pater, as oldest living
versed; consequently, the predominant associations do not
father in a direct line of descent, firmly heads the family hier-
always hold, as when the concept “down,” normally affiliated
archy. This pattern was thoroughly worked out in the
with earth and motherhood, attaches to a male chthonic
Roman family, where patriarchal power was so complete
deity. The variant son-consorts of the mother goddess, such
that, until he died, the father retained limitless authority over
as Adonis and Tammuz, reflect this phenomenon.
unmarried daughters and grown sons and their children. A
Various interconnected processes particularly affect the
married daughter customarily joined the household of her
ways motherhood is represented in divinity and vice versa.
husband and so came under the authority of his father. Such
Specialization tends to separate qualities originally mixed to-
extreme paternal power distinguished the Roman father
gether in a single great goddess figure into different embody-
from fathers in other societies in degree, but not in kind.
ing images, as exemplified by the goddesses of the Homeric
In contrast to motherhood, which results from pregnan-
pantheon. Artemis and Aphrodite, for example, both lose
cy and childbirth, fatherhood is not immediately self-
their original fullness of personality to become mainly associ-
evident. Nor can fatherhood be as readily represented in im-
ated with the hunt and with erotic love, respectively. In this
ages. Development and evolution of the concept are conse-
way motherhood, especially in Western cultures dominated
quently less certain and less easy to follow. Almost
by monotheism, has typically been strictly separated from all
everywhere, the most archaic manifestation of divine father-
other potential and actual attributes of womanhood. Thus
hood is the “high god” located in the sky. Typically this “fa-
hunting, wisdom, sex, and war, all attributes of the undiffer-
ther” is originally a creator whose traits include goodness, age
entiated goddess, come to appear totally divorced from each
(eternity), and remoteness from the world of human affairs.
other.
So transcendent is he that he often abdicates his role of cre-
A related process polarizes “good” and “bad” qualities
ator, handing it over to a successor-demiurge. Consequently,
into beneficient and terrible goddesses. Such terrible mothers
he is seldom reverenced in cult and may even disappear en-
of death and destruction as the Hindu Ka¯l¯ı, the Aztec Tla-
tirely. Representative examples are the Australian All-Father
matecuhtli, and the Greek Medusa typify this process. Such
deities Baiame, worshiped by the Kamilaroi, and Bunjil (of
splitting dichotomizes the originally unified cycle of birth
the Kulin tribes); the Andamanese Puluga; numerous African
and death, in which Mother Earth gives birth (often quite
father gods such as Nzambi of the Bantu-speaking peoples
literally, as in the Greek story of Erichthonius and in the
and Nyan Kupon of the Tshis. Existence of a sky god of this
many Native American myths that portray humanity emerg-
sort is evident from Neolithic times on and may well go back
ing from the womb of the Earth) and later takes back her
to Paleolithic times, but hard material evidence to prove it
dead for burial (as in the Pueblo belief that Shipapu, the un-
is currently insufficient. Aside from images suggesting the
derworld, is also the womb of the earth goddess, Natya Ha
bull-roarers universally associated with father gods, no im-
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2985
ages comparable to the Paleolithic Venuses have been dis-
In ritual, too, fathers often mimic the maternal role.
covered.
Particularly among various Australian Aboriginal groups, ini-
tiation rites for boys, frequently reveal the fathers of a tribe
The fatherhood of such archaic deities is often less spe-
functioning as male mothers, as they ritually mimic menstru-
cifically biological than creative, as reflected by the terms
ation and “giving birth” to the young male initiates. Such
Bawai and Apap, applied respectively by the African Chawai
sexual crossing over introduces into the concept of father-
and Teso, which convey the fatherhood of God relative to
hood several conflicting themes. Variously, fatherhood is as
creation. In this sense the supreme being is a “father” wheth-
self-contained as motherhood in its parthenogenetic form;
er or not he creates in the well-known hieros gamos of Mother
or it projects a “maternal” nurturing quality far different
Earth and Father Sky or through powers entirely his, as
from the remoteness of the archaic sky god; or sometimes it
Baiami does.
deemphasizes sexual differentiation by blurring, a theme ex-
By contrast, in many less archaic mythological and ritu-
plicit in fertility figures such as Marduk, whose sex changes.
alized conceptions, divine fatherhood is unmistakably bio-
These are just some of the ways in which concepts of father-
logical. Here the archaic mating of Mother Earth and Father
hood and divine fathers have developed their complexity
Sky, originally an abstract description of creation, becomes
worldwide.
far more concrete. The sovereign father is typically eclipsed
SIBLINGS. Symbolically, relationships between siblings are al-
by his son, as is the Greek Ouranos by Kronos, the Australian
most as central to religion and mythology as those between
Baiami by Grogoragally, the Tiv Awondo by the Sun. Thus,
parents and children. This is partly because brothers and sis-
one theme typically connected to divine fatherhood in most
ters are frequently also spouses, like Zeus and Hera, especial-
mythologies is the generational conflict of fathers and sons.
ly in creation myths, making the theme of incest a common
As the archaic father god recedes, the son who replaces him,
universal mythologem. Almost universally, cross twins (those
even as he himself achieves fatherhood, seldom attains the
of opposite sex) are believed to have been the first humans
stature of his own progenitor. This is indicated by his charac-
from whom all others descend.
teristic shift from sky god variously to solar or weather god
(as when the weather god Zeus replaces Kronos) or agricul-
The first couple of the ancient Egyptian ennead were
tural deity (as when the Babylonian Marduk, both a solar
the twins Shu and Tefnut; the second were the brother and
and a vegetation deity, eventually supplants the Sumerian
sister Geb and Nut, the father and mother of the Osirian
great triad of sky gods Anu, Enlil, and Ea), all of which lack
gods. The Vedic twins Yama and Yami and the Norse Askr
the majestic connotations universally ascribed to the sky.
and Embla functioned similarly.
Particularly in the Chalcolithic cultures of the Near East
Some idea of the possible meanings of sibling “mar-
(e.g., Sumer, Babylonia), where worship of the Paleolithic
riage,” whether of twins or not, is evident from the Japanese
goddess developed strongly into the historic period, this shift
myth of Amaterasu O
¯ mikami, the Heaven-Illuminating
is apparent. Here earth as mother, rather than sky as father,
Goddess, and her brother Susano-o no Mikoto, the Valiant-
typically symbolizes the supreme being, rendering father-
Swift-Impetuous Hero. The rule of the universe was divided
hood a less exalted concept. The god is father solely as fecun-
between these two: The realm of light, including heaven and
dator, being more often lover than spouse. Such vegetation
earth, was presided over wisely by the sun goddess, while the
gods as Adonis, Tammuz, and their myriad counterparts
ocean and the domain of hidden things was ruled widely by
function this way.
her stormy brother. In consequence of her brother’s evil be-
havior, Amaterasu hid in a cave, plunging the entire world
In marked contrast to this biological, often chthonic, fa-
into darkness. When she emerged, light triumphed over
therhood is the refinement of sky-oriented fatherhood appar-
dark, and her brother was banished to a remote region.
ent in the monotheistic religions—Judaism, Christianity,
and Islam—and in dualistic Zoroastrianism, all of which de-
Most variants of this rivalry show the siblings as two
veloped out of patriarchal nomadic herding societies that re-
brothers, often twins, as in the ancient Persian Zoroastrian
tained more of the archaic religion than did their matrilineal
myth of the twins O
¯ hrmazd (“light”) and Ahriman
agricultural counterparts. The biblical Yahveh, for example,
(“darkness”) or in the Iroquoian myth of Ioskeha, the creator
is thought to have emerged from the celestial West Semitic
and preserver, and Tawiskara, the deadly winter god. Unlike
deity known as Ya, Yami, or Yahu.
the Iroquoian pair, however, the Persian dyad, representing
the principles of good and evil, respectively, set the stage for
One of the attributes frequently credited to father-gods
a dualistic system of thought in which both principles are
in almost all patriarchal cultures is that of giving birth: The
equal.
biblical God creates life without aid from a female deity;
Zeus produces Athena from his brow and gestates Dionysos
Often sibling rivalry incorporates the theme of fratri-
in his thigh; the Scandinavian giant Ymir and the Aboriginal
cide, as in the case of the Egyptian Seth who kills Osiris or
Australian Great Father, Kakora, both give birth from their
the Greek brothers Ismenos and Kaanthos through whom
armpits; and the Egyptian Khepri variously spits and mastur-
fratricide was first introduced into the world. This common
bates to produce Shu and Tefnut, respectively.
theme dramatizes the invidious distinction most cultures
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FAMILY
make between elder brothers and all other children. An Aus-
oped by most literate cultures. Representative is the Institutes
tralian creation myth about two brothers traveling together
of Hindu Law, or The Ordinances of Menu, according to the
at the beginning of time vividly dramatizes this distinction.
Gloss of Culluca; Comprising the Indian System of Duties, Reli-
When the elder brother desires a wife, he operates on his sib-
gious and Civil, translated from the original Sanskrit by Wil-
ling, making him into a woman. The younger brother-
liam Jones (1794; 2d ed., London, 1876); the ordinances
turned-wife simply continues in the subordinate position he
cover a wide range of family-related topics, including di-
vorce, remarriage, status of wives, and the like. An excellent
had occupied all along, making clear the equivalent impo-
compendium of various issues of concern to contemporary
tence of younger brothers and wives.
students of family is the Spring 1977 issue of Daedalus,
All these sibling tales ring changes on certain important
which ranges from articles on specific cultures to family poli-
familial themes. Battling twins represent identity altering
cy issues in the United States to the study of the history of
into difference; fighting sisters and brothers depict familial
the family.
opposition; cohabiting sisters and brothers embody familial
Of the hundreds of recent works on family studies, Household and
unity; and battling brothers symbolize the struggle between
Family in Past Time, edited by Peter Laslett with the assis-
equality and hierarchy, as brotherhood gives way to the rights
tance of Richard Wall (Cambridge, 1972), is most represen-
of the elder brother, the patriarch-to-be.
tative of the controversial demographic approach. In this
S
work Laslett presents his provocative, ground-breaking argu-
ERVANTS. Of all the traditional family members, none so
emphasizes the way family functions as both example and
ment that the nuclear family preceded the industrial revolu-
tion and hence was causative rather than resultant. Also rep-
symbol of a hierarchical order as does the servant, the hired
resentative of the new demographic scholarship on family is
or enslaved person contributing to family life and economics
Michael Mitterauer and Reinhard Seider’s The European
in both agrarian and commercial settings. Particularly in its
Family: Patriarchy to Partnership from the Middle Ages to the
most extreme form, as slavery, servitude emphasizes the hier-
Present (Chicago, 1977). For those who wish to pursue the
archical nature of the traditional family. In ancient Hawaiian
historical aspects of family in depth, particularly by looking
culture, for instance, one outcast social group, the kauwa,
at small numbers of people in very precisely documented
were designated to serve the chiefs and touch them directly.
areas, the Journal of Family History (Worcester, Mass.,
They alone were exempt from the kapu (“taboo”) that pro-
1796–) presents the most recent work.
hibited touching the chiefs on pain of death. Yet these kauwa
Among numerous excellent sources of information on the mother
were themselves untouchable: It was not proper to eat with
goddess, two stand out for their lucidity: E. O. James’s The
them or sleep close to them. At the death of their masters,
Cult of the Mother-Goddess: An Archaeological and Documen-
they were buried alive, often as sacrificial atonement for kapu
tary Study (New York, 1959) and Marija Gimbutas’s The
violations committed by others. While extreme, this exam-
Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe, 6500–3500 B.C.: Myths
ple, like others involving Indian untouchable servants, Amer-
and Cult Images (Berkeley, Calif., 1982). Somewhat more
ican black slaves, and Middle Eastern eunuchs, clearly em-
difficult to trace for lack of early material evidence and fewer
bodies the themes of scapegoating, sacrifice, and hierarchy
books devoted exclusively to the subject is the concept of the
father god. Helpful sources include E. O. James’s The Wor-
common to families in general.
ship of the Sky-God: A Comparative Study in Semitic and Indo-
Certain religious traditions overtly take up the themes
European Religion (London, 1963); Wilhelm Schmidt’s The
implicit in servitude, stressing them as positive rather than
Origin and Growth of Religion: Facts and Theories (1931;
negative attributes, as in the cases of Hanuman, the perfect
New York, 1972), considered by many the locus classicus for
Hindu servant, and Christ, understood as fulfilling the
its topic; and Mircea Eliade’s Patterns in Comparative Reli-
promise of the servant poems of “Second Isaiah.” Others
gion (New York, 1958), in which see especially chapter 2,
simply portray servitude as an institution as natural to divini-
“The Sky and Sky Gods,” and chapter 3, “The Sun and Sun-
ty as to humanity: In Japanese mythology, for example, the
Worship.” A helpful discussion of Kr:s:n:a as divine child ap-
pears in David Kinsley’s The Sword and the Flute: Kali and
fox functions as the messenger of the god of harvests, Inari,
Kr:s:n:a, Dark Visions of the Terrible and the Sublime in Hindu
much as Hermes serves the Greek Olympians. Among the
Mythology (Berkeley, 1975). Much useful information on
Haida of the Northwest Coast, Old-Woman-under-the-Fire
siblings appears in Donald J. Ward’s The Divine Twins: An
serves as messenger of the supernaturals, going between this
Indo-European Myth in Germanic Tradition (Berkeley, Calif.,
world and that of the spirits. Servitude, exemplifying a hu-
1968).
mility appropriate to worshipers, characterizes many tradi-
tions; thus the Vedic Hindus feel like slaves in the presence
New Sources
of Varun:a (R:gveda 1.25.1).
The Histoire de la famille, edited by André Burguière, Christiane
Klapisch-Zuber, Marin Segalen and Françoise Zonabend
SEE ALSO Ancestors; Child; Deus Otiosus; Domestic Obser-
(Paris, 1986), is the basic work of reference. It contains his-
vances; Goddess Worship; Hieros Gamos; Home; Sky; Su-
torical chapters on Mediterranean antiquity, European Mid-
preme Beings; Twins; Virgin Goddess.
dle Ages and ancient Asia as well as anthropological surveys
on family in today’s Western and Eastern world. The three
BIBLIOGRAPHY
prefaces by an historian such as Georges Duby and two an-
Besides canonical scriptures, the most useful primary texts for stu-
thropologists such as Claude Lévi-Strauss and Jack Goody
dents of the family are the ancient religio-legal codes devel-
are very inspiring from the methodological point of view.
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FAMILY, THE
2987
The well-organized bibliographies and the ample indexes are
communicate on a regular basis with Jesus and with deceased
very helpful. Among the classics, N. D. Fustel de Coulanges,
persons.
La cité antique (Paris, 1872) and Edward Westermarck, A
Short History of Marriage (London, 1926) are still worth
ORIGINS. David Brandt Berg, founder of the Family and var-
reading as well as various essays on society and religion by
iously called Moses David or Father David, was the grandson
Talcott Parsons. Philip Ariès, L’enfant et la vie familiale sous
of John Lincoln Brandt, a leader in the Disciples of Christ,
l’ancien régime (Paris, 1960); J. L. Flandrin, Familles. Parenté,
and the son of Virginia Brandt Berg, a radio evangelist and
maison, sexualité dans l’ancienne société (Paris, 1976); and
faith healer in the Christian and Missionary Alliance, part of
Lawrence Stone, The Family, Sex and Marriage in England
the Holiness movement. After serving as a minister of the
1500–1800 (London, 1977) have been innovating historical
Christian and Missionary Alliance in Arizona, Father David
studies. The Development of the Family and Marriage in Eu-
worked for a decade in the Soul Clinic, a Pentecostal move-
rope (Cambridge, U.K., 1983) and The Oriental, the Ancient
ment. A break with the Soul Clinic and a “Warning Prophe-
and the Primitive. Systems of Marriage and the Family in Pre-
cy” channeled by his mother at the end of 1967 delivered
industrial Societies of Eurasia (Cambridge, U.K., 1990) by
Berg and his family to Huntington Beach, near Los Angeles,
Jack Goody are provoking comparative surveys of pre-
modern family institutions throughout the world who chal-
where they encountered the hippie movement.
lenge many traditional assumptions.
A cultural historian might say the Family was an amal-
Günther Kehrer, “Familie” in Handbuch religionswissenschaftlicher
gam of the Holiness movement and the hippie movement,
Grundbegriffe, vol. 2, edited by H. Cancik, B. Gladigow and
both of which stressed intense, intimate spiritual experiences.
M. Laubscher (Stuttgart, Germany, 1990), pp. 404–414 is
However, this analysis may be too facile, because not all the
one of the very few accounts of the relationship between fam-
new recruits could be described as hippies and much of the
ily and religion, written from the perspective of social scien-
religious inspiration came from the personal experiences of
tific studies. Marzio Barbagli, “Famiglia. 1. Sociologia,” in
Father David rather than merely reflecting his denomina-
Enciclopedia delle scienze sociali, vol. 3 (Rome, 1993), is par-
ticularly useful for his ample bibliography.
tional background. For example, from its formative period
in California, the Family has always been profoundly mille-
For religions (especially religions of the Book) in the contempo-
narian, yet Father David had no connections to Adventism,
rary situations of American families, see the site of the “Reli-
and his Holiness tradition was not millenarian. Possibly in-
gion, Culture, and Family Project,” directed by Don Brow-
ning at the University of Chicago Divinity School (http://
spired by the quite different millenarian quality of the hippie
divinity.uchicago.edu/family/index.html), which addresses
movement and the revolutionary anarchism of the associated
marriage, sex, and family issues from a range of theological,
New Left, Father David studied the books of Daniel and Rev-
historical, legal, biblical, and cultural perspectives.
elation to develop his own perspective on the imminence of
the apocalypse.
KATHRYN ALLEN RABUZZI (1987)
Revised Bibliography
Soon Father David’s growing movement was staging
colorful public protests, marching in red robes while pound-
ing seven-foot staves on the ground in tempo with shouts of
FAMILY, THE. The religious movement that calls itself
“Woe!” or arguing with ministers of conventional churches
“the Family” (though it has also been called the Children of
during their sermons. A few horrified parents sought the aid
God since its inception) began in the 1960s as the ministry
of Ted Patrick and other deprogrammers to rescue their sons
of a particular family and the related musical evangelism
and daughters from the group, thereby giving birth to the
called Teens for Christ. Positioning itself in radical opposi-
American anticult movement. In 1970 Father David flew to
tion to the mainstream churches, which it scorned as worldly
Israel for a temporary visit (his subsequent whereabouts were
“churchianity,” it rapidly recruited young adults from the
usually secret, but outside the United States), and his follow-
1960s counterculture and spread beyond its origins in the
ers began moving first into Europe and then across Asia and
United States to establish communes around the world. Its
Latin America. The highly committed membership living in
visibility made it a target both for secularists aligned with the
communes and supporting themselves entirely through mis-
psychotherapy movement and for some conventional Chris-
sionary work and donations reached ten thousand in 1983
tians who assumed its unusually high levels of member com-
and remained at about that level through the remainder of
mitment were caused by brainwashing. Thus, members of
the twentieth century.
the Family were the first victims of forcible “deprogram-
THE LAW OF LOVE. After a celibate period during its forma-
ming,” and over a period of years fully six hundred of the
tion, the Family developed a theology that endorsed giving
group’s children were seized by authorities, inadvertently
erotic satisfaction to other people and sharing sexual experi-
traumatized by their captivity, then returned after the legal
ences beyond marriage with the consent of all parties. In
basis for holding them proved spurious. The Family remains
1969, in a tract called “Scriptural, Revolutionary Love-
an intriguing challenge for scholars and social scientists, be-
Making,” Father David argued that the biblical Song of Solo-
cause it claims to be authentically Christian yet rejects the
mon was sacred instruction for sexual intercourse. From
standard denominations’ limits on erotic and spiritual com-
other parts of the Bible (for example, Matt. 22:36–40; Gal.
munion, practicing a form of free love and professing to
5:14, 22–23; Titus 1:15) he derived the Law of Love: that
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2988
FAMILY, THE
any harmless sexual act can be good if performed in God’s
sages from the spirit world, but prayer, experimentation, and
love and with the agreement of those people involved. In
patience eventually prevailed.
1974, while living in Tenerife in the Canary Islands, Father
In general, established religious organizations discour-
David developed a new method of witnessing for Jesus,
age their membership from engaging in direct communica-
called “flirty-fishing” or “Ffing,” in which women of the
tion with the supernatural, reserving this function either for
group offered themselves sexually to selected nonmember
the priesthood or for ancient prophets of bygone days. The
men as samples of the Lord’s love.
Family, however, encouraged all members to receive prophe-
Over the next few years this practice spread to many,
cies. The 1997 survey of members found that 95 percent “re-
but by no means all, of the far-flung communes and became
ceived prophecy, visions, or messages from the spirit world”
a significant part of the group’s relationship with the sur-
(Bainbridge, 2002, p. 81). Interviews with members revealed
rounding world (in some geographic areas more than others)
that individuals mean a great variety of things by prophecy—
before being abandoned in 1987. Some former members
all the way from literally seeing and hearing the voice of Jesus
claim they were sexually exploited during this period, but
or a deceased relative to a vague intuitive sense of commu-
their testimonies are somewhat lacking in detail, and the cen-
nion or guidance.
tral organization has generally had difficulty imposing poli-
Members frequently write up the prophetic messages
cies on the highly dispersed local groups except through ex-
they receive and send them to the central organization,
ample and exhortation. Interviews by social scientists with
which is called World Services. It publishes selected examples
women who had engaged in flirty-fishing reveal a variety of
within the group. Some of these messages ostensibly come
relationships with the men involved, and many of them seem
from recently deceased loved ones, who report they are ex-
to have been sincere supporters of the group. By one internal
tremely happy in the afterlife, which grieving believers find
estimate, 200,000 men received flirty-fishing, but only a
quite comforting. Remarkably, other messages have been en-
vanishingly small fraction became committed members after-
tire posthumous works of literature attributed to deceased
ward.
authors of the past, including William Shakespeare, C. S.
In the 1990s, strict rules were instituted to limit sexual
Lewis, and Sir Walter Scott.
contact outside the Family and, at times, even outside the
THE END-TIME. The Family believes that the world has en-
particular communal group. Perhaps in compensation for
tered the end-time, and members frequently compare bibli-
these limitations, insiders were encouraged to share erotically
cal passages with the latest news, identifying what may be
beyond the married dyad. A questionnaire was administered
signs and portents of the coming end. Although for a time
to 1,025 members of the Family in 1997, based on items
they speculated about whether the antichrist might possibly
from the General Social Survey that had earlier been admin-
establish his world government around 1985 or 1986, they
istrated to a random sample of American adults. One battery
have never confidently set a date, and they do not accept
of items inquired about various sexual relationships, includ-
early Adventist traditions that it is possible to deduce the date
ing, “What about a married person having sexual relations
through close analysis of the Bible. The group’s image of the
with someone other than his or her husband or wife?” (Bain-
millennium and the paradise to follow is quite detailed, as-
bridge, 2002, p. 125). Of American adults, 78 percent said
serting, for example, that the holy city, New Jerusalem, will
this would always be wrong, compared with only 1 percent
be a pyramid fifteen hundred miles along each edge. Accord-
of members of the Family.
ing to the beliefs of the group, all true members and others
Ritual, in the conventional sense of the term, is almost
who sincerely accepted Jesus as their savior will be resurrect-
completely absent in the Family, except for giving thanks at
ed in spiritual bodies, enjoying all the pleasures of the flesh
meals and occasional spontaneous communion experiences
but suffering no sin.
within a home (in spontaneous communion somebody will,
For the first quarter century of its existence, the Family
on impulse, suggest passing a cup of wine with prayers). Rit-
expected the consummation of the end-time at any moment.
ual’s function is taken by various forms of emotional sharing
When members first began having children, they did not
among members, including not only eroticism but also an
imagine the children would have the time to grow up. As the
extensive repertoire of member-created music, a vast internal
years passed, they began educating the children at home rath-
literature provided by the central organization, and (since the
er than enter schools operated by the detested “system.” Sec-
death of Father David in 1994) a remarkable flood of explicit
ond-generation adult respondents to the 1997 survey report-
communications that members believe they receive directly
ed, on average, a total of ten years of home schooling but
from the supernatural.
only one year of schooling outside the home, and 63 percent
SPIRITUAL COMMUNICATION. During the years he led the
said they had never attended a non-Family school. This sur-
Family, Father David claimed to be in constant communica-
vey also revealed that only 3 percent of members have full-
tion both with Jesus and with lesser spirit guides. The core
time jobs, other than their missionary work with the Family,
leadership who lived with him accepted these claims and
and thus the overwhelming majority look toward the future
fully expected to receive his gift of prophecy after his passing.
not in terms of a secular career but in terms of saving souls
To their surprise, at first they had difficulty receiving mes-
in preparation for the end-time.
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FANGSHI
2989
Over the years the Family has been able to maintain
Van Zandt, David E. Living in the Children of God. Princeton,
what sociologists call high tension with the surrounding so-
N.J., 1991. An early descriptive account.
ciocultural environment, living apart from the institutions of
Wallis, Roy. Salvation and Protest. New York, 1979. This book
secular society and estranged from the conventional church-
contains a section on the early group.
es. It has done so by periodically launching revivals it calls
Williams, Miriam. Heaven’s Harlots: My Fifteen Years as a Sacred
revolutions and by refusing to compromise with the ambient
Prostitute in the Children of God Cult. New York, 1998. A
culture. By placing high demands on membership, it sustains
personal memoir, apparently packaged by the publisher to
commitment but makes it difficult for people to join. The
emphasize controversial aspects.
scholars and social scientists who have followed the Family
WILLIAM SIMS BAINBRIDGE (2005)
over its history agree that it entered the twenty-first century
facing some difficulty in keeping second-generation mem-
bers as they enter adulthood and in preventing local schisms.
The cultural milieu in which it was formed, California of the
FANGSHI. The fangshi (“specialists in occult prescrip-
late 1960s, is long past, but comparable recruitment episodes
tions”), also called “magicians” and “recipe masters,” and
may arise in one or more of the roughly ninety nations in
later known as daoshi (“specialists in the Way”) were impor-
which the Family’s missionaries are seeking to save souls.
tant contributors to the development of religious Daoism.
Thus it is impossible to predict how much longer the Family
They were experimental philosophers and occult technicians
will be able to sustain its revolutionary ministry.
who, in the course of their observations of nature and search
There is no evidence that members of the Family con-
for physical immortality, created a body of prescientific
sider that the continued existence of the sinful world contra-
knowledge that formed the basis of Chinese medicine, phar-
dicts their millenarian prophecies. Rather, the sin and misery
macology, chemistry, astrology, divination, and physiologi-
of life on earth prove to them that each person must urgently
cal alchemy. A major part of this knowledge was later incor-
accept Jesus. They note that the world does end for the thou-
porated into the Daoist religion.
sands of people who die every day, and they stress that each
The origin and precise meaning of the term fangshi are
person should not waste a single day further. In their world-
far from certain; but they may have developed from the wu,
wide ministry they tend to measure success in terms of the
shamans or sorcerers who were involved in mediating be-
many people who kneel in prayer with them to let Jesus into
tween the human and spiritual realms from the earliest times
their hearts, not in terms of recruits to Family membership.
in Chinese court and village life. By the second century BCE
Social scientists have found the Family to be a veritable trea-
the term was used to refer to a group of practitioners of vari-
sure trove of research challenges, and it will be interesting to
ous esoteric arts who were generally outside the literati main-
see whether historians and theologians also benefit by study-
stream. These practitioners apparently maintained their own
ing this radical movement over the coming decades.
texts and lore and transmitted their knowledge from master
to disciple, yet they have never been regarded as constituting
SEE ALSO Jesus Movement.
a distinct philosophical school. This is perhaps due to the
fact that, while early historians respected their arcane skills,
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bainbridge, William Sims. The Sociology of Religious Movements.
they did not hold them in very high regard and only recorded
New York, 1997. This general text on religious movements
events in which these abilities were used to strive for political
contains a chapter about the Family based on interviews and
power. The fangshi were most influential in China during a
observation.
period of roughly six hundred years beginning in the third
Bainbridge, William Sims. The Endtime Family: Children of God.
century BCE.
Albany, N.Y., 2002. A study of the contemporary group
While in later times they came from various areas on the
largely based on a questionnaire completed by 1,025
periphery of the empire, the fangshi were first associated with
members.
the coastal states of Qi and Yan (now Shantung), and it is
Chancellor, James D. Life in the Family: An Oral History of the
here in about 330 BCE that we hear of them encouraging local
Children of God. Syracuse, N.Y., 2000. A scholarly study
rulers to set out to sea in search of the holy immortals (xian)
based on interviews and extensive observation.
who possessed the potions of immortality. Though their
Davis, Rex, and James T. Richardson. “The Organization and
exact relationship to the Naturalist school first systematized
Functioning of the Children of God.” Sociological Analysis 37
(1976): 321–339. An early examination of the group by so-
by Zou Yan (340–270 BCE) remains unclear, we know that
cial scientists.
they took the ideas of this school as the philosophical basis
Lewis, James R., and J. Gordon Melton, eds. Sex, Slander, and Sal-
for their observations of nature and their various experimen-
vation: Investigating the Family/Children of God. Stanford,
tal techniques. According to this Naturalist philosophy, all
Calif., 1994. A collection of essays by scholars from various
phenomena are infused by one of the Five Phases (wuxing)
academic disciplines.
of Energy (qi), namely, Earth, Fire, Water, Wood, and
Patrick, Ted, with Tom Dulak. Let Our Children Go! New York,
Metal. Phenomena infused with the same phase of energy in-
1976. A book by the professional deprogrammer who first
fluence and resonate with one another, and these phases
tried to deconvert members.
themselves spontaneously transform according to their own
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

2990
FANGSHI
inherent laws, and so influence all things from the succession
its and demons. Mantic practices were also an important as-
of seasons to the succession of dynasties.
pect of their tradition. Some of the large cache of medical
and divinatory texts excavated at Mawang dui in 1973 are
When the first emperor of China, Qin Shihuangdi,
likely representative of fangshi writings.
united the country in 221 BCE, fangshi from Qi and Yan
flocked to his court. Their influence there is clearly attested
Ultimately a large part of the knowledge and practices
to by the historical records. The emperor believed that he
of the fangshi found their way into the Daoist religion. Their
had come to power because the energetic phase of water had
occult practices and philosophies included breath cultivation
gained ascendancy in the world, and so he adopted water as
and a cosmology of the Dao that are also the hallmarks of
the symbol of his reign. He also sent expeditions to search
the famous foundational works of the Daoist religion, Laozi
for Penglai, the Isle of the Immortals, and was himself devot-
and Zhuang Zi, as well as some lesser known texts such as
ed to the quest for immortality.
“Inward Training” (Nei-yeh), a fourth century BCE poetic
work included in the Guan Zi that contains the oldest extant
In the succeeding century and a half, the cult of immor-
Chinese discussion of meditation and its results. The fangshi
tality flourished, and its principal proponents, the fangshi,
maintained their own independent learning centers through-
were influential among the ruling elite. Their power reached
out the Han dynasty and their lore and practices formed the
its zenith under Han Wudi (140–87 BCE), who appointed
foundations of the organized Daoist religion that coalesced
a number of them court officials when they promised to con-
around a few charismatic fangshi leaders between 140 and
tact the immortals and to provide him with their secrets of
184 CE. The oldest source of religious Daoism, the Taiping
avoiding death. On the advice of these specialists in occult
jing, is said to have been authored by fangshi and was pres-
prescriptions, the emperor undertook expeditions both to
ented to the imperial court by one in 140 CE. They also wrote
the eastern seacoast and to the sacred Kunlun mountains in
a collection of now lost subaltern commentaries on the Con-
the west in quest of these secrets. He also reinstated ancient
fucian classics, the Zhanwei (“Wei Apochrypha”) that were
sacrifices to the spirits, the most important of which were the
also transmitted outside government sanctioned circles. Be-
feng and shan sacrifices on Mount Tai. According to the fang-
cause the rise of Daoism as a religious and political force dur-
shi, the feng and shan sacrifices had last been performed by
ing the second century CE took place largely outside the pur-
their patron and ancestor, the Yellow Emperor (Huangdi),
view of the official historians who are our main sources, the
who thereupon had achieved immortality. The ultimate fail-
precise role of the fangshi in the beginnings of the Daoist reli-
ure of these endeavors was discouraging to Emperor Wu, and
gion is difficult to clarify. However scholars have been able
after his reign the influence of these esoteric masters declined
to identify textual influences between Han dynasty fangshi
considerably on a national scale.
works and the later Shang qing (“Highest Clarity”) and Ling-
On the local level, however, the fangshi were still power-
bao (“Numinous Treasure”) Schools of Religious Daoism.
ful at the courts of a number of vassal states. The most nota-
S
ble was the state of Huainan, whose ruler, Liu An, was spon-
EE ALSO Alchemy, article on Chinese Alchemy; Daoism,
overview article; Liu An; Xian; Yinyang Wuxing.
sor and editor of the important philosophical compendium
the Huainanzi. Liu An died in 122 BCE after his presumed
BIBLIOGRAPHY
rebellion was discovered by imperial authorities, but accord-
There are three Western-language sources devoted exclusively to
ing to legend, the fangshi gave him and his family a potion
the fangshi. Ngo Van Xuyet’s Divination, magie et politique
of immortality and they all ascended to heaven to live forev-
dans la Chine ancienne (Paris, 1976) contains an accurate
er. It is interesting to note that rulers of several other vassal
translation of all the fangshi biographies in the History of the
states in which the specialists in occult prescriptions were in-
Latter Han (Hou Han shu) as well as excellent supporting ma-
fluential during the next two centuries also plotted (unsuc-
terial including a detailed discussion of the historical context
cessful) rebellions and that a number of them were associated
of the biographies and appendices on the various esoteric
with Wang Mang, who seized the reins of the empire for fif-
techniques of the fangshi. Kenneth J. DeWoskin has pub-
lished one article and one book on the fangshi. “A Source
teen years early in the first century CE.
Guide to the Lives and Techniques of Han and Six Dynasties
The surviving records show the fangshi to have been in-
Fangshi,” Society for the Study of Chinese Religion Bulletin 9
volved in a wide range of experiments aimed at lengthening
(1981): 79–105, is a valuable list of biographical sources and
life and avoiding death. Their experimentation with trans-
makes an important attempt to define the fangshi and delin-
muting cinnabar to mercury and gold in the search for the
eate their activities. Many of the biographies listed in this ar-
ticle, and all of those translated in Ngo’s work, are translated
potion of eternal life is regarded as the origin of Chinese al-
by DeWoskin in Doctors, Diviners, and Magicians of Ancient
chemy and chemistry. Their creation of various plant and an-
China: Biographies of Fangshi (New York, 1983), which also
imal compounds for health and longevity is the basis of the
contains a useful introduction. This work is the most com-
long Chinese pharmacological and medical traditions. Their
prehensive to date in the West but unfortunately fails to deal
respiratory and gymnastic techniques, methods of dietary hy-
with the very thorny problem of the role of the fangshi in the
giene, and various “bedroom arts” are among the earliest ex-
rise of the Daoist religion.
amples of physiological alchemy. The fangshi were also adept
Information on the fangshi can be found in a number of other
at shamanistic trance and at contacting and influencing spir-
works, the most valuable of which is Yu Yingshi’s “Life and
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FA¯RA¯B¯I, AL-
2991
Immortality in the Mind of Han China,” Harvard Journal
While the details of his life are unclear, with the histori-
of Asiatic Studies 25 (1964–1965): 80–122. Anna K. Seidel’s
cal accuracy of many later biographical accounts suspect, the
superb study La divinisation de Lao-tseu dans le daoïsme des
following reconstruction has a reasonable degree of certainty.
Han (Paris, 1969) contains some useful information on the
Al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı was of Turkish origin, born in Fa¯ra¯b in Transoxi-
fangshi and their relationship to the Yellow Emperor and to
ana; he studied logic in Abbasid Baghdad under Nestorian
the Huang-Lao Daoists. The activities of the fangshi under
Christian scholars Yuh:anna¯ ibn H:ayla¯n (d. 910) and the
Qin Shihuangdi and Emperor Wu of the Han can be found
prominent translator of Aristotle into Arabic, Abu¯ Bishr
in Burton Watson’s translation of Ssu-ma Qien’s Shih chi,
Records of the Grand Historian of China, vol. 2 (New York,
Matta¯ (d. 940); his most famous student, too, was a Chris-
1963), pp. 13–69. There are also scattered references to the
tian, the Jacobite Yah:ya¯ ibn EAd¯ı (d. 974), another important
fangshi in Joseph Needham’s Science and Civilization in
translator and logician. After having crossed the age of seven-
China (Cambridge, U.K., 1956–1976), especially volume 2,
ty, he left for Syria and attached himself to the court of the
which contains an excellent discussion of the school of Natu-
Sh¯ıE¯ı ruler, the Hamdanid Sayf al-Dawla; his writings do
ralists, and volume 5, part 3, which discusses alchemy. Final-
show some Sh¯ıE¯ı leanings. After having traveled to Aleppo
ly there is a detailed discussion of the practices and texts of
and Egypt, he finally returned to Damascus, where he died.
the fangshi along with a meticulous translation of medical
writings that likely derived from them in Donald Harper,
There seem to be good reasons why al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı enjoyed
Early Chinese Medical Literature: The Mawangdui Medical
the prestigious stature of the “Second Teacher” after Aristot-
Manuscripts (London, 1998).
le, for in the history of Hellenized philosophy in Islam, he
There are now several excellent sources for the relationship be-
is the first system-builder and one with a heightened sense
tween the fangshi and the organized Daoist religion. Solid
of curricular organization and rigor. Thus the various ele-
overviews can be found in two general histories of Daoism,
ments of his philosophical discourses constitute a coherent
Isabelle Robinet’s Daoism: Growth of a Religion (Stanford,
body of thought in which every identifiable proper part
1997) and Livia Kohn’s Daoism and Chinese Culture (Bos-
seems to be related to every other. This monumental synthe-
ton, 2001). Toshiaki Yamada’s “Longevity Techniques and
sis was carried out in an Aristotelian manner but supple-
the Compilation of the Lingbao wufuxu” in Kohn’s edited
mented, modified, and controlled by a peculiar brand of Pla-
collection Daoist Meditation and Longevity Techniques (Ann
tonism, Neoplatonism, and Islamism. One of his celebrated
Arbor, 1989), pp. 99–123, is a superb textual study of the
works, Ih:sa¯D al- EUlu¯m (Enumeration of the sciences), that
links between this religious Daoist work and the fangshi.
There are also a number of notable articles in the masterful
was also known to medieval Europe in its Latin translation,
Handbook of Daoism edited by Kohn (Leiden, 2000): Robi-
contains a comprehensive didactic account of the hierarchi-
net’s “Shangqing–Highest Clarity,” pp. 196–224, an over-
cal relationship he saw between different kinds of sciences—
view of this important Daoist school in which she traces its
rational, linguistic, theological, and juridical—and their sub-
roots back to the Han dynasty fangshi; Yamada’s “The Ling-
divisions, establishing the precise order in which they should
bao School,” pp. 225–255, which demonstrates the influence
be studied.
of the fangshi on the development of this second major
school of religious Daoism; Fabrizio Pregadio’s “Elixirs and
It is a testimony to the integrative power of al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı’s
Alchemy,” pp. 165–195, which argues that the roots of inner
system that in his works different branches of philosophy
and outer alchemy can be found in fangshi practices and
begin to display inherent interconnections that are both un-
texts; and Mark Csikszentmihalyi’s “Han Cosmology and
expected and, to a good degree, original in their construc-
Mantic Practices,” pp. 53–73, an analysis of the divination
tion. For example, his theory of prophecy, revelation, and re-
practices and texts of the Han dynasty fangshi and how they
ligion is inextricably linked to and makes sense only in the
were transmitted. Finally, for a discussion of early Daoist
fuller context of his logic and philosophy of language on the
meditation and its origins, see Harold D. Roth, Original
one hand, and epistemology and metaphysics on the other,
Dao: Inward Training and the Foundations of Daoist Mysti-
cism (New York, 1999).
and all of this is related to his psychology and philosophy of
mind. But then, quite unexpectedly, his discourses on meta-
HAROLD D. ROTH (1987 AND 2005)
physics are largely to be found not in isolated treatises on this
subject, but in his political writings, in particular al-Mad¯ına
al-Fa¯d:ila (The virtuous city) and al-Siya¯sa al-Madaniyya
(Civil polity). Likewise, he hardly dedicates separated trea-
FA¯RA¯B¯I, AL-. Abu¯ Nas:r Muh:ammad ibn Muh:ammad
tises to psychology and philosophy of mind; his discussions
ibn Tarkha¯n ibn Awzalagh al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı (258–339? AH/870–
on these disciplines are again to be found in his political
950? CE) was a Hellenized Muslim-Arabic philosopher
works. Does it mean that political writings form the core of
(faylasu¯f), known in the Islamic tradition as the “Second
al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı’s system? The answer to this question cannot be
Teacher” (second to Aristotle); in Latin, al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı was called
straightforward.
Avennasar or Alfarabius. His Arabic biographers called him
the first great logician; modern scholars have declared him
The complexity arises because al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı’s system has
the chief political philosopher of Islam and the founder of
multiple cores at once, each core having been worked with
Islamic Neoplatonism. More than one hundred works are at-
equally uncompromising forensic diligence. Logic forms one
tributed to him, not all of which have survived.
of these cores, where he surpassed Syriac logicians by going
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2992
FAREL, GUILLAUME
beyond the traditionally limited number of Aristotle’s specif-
gaged fundamentally in addressing what happened to be a
ic logical works they read and commented upon, and pio-
historical contingency—namely, Islam’s encounter with
neering the study of the entire range of Aristotle’s logical
Hellenism. The phenomenon of Islamic religion had become
treatises, a corpus known as the Organon, as well as Rhetorics
too massive to be ignored by him; he took it seriously and
and Poetics. This is a major event in the history of philoso-
took it upon himself to give it an all-embracing philosophical
phy. Apart from his epitomes of and commentaries on Aris-
respectability, while at the same time creating a niche for
totle’s individual logical texts, al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı also wrote his own
Hellenistic rational philosophy in an Arabic-Islamic milieu.
Kita¯b al-H:uru¯f (Book of letters) and Kita¯b al-Alfaz: al-
Indeed, it is al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı who established the classical tradition
Musta Emala fiDl-Mant:iq (Book of utterances employed in
of Arabic philosophers’ attitude to revelation. It has been ob-
logic), both of which concern logic and its relationship with
served that his interest in types of rationality, modes of dis-
language. Given this, these two books can also be considered
course, hierarchy of intellects, imagination, poetics, and the
discourses in linguistic philosophy. Here it would seem that
relations between ordinary and philosophical language all re-
al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı is trying to reduce all else in his philosophical uni-
flect that very core concern with revelation.
verse to logical-linguistic problems. And it is this reduction-
And yet it is possible to identify many other cores in
ism that makes logic one of the core components of his
al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı’s philosophical world, and this only shows the rich-
system.
ness, range, intricacy, and coherence of the system he built
But on both historical and philosophical grounds,
and the intellectual control that guided this grand task.
al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı’s discourses on prophecy and religion can legiti-
mately be considered yet another core of his system. For if
BIBLIOGRAPHY
all true philosophers bear the onus of communicating their
Though highly simplified, Majid Fakhry’s monograph, Al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı,
philosophy to the masses, as al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı believes, following
Founder of Islamic Neoplatonism (Oxford, 2002), is a good
Plato; and if attainment of happiness through the establish-
single-volume introduction to different aspects of the philos-
ment of a just civil society is the very aim of philosophy,
opher’s system. It also has a useful updated bibliography
and—speaking metaphysically and psychology as he does in
which lists all modern editions of al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı’s texts as well as
his Tah:s¯ıl al-Sa Ea¯da (Attainment of happiness)—human
translations of his texts into modern European languages;
happiness ultimately consists in the soul’s assimilation with
also specified are Arabic sources and a selection of secondary
the “agent intellect” (al- Eaql al-fa E Eal), being the supreme
works. Ian Netton’s Al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı and His School (London,
1992) is a crisply written general work which clarifies many
and the last in the hierarchy of four intellects that he posits
hitherto obscure areas of al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı’s thought.
in a Neoplatonic vein; then by virtue of his own doctrine,
the ideal philosopher and the true prophet receiving revela-
For al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı’s contributions to the formal aspects of logic, F. W.
tion become practically identical. Indeed in the Tah:s¯ıl
Zimmerman’s introduction in his translations of Al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı’s
al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı does argue for the real and conceptual identity of
Commentary and Short Treatise on Aristotle’s De Interpreta-
tione (London, 1981) is still the most rigorous piece of work
the philosopher and the lawgiver (that is, the prophet), and
in this field, learned and reliable. Readers with specialized in-
so writing about philosophy and reason—which was
terests should also look at the studies of Charles Butterworth,
al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı’s fundamental trade—was effectively writing about
D. M. Dunlop, and Muhsin Mahdi. But for the non-expert,
prophecy and religion.
Deborah Black’s chapter on al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı in Routledge History of
Islamic Philosophy, edited by Seyyed H. Nasr and Oliver Lea-
While neither consistent nor neat on this issue,
man (London, 1996) is another readable, solid, brief but
al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı says repeatedly that true prophet is an ideal philos-
comprehensive survey.
opher—for true prophecy, like the religion that it generates,
is the symbolization and imitation of those very truths that
S. NOMANUL HAQ (2005)
are known demonstratively and discursively to the philoso-
pher. This symbolization of philosophical truths is accom-
plished by the prophet through his supremely keen imagina-
FAREL, GUILLAUME
tive faculty that has muh:a¯ka¯h (mimesis) as one of its
(1489–1565), was an early
functions. By means of muh:a¯ka¯h, the prophet is able to rep-
Protestant reformer of western Switzerland. Born in Gap in
resent objects with the images of other objects and to depict
the Alps of southeastern France of a poor but noble family,
even immaterial realities. In this way philosophical truths,
Farel studied in Paris and there came under the influence of
imaginatively symbolized, are communicated to the mem-
the Christian humanist Jacques Lefèvre. Through Lefèvre,
bers of the general public who thereby receive abstract intelli-
Farel was introduced to Paul’s epistles and to the doctrine
gibles from the prophet in a concrete form that they are able
of justification by faith alone. Lefèvre and his students left
to grasp non-philosophically.
Paris for Meaux, where they had the support of Bishop Bri-
çonnet, a mild reformer and also a student of Lefèvre, and
Historically too, al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı’s concern with prophecy and
of Marguerite of Navarre. Farel and others were authorized
religion can be considered a core of his system, with every
to preach in the surrounding territory. Neither Briçonnet
other element of his thought appearing to be anchored in this
nor Lefèvre saw a need to renounce Catholicism, and Farel’s
concern and reduced to it. For it would seem that he was en-
ideas and preaching were soon forbidden as too radical.
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FASTI
2993
After leaving Meaux, Farel became acquainted with
Organizer of Reformed Calvinism, 1509–1564 (1906; reprint,
most of the leading reformers. In 1526 he settled in Aigle
New York, 1969).
under the control of Bern, taking part in that city’s religious
reformation, and in 1529 he introduced the Reformation to
JOHN H. LEITH (1987)
Neuchâtel. In 1532 he visited the Waldensians and was pres-
ent at the synod when they adopted the principles of the
Protestant Reformation and began their alignment with Re-
FASTI (from fasti dies, “the divinely authorized days”) were
formed Protestantism.
the calendars of the ancient Romans. They are the only
Farel’s most significant work for the future of Protes-
known form of a graphical representation of all days of the
tantism took place in Geneva, which he first visited in 1532.
year from the ancient Mediterranean world. By usually dis-
Opposition to the Reformation was strong, but Farel persist-
playing twelve columns of the days of the single months, the
ed under the protection of Bern. Geneva came to a full ac-
fasti offered the standard pattern for Christian calendars
ceptance of the Reformation on Sunday, May 21, 1536.
from late antiquity and ultimately for all representations of
the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The listing of the days
Expelled, along with Calvin, in 1538 from Geneva,
was organized by the recurring letters A to H (for a continu-
Farel returned to Neuchâtel and devoted the last twenty-
ous week of eight days) at the beginning of every entry. The
seven years of his life to building up this church. He contin-
main information concerned the juridical character of the
ued his preaching missions in neighboring territories almost
day, especially indicating whether it was fas (right) to open
to the time of his death in 1565. It remained for Calvin,
processes in front of the Roman praetor or not (nefas). The
whom Farel had compelled to serve the Reformation in
terminologically divine sanction had other consequences,
Geneva, to make that city the center of Reformed Protes-
too: The comitia, the Roman legislative body of the people,
tantism.
could not meet on dies nefasti; and, probably at the beginning
of the third century BCE, a special class of dies comitiales that
Farel’s primary contribution was that of a preacher and
could not be used for the opening of legal cases but could
advocate of the Reformation. He was an intense man of pas-
be used for the holding of assemblies was established.
sionate conviction and a powerful preacher who commanded
the attention of audiences and elicited opposition as well as
The distribution of days in the known late republican
conviction. He is best known for his work in Geneva and the
calendars was obviously the outcome of different political
support he gave to Calvin until the latter’s death. As a writer,
and juridical practices; at least from the second century BCE
he left 350 to 400 letters that, together with those of other
onwards the regulation as a whole was attributed to the codi-
reformers, played an important part in the Reformation. He
fications of the mid-fifth century (Twelve tables). Religious
was also the author of various polemical and practical tracts.
traditions, too, were integrated: feriae, a special class of days
His liturgy, “The Manner Observed in Preaching When the
given to the gods as property (and hence free from every
People Are Assembled to Hear the Word of God,” was, ac-
mundane activity) were marked in a particular way; that is,
cording to Bard Thompson in his Liturgies of the Western
as dies nefasti whose violation made piacular sacrifices neces-
Church, the “first manual of evangelical worship in the
sary (marked by the letters NP and abbreviations of the festi-
French language.” Farel’s best and most important work was
val names). Obviously, the featuring of this type of religious
Sommaire: C’est une brieve declaration d’aucuns lieux fort
information helped to enhance the legitimacy of the rigid
nécessaires a un chacun chrestien pour mettre sa confiance en
systematization of temporal rules when published from with-
Dieu et a ayder son prochain, the first summary of the evangel-
in the college of the pontiffs (pontifices, priests), who formed
ical faith in the French language. It was published in six edi-
an important body for the development of legal ruling and
tions during Farel’s lifetime; the last was corrected and com-
procedural guidelines during the early and middle republic.
pleted in conformity with Calvinist theology.
An important tradition attributed the publication to Gnaeus
Flavius, probably aedile in 304 BCE and scribe of the pontifi-
B
cal college.
IBLIOGRAPHY
Guillaume Farel, 1489–1565: Biographie nouvelle écrite d’après les
Scholars of Roman religion took a particular interest in
documents originaux (Paris, 1930) is an outstanding volume
the list of the feriae as transmitted by early imperial fasti, and
published by a committee of Farel scholars with many collab-
they postulated a regal “calendar of Numa” as its ultimate
orators. Two English translations of lives of Farel by nine-
source (Theodor Mommsen, 1817–1903). Hence, the fasti
teenth-century biographers are available: Melchior Kirch-
gained the status of the single most important source for
hofer’s The Life of William Farel, the Swiss Reformer (London,
early Roman history (Georg Wissowa, 1859–1931). Yet,
1837) and Frances A. Bevan’s William Farel, 5th ed. (Lon-
don, 1880). An extended account of Farel’s work can be
even if the list contained some very old traditions, it is not
found in Philip Schaff’s History of the Christian Church, vol.
possible to read it as a coherent archaic system. A large num-
7, Modern Christianity: The German Reformation and the
ber of festivals for Mars and the dedications of the former
Swiss Reformation (1910; reprint, Grand Rapids, Mich.,
festivals of the full moon, the (e)idus, point to a complex
1974) and in Williston Walker’s biography, John Calvin: The
history.
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2994
FASTI
The legal and political institutions regulated by the fasti
sophical originality is denied to his eclecticism, even his main
gradually fell into disuse under the Empire. Two develop-
antiquarian work, the Antiquitates rerum humanarum et divi-
ments, however, gave them high importance as a visual medi-
narum, is controlled by an academic-skeptical outlook.
um. Within the growing interest in a systematic reconstruc-
Human society (as the title indicates) precedes its religious
tion of Rome’s past during the third and second centuries
institutions, and festivals, like the notion of specific gods and
BCE, the fasti were discovered as a medium for a display of
their worship, arise under specific and partly reconstructable
historical achievements. When shortly after 179 BCE Marcus
historical circumstances. These premises are reflected in
Fulvius Nobilior, assisted by the poet Ennius, dedicated a
Varro’s etymological dealing with the calendar in his De lin-
painted calendar to the temple of Hercules and the Muses,
gua Latina 6.
the temporal pattern of the year was used to add the dates
It is noteworthy that the versified commentary of Publi-
of the dedications of other temples, usually events caused and
us Ovidius Naso (43 BCE –17 CE) explicitly declared the same
financed by successful warfare. Days of iterated disaster, too,
interest that could be detected in the temporal pattern of the
could be memorized, thereby rendering the year into a tem-
spread of inscriptional fasti. The emperor is shown as an in-
poral “mnemotope.” Additionally, a list of the highest
separable part of Roman history and religion; his (extra-
Roman magistrates, including the consuls used in dating
constitutional) power is naturalized by his integration into
(“eponyms”), was added. This practice was frequently imitat-
the cosmic scheme of the rising and setting of stars that is
ed, hence the term fasti was used for many lists of magis-
part of Ovid’s poetic project and easily linked to the tradi-
trates. Not infrequently, such lists could be enlarged to short
tional calendar by the Julian reform. At the same time, the
chronicles by the addition of important dated events (e.g.,
calendrical scheme offers a convenient pattern for a descrip-
the Fasti Ostienses). Whereas the text of the calendar—even
tion of Roman ritual, of those festivals and temples that form
if displayed in middle Italian townships—is cautiously re-
the visible part of Roman religion. From Varro’s Antiquitates
stricted to events in the city of Rome, the lists could present
rerum humanarum et divinarum and Verrius Flaccus’s lexi-
(or add) local magistrates and connect local history with the
con on the “meaning of words” down to Macrobius’s fifth-
history of the hegemonial city of Rome.
century Saturnalia dialogue, this pattern remained attractive
for the historical or nostalgic description of contemporary or
The dictatorship of Caesar, his divinization, and the re-
past religion. Ovid himself, who finally ended up in exile,
ligious restoration under Augustus witnessed a second devel-
stresses the contemporary commemorative and entertaining
opment. A new class of feriae was born: festivals celebrating
functioning of urban festivals. Augustus, to whom the first
imperial victories and dynastic events. Without clear assigna-
edition (in 4 CE or shortly before) was dedicated, gets his due
tion of a divine owner, these days were given the status of
share of attention and praise. Yet, Ovid deliberately stops his
feriae and meticulously documented in the fasti. Suddenly
poem by the end of June—that is, before dealing with the
the ordinary medium of temporal coordination, the calendar
dynastically named and festival-laden months of Iulius and
(recently reformed by C. Iulius Caesar), was an indicator of
Augustus. It is rather in the epic Metamorphoses (fifteen
recent political developments. Within a few years, the fash-
books), published a few years later, that Ovid gives a teleo-
ion of producing calendars in the form of large (and expen-
logical account of universal and Roman history leading down
sive) marble inscriptions spread over Rome and the center
to Caesar’s divinization.
of Italy, even reaching to Taormina (Sicily), an area practic-
ing an alternative form of lunar time-reckoning. The earliest
Even if the fashion of epigraphic fasti was restricted to
known (and fragmentarily transmitted) marble calendar
the early Principate, the graphical form of the fasti remained
stems from the grove of Dea Dia, the sanctuary of the priest-
attractive for wall paintings, as well as for luxury book calen-
hoods of the Arval Brethren, reorganized by Octavianus/
dars. The Chronograph of 354 CE forms an ensemble of lists
Augustus around 30
and chronicles around the kernel of contemporary fasti, still
BCE and in particular dedicated to the
cult and welfare of Roman emperors. Soon copies were to
featuring the pagan festivals and dynastic anniversaries of the
be found on public places or in the assembly halls of volun-
mid-fourth century. At the same time, processes that de facto
tary associations. Probably without larger practical usage (pa-
and de jure replaced traditional holidays by attributing the
pyrus calendars must have been widespread), such inscrip-
characteristics of feriae to Christian festivals continued and
tions demonstrated loyalty to the emperor and his political
renewed the fasti. The Jewish-Christian week of seven days,
as well as religious program.
already marked in a calendar of Augustan times as the astro-
logical week of the seven planets, replaced the Roman nundi-
The new interest in the calendar was not restricted to
nal week of eight days by the second half of the fourth centu-
stonemasons. Parallel to the spread of inscribed fasti, com-
ry. Even if it was difficult to graphically insert the complex
mentaries on the fasti were written. The antiquarian interest
determination of the festival of Easter into a calendar intend-
of late republican writers like Marcus Terentius Varro (116–
ed to be in use for a couple of years, the “birthdays” (dies na-
27 BCE) in the institution of the Roman year was intensified.
tales) of martyrs and other saints, commemorated on the
Varro, who pursued the initial stage of a political career, en-
fixed days of the Julian calendar by the Western church,
tertained vast historical interest, paying particular attention
could easily slip into the graphical (and mental) pattern of
to the history of language and literature. Although philo-
the Roman calendar.
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

FASTING
2995
SEE ALSO Calendars, overview article; Roman Religion, arti-
ceptibility to visions and dreams and hence give the practi-
cle on The Early Period.
tioner direct access to a spiritual world. As such it became
for some a discipline creating the proper state necessary for
BIBLIOGRAPHY
some degree of participation in divinity. It gradually became
Barchiesi, Alessandro. Il poeta e il principe: Ovidio e il discorso
an integral part of a purity ritual with definite religious in-
Augusteo. Rome, 1994. Translated as The Poet and the Prince:
tent. In some of the more archaic religions fasting became
Ovid and Augustine Discourse (Berkeley, 1997).
part of the discipline ensuring both a defense against taboo
Degrassi, Attilio. Inscriptiones Italiae, vol. 13, fasc. 2. Rome, 1963.
powers and a means of obtaining mana, or sacred power.
Feeney, Denis. Literature and Religion at Rome: Cultures, Contexts,
Within certain Greco-Roman philosophical schools and
and Beliefs. Cambridge, U.K., 1998.
religious fellowships (e.g., the Pythagorean), fasting, as one
Frazer, James George, ed. and trans. Publii Ovidii Nasonis Fa-
aspect of asceticism, was closely aligned to the belief that hu-
storum libri sex: The Fasti of Ovid. 5 vols. London, 1929.
manity had originally experienced a primordial state of per-
Lehmann, Yves. Varron théologien et philosophe romain. Brussels,
fection that was forfeited by a transgression. Through various
1997.
ascetic practices such as fasting, poverty, and so forth, the in-
Michels, Agnes. The Calendar of the Roman Republic. Princeton,
dividual could be restored to a state where communication
1967.
and union with the divine was again made possible. Hence,
Pfaff-Reydellet. Maud. Le princeps dans les Fastes d’Ovide. Stutt-
in various religious traditions a return to a primordial state
gart, Germany, 2004.
of innocence or bliss triggered a number of ascetical practices
Porte, Danielle. L’Étiologie religieuse dans les Fastes d’Ovide. Paris,
deemed necessary or advantageous in bringing about such re-
1985.
turn. For such groups the basic underlying assumption was
Radke, Gerhard. Fasti Romani: Betrachtungen zur Frühgeschichte
that fasting was in some way conducive to initiating or main-
des römischen Kalenders. Münster, Germany, 1990.
taining contact with some divine power or powers. In some
Rüpke, Jörg. Kalender und Öffentlichkeit: Die Geschichte der Reprä-
religious groups (for example, Judaism, Christianity, and
sentation und religiösen Qualifikation von Zeit in Rom. Berlin,
Islam) fasting gradually became a standard way of expressing
1995.
devotion and worship to a specific divine being.
Salzman, Michele Renee. On Roman Time: The Codex-Calendar
Although it is difficult to pinpoint a specific rationale
of 354 and the Rhythms of Urban Life in Late Antiquity.
or motivation for an individual’s or a group’s fasting, in most
Berkeley, 1990.
cultures that ascribe to it at least three motivations are easily
Scullard, H. H. Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic.
discernible: (1) preliminary to or preparatory for an impor-
London, 1981.
tant event or time in an individual’s or a people’s life; (2) as
Vidman, Ladislav. Fasti Ostienses. 2d ed. Prague, 1982.
an act of penitence or purification; or (3) as an act of suppli-
JOHN SCHEID (1987)
cation.
JÖRG RÜPKE (2005)
PREPARATORY FASTING. In addition to the basic underlying
Translated from French by Matthew J. O’Connell
assumption that fasting is an essential preparation for divine
revelation or for some type of communing with the spiritual
(what is above or beyond the natural for humans), many cul-
FASTING, that is, complete or partial abstinence from
tures believe that fasting is a prelude to important times in
nourishment, is an almost universal phenomenon within
a person’s life. It purifies or prepares the person (or group)
both Eastern and Western cultures. Although fasting has
for greater receptivity in communion with the spiritual. In
been and continues to be subscribed to for a variety of rea-
the Greco-Roman mystery religions, for example, fasting was
sons, the present article deals with it as a phenomenon
deemed an aid to enlightenment by a deity, and an initiate
evoked for religious reasons, that is, by ideals or beliefs that
into most of these religions had to abstain from all or certain
consider it a necessary or advantageous practice leading to
specified foods and drink in order to receive knowledge of
the initiation or maintenance of contact with divinity, or
the mysteries of the specific religion.
some supranatural or transcendent being.
Within some of the mystery cults, fasting was incorpo-
Although the origins of fasting as a moral or religious
rated as part of the ritual preparation for the incubation sleep
discipline are obscure, the custom or practice of fasting is at-
that, by means of dreams, was to provide answers to specific
tested in many ancient cultures. The fact that it was in some
questions and needs of the person. Dreams and visions were
cultures connected with rites of mourning has led some
viewed as media through which spiritual or divine revelations
scholars to equate its origins with the custom whereby
were made manifest. Philostratus (c. 170–c. 245 CE), for ex-
friends and relatives leave with the dead the food and drink
ample, presents the view that since the soul was influenced
that they (the living) would normally consume, so that the
by diet, only by frugal living and the avoidance of meat and
deceased might have nourishment in an afterlife.
drink could the soul receive unconfused dreams (Life of Apol-
Others consider fasting in earlier cultures to have arisen
lonius 2.37). Both Greek philosophers (e.g., Pythagoreans
as a result of the discovery that it could induce a state of sus-
and Neoplatonists) and Hebrew prophets believed that fast-
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

2996
FASTING
ing could produce trancelike states through which revela-
Monday and Thursday, and the QurDa¯n recommends fasting
tions would occur. Plutarch narrates how the priests of an-
as a penance during a pilgrimage, three days going and seven
cient Egypt abstained from meat and wine in order to receive
returning (2:193). S:u¯f¯ıs recommend additional fasting for
and interpret divine revelations (Isis and Osiris 5–6), and
the purpose of communing with the divine, and the Sh¯ıE¯ı
Iamblichus tells how the prophetess fasted three days prior
Muslims require fasting as one of the ways of commemorat-
to giving an oracle (Egyptian Mysteries 3.7).
ing the martyrdom of EAl¯ı, the son-in-law of the Prophet,
and his two sons.
Among the Eastern traditions Hindu and Jain ascetics
fasted while on pilgrimage and in preparation for certain fes-
Basic to the beliefs of many Native American tribes was
tivals. Within classical Chinese religious practice, chai, or rit-
the view that fasting was efficacious for receiving guidance
ual fasting, preceded the time of sacrifices. By contrast, later
from the Great Spirit. Generally, a brave was sent off into
Chinese religious thought, particularly Daoism, taught that
the wilderness on a fast in quest of such guidance, which was
“fasting of the heart” (xinzhai), rather than bodily fasting,
usually revealed through a personal vision. The young man’s
was more beneficial to arriving at “the Way” (dao). Confu-
vision was often viewed as necessary for his future success in
cianism followed the practice of Confucius in approving fast-
life, indicating a personal relationship between himself and
ing as preparation for those times set aside for worship of an-
his guardian spirit. Lakota braves, for example, were advised
cestral spirits. Although the Buddha taught moderation
in their search for a vision of Wakantanka, the supreme
rather than excessive fasting, many Buddhist monks and
being, to “walk in remote places, crying to Wakantanka, and
nuns adhered to the custom of eating only one meal per day,
neither eat nor drink for four days.” Within many of the
in the forenoon, and they were obliged to fast on days of new
tribes there was a period of ritual fasting prior to a boy’s
and full moon. Among modern-day Buddhists it is more
reaching puberty and a girl’s first menstrual period, consid-
common to fast and confess one’s sins four times per month.
ered times of growth into adulthood. In New South Wales,
Within the Judaic tradition only one day of fasting was
Australia, boys had to fast for two days at their bora ceremo-
imposed by Mosaic law, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement
nies. In the Aztec culture the ritual training required of one
(Lv. 16:29–34), but four additional days were added after the
who aspired to become a sacrificing priest included fasting
Babylonian exile (Zec. 8:19) to commemorate days on which
as one form of abstinence. While fasting was often viewed
disasters had occurred. The Hebrew scriptures set fasting
as a disciplinary measure that would strengthen the body and
within the context of being vigilant in the service of Yahveh
character of the individual, prolonged fasting and other aus-
(e.g., Lv. 16:29ff.; Jgs. 20:26), and it was considered impor-
terities were also undergone so that the individual might see
tant as a preliminary to prophecy (e.g., Moses fasted forty
or hear the guardian spirit who would remain with him or
days on Sinai; Elijah fasted forty days as he journeyed to
her for life.
Horeb). Judaism allowed for individual voluntary fasts, and
FASTING AS PENANCE OR PURIFICATION. Ancient Egyptian
there is evidence that Mondays and Thursdays were set aside
and Babylonian customs included ritualized fasting as a form
by some Jewish communities as special days of fasting. Ac-
of penance that accompanied other expressions of sorrow for
cording to Tacitus, fasting had become so characteristic of
wrongdoing. Like people of later times, these nations viewed
the Jews of the first century that Augustus could boast that
fasting as meritorious in atoning for faults and sins and thus
he fasted more seriously than a Jew (Histories 5.4).
turning away the wrath of the gods. In the Book of Jonah, for
Although formalized fasting was spoken against in the
example, the Assyrians are depicted as covered with sack-
New Testament (Mt. 6:16–6:18), it eventually became the
cloth, weeping, fasting, and praying to God for forgiveness
favorite ascetic practice of the desert dwellers and monastic
(Jon. 3:5ff.).
men and women who saw it as a necessary measure to free
For the Jews, fasting was an outward expression of inner
the soul from worldly attachments and desires. Within the
penitence, and on various occasions a general fast was pro-
Christian tradition there gradually developed seasonal fasts
claimed as a public recognition of the sin of the people (1
such as the Lenten one of forty days preparatory to Easter;
Sm. 14:24, 1 Kgs. 21:9, Jer. 36:9). Yom Kippur, the Day of
Rogation Days in spring in supplication for good crops; and
Atonement, is such a day of fasting and praying for forgive-
Ember Days, days of prayer and fasting during each of the
ness of sins. But fasting is also viewed as a means of orienting
four seasons of the year. There were also weekly fasts on
the human spirit to something or someone greater. Accord-
Wednesdays and Fridays and fasts prior to solemn occasions
ing to Philo Judaeus (25 BCE–50 CE), the Therapeutae, a
celebrating important moments in people’s lives (e.g., bap-
group of Jewish contemplatives living in community, fasted
tism, ordination to priesthood, admission to knighthood,
as a means of purifying the spirit so that it could turn itself
and reception of the Eucharist).
to more spiritual activities such as reading and study (On the
In the Islamic tradition Muslims continue to observe
Contemplative Life). The Essenes, a Jewish group who fol-
the ninth month, Ramad:a¯n, as one of rigorous fasting
lowed their “righteous teacher” into the wilderness at Qum-
(s:awm), during which days no liquid or food is allowed be-
ran (c. 135 BCE–70 CE), in their Manual of Discipline pre-
tween dawn and sunset, as stipulated in the QurDa¯n
scribed fasting as one of the ways of purification, of preparing
(2:180ff.). Some of the stricter Muslim groups fast each
for the coming of the “end of days.”
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2997
Although fasting as a means of atonement and purifica-
tradition fasting is viewed as one of the “good works,” one
tion is evident in other traditions, it was among the Chris-
of the recognized duties of the devout Muslim, and is consid-
tians that fasting became a predominant feature. Already in
ered efficacious in pardoning an individual from all past sins
the first and second centuries it began to appear as one of
(Tibr¯ız¯ı, Mishka¯t al-mas:a¯b¯ıh 7.7.1).
the many ascetic practices that became widespread in the
Within some of the Native American tribes, the practice
Middle Ages. With the rapid growth of ascetic movements
of fasting was considered conducive to purifying the body
that incorporated Greek dualism into their thought patterns,
prior to some great feat or challenge. The Cherokee Indians
fasting became an important means of ridding the body of
believed that prior to slaying an eagle the individual had to
its attachment to material possessions and pleasures, thus
undergo a long period of prayer and fasting that purified the
freeing the person for attaining the higher good, the love for
body, strengthening it for the necessary combat. Siouan-
and imitation of Christ. The prevailing notion was that
speaking Indians believed that before both hunting and war
whereas food in moderation was a necessary good for main-
the body had to be purified through fasting for these noble
taining health, abstention from food was particularly effec-
tasks. Among the Incas, fasting from salt, chili peppers, meat,
tive in controlling the balance between body and spirit. Like
or chicha (beer made from maize) was one of the ways of pre-
the Pythagoreans with their elaborate taboos on food (sixth
paring the body for an important event and also for a public
to fourth century BCE), the early Christians saw such ascetic
form of penance.
practices as fasting, praying, and almsgiving as means of re-
FASTING AS SUPPLICATION. Although it is difficult in many
ducing or eliminating the tension between the earthbound
instances to distinguish clearly between fasting as a means of
body and the divine, spiritual soul. Although it is true that
penitence and fasting as a means of supplication, within cer-
for some individuals or groups fasting became an end in itself
tain traditions the latter has widespread usage. Within Juda-
rather than a means to an end, most monastic manuals or
ism, for example, fasting was one way of “bending the ear
rules warn the monastics to avoid excessive fasting, which
of Yahveh,” of asking God to turn to the Jews in mercy and
could bring harm to both body and soul. Though the prac-
grant them the favor requested. Ahab, for example, fasted to
tice of fasting varied in different countries, most Christian
avert the disaster predicted by Elijah (1 Kgs. 21:27–29, cf.
manuals of instruction and worship began to regulate more
Nm. 1:4, 2 Chr. 20:3, Jer. 36:9). Because penitence and sup-
strictly the times for obligatory fasts (cf. Didach¯e 7ff.; Justin
plication were often dual motivational forces for fasting
Martyr, 1 Apology 61). But it was with the growth of monas-
within Judaism, fasting emerged as both conciliatory and
tic communities in the fourth century that fasts began to be
supplicatory. As in the Christian and Islamic traditions, the
more universal.
Jewish notion of fasting reflected an attitude of interior sor-
Modern-day Christian denominations display a consid-
row and conversion of heart. Within the Christian ascetic
erable diversity of opinion and practice in regard to fasting.
circles, fasting was viewed as one of the more meritorious
For most Protestant denominations, except for some of the
acts, which exorcised demons and demonic temptation from
more evangelically oriented groups, fasting is left to the dis-
the individual’s consciousness. Therefore, fasting emerged
cretion of the individual. Although within the Roman Cath-
within Christianity as a potent force in calling down God’s
olic and Greek Orthodox churches prescriptions still govern
mercy and aid in ridding the individual of temptations
both individual and corporate practices, rigid fasting prac-
against “the world, the flesh, and the devil.” Fasting was a
tices have been abolished. Roman Catholics still practice par-
means of calling God to the struggling Christians’ side in
tial fasting and abstinence from meat on Ash Wednesday and
order to be both strength and encouragement in the battle
Good Friday. Within the Greek Orthodox church fasting is
against sin. In the QurDa¯n fasting as supplication to God is
usually one of the acts of purification preparing one for par-
considered of merit only if one also abandons false words and
ticipation in the liturgical mysteries.
deeds. Otherwise, God pays no heed to the supplication (see,
e.g., su¯rah 2:26).
Although Buddhists generally favor restraint in taking
food, and many consider fasting a non-Buddhist practice, it
Within other groups fasting was also viewed as meritori-
is listed as one of the thirteen Buddhist practices that can
ous in obtaining rewards from higher powers. In the Intichi-
serve as an aid to leading a happy life, a means of purification
uma ceremonies of the tribes in central Australia fasting was
practiced to assure an increase in the totem food supply.
(dhutanga). Therefore, many Buddhist monks have the cus-
Young Jain girls fasted as one means of requesting the higher
tom of eating only one meal a day, often eating only from
power to give them a good husband and a happy married life.
the alms bowl and declining a second helping. For other
Fasting frequently accompanied or preceded the dance ritu-
Buddhists enlightenment was considered more easily attain-
als of certain tribes who prayed for a renewal of fertility and
able by renunciation of wrong ideas and views rather than
a productive harvest from the earth (e.g., the Dakota Sun
by fasting. Within Jainism there is the belief that certain as-
Dance; the Cheyenne New Life Lodge; the Ponca Sacred
cetic practices, like fasting, are purificatory in that they can
Dance, or Mystery Dance).
remove the accumulation of karman that weighs down the
life-monad. Fasting could therefore carry people upward
In summary, from earliest records to contemporary soci-
along the path to liberation from karman. Within the Islamic
ety, fasting has been a common religious practice, serving as
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FATE
both a prelude to and a means of deepening the experience
FATE. Derived from the Latin fatum (something spoken,
of transcendence of the material or bodily state. The volun-
a prophetic declaration, an oracle, a divine determination),
tary abstinence from nourishment has been for many an ideal
the term fate denotes the idea that everything in human lives,
means of expressing human dependence on a higher power,
in society, and in the world itself takes place according to a
or a liberation from those things that stifle aspirations toward
set, immutable pattern. Fatalism is the term for the submis-
a “higher” form of existence. Fasting has often served as a
sion by human beings to fate in resignation. Fate and fatal-
sign and symbol of the human conversion toward something
ism should not be confused with the idea of determinism
beyond the everyday, a turning toward the spiritual, the tran-
propagated by nineteenth-century philosophical positivism,
scendent, the Great Spirit, God, and so on. In modern times
which was convinced that science was on its way to uncover-
the therapeutic value of fasting has been adopted as a good
ing that law of all cause and effect relationships in the world.
health practice that has often taken on the aspect of religious
The assumption of determinism was that a complete set of
ritual.
scientific laws was within reach of the human mind, and that
all these would reside in the public domain and be transpar-
SEE ALSO Asceticism; S:awm.
ent to inquiring reason. By contrast, the notion of fate, in
whatever variation, language, or shade of meaning it occurs,
BIBLIOGRAPHY
always retains a basic element of mystery. Fate may be in the
Brandon, S. G. F., ed. A Dictionary of Comparative Religion. Lon-
hands of some powerful, superhuman being; it may be supe-
don, 1970.
rior to the gods; it may be accessible to some select individu-
MacCulloch, J. A., and A. J. Maclean. “Fasting.” In Encyclopaedia
als. But, in contrast with philosophical determinism, not
of Religion and Ethics, edited by James Hastings, vol. 5. Edin-
only is a certain knowledge possible vis-à-vis fate, but so is
burgh, 1912.
a certain “negotiation” with, or even a staving off of, fate’s
MacDermot, Violet. The Cult of the Seer in the Ancient Middle
decrees.
East. London, 1971.
There are no religious traditions in which a notion of
Rogers, Eric N. Fasting: The Phenomenon of Self-Denial. Nashville,
fate is supreme, exclusive, and all-powerful. Furthermore, the
1976.
effort to define fate in a universally valid way cannot go
Ryan, Thomas. Fasting Rediscovered: A Guide to Health and Whole-
much further than the formal lines drawn above. Only in
ness for Your Body-Spirit. New York, 1981.
psychological terms can generalizations be added. The more
Underhill, Ruth M. Red Man’s America: A History of Indians in the
problematic, and at the same time more fascinating, issues
United States. Rev. ed. Chicago, 1971.
arise when one confronts the variety of notions about fate
Wakefield, Gordon S., ed. The Westminster Dictionary of Christian
in cultures and historical eras.
Spirituality. London, 1983.
PSYCHOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. In the intellectual mood
of the modern age, it is natural to think of the notion of fate
New Sources
Berghuis, Kent D. “A Biblical Perspective on Fasting.” Bibliotheca
first of all in psychological terms. Some remarks can certainly
Sacra 629 (2001): 86–103.
be made here, although they do not help a great deal in un-
derstanding fate in the ways in which it is presented in specif-
Diamond, Eliezer. Holy Men and Hunger Artists: Fasting and Ascet-
icism in Rabbinic Culture. Oxford and New York, 2004.
ic religious contexts.
Kaushik, Jai Narain. Fasts of the Hindus around the Week: Back-
The idea that fear is a root cause of all religions was al-
ground Stories, Ways of Performance and Their Importance.
ready proposed in antiquity, and through the ages thinkers
Delhi, 1992.
have tried to revive the idea, though with little success. With
Lambert, David. “Fasting as a Penitential Rite: A Biblical
respect to fate and fatalism, however, the function of a psy-
Phenomenon?” Harvard Theological Review 96 (2003):
chological ambivalence in many human situations seems
477–512.
hard to deny. Especially in the case of fatalism—that is, the
Shaw, Teresa Marie. The Burden of the Flesh: Fasting and Sexuality
full surrender to fate—an attitude of defeat is in evidence in
in Early Christianity. Minneapolis, 1998.
the belief that the future is as inevitable and fixed as the past.
One’s acts become acts of a higher power, and Sigmund
Siebenbrunner, Barbara. Die Problematik der kirchlichen Fasten-
Freud’s observation concerning a death wish as the ultimate
und Abstinenzgesetzgebung: eine Untersuchung zu dem im Zuge
des zweiten Vatikanischen Konzils erfolgten Wandel. Frankfurt
motivation may be fully applicable in many instances. Such
am Main and New York, 2001.
ambivalence consists of the renunciation of one’s own reason
(hence also of one’s own responsibility) and the hypothesis
Stökl, Daniel Johannes. “Whose Fast Is It? The Ember Day of
of a rational coherence of events in another order.
September and Yom Kippur.” In The Ways That Never Part-
ed: Jews and Christians in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle
Examples of a grisly sort of fatalism became familiar in
Ages, edited by Adam H. Becker and Annette Yoshiko Reed,
the twentieth century. During World War II the suicidal
pp. 259–282. Tübingen, 2003.
Japanese torpedo attacks and the suicides in SS (Schutzstaf-
ROSEMARY RADER (1987)
fel) quarters during Adolf Hitler’s regime occurred in re-
Revised Bibliography
sponse to a notion of destiny (Schicksal) supposedly far be-
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FATE
2999
yond the value of individual human lives. Well known are
obvious that the chance of crop failures by itself does not
the endeavors to inculcate soldiers in the Nazi years in Ger-
create a notion or cult of fate.
many with fatalism—in the dubious certainty that this was
D
an ancient Germanic warrior stance. In the 1980s, religiously
IFFUSION OF ASTROLOGY. One complex of a fatalistic type,
though certainly not among the earliest ones, has clearly
inspired suicidal attacks on targets conceived as threats to
passed beyond the borders of its land of origin and through
Islam, especially in the cause of Sh¯ıEah, became an almost
many different language areas as well, and that is astrology.
regular feature in the Middle East, and many more suicidal
Two reasons may be given for its spread
missions have been undertaken in various areas of the Middle
East, not only among traditionally different factions within
First, it is possible to look upon endeavors to relate ce-
Islam, but particularly against the State of Israel. It is impor-
lestial observations to the course of human destinies as a spe-
tant to look at these phenomena as instances of fatalism. In-
cial modification, under certain historical conditions, of the
deed, there are many phenomena in the present world that
macrocosmic-microcosmic correspondence that seems to
have far more than a superficial resemblance to “fatalism.”
occur with the structure of human religious symbolization
Wars have devastated the lives of soldiers and civilians in
everywhere. In a sense, astrology is not an altogether new
Korea, Vietnam, many African nations, and Iraq, where fa-
phenomenon but rather a transplantation within a common
talism came to reign supreme, leaving soldiers and citizens
matrix when it appears and is diffused in late antiquity, graft-
with inner, indeed fatal, devastation, even when they sur-
ed onto existing cosmogonic and cosmological traditions.
vived. One should not dismiss such matters from an inquiry
into “fate,” for one needs the reminder that cults of fate can
Although astronomical calculation had risen to great
revive much more easily than one may imagine. An example,
heights in ancient Babylon, full-blown astrological systems
if not of fatalism per se, then of tendencies in this direction
were first produced in the Greek language of the Hellenistic
in the modern West, began after World War II with the wave
period. Nevertheless, it is important to realize that astrono-
of astrology in general literature, as a rubric in most newspa-
my in early antiquity was not what would today be called an
pers, and, perhaps more basically, as a way of filling up the
exact science, distinct from religion and the humanities. De-
empty space of an underlying uncertainty.
tails such as the linkage of the five classical planets plus the
sun and the moon to different celestial spheres were accepted
The cluster of fear, escape from fear, and dismissal of
in all parts of the world that had any contact with the ancient
one’s responsibility as a fundamental cause in the formation
Middle East. In all probability, this diffusion of ideas began
of certain conceptions of religion and fate is suggested both
well before the Hellenistic Age. Cosmological ideas among
in the recent past and in ancient civilizations. The fear of rul-
Siberian tribes, as well as architectonic expressions as far east
ers, wild animals, foes, disease, and many things under the
as the Borobudur temple on Java, show the powerful influ-
rubric nature has had its influence on the formulation of reli-
ence of discoveries from the ancient Middle East. This leads
gious ideas, even in the earliest times. Samuel Noah Kramer
to the second reason that astrology passed so easily from one
translated a few expressive lines from a Sumerian poet who
cultural area to others that were on a lower level of civiliza-
obviously had meditated on some golden age as a time that
tion than Mesopotamia.
contrasted with a fateful present. Characteristically, he
thought of that age as one without fear:
From the outset—from the earliest appearance of astro-
nomical and mathematical tables in Babylon—formulas trac-
Once upon a time, there was no snake, There was no
ing and predicting the course of the heavenly bodies had
scorpion, There was no hyena, there was no lion, There
never taken the form of a scientific enterprise in isolation.
was no wild dog, no wolf, There was no fear, no terror,
In the ancient Middle East this science was presented togeth-
Man had no rival. (Kramer, 1963, p. 262)
er with the invocations of deities—the clay tablets and other
It would be wrong to conclude that the idea of fate could
writings with astronomical and calendar data frequently
be fully explained as a projection of basic human fears or un-
show religious symbols at the same time. In Siberian and
certainties. The most striking fact militating against this ex-
Mongolian shamanism, the shaman, the person with expert
planation is that certain periods and cultures that knew many
knowledge and experience of the traffic between this world
fears and reasons for fear have little to tell us of fatalism.
and the other world, travels in his or her ecstatic journey
from earth to heaven passing through the heavenly spheres
EARLIEST EXPRESSION IN AGRICULTURAL CULTURES. There
in between, each as a rule represented by notches in the very
is no evidence of any religiously central preoccupation with
real pole the shaman ascends; all the while the shaman is nar-
fate in cultures preceding the earliest civilizations based on
rating to the community’s people, who witness the events,
the cultivation of cereals, nor is there any special religiously
what is happening from heaven to heaven. In India, the
significant place provided for notions of fate in hunting cul-
Vedic texts make frequent use of calendrical numbers, of
tures. One looks in vain for a significant role or clear expres-
months or days in the year, and equate them with ingredients
sion of “fate” in truly archaic or preliterate societies in gener-
necessary for traditional sacrifices and other rituals.
al. Everything points to the relative comfort of a grain- or
rice-producing culture as a minimum condition for a reli-
Thus each religious system did what was natural to it;
gious articulation concerning fate. At the same time, it seems
rather than adding “scientific” information to its body of tra-
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FATE
ditional lore, each appropriated the new discoveries as fur-
In the Theogony, Hesiod (eighth century BCE) collected
ther revelations of religious reality and inserted them in the
and tried to classify ancient and even some pre-Homeric tra-
religious tradition as was fitting. That human life was intrin-
ditions. The Moirai, the goddesses of fate, together with
sically and harmoniously related to the cosmos was beyond
some others, are called by Hesiod daughters of Night (Theog-
doubt. The ground was well prepared for the waves of astro-
ony 211–225), although he immediately adds that they pun-
logical influences that followed. As a result, the line separat-
ish transgressions by both men and the gods (217–222).
ing astronomy from astrology is not easy to draw in the an-
When Zeus, king of the gods, has firmly established his rule,
cient and classical worlds. Astrology was accepted as a way
the role of the Moirai (together with the Horae, that is, the
to gain knowledge of details in the general macro-micro-
three goddesses Eunomia, Dike¯, and Eirene) is that of dis-
cosmic harmony. It became possible to ascertain the relation
pensers of good and evil. In the new context they function
of a person to the course of the heavenly bodies on the basis
as goddesses of fate, and they are also called the honored
of the time of that person’s birth and the celestial sign under
daughters of Zeus. The ambivalence, therefore, of their de-
which the birth had taken place. In principle, it became pos-
scent from Night and also from the supreme god, whose ven-
sible also to alter destiny. It is not difficult to see that astrolo-
eration is certainly the major theme of Hesiod’s work, cannot
gy functions by and large in the same way in very different
be satisfactorily explained as a conflict of different traditions.
religious traditions and cultural areas. In Hinduism, the as-
It is, of course, possible that such supposed separate tradi-
trologer’s counsel is taken very seriously—for example to de-
tions existed, but then the major problem still remains: how
termine the appropriate day for a wedding ceremony. In the
did such very different pedigrees for the representations of
world of Judaism and Christianity, astrology cannot boast of
fate come about? The ambivalence is no doubt likely to be
such integration in the religious tradition. The Greek philos-
related to the nature of fate: on the one hand, there exists
ophers were generally critical of astrology, and that tradition
an origin of darkness, if not of uncanny supreme indepen-
continued and was reinforced under the influence of the bib-
dence; on the other, the central god cannot be depicted as
lical tradition. Setting store by astrology’s expertise was obvi-
subordinate to fate but must be seen as, in fact, genera-
ously not in harmony with God’s supreme judgment and his
ting it.
power over human destiny. Nevertheless, wherever astrology
In the famous epics of the classical traditions, we find
functions, it remains based on the same principles of ancient
this view confirmed in detail. Homer (eighth century
science, and in that respect we may speak of a certain same-
BCE)
presents a series of dramatic scenes in Iliad 16 that establish
ness, a homogeneity in the astrological complex throughout
the case of a purposeful ambivalence. Under the guidance of
history.
Patroclus, the Danaans win a mighty victory over the Tro-
ANCIENT AND CLASSICAL CONCERNS. Wherever there are
jans. Patroclus kills several heroes in succession. Then the
clear references to fate in religious documents, the expres-
Trojan warrior Sarpedon attempts to turn the battle and at-
sions demonstrate immediately that one cannot speak of fate
tacks Patroclus, only to meet with death by his opponent’s
as a single concept. The assumptions and inquiries common-
spear. However, before this fight ensues, Zeus looks down
ly used in logic, psychology, or sociology do not suffice.
on the battlefield. He has good reason to be concerned, for
Within the history of religions, statements should depend on
Sarpedon is his son. Zeus asks his wife Hera whether he
a clear recognition of the intentions shown by the traditions
should remove Sarpedon from the scene of battle and thus
being investigated. It is beyond the scope of this entry to sur-
preserve his life, or allow him to be killed. Hera answers with
vey all religions, yet a number of different tendencies within
a moving argument: Mortals are doomed by fate. At the same
their symbolic contexts can be indicated. The following
time, however, Zeus can do as he pleases, though once he
points present some strands and specific meanings of fate.
takes action to save his son, every one of the gods might do
Without exaggerating their importance, they do point to
the same for a son in battle, for each one loves his son. The
“moments,” in the sense of elements that are constituents of
best thing, she concludes, is to let Sarpedon be killed by Pa-
well-delineated notions of fate.
troclus, then let him be sent back to his homeland in Lycia,
where his family and friends can conduct a proper funeral.
Fate that is relatively independent within a religious
In this argument, a highpoint in the religion of the Olympi-
tradition. Not only moderns who consider themselves secu-
ans, Zeus remains supreme; yet in perfect harmony with his
larized, and in some manner “objective” in their views of reli-
supremacy, fate is accepted.
gious traditions, but also the ancients, among them the
Greeks and Romans, have had difficulty defining fate. The
The Roman poet Vergil (70–19 BCE) brings fate even
religious documents themselves show ambivalence. The doc-
closer to the supreme god in the story of Dido and Aeneas
uments show, however, that such ambivalence is not mere
in the fourth chapter of the Aeneid. Aeneas, who according
intellectual uncertainty but often an intentional compromise
to Jupiter’s plans must go to Italy to lay the foundations of
of distinct views, each of which is unassailable. In the case
the Roman state, is delayed in his journey by the charms of
of fate, such necessary ambiguity is much easier to fathom
the love-stricken Dido. Juno, Jupiter’s consort, contrives to
than it is in most other symbolic complexes (e.g., sacrifices
have the two marry to make the relationship legal. But Venus
or forms of worship).
counsels Juno to inquire into Jupiter’s plans. Jupiter, thus
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FATE
3001
alerted, sends Mercury to Aeneas to remind him of his real
the design of a superior deity. Homer, as we have seen, does
goal: to establish rule over Italy. Thematically less subtle than
not identify Zeus with fate, but he speaks in several places
Homer, Vergil leaves no doubt concerning the supremacy
of one single Moira, whose decisions are irrevocable and to
over destiny of the king of the gods. Even Venus, known for
whom even the gods are subjected. Moira’s inscrutable na-
her truly fateful power, here victimizing Aeneas as much as
ture is not evil; indeed, a wholly evil deity does not occur in
Dido, is no match for Jupiter’s determination of fate.
Homer, unless it be the goddess Ate¯ (the Romans called her
Discordia), but her role is not significant within the structure
This purposeful ambivalence has early roots in the clas-
of classical Greek religion.
sical world. The classicist William Chase Greene, who stud-
ied the subject of fate extensively, attributes much to human
The act of weaving (not only cloth but also baskets) has
dependence on nature, expressed in Greece in the figure of
been a source of symbolism concerning fate in many times
Mother Earth, Gaia. Was she, on whom everything depend-
and places. Urðr (Urd) in Old Norse literature is a personifi-
ed, identified with fate? Greene touches the heart of the mat-
cation of fate: a female figure, seated at a source under the
ter in summaries of earlier classicists (notably Jane E. Harri-
world tree, determining destiny. Her name is related to
son) and in his own study of texts by explaining that Gaia’s
the verb verða, akin to Latin vertere (“to turn,” including the
way is the way of Dik¯e. Dik¯e (justice, but also judgment or
turning and twisting of the thread of destiny). Norse mythol-
punishment) is a term akin to fate, although the documents
ogy has much to say about fate, including the inevitable de-
do not allow an unambiguous identification. Often the texts
struction of the world (Ragnaro˛k). Conceivably, the sources
also speak of Themis as a goddess; she is “the right tradition”
for this mythology, which for the most part are very late,
and also “the right dispensation.” It is true that she is some-
show a certain obsession with destiny under the impact of
times identified with Gaia (earth [the Titan goddess Gaia-
changes brought about by Christianity.
Themis is the mother of Prometheus]). However, in the
In Germanic heroic poetry the role of goddesses of fate
myths this goddess is not a supreme deity but rather the
is largely played by the valkyries, nine in number. They are
guardian of ancient sacred customs when their solidity is
servants of Óðinn (Odin), and their name indicates their ac-
shaken.
tivity in war. In ancient Norse there are the three valkyrja,
Comparable to Themis, or right tradition, dharma in
who are associated respectively with the past, the present, and
Hinduism occurs as a divinity, the god Dharma. Typically,
the future, and whose name refers explicitly to their task of
however, this god is not identified with any supreme deity;
determining who will be slain in battle. According to the
rather, he occurs in legends and myths as the embodied re-
sagas, Óðinn will employ the valkyries in the final battle be-
minder of what should be done. In the epic Maha¯bha¯rata,
fore Ragnaro˛k. Thus, in the Germanic world, one detects a
the hero Yudhis:t:hira is also known as Dharmara¯ja. He is the
certain, no doubt purposeful, ambiguity regarding fate: those
son of the god Dharma, and his name implies his justness
who determine fate are somehow independent and even be-
as a ruler. This heroic character has been divinized and enjoys
yond the gods, and nevertheless their activity jibes with the
a cult in a number of minor popular traditions in South
supreme god’s will.
India. However, the complexity of these cults also involves
In Sanskrit literature, the most common word for fate
other divine and divinized characters who play significant
is daiva, an adjectival form of deva (god). It is “the divine”
roles in myth and ritual. Although dharma (the maintenance
in a most general sense, for it refers to what is beyond human
of right tradition) and a hero/god are drawn together, this
beings and human ken. A term that took on far greater sig-
popular tradition also refrains from identifying any notion
nificance in the sphere of fate in Indian religious history is
of fate with a divine power.
karman, which owes its principal force to the context in
Much earlier, in the period of the Vedas and in Brah-
which it first occurs in Vedic sacrificial texts. Vedic sacrificial
manism (from c. 1200 to 600 BCE, but also in later texts),
proceedings, the heart of early Indian religious life as we
we find the term r:ta. It may be rendered as “truth,” and in
know it from the texts, are acts that by definition could not
that sense it is commonly used in later times. Nevertheless,
be in vain; a ritual was an act (karman) par excellence. While
its earliest meaning, never completely lost later on, is closer
it is difficult to define the purpose of those acts, this is a mod-
to “cosmic balance.” R:ta is the power or function that pre-
ern reader’s problem. The texts agree that all power (and in
serves the world in its proper order. Its kinship to the generic
fact everything that one might want to cover with the word
term fate is evident, but this case is also preserved in its own
religion) was concentrated in the act performed, whether by
mystery. Two deities, Mitra and Varun:a, are called the
gods or people, the act that could not miss the mark.
guardians of r:ta in the Vedic texts, but not its owners. No
In later Vedic texts (the Upanis:ads), in the Indian epics,
deity appropriates it, owns it, or is identical with it.
and in Yoga literature, the term karman absorbs the meaning
In Greece, the Moirai (fate) personified in three god-
of the manner in which life is determined by previous acts,
desses, are sometimes called by individual names: Clotho,
or acts in a previous existence. In Buddhism, karman be-
who spins the thread of life; Lachesis, who measures it; and
comes the term used for the law of causality determining the
Atropos, who cuts it off. The symbolism of weaving is elo-
cycle of sam:sa¯ra, that is, the continuous flow of all finite exis-
quent: a tapestry of life is created and by itself does not imply
tences. This meaning of karman has become dominant in
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FATE
virtually all Indian religious tradition. this notion, in spite
embodies control over all things, but Lucretius’s poem makes
of its philosophical contexts and subtleties, can obviously be
a strong case for chance (and in doing so does not conceal
understood as an expression of fate and fatalism. The reli-
the author’s critique of all established religion).
gious center, however, from which its meaning derives, is not
Specific epithets for several goddesses who enjoyed wor-
immutable destiny itself, but the access in human existence
ship at the time, including Venus, all refer to the same funda-
toward moks:a or nirva¯n:a; that is, freedom from bondage to
mental concern with chance or fate. The epithets for Fortuna
the law of karman. Notably, certain Indian religious tradi-
all amount to a transparent naming of the mysterious power
tions with archaic Indian roots, such as the bhakti cults of
that determines the course of nature and history. The great
the south, are relatively unaffected by ideas concerning the
classical gods seem to recede to the background. In roughly
law of karman. The loving devotion (bhakti) to a gracious
the same period, and well into the Middle Ages, during the
god or goddess is so central and so strongly supported by an-
time in which Indian influences extended into Southeast
cient local temple traditions as to make theories concerning
Asia, the god Ka¯ma (“love,” in the sense of erotic love) came
laws of causality recede in significance.
to be much celebrated.
Fate beyond the gods. In the Mediterranean world in
Autonomous fate and divinities holding fate in their
late antiquity, notions of fate did not disappear, yet new
power. The eventual victory of Christianity over the Helle-
views began to prevail, at least in certain circles, and ancient
nistic religions signifies a change in the religious occupation
notions began to be understood in a modified way. The new
with fate. The idea of “fate” or “chance” as an independent
mood is the same as that which provided a ready acceptance
or supreme force in the universe became a major enemy for
of astrological data and Gnosticism. Tyche in Greece and
many Christians. One might even argue that a prevailing
Fortuna in Rome are goddesses who enjoyed worship,
mood shifted from one extreme to another. Later Western
though their names do not seem to indicate much more than
philosophers, such as Barukh Spinoza (1632–1677) and
“chance,” “fortune,” and “good luck.” Fortuna was invoked
David Hume (1711–1776), still found it necessary to go to
under several names, for example, Annonaria (referring to
great lengths to refute Lucretius’s rational reflections on
her function of providing food), Muliebris (womanhood),
chance. Generally, the Abrahamic religions—Judaism,
Primigenia (she who is first born, the original one), and
Christianity, and Islam—looked askance at every semblance
Virilis (she who is strong and masculine). Her greatest sanc-
of a fate that could be ascertained apart from God.
tuary was in Praeneste, the oldest part of which was built in
Martin Luther (1483–1546) dismissed all the serious
approximately 200 BCE. Fortuna came to be identified with
claims of astrology, since it had “neither principle nor
Tyche (fate, or chance) and was a tutelary deity of the state
proofs” (Tischreden 3.2834b, Weimar ed., 1914). The pre-
in Hellenistic times. Her cult became very popular.
destination of John Calvin (1509–1564) is often mistaken
It is true that earlier times had deities of fate whose
for a form of determinism or fatalism, but it is in fact some-
names did not seem personal in the strict sense of the word.
thing very different, and Calvin took great pains, with all the
Moira and daiva are examples. The Greek term anank¯e may
philosophical means at his disposal, to explain ultimate
also be mentioned here. Anank¯e does not denote a deity but
human destiny as God’s decision, made within the mystery
is a general world for “necessity,” yet necessity of a more than
of God’s eternity, inaccessible to the inquiring mind of
physical nature; it is seen as the antithesis to freedom (and
human beings (Institutes 3.21–23, 1559 ed.). In contrast to
forms an important subject for Plato in, for example, his Ti-
the biblically rooted religions, it is striking that in Hinduism,
maeus). The term anank¯e preserved its mysterious, dreadful
which was not affected by these historical religious develop-
meaning throughout Greek history. Rather different, Moira
ments, astrology continued to flourish unabated, integrated
was fate personified from the earliest times, in spite of the
into the Hindu religious structures themselves.
clear, abstract etymology of the word. The name Moira is re-
Before the emergence of the religion of Israel, there oc-
lated to a verb of which the participial form heimarmen¯e
cured in Mesopotamia eloquent depictions of fate held in a
meant, and continued to mean in later times, “fate” proper.
god’s hands. The Akkadian creation epic known as Enuma
The term heimarmen¯e is a feminine past participle form of
elish, written down about 1000 BCE but much older in origin,
a verb meaning “to attribute” or “allot,” and hence the mean-
tells of the “tablets of fate” given to Marduk, the leading war-
ing “what has been allotted” seems clear—if it were not for
rior and king of the gods. The presentation of these tablets
the unexpected feminine form. The relationship to Moira is
is the seal of his sovereignty. He may be said to determine
not transparent. By contrast, the personification in the Hel-
fate. At the same time, religious practice in the Middle East
lenistic period of other feminine deities such as Fortuna is
was multifarious, and a dogmatic definition of god and fate
quite distinct. Fortuna’s veneration is symptomatic of a cer-
is not given. Among the terms for fate are the early Sumerian
tain obsession with chance and fate. Typically, the Roman
me or mu and the Akkadian shimtu (pl., shimatu). Shimatu
poet and philosopher Lucretius (c. 96–55 BCE) begins his
(destinies) can somehow be manipulated; this is literally true
work De rerum natura (The way things are) with an invoca-
according to the documents. The tablet of destinies (tup-
tion of Venus, the classical goddess of love, who in that ca-
shimati) is a cuneiform tablet; it controls the world, and the
pacity is closely associated with chance and fate. It is she who
myths tell us that it could change hands. A lesser god, Anzu,
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FATE
3003
once stole the tablet, thus endangering the order of the uni-
ultimately dependent on that divinity’s will is widespread
verse. Although the Enuma elish has destiny firmly planted
and has many variations, yet some periods have also seen in-
in Marduk’s power, another text (the Exaltation of Inanna)
roads on this general rule. The clearest examples come from
tells of the goddess Inanna hanging the mes (destinies) on her
situations of great intellectual concern and from an overflow
head like jewels. On one occasion, Inanna tricked Enki (the
of mystical craving. The conception of a god can “dry up,”
Sumerian name of Ea, Marduk’s father, who had formerly
as it were; it can become a pale, rational reflection in the his-
held fate in his power) into handing over the destinies.
tory of a tradition. In the expression of great mystics, such
One cannot do justice to the Babylonian notions con-
a development can be translated into a frightening reality, a
cerning fate by explaining them, because of the highly devel-
horror that is too great to be endured. It would be overly sim-
oped art of divination, as a central item in a world of magic;
ple to suggest that the conceptualization of the idea of God
divination was not a mere superstition but rather an attempt
causes mysticism, but as a historical factor there is little
to understand and control reality (Buccellati, 1982). Fur-
doubt that it plays a role. In both Jewish and Christian mys-
thermore, Mesopotamia never developed a cult of fate. The
ticism certain stark phrases and terms, though they certainly
Mesopotamian notion of fate can perhaps best be seen as par-
do not sum up the whole of the mystic’s vision, may be un-
allel to the notion of necessity (anank¯e) in Plato, and there
derstood in part as reactions to a world of abstract proposi-
is no reason to oppose the art of gaining knowledge of the
tions. Among these are the deus absconditus; certain meta-
laws controlling the universe to Greek philosophy as if the
phorical, not to say euphemistic, names in early Spanish
former were more “primitive” than the latter. In any event,
Qabbalah, especially Ein Sof; “the dark night of the soul” of
a divine autonomy over destiny is a prevailing theme in an-
John of the Cross (1542–1591); and “the abyss of the deity”
cient Mesopotamia, and this certainly differs from Plato’s
of Johannes Tauler (1300–1361). In the history of Bud-
tendency to oppose anank¯e to God’s nous (mind) that created
dhism, the tenacious process of negation in the meditations
the world and human beings.
of Na¯ga¯rjuna (second century CE) may also serve as an exam-
ple. In all these cases traditional concepts are forced to yield
Historical continuations may be difficult to demon-
to a higher reality, a vision the tradition supposedly intended
strate in detail, yet in the Middle East the world of Islam
but had not disclosed hitherto. In the history of Islamic mys-
seems to have preserved a number of very ancient ideas con-
ticism such use and interpretation of and reaction to tradi-
cerning destiny. These ideas found their way into the text of
tional concepts have often led to open conflict and to the
the QurDa¯n. Specific terms are set in human life: sex, happi-
seer’s condemnation and execution, as in the famous case of
ness, misery, the amount of one’s sustenance, and the time
al-H:alla¯j (d. 922).
of death (a point especially emphasized for soldiers). QurDa¯n
9:51 states that nothing will happen to a man but what God
There is a compelling reason to relate these trends in
has written down for him. Fate in God’s hands here seems
heterogeneous forms of mysticism to the subject of fate: in
to come close to determinism, although it is just as likely,
all instances something higher and more powerful than what
as in Calvin’s predestination, that it was more of a stimulus
tradition allowed or was capable of understanding is posited
to truly trust God. Certainly, as in the ancient Middle East
as absolute. The term fate falls short of this highest element,
of many centuries earlier, rational lucidity is not the issue.
which is often called ineffable. And yet, in intellectual circles
In Islamic teachings, beginning with the QurDa¯n, rewards
that are not (or not necessarily) inclined toward mysticism,
and punishments in this world as well as in the hereafter are
the desire to point to and name the power beyond what the
far more significant, and their logic is not always immediate-
tradition tolerates does occur. The Christian theologian Paul
ly evident. In the history of Islam, theologians and lawyers
Tillich spoke of a “God who is Being itself,” who as such
have struggled with problems that have arisen from the text.
would transcend “God who is a being.” Tillich intended this
Unjustly, many outsiders looking at Islam have considered
idea as a bulwark against any fatefulness of the sort that he
all Muslims fatalists. God, the almighty, is at the same time
thought threatened Greek religion in the form of a fate above
the compassionate one. The religious “inconsistency” here in
Zeus, and he made his case with the help of the mystic vocab-
the handling of fate is no more conducive to a monolithic
ulary concerning God as ground and abyss of every being.
conceptualization than representations of fate elsewhere.
In late antiquity, Gnostic doctrines of salvation show pat-
In the Hebrew Bible, the tendency is to associate fate
terns that bear striking resemblances to a fate beyond God.
with the will of God. Joseph and Daniel are the outstanding
The traditional image of God is rejected as in fact inferior
examples of dream readers, but their stories make it clear that
to the real God, who is truly supreme, and who is the source
they can look into the future through their art only under
of salvation. The person’s self is instructed to consider itself
the inspiration of God. A complementary story of a man in-
ultimately as alien to the world as is the real, truly transcen-
terested in necromancy who is not presented as a man of God
dent God. Thus, here also, something is posited beyond that
is that of Saul consulting a woman of Endor, who conjures
which the tradition had declared supreme, and this some-
up the ghost of the dead Samuel (1 Sm. 28:8–25).
thing higher is that which really determines the world.
The problem of fate beyond God or gods. The theme
OTHER THEMES OF FATE. What follows are points pertain-
of a destiny that is in harmony with a supreme divinity or
ing to some pronounced “moments” in expressions of fate.
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3004
FATE
Greece and Rome. Practical, down-to-earth ways of
often identified with time; a system approaching determin-
handling fate occur nowhere so markedly as in ancient
ism developed. In effect, all power of Ahriman or Angra
Roman religion. “Signs” are read to interpret the uncertain-
Mainyu (the evil spirit), as well as of O
¯ hrmazd, or Ahura
ties of life, signs that are very common, such as sneezes or
Mazda¯ (the wise lord), was thus dissipated. This later period
twitches of the eyelids, or signs that are completely beyond
is commonly referred to as Zurvanism, after Zurwa¯n, in
human reach, such as celestial phenomena or the flights of
whom Infinite Time is personalized and mythologized. (Zur-
birds. Messages (omina) can be deduced from all such signs.
vanites were the predominant sect in Iran in the third centu-
As a rule, one has already set out on an enterprise, and then
ry BCE.) The identification of fate and time has no prototype
the signs are observed, and precisely this custom preserves a
in other or earlier Iranian religion. One later text, known as
practical human freedom. There seems to have existed a great
the Epistle of Tonsar (probably from the end of the sixth cen-
certainty that the interpretations were of use to the actions
tury BCE) condemns both people who trust exclusively in
undertaken. The Roman situation differs considerably from
their own efforts and people who entrust themselves exclu-
that of the Greeks, who exhibit a much more encompassing
sively to fate. Manichaeism was strongly affected by Zoroas-
interest in the drama of the future. The Greek oracles, such
trian thought in its ideas about time, fate, good, and evil. In
as the renowned oracle at Delphi, did not provide “yes” or
its turn, Manichaeism influenced the teachings of Gnostic
“no” answers to an inquiry; rather, each oracular event was
and Christian traditions, in particular from the third to the
itself a mystery in need of interpretation. All major trends
seventh centuries.
in Greece show a good deal of respect for the nature of fate,
Zurwa¯n (time) is a late development from the ancient
and nothing that might resemble a trivialization. Quite strik-
Iranian tradition of the Avesta. The great original opponents,
ingly, Plato, in his last work, Laws, conceives a heavy penalty
O
¯ hrmazd and Ahriman, were the two antipodes of heaven,
for those who are of the opinion that the gods can be caused
O
¯ hrmazd being the absolute good one, and Ahriman the ab-
to change their minds (10.909a). From the perspective not
solute evil one. In Avesta mythology, all gods and people will
only of the Greeks, but of most traditions with explicit con-
eventually participate in a final battle between the two par-
cerns for fate, the Roman customs may perhaps seem trivial.
ties, but the good will triumph. When in the course of time
the religion of the Avesta became the established religion,
China. The practicality in conceptions of fate in China
new transformations occurred. One such transformation
differs markedly from ancient Roman customs. On a wider
amounts to the “heresy” of Zurwa¯n (Puhvel, 1987). What
scale of comparison, the religions of China seem generally
is most striking is that Zurwa¯n is transformed into the father
much less concerned with theory and very much down-to-
of both Ahura Mazda¯ and Ahriman, which would seem to
earth. This difference is visible in expressions touching on
justify the designation of “heresy.”
fate and fatalism. Typically, the philosopher Wang Chong
(probably first century CE) compared the significance of a
The travel of destinies. A subject that does not always
person to that of a flea or louse in the folds of the garment
get the attention it deserves is the movement of ideas over
of the universe. In neo-Daoist literature, expressions with a
wide areas, often as a result of conquest. The death of Alex-
fatalistic ring occasionally occur. The Liezi, written in the
ander in 323 BCE is normally seen as the beginning of the
third century CE, contains a dialogue between Effort and
Hellenistic Age. Not only did Greek become the major lan-
Fate. At a moment when Fate seems all-powerful, Fate’s
guage of communication from Egypt to Rome, in a manner
reply to the question of whether the way things are is indeed
of speaking “Greek” also became the language of the world—
under its control is surprising: “Since I am called Fate, how
in the sense that a world of ideas, of communication, opened
can I have control?. . .All things come naturally and of
up and endured for a long time. Eventually both the Islamic
themselves. How should I know anything about them?”
East and the Christian West came to lean on Greek ideas.
(6.1a). Dao, the Way, shows its force in preventing Fate itself
And without the rediscovery of the Greek thinkers—a redis-
from reaching sovereignty. In Confucian tradition, strict fa-
covery made by the Islamic world—history might have taken
talism is difficult to detect. In ordinary life, however, Confu-
a very different course. The Renaissance, for example, would
cian scholars have, as a rule, declined to instruct anyone who
have been unthinkable.
did not give them the respect they deserved, thereby leaving
The end of the Hellenistic Age is generally set at 31 BCE,
unwise decision-makers to their own “fate.” This practical
with the end of the Roman Republic and the ascension of
“fatalism” is clearly only a by-product; it does not tell us
Emperor Augustus (27 BCE). History, especially political his-
much about the essentials of Confucius and Confucianism.
tory, sets its signposts explicitly, but the flow of ideas is a dif-
Iran. The singular place of ancient Iran in the general
ferent matter.
history of religions is also reflected in ideas concerning fate.
Fate, as we have seen, is a notion that can emerge any-
Zoroastrianism conceived of a set period of duration for the
where. However, it is always the context that gives it its spe-
world. In the end, the forces of good would triumph over
cial touch. Traveling ideas can have a great impact. It is strik-
those of evil. Human life has its significance on the stage of
ing that during the first several centuries of the common era,
this world drama. Both good and evil ultimately follow the
ideas touching on fate seem to have traveled frequently and
course of destiny. In later Zoroastrian orthodoxy, fate was
over considerable distances. It was a period in which Greek
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FATE
3005
philosophical ideas—from Aristotle and Plato, the Stoics,
preted his astronomical observations and calculations in
Epicureans, Skeptics, Cynics—moved from country to
terms of God’s design. A Japanese religious movement,
country. The influence of Plotinus (third century CE), the
Tenrikyo¯ (which came about late in the nineteenth century),
greatest of the Neoplatonists, crossed borders—as he himself
is in most ways eclectic and has freely borrowed from theistic
did. Plotinus eventually settled in Rome, where he taught
systems, but its ideas concerning fate are in perfect harmony
and was eminent in intellectual life. This was the time of the
with prevailing and popular Buddhist ideas of karman.
early Christians, who also had ideas about fate, most of them
In moments of crisis that hit the individual, the charm
rejecting it, for it would belittle the almightiness of God.
of astrology tends to disappear, and earlier ideas of fate re-
Nevertheless, there was much ongoing discussion of the
emerge. This is not altogether surprising, as astrology was
subject.
never accepted in the dominant Western religious traditions.
When the religion of the Avesta became the established
Everything points to the remarkable religious tenacity of
religion (under the Sassanian rulers from the third to the sev-
deep-seated convictions touching on fate, destiny, chance,
enth centuries CE), new manifestations occurred. One of
and related problems. Even when certain conservative reli-
these was the “heresy” in which Zurwa¯n becomes the father
gious phenomena submerge or change, as for instance when
of O
¯ hrmazd and Ahriman. This is precisely the “solution”
funeral ceremonies are replaced by other means of disposing
that came to appeal to many further west; for example, in
of the dead, basic assumptions about fate and images of fate
Greece and Rome. Particularly striking in this regard are the
seem hard to repress in social and private life. When occupy-
references to Zoroaster, especially in Gnostic texts. The ten-
ing German authorities forced Jewish professors to step
dency to understand time as the all-devourer became an ob-
down, students in Amsterdam published in November 1940
session in various circles. In art, time becomes a monster,
a farewell message concluding: “In this heavy trial brought
gruesome to behold.
on you, we implore the Almighty to support you, Him in
Whose hands your and our destiny lies, and whose decisions
The world of ideas is endlessly fascinating. Neoplato-
rule the course of existence for all of us.” As in the case with
nism did not merely survive, but flourished. But even though
other symbolisms, individuals do not make up their own
the thought of Plato and Plotinus survived, much of the ar-
novel ideas about fate. Instead, old ideas dominant in cul-
gument of this period is lost to us. The religious turmoil of
tures come to the surface from time to time. They may ap-
that time is no longer easy to fathom. Nevertheless, that tur-
pear new and striking, yet on closer scrutiny they are like irre-
moil was considerable. Quite rightly, Gregory Shaw begins
pressible sounds made when old strings vibrate anew.
his book Theurgy and the Soul: The Neoplatonism of Iam-
blichus (1995) with a moving description of the agitation of
SEE ALSO Astrology; Chance; Fortuna; Free Will and Deter-
Greek peasants when the temples that guaranteed their lives
minism; Free Will and Predestination; Oracles; Webs and
and their crops were being ruined.
Nets.
Fates of nations and empires. National fate should not
BIBLIOGRAPHY
be left unmentioned, since it cannot be separated from the
Armstrong, A. H., trans. Plotinus, with an English Translation. 7
subject of religion. China’s “mandate of heaven” was inter-
vols. Cambridge, Mass., 1978–1988.
woven with the religious mandate of kingship. And it was
Bayet, Jean. Histoire politique et psychologique de la religion ro-
thought to determine China’s, and indeed the entire world’s,
maine. 2d ed. Paris, 1969. This volume is of special impor-
lot. We have seen above that Jupiter decided the founding
tance for placing dealings with fate in their ordinary life sur-
of Rome. In modern history, manifest destiny, the American
roundings.
doctrine that gained great popularity in the nineteenth-
Bianchi, Ugo. Dios Aisa: Destino, uomini, e divinità nell’epos, nelle
century age of nationalism, held that it was the duty and fate
teogonie e nel culto dei Greci. Rome, 1953. Discusses fate in
of the Anglo-Saxon nations, particularly the United States,
the Greek tradition.
to dominate the Western hemisphere. Closely related to
Bianchi, Ugo. Zaman i Ohrmazd: Lo Zoroastrismo nelle sue origini
manifest destiny is the appeal of the British poet Rudyard
e nella sua essenza. Torino, Italy, 1958. A classic critique of
Kipling in his poem “The White Man’s Burden” (1899),
Zaehner and the Uppsala school.
which calls on the “white man” to persevere through hard-
Bianchi, Ugo. The History of Religions. Leiden, 1975. One of the
ships in his heroic efforts to protect, instruct, and lead to a
most “matter of fact” introductions to the study of religious
phenomena.
truly civilized existence his “new-caught, sullen peoples /
Half devil and half child.” Equally fraught with pseudo-
Bottéro, Jean. The Birth of God: The Bible and the Historian.
Translated by Kees W. Bolle. University Park, Pa., 2000.
religious pathos is the Schicksal verbiage indulged in by the
leaders of Nazi Germany.
Boyce, Mary. A History of Zoroastrianism. 3 vols. (Vol. 3 by Boyce
and Frantz Grenet). London, 1975–. This work is of special
TENACITY OF NOTIONS OF FATE. The complexity of notions
use for an inquiry into fate because of its treatment of
of fate and their varying frames of reference should not pre-
Zurvanism.
vent us from observing the force of certain underlying ideas
Buccellati, Giorgio. A Primer of Ancient Mesopotamian Religion.
over very long periods of time. Faithful to his theistic inheri-
Malibu, Calif., 1982. Pays special attention to a nonreduc-
tance, the mathematician Isaac Newton (1642–1727) inter-
tionistic interpretation of fate and to magic relating to fate.
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FATHER DIVINE
David, Madeleine. Les dieux et le destin en Babylonie. Paris, 1949.
Neugebauer, Otto. The Exact Sciences in Antiquity. 2d ed. Provi-
A philologically based study, written with great philosophical
dence, R.I., 1957. The basic work on early science and as-
sensitivity.
tronomy, from which astrological systems derived.
de Bary, William Theodore, and Irene Bloom, with Wing-tsit
Nilsson, Martin P. Geschichte der griechischen Religion. 2 vols., 3d
Chan et al. Sources of Chinese Tradition. 2d ed. New York,
ed. Munich, 1961–1967.
1999. Contains important documents, especially in part 3,
Pingree, David, trans. and ed. The Yavanaja¯taka of Sphujidhvaja.
showing notions of fate in specific settings.
2 vols. Cambridge, Mass., 1978. One of several Indian texts
Dietrich, Bernard Clive. Death, Fate, and the Gods: The Develop-
on astronomy translated by Pingree.
ment of a Religious Idea in Greek Popular Belief and in Homer.
Puhvel, Jaan. Comparative Mythology. Baltimore, 1987.
London, 1965.
Doniger O’Flaherty, Wendy, ed. Karma and Rebirth in Classical
Ringgren, Helmer. Fatalism in Persian Epics. Uppsala, Sweden,
Indian Traditions. Berkeley, 1980. The work contains excel-
1952. Discusses fate and fortune in Iran from Zoroastrian-
lent studies by specialists on the subject in India that is most
ism to Islam.
relevant to the concept of karman.
Ringgren, Helmer, ed. Fatalistic Beliefs in Religion, Folklore, and
Eliade, Mircea. Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy. Rev.
Literature. Stockholm, 1967. Contains essays by specialists
and enl. ed., translated by Willard R. Trask. New York,
on religion, folklore, and literature.
1964. Fundamental to an understanding of the transforma-
Rist, J. M. Plotinus: The Road to Reality. Cambridge, UK, 1967.
tion and diffusion of ancient Middle Eastern ideas to nonlit-
Rist, J. M. Stoic Philosophy. Cambridge, UK, 1969.
erate cultures.
Rist, J. M. Human Value: A Study in Ancient Philosophical Ethics.
Gonda, Jan. Die Religionen Indiens. 2 vols. Stuttgart, Germany,
Leiden, 1982.
1960–1963. Includes information concerning astronomical
and astrological ideas in India.
Runia, David T., ed. Plotinus amid Gnostics and Christians. Am-
Grant, Robert M. Gnosticism: A Source Book of Heretical Writings
sterdam, 1984. Lectures by A. P. Bos, A. H. Armstrong, R.
from the Early Christian Period. New York, 1961. This is the
Ferwerda, and Th. G. Sinnige.
most convenient collection of Gnostic texts, with helpful
Shaw, Gregory. Theurgy and the Soul: The Neoplatonism of Iam-
indexes.
blichus. University Park, Pa., 1995. Perhaps one of the most
Greene, William C. Moira: Fate, Good, and Evil in Greek Thought.
enlightening books on the Christianization of the world.
Cambridge, Mass., 1944. An exhaustive study of fate in
Wallis, Richard T., and Jay Bregman, eds. Neoplatonism and Gnos-
Greece.
ticism. Albany, N.Y., 1992. This volume contains, among
Hadas, Moses, trans. The Stoic Philosophy of Seneca: Essays and Let-
other things: “Dualism: Platonic, Gnostic, and Christian” by
ters. New York, 1958.
A. H. Armstrong; “Synesius, the Hermetica and Gnosis” by
Jay Bregman; “Plotinus’s Anti-Gnostic Polemic” and “Por-
Humphries, Rolfe, trans. The Way Things Are: The “De rerum na-
phyry’s Against the Christians” by Christos Evangeliou; and
tura” of Titus Lucretius Carus. Bloomington, Ind., 1968. The
“Theurgic Tendencies against Gnosticism and Iamblichus’s
best translation of the most famous text on chance and relat-
Conception of Theurgy” by Birger A. Pearson.
ed topics.
Yang, C. K. Religion in Chinese Society: A Study of Contemporary
Jonas, Robert Hans. The Gnostic Religion: The Message of the Alien
Social Functions of Religion and Some of Their Historical Fac-
God and the Beginnings of Christianity. 2d ed. Boston, 1963.
tors. Berkeley, 1961. Devotes special attention to Chinese at-
Interprets the world of late antiquity in which ideas and cults
titudes toward fate in social life.
of fate flourished.
Kramer, Samuel Noah. The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and
Zaehner, Robert Charles. Zurvan: A Zoroastrian Dilemma. Ox-
Character. Chicago, 1963. Presents a sober yet vivid account
ford, 1955. A seminal work.
of the earliest civilization, including its views of fate.
KEES W. BOLLE (1987 AND 2005)
Lanzi, Silvia. Theos Anaitios: Storia della teodicea da Omero ad
Agostino. Rome, 2000.
Long, A. A. Hellenistic Philosophy: Stoics, Epicureans, Sceptics. 2d
FATHER DIVINE. The Harlem-based minister known
ed. Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1986.
as Father Divine (1879–1965) became famous during the
Long, A. A., and D. N. Sedley. The Hellenistic Philosophers, vol.
Great Depression for feeding the hungry and drawing thou-
1, Translations of the Principal Sources, with Philosophical
sands of disciples (white as well as black) who venerated him
Commentary; vol. 2, Greek and Latin Texts with Notes and
as God on earth. A short, balding man of great energy and
Bibliography. Cambridge, U.K., 1987.
charisma, Divine promoted racial integration in his Peace
Magris, Aldo. L’idea di destino nel pensiero antico. 2 vols. Udine,
Mission movement at a time when nearly all American con-
Italy, 1984–1985. The most encompassing study of destiny
gregations were segregated. He summed up his religious cru-
in ancient Greece.
sade for social justice, saying, “If God cannot prepare a heav-
Needham, Joseph. Science and Civilization in China, vol. 2, Histo-
en here for you, you are not going anywhere.”
ry of Scientific Thought. Cambridge, U.K., 1956. Deals with
scientific thought on a large scale and presents astronomical
Born George Baker in Rockville, Maryland, in 1879,
and astrological ideas in China.
Divine grew up in a southern black farm-laborer’s family. As
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

FATHER DIVINE
3007
a young man he traveled through the South preaching to
and dark complected” followers (the words Negro and colored
poor blacks. Citing 1 Corinthians 3:16, “the spirit of God
were forbidden) and used whites as secret emissaries to cir-
dwelleth in you,” he declared that all people were godly and
cumvent restrictive housing covenants and acquire homes,
so deserved equal rights and dignity. But after several arrests
hotels, and beach fronts for his followers in northern white
and detention in an insane asylum, Divine left the Jim Crow
neighborhoods. The Peace Mission proved the vitality of co-
South and, in 1915, settled in New York City, then emerg-
operative enterprise by becoming the largest landowner in
ing as a center of African American culture amid an influx
Harlem and operating businesses with an estimated value of
of migrants from the rural South.
$15 million. In January 1936 the Peace Mission’s “Righ-
In 1919, Baker, calling himself the Reverend M. J. Di-
teous Government Convention” in Harlem called for the ab-
vine, relocated to Sayville, Long Island. Living with a few fol-
olition of segregation, lynching, and capital punishment, and
lowers who pooled their funds, he distributed books on New
also urged an expanded government commitment to end un-
Thought, such as Robert Collier’s multivolume works, The
employment, poverty, and hunger.
Book of Life (1925), The Secret of Gold (1927), and The Life
After 1940 the Peace Mission sharply declined in num-
Magnet (1928), which taught that everyone could achieve
bers and influence as the return of prosperity lessened its
earthly success by visualizing positive images and tapping an
philanthropic appeal, and it evolved from a mass movement
inner spiritual power. Disciples also strived for unity with
to a formal sect featuring a half-dozen incorporated church-
God by renouncing carnal temptations such as tobacco, alco-
es. In 1942 Divine left Harlem for Philadelphia, and four
hol, drugs, and sexual relations.
years later he announced a “spiritual” marriage to a 21-year-
As Divine’s communal movement continued to prosper
old white disciple, Edna Rose Ritchings, thereafter known
after the onset of the Great Depression in late 1929, his free
as Mother Divine. When Father Divine died in September
Sunday banquets attracted blacks from Harlem and Newark,
1965 after a long illness, disciples were stunned and sad-
plus a growing minority of whites. These interracial gather-
dened, but not to the point of mass desertion. He had been
ings, though, led to “Father’s” arrest in 1931 for “disturbing
largely out of public view for several years, during which time
the peace,” and he was convicted the following June after a
Mother Divine had prepared followers for the day when “Fa-
blatantly racist trial. Yet even before the verdict was over-
ther will not be with us personally.”
turned in January 1933, Divine found his messianic aura en-
hanced when, three days after sentencing and censuring Di-
Since the late 1950s Mother Divine and her secretarial
vine, the judge suddenly died. Relocating to Harlem, Divine
staff have administered the Peace Mission from a 72-acre es-
presided over a burgeoning movement called the Peace Mis-
tate called Woodmont, outside Philadelphia. Although the
sion, which was clustered in northern ghettos but also fea-
Peace Mission’s membership has dwindled to perhaps a few
tured predominantly white branches in California and other
hundred and most of its properties have been sold off, disci-
states.
ples still save a place for “Father” at their banquet tables.
Divine’s Peace Mission became a melting pot of the dis-
They pay special homage to Woodmont’s Shrine to Life, a
contented. A majority of Divine’s followers were poor black
structure designed by Mother Divine: it surrounds a red mar-
women, often widowed or divorced, and generally from the
ble crypt that holds the body of Father Divine. Followers be-
lowest strata of ghetto society. But others, men and women,
lieve that “Father” did not die, but rather cast off his mortal
held well-paying jobs and were highly educated, including
body in order to rule the universe through his spirit.
a substantial minority of affluent whites who were drawn to
Divine out of idealism or spiritual seeking. In New York and
SEE ALSO New Thought Movement.
New Jersey, states that contained the heart of Divine’s sup-
port, the following was 85 to 90 percent black. In states far-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ther west the proportion of blacks in the movement often
dropped sharply, but almost never fell below a third of the
Two early biographies that emphasize sensational or allegedly
disciples in any Peace Mission center.
scandalous aspects of Father Divine’s ministry are John Ho-
shor, God in a Rolls-Royce; The Rise of Father Divine: Mad-
Estimates of the total Peace Mission membership dur-
man, Menace, or Messiah (New York, 1936); and Robert A.
ing the 1930s varied sharply. At its peak in the mid-1930s,
Parker, Incredible Messiah: The Deification of Father Divine
the movement had perhaps ten thousand hard-core followers
(Boston, 1937). Robert Weisbrot’s Father Divine and the
who believed fervently in Father Divine’s divinity, gave their
Struggle for Racial Equality (Urbana, Ill., 1983) focuses on
possessions to the Peace Mission, and lived in one of the
Divine’s vanguard activism for racial justice; the volume con-
more than 150 movement centers. This conservative count
tains an annotated listing of primary and secondary sources
excludes many ghetto residents who disdained notions of Fa-
for further study (pp. 224–232). Jill Watts’s God, Harlem
ther Divine’s godhood yet admired his leadership as a philan-
U.S.A.: The Father Divine Story (Berkeley and Los Angeles,
thropist and champion of racial equality.
1992) sheds new light on Divine’s origins and highlights the
role of New Thought in his religious leadership.
Divine pioneered in the growing struggle for equal
rights and opportunity. He encouraged integration of “light
ROBERT WEISBROT (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

3008
FA¯T:IMAH BINT MUH:AMMAD
FA¯T:IMAH BINT MUH:AMMAD (d. 11 AH/633
Both the Sunn¯ıs and the Sh¯ıEah venerate Fa¯t:imah great-
CE) was the youngest and best-known daughter of the proph-
ly as the beloved daughter of the Prophet, through whom his
et Muh:ammad and his first wife Khad¯ıjah. His bloodline
descendants are traced. She is one of the five members of the
continues exclusively through her.
Prophet’s family (ahl al-bayt; literally “family of the house
[of the Prophet]”), which includes additionally, besides
BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS. The sources give Fa¯t:imah’s date of
Muh:ammad, EAl¯ı and their two sons, al-H:asan and
birth as falling between 609 and 614 CE. She is described as
al-H:usayn. The term ahl al-bayt is a highly charged term,
having been greatly beloved of Muh:ammad, and in turn was
particularly for the Sh¯ıEah. It occurs in a significant verse in
completely devoted to him. Her mother Khad¯ıjah’s death
the QurDa¯n (33:33), which states, “O People of the House,
while Fa¯t:imah was still very young filled her with great grief.
God wishes only to remove from you uncleanliness.” To
She shared her father’s travails during his years of persecution
whom precisely ahl al-bayt refers has remained unresolved to
in Mecca before the emigration (hijrah) to Medina in
this day. Many Sunn¯ı commentators have understood this
622 CE.
verse to include not only the five members indicated above
but also all the Prophet’s wives. But Sh¯ıE¯ı commentators,
Shortly after the hijrah, two close associates of the
and a number of pro-EAlid Sunn¯ı exegetes, have interpreted
Prophet, Abu¯ Bakr and EUmar (who later became the first
ahl al-bayt as referring only to the five members, and have
and second caliph), asked for Fa¯t:imah’s hand in marriage.
stressed the QurDanically mandated privileged status thereby
Muh:ammad refused both of them, and instead encouraged
accruing to them. An “occasion of revelation” is frequently
his cousin EAl¯ı, despite his greatly impoverished circum-
recounted in connection with this verse, which further an-
stances, to propose marriage to his daughter. EAl¯ı, at the
chors this circumscribed meaning of ahl al-bayt. The sources
Prophet’s behest, sold his shield and thereby obtained a sum
relate that during an event that has come to be known as
of roughly 480 dirhams to offer as the bridal gift. Fa¯t:imah
al-muba¯halah (mutual adjuration), the Prophet gathered
was between fifteen and twenty-one and EAl¯ı twenty-five
EAl¯ı, Fa¯t:imah, al-H:asan, and al-H:usayn under a cloak before
years of age at the time of marriage. A modest wedding feast
a Christian delegation from Najra¯n as a proof of his prophet-
was arranged and the couple moved into a home close to the
hood, according to one version. “The family of the cloak”
Prophet’s residence. They lived in grinding poverty, especial-
(ahl al-kisa¯ D), as they are referred to after this incident, tends
ly for the first several years of their marriage; the sources de-
to become conflated with ahl al-bayt in Sh¯ıE¯ı exegetical
pict them as often having very little to eat. To earn a meager
works in particular.
living, EAl¯ı would draw water from the wells and water other
people’s lands, and Fa¯t:imah did all the housework herself,
Another h:ad¯ıth, known as the h:ad¯ıth al-thaqalayn (the
being unable to afford servants. Despite this, Fa¯t:imah is well-
Prophet’s statement regarding the two weighty [things]), un-
known for her highly charitable disposition, and before her
derscores the high status of the ahl al-bayt and is recorded
marriage had tended to the ahl al-S:uffah (people of the
in both Sunn¯ı and Sh¯ıE¯ı standard h:ad¯ıth compilations. In
bench), a group of destitute Muslims who took refuge in the
this report, Muh:ammad says, “Indeed, I am leaving behind
Prophet’s mosque in Medina.
two weighty [things] among you: the Book of God and my
kindred, the ahl al-bayt.”
The two famous sons of Fa¯t:imah and EAl¯ı, al-H:asan and
al-H:usayn, were born within the first four years of their mar-
The family of the Prophet is greatly revered by both
riage. A third son, Muh:assin (or Muh:sin), was stillborn. Two
Sunn¯ıs and Sh¯ıEah alike—although among the Sh¯ıEah, alle-
daughters followed, Umm Kulthu¯m and Zaynab, who were
giance to the ahl al-bayt becomes a religious tenet. Both
named after Fa¯t:imah’s elder sisters.
Sunn¯ı and Sh¯ıE¯ı sources attest to the special bond of affec-
tion and closeness that existed between Muh:ammad and
There was apparently friction between Fa¯t:imah and
E
Fa¯t:imah in particular. She is said to have closely resembled
Al¯ı, and she would complain to her father about the latter’s
him in appearance and manner. Fa¯t:imah’s usual epithet,
harshness to her. Muh:ammad is said to have been distressed
al-Zahra¯ D, means “the radiant one.” It is worthy of note that
by this lack of conjugal harmony and intervened on such oc-
the most famous and oldest institution of higher learning in
casions to effect a reconciliation between the sparring couple.
the Islamic world, al-Azhar (masculine form of al-Zahra¯D) in
A serious rift threatened to erupt between the couple when
E
Cairo, Egypt, is named after her. This mosque-university was
Al¯ı began to actively consider taking a second wife. The
built in 969 CE by the Isma¯E¯ıl¯ı dynasty from North Africa,
Prophet came to the defense of Fa¯t:imah and forbade EAl¯ı
known, once again after Fa¯t:imah, as the Fa¯t:imids.
from contracting a second marriage unless he were to divorce
her first. Muh:ammad’s affection for his daughter was codi-
Fa¯t:imah died in 633, about four to six months after
fied in a h:ad¯ıth he uttered on this occasion: “Fa¯t:imah is a
her father. EAl¯ı prepared her body for burial, and she was
part of me and whoever offends her offends me.” EAl¯ı was
laid to rest in the family cemetery of Baq¯ıE al-Gharqad in
thus dissuaded from taking a second consort. This event is
Medina.
sometimes invoked to point to the Prophet’s preference for
THE CULT OF FA¯T:IMAH The cult of Fa¯t:imah grew as the
monogamy over polygamy, in the absence of extenuating cir-
Sh¯ıEah became more confirmed in their oppositional role to
cumstances.
the majoritarian Sunn¯ıs. As the former progressively came
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

FAUST
3009
to stress over time that legitimate and just leadership of the
FAUST. In sixteenth-century Europe, Faust was reviled as
Muslim polity could only be exercised by a descendant of
a godless man who, as a consequence of making a pact with
Fa¯t:imah and EAl¯ı, her status, as the only daughter of the
the Devil, met a gruesome yet appropriate fate. By the nine-
Prophet to produce heirs who lived into adulthood and thus
teenth century, he had become the archetypal Romantic
continue his line, grew accordingly. In Sh¯ıE¯ı sources,
hero; the term Faustian, coined by Oswald Spengler (1880–
Fa¯t:imah, in addition to al-Zahra¯D, is given eight other names:
1936), was taken as a positive epithet to describe those tor-
al-Bat:u¯l (the Chaste/Virgin), al-S:idd¯ıqah (the Truthful),
mented, defiant individuals who strive for more than is hu-
al-T:a¯hirah (the Pure), al-Muba¯rakah (the Blessed),
manly possible. Whether condemned or condoned, Faust is
al-Zak¯ıyah (the Pure), al-Rad:¯ıyah (the One Contented [with
the protagonist of an enduring story that embodies funda-
God’s pleasure]), al-Mard:iyah (One with whom [God is]
mental religious and philosophical questions about humani-
pleased), al-Muh:addathah (the One Spoken to [by angels]),
ty’s place in the universe, the nature of good and evil, and
and Umm Muh:ammad/Umm Ab¯ıha¯ (Mother of
the limitations of human knowledge.
Muh:ammad/Mother of Her Father). The last epithet in-
THE HISTORICAL FAUST. Between 1507 and 1540, numer-
vokes the memory of the occulted Twelfth Ima¯m in Ima¯m¯ı
ous references appear in German diaries, letters, and records
or Twelver Sh¯ıE¯ı belief, whose name was Muh:ammad, like
to an unsavory character with the last name of Faust. The
the Prophet of Islam. In this sense, Fa¯t:imah is the “mother”
picture that emerges is of a fairly well educated man: He may
of her distant descendant, and thus “of her father” who bears
have been the Johann Faust listed in the matriculation re-
the same name.
cords of the University of Heidelberg for 1509, or he may
In Sh¯ıE¯ı hagiography, the name Fa¯t:imah itself is glossed
have been the Georg Faust who received a hostile reception
as “One who was weaned [by God from the Fire];” those
at the University of Erfurt. In any event, he traveled exten-
who love her will also be saved from it. Fa¯t:imah is the Pure
sively, and he was viewed with a mixture of fear and con-
and Chaste one because she was not subject to the blood of
tempt by his contemporaries, who describe him variously as
menstruation and parturition on account of having been cre-
a magician, a necromancer, a charlatan, an astrologer, an al-
ated from the waters of paradise. The QurDanic verse (33:33)
chemist, a braggart, a sodomite, a gourmand, and a drunk-
cited above is taken by the Sh¯ıEah as a proof-text attesting
ard. His evil reputation, enhanced by his boast of having
to Fa¯t:imah’s Eismah, or “[moral] impeccability” or “sinless-
made a pact with the Devil, is confirmed by references to his
ness” (and that of other members of the family of the Proph-
expulsion from various cities. According to contemporary ac-
et as well). Fa¯t:imah is moreover believed to have been en-
counts, Faust died mysteriously. Philipp Melanchthon
trusted with a special “scroll,” known as Mas:h:af Fa¯t:imah,
(1497–1560) says he was strangled by the Devil in a rural
brought to her by Gabriel to console her on the death of her
inn in Württemberg on the day their pact fell due.
father. The cult of Fa¯t:imah has been likened to the cult of
ORIGIN OF THE FAUST LEGEND. The development of the
the Virgin Mary in Roman Catholicism; there are indeed
Faust legend began in 1540, shortly after contemporary ref-
many parallels to be observed. Like Mary, she is virginal, de-
erences to his activities ceased. The legend, a by-product of
spite being a wife and mother; and she is a tragic yet powerful
the Reformation, originated in Lutheran circles as a reaction
female figure, eliciting the greatest loyalty from those devot-
against Roman Catholicism and Renaissance magic and sci-
ed to her. The Sh¯ıEah often refer to Fa¯t:imah as Maryam al-
ence. It illustrates the anti-intellectual strain within the
Kubrá (the Greater Mary).
Christian tradition that has erupted periodically in cam-
paigns of censorship and denunciations of “forbidden”
BIBLIOGRAPHY
knowledge. Faust became a convenient symbol of deviant re-
Bill, James A., and John Alden Williams. Roman Catholics and
ligious, scientific, and philosophical thought. He was identi-
Shi Ei Muslims: Prayer, Passion, and Politics. Chapel Hill,
fied with several of the most controversial thinkers of the six-
N.C., 2002. See pages 28–29 and 52–55.
teenth century: Paracelsus, Trithemius, and Agrippa.
McAuliffe, Jane Dammen. “Chosen of All Women: Mary and Fa-
LITERARY TREATMENT OF THE FAUST LEGEND. The earliest
timah in QurDanic Exegesis.” Islamochristiana 7 (1981):
printed collection of Faust stories, known as the Spies Faust-
19–28.
buch, was published by Johann Spies at Frankfurt in 1587.
Momen, Moojan. Introduction to Shi Ei Islam: The History and
Enormously popular, it was reprinted eighteen times in the
Doctrines of Twelver Shi Eism. New Haven, 1985.
next ten years. Before the end of the century, translations ap-
Vaglieri, Laura Veccia. “Fa¯t:imah.” In The Encyclopaedia of
peared in English, Dutch, and French. The German text
Islam. New ed. Edited by H. A. R. Gibb et al., vol. 2,
went through several revisions, the last of which, republished
pp. 841–850. Leiden and London, 1960.
frequently in the eighteenth century, was probably known
to Goethe.
ASMA AFSARUDDIN (2005)
The basic story presents Faust as a scholar whose intel-
lectual arrogance prompts him to abandon the legitimate
study of theology for the forbidden science of magic. In re-
FA-TSANG SEE FAZANG
turn for a specified number of years of power and knowledge,
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

3010
FAXIAN
Faust sells his soul to the Devil. He performs astonishing
Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus in the context of Reformation the-
magical feats, conjures up the dead, flies over the earth, and
ology in “Dr. Faustus: A Case of Conscience,” Publications
eventually captivates the most beautiful woman in the world,
of the Modern Language Association of America 67 (March
Helen of Troy, by whom he has a son. When the pact ex-
1952): 219–239.
pires, he is carried off to Hell.
New Sources
The two most famous literary treatments of the story are
Grim, William E. The Faust Legend in Music and Literature. Lew-
iston, N.Y., 1992.
Christopher Marlowe’s The Tragicall History of Doctor Faus-
tus (1604) and Goethe’s Faust (1808, 1832). Marlowe based
Mahal, Günther. Faust und Frankfurt: Anstösse, Reaktionen, Verkn-
his play on the English Faustbook. His version of the story
üpfungen, Reibungen. Frankfurt am Main, 1994.
is in the tradition of morality plays, but he adds the specifi-
Werres, Peter. Doctor Faustus: Archetypal Subtext at the Millenni-
cally Protestant theme that Faust’s damnation was due to his
um. Morgantown, W. Va.,1999.
despairing fatalism and his refusal to accept justification by
Wutrich, Timothy. Prometheus and Faust: The Promethean Revolt
faith.
in Drama from Classical Antiquity to Goethe. Westport,
Conn., 1995.
The first recorded performance of Marlowe’s play was
in Graz, Austria, by a company of English players. The play
Ziolkowski, Theodore. The Sin of Knowledge: Ancient Themes and
Modern Variations. Princeton, 2000.
became a staple of German puppet theater, where it was seen
by both Lessing and Goethe as children. As adults, both used
ALLISON COUDERT (1987)
the Faust story in plays of their own. Faust’s defiant attempt
Revised Bibliography
to transcend the limits of human existence appealed to both
men and fit in with the repudiation of Enlightenment ratio-
nalism that characterized the Sturm und Drang movement
FAXIAN (fl. 399–418), Chinese Buddhist monk, transla-
to which they belonged.
tor, and the earliest successful Chinese Buddhist pilgrim to
Only fragments of Lessing’s proposed Faust dramas
India. Faxian’s family name was Gong; he was born in Wuy-
exist, but Goethe’s two-part drama is considered the greatest
ang in Pingyang Prefecture (in Shanxi province). After being
work of Germany’s greatest poet. By emphasizing the tragic
fully ordained at the age of twenty, Faxian recognized that
elements only hinted at in earlier versions and by making
the Buddhist monastic rules (the Vinaya) available in China
them the source of Faust’s salvation rather than his damna-
at the time were incomplete and confused and thus vowed
tion, Goethe transformed the story of a venal, vainglorious
to journey to India to search for Vinaya texts. After years of
magician into that of an inspiring, tragic hero. In Goethe’s
preparation he organized a party of five monks, who left
drama, God has the last word in the prologue: Striving and
Chang’an in 399 and passed out of China through Qiangui,
error go hand in hand (“Es irrt der Mensch, solang’ er stre-
Zhangye and Dunhuang (all in northwestern China). From
bt”), but only those who dare to cultivate the divine spark
Dunhuang they proceeded along the southern marches of
within can hope to be saved (“Ein guter Mensch in seinem
the Tarim basin to the central Asian kingdoms of Shan-shan,
dunkel Drange / Ist sich des rechten Weges wohl bewusst”).
Agni, and Khotan, where they watched the religious proces-
The Faust story continued to be popular throughout the
sion of the Buddha’s image. From there they traveled to Cha-
nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Among the many au-
karka, crossed the Pamirs and Agzi, and finally arrived at the
thors attracted to the legend were Lenau, Klinger, Chamisso,
kingdom of Ud:d:iya¯na in North India, via Darada and the
Grillparzer, Heine, de Nerval, Valéry, and Mann. Most of
Indus River valley. So long and arduous was their journey
them, however, rejected Goethe’s optimistic conclusion and
that it took three years for the Chinese pilgrims to reach
stressed instead the danger inherent in Faust’s insatiable
North India from China.
thirst for knowledge.
Faxian spent a summer retreat in Ud:d:iya¯na then trav-
eled to the south, passed through Suvastu, Gandhara,
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Taks:a´s¯ıla (Taxila), and arrived at Purus:apura. There, three
In The Sources of the Faust Tradition (Oxford, 1936), P. M. Palmer
members of the mission decided to return to China. Faxian
and R. P. More discuss the background to the Faust tradition
and the others continued the journey, traveling to Hilo and
and print many of the sources, together with the English
paying homage to the Buddha’s shadow at Naga¯rhara. They
Faustbook of 1592, several early Faust dramas and puppet
crossed over the Lesser Snow Mountain, where Huijing, one
plays, and the fragments of Lessing’s Faust dramas. Another
of the three members of the party, died. Faxian then traveled
important book on the tradition’s development is Frank
to Lakki, where he had the summer retreat in 403, after
Baron’s Doctor Faustus: From History to Legend (Munich,
which he went on to Mathura via Harana and Uccha. He
1978). E. M. Butler has made a wide-ranging study of the
Faust legend in three books: The Myth of the Magus (Cam-
passed the summer retreat in 404 at S´am:ka¯´sya. Turning
bridge, U.K., 1948), Ritual Magic (Cambridge, U.K., 1949),
southeastward, he then passed through Kanyakubja
and The Fortunes of Faust (Cambridge, U.K., 1952). Gene-
(Kanauj), Vai´sa¯kha, the Jetavana grove at S´ra¯vast¯ı, and the
viève Bianquis surveys the literature in Faust à travers quatre
birthplace of the Buddha at the Lumbin¯ı near Kapilavastu
siècles, 2d rev. ed. (Aubier, 1955). Lily B. Campbell discusses
on the Indo-Nepal border. From there he traveled eastward
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

FAXIAN
3011
to Ra¯magra¯ma, Ku´sinagara, Vai´sa¯l¯ı, and finally arrived at
tries), is an important historical and religious document for
Pa¯t:aliputra, the capital of Magadha kingdom. After a short
South Asian history and for the Buddhist tradition. Five of
stay at the city, Faxian went to the southeast. In Ra¯jagr:ha
Faxian’s translations are extant. All of them have been trans-
he performed a rite of worship at the top of Gr:dhraku¯ta. He
lated jointly by Faxian and Buddhabhadra (d. 429), an Indi-
worshiped the bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya¯, visited other places
an Buddhist missionary. Two of these translations are of the
nearby, and returned to Pa¯t:aliputra. From there he went
Vinaya of the Maha¯sa¯m:ghika school (T.D. nos. 1425 and
westward, made a pilgrimage to Va¯ra¯n:as¯ı, the Mr:gadava, or
1427), two are Maha¯ya¯na scriptures (T.D. nos. 376 and
the Deer Park at Sarnath, and concluded the trip with a visit
745), and one is a H¯ınaya¯na scripture (T.D. no. 7). Accord-
to Kau´sa¯mbi.
ing to one catalog, a translation bearing the title Za ebitan
xinlun in thirteen fascicles is also ascribed to him and Budd-
Between the years 405 and 407, Faxian stayed at the
habhadra, but the book has been lost. Two other Sanskrit
Maha¯ya¯na monastery of Pa¯t:aliputra, concentrating on the
texts brought back to China by Faxian have been trans-
study of the Sanskrit language and Buddhist scriptures. From
lated into Chinese by Buddhaj¯ıva (T.D. no. 1421) and
the monastery, he obtained a collection of the widely ob-
Gun:abhadra (T.D. no. 99) respectively. Faxian continued to
served monastic discipline of the Maha¯sa¯m:ghika school. He
translate until the time of his death in 418 at the Xin Monas-
also obtained a condensed version of the monastic rules ac-
tery of Jingzhou (in Hubei province). His successful journey
cording to the Sarva¯stiva¯da school along with several other
to India and his search for an authentic tradition of Bud-
texts, including the Sam:yukta¯bhidharma-hr:daya S´a¯stra in six
dhism remained a source of inspiration for later generations
thousand verses, the Maha¯parinirva¯n:a Su¯tra in two thousand
of Chinese Buddhists.
five hundred verses, the Vaipulya-parinirva¯n:a Su¯tra in five
thousand verses, and the Abhidharma collection of the
SEE ALSO Pilgrimage, article on Buddhist Pilgrimage in
Maha¯sa¯m:ghika school. Although most of these texts seem to
South and Southeast Asia.
have been copied by Faxian himself, at least one was pres-
ented to him by a lay Buddhist named Jialuo at the
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Maha¯ya¯na monastery as a token of appreciation for Faxian’s
The earliest translation of Faxian’s autobiographical account is the
journey to India.
Foé Koué Ki, ou Relation des royaumes bouddhiques: Voyages
dans la tartarie, dans l’Afghanistan et dans l’Inde, translated by
After the completion of his study at Pa¯t:aliputra, Dao-
Jean Pierre Abel Rémusat et al. (Paris, 1836). The French
zheng, the other remaining member of the mission, declared
text was translated into English with additional notes by
his intention to stay in India permanently, leaving Faxian
J. W. Laidley under the title The Pilgrimage of Fa Hian (Cal-
alone to complete his mission. In 407 he left Pa¯t:aliputra for
cutta, 1848). James Legge’s translation, A Record of Buddhis-
Ta¯mralipt¯ı via Champa. He remained at Ta¯mralipt¯ı for two
tic Kingdoms (1886; reprint, New York, 1965), still stands as
years (408–409), after which he traveled to Sri Lanka. He
a useful reference and is easily available. H. A. Giles’s retrans-
stayed on the island for two years, made pilgrimages to the
lation, The Travel of Fa-hsien, 399–414 A.D. (1923; reprint,
London, 1959), is good. Li Yung-hsi’s version, A Record of
holy places, and attended lectures delivered by an Indian
the Buddhist Countries (Beijing, 1957), is the most recent and
monk. He also obtained additional scriptures there, includ-
readable translation. Faxian’s biography in the Gaoseng
ing the Vinaya of the Mah¯ı´sa¯saka school, the D¯ırgha¯gama,
zhuan has been translated by Robert Shih in his Biographies
the Sam:yukta¯gama, and the Zazang jing, none of which was
des moines éminents (Kao seng tchouan) de Houei-kiao (Lou-
available in China. In 411 he embarked on a merchant ship
vain, 1968), pp. 108–115. A study of his translations and
and sailed for home with the Sanskrit manuscripts he had
writing is found in Prabodh Chandra Bagchi’s Le canon
collected during the trip. Ninety days later, after being blown
bouddhique en Chine, vol. 1 (Paris, 1927), pp. 347–348.
off course by a typhoon, the ship arrived at the kingdom of
New Sources
Yavadvipa (South Sumatra island). The monk remained on
Giles, Herbert, trans. “From Record of the Buddhistic Kingdoms,
the island for five months, then embarked on another ship
a Chinese Pilgrim in Ceylon.” In Classical Chinese Literature:
for Guangzhou (Canton). A month into the voyage another
An Anthology of Translations. Volume 1: From Antiquity to
typhoon disrupted the journey. After nearly ninety days the
the Tang Dynasty, edited by John Minford and Joseph Lau,
ship landed at a place that the travelers later discovered was
pp. 599–605. New York, 2000.
Laoshan in Zhangguang prefecture (Shandong Peninsula).
Hazra, Kanai Lal. Buddhism in India as Described by the Chinese
The year was 412. Eventually, Faxian went to Jiankang
Pilgrims AD 399–689. New Delhi, 1983.
(Nanjing) and began to translate the Sanskrit texts he had
Liu, Xinru. Ancient India and Ancient China: Trade and Religious
collected in India and Sri Lanka. He had traveled to approxi-
Exchanges, A.D. 1–600. New Delhi, 1988.
mately thirty kingdoms in fifteen years, and was the first
Liu, Xinru. The Silk Road: Overland Trade and Cultural Interac-
Chinese Buddhist monk to successfully journey to India and
tions in Eurasia. Washington D.C., 1998.
return with Buddhist scriptures.
Rongxi, Li, and Albert A. Dalia, trans. Lives of Great Monks and
In 416, Faxian was asked by his colleagues to write an
Nuns. Berkeley, 2002.
autobiographical account of his journey. The resulting
JAN YÜN-HUA (1987)
chronicle, known as Foguo ji (A record of the Buddhist coun-
Revised Bibliography
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3012
FAZANG
FAZANG (643–712), also known as Xianshou; third pa-
Huayan Buddhism. When Fazang died in November of 712,
triarch and systematizer of the Huayan school, a Chinese
the emperor Xuanzong bestowed upon him the honorary
Buddhist tradition centered around exegesis of the
title of Hongluqing, director of palace ceremonies.
Avatam:saka Su¯tra. His surname, Kang, indicates that his
Fazang is credited with three major advances in Huayan
family was originally from Samarkand in Central Asia. Fa-
doctrine. The first is his classification of Buddhist teachings
zang was a son of Mi, a high-ranking army officer in the
in “five grades and ten qualities.” Through this classification
Tang dynasty. When he was sixteen years old he burned off
Fazang tried to show that Huayan Buddhism should be re-
one of his fingers as an offering to the Buddha before an
garded as the acme of Buddhist teachings, superior even to
A´soka stupa in which relics of the Buddha were enshrined.
the Faxiang (Yoga¯ca¯ra) school newly imported by Xuanzang.
After seeking without success for a satisfactory teacher, he en-
The second achievement is his advocacy of a doctrine known
tered Mount Taibei, where he studied Maha¯ya¯na Buddhism
as sanxing tongyiyi (“the original way of explaining the doc-
in seclusion. Some years later, hearing that his parents were
trine of the three kinds of existence”). Using this theory, he
ill, he returned home to Chang’an, where Zhiyan (later reck-
insisted that ultimate truth and deluded consciousness are
oned the second Huayan patriarch) was lecturing on the
not mutually exclusive and that consequently even deluded
Huayan jing (Maha¯vaipulya-buddhagan:d:avyu¯ha Su¯tra) at the
consciousness can penetrate into the very root of truth. Fa-
Yunhua Si. Yan Zhaoyin, Fazang’s biographer, described
zang’s third achievement is his clarification of the ultimate
the meeting of these two as a “smooth acceptance, like pour-
modality of prat¯ıtya-samutpa¯da (“dependent origination”).
ing water into a vessel, a harmonious condition compared to
That is to say, Fazang elaborated upon Zhiyan’s philosophy
mingling milk and water.” Subsequent to this encounter, Fa-
of fajie yuanqi (“prat¯ıtya-samutpa¯da in the True Realm”) so
zang became Zhiyan’s disciple.
as to emphasize that matter was no different from the truth
In 668, when his master Zhiyan passed away, Fazang
(lishi wu’ai). According to Fazang, when seen from the view-
was still a layman. When he was twenty-eight, Empress Wu
point of the Buddha, all phenomena not only depend upon
Zetian built a new temple named Taiyuan Si in memory of
each other but also enter into each other infinitely (shishi
her mother, Yongguo. It was at this time that Fazang was or-
wu’ai).
dained and became a monk at this temple, probably at the
empress’s request. In 684, he met Diva¯kara, a monk from
SEE ALSO Huayan.
middle India, at Xitaiyuan Si and studied S´¯ılabhadra’s and
Jña¯naprabha’s jiaopan (classification of Buddhist teachings).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The next year he joined with Diva¯kara for the translation of
Chan, Wing-tsit. A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy. Princeton,
that portion of the Gan:d:avyu¯ha (an independent su¯tra com-
1963. Pages 406–424 include a brief survey of Huayan
prising the last chapter of the Huayan jing) that was missing
thought and translations of the Jinshizi zhang (complete), at-
from Buddhabhadra’s translation of the text. He also fre-
tributed to Fazang, and two chapters from his Huayan yihai
quently assisted such excellent translators as Devaprajña¯,
bomen.
S´iks:a¯nanda, and Yijing.
Kamata Shigeo. Chu¯goku kegonshiso¯shi kenkyu¯. Tokyo, 1965. In
Fazang is best known as the systematizer and propagator
the chapter entitled “Bushu¯o¯cho¯ ni okeru kegon shiso¯ no
of Huayan Buddhism; he is said to have given more than
keisei” the author discusses the political and intellectual
thirty lectures on the Huayan jing. His principal works are
background of Fazang’s thought.
(1) Huayan jing zhigui (The essential meaning of the Huayan
Kimura Kiyotaka. “Ho¯zo¯ no kegon kyo¯gaku.” Riso¯ 606 (1983):
jing; T.D. no. 1871); (2) Huayan wujiao zhang (Outline of
64–86. Treats the role of Fazang’s understanding of
the Huayan Five Teachings Doctrine; T.D. no. 1866); (3)
prat¯ıtya-samutpa¯da in the history of the development of
Huayan jing tanxuan ji (Plumbing the profound import of
Huayan thought.
the Huayan jing; T.D. no. 1733); (4) Dasheng qixinlun yiji
Yoshizu Yoshihide. “Ho¯zo¯den no kenkyu¯.” Komazawa daigaku
(A commentary on the Awakening of Faith; T.D. no. 1846);
bukkyo¯gakubu kenkyu¯ kiyo¯ 37 (1983): 168–193. The most re-
(5) Panruoxin jing lüeshu (A brief commentary on the
cent and comprehensive study of the life of Fazang.
Prajña¯pa¯ramita¯hr:daya Su¯tra; T.D. no. 1712); (6) Rulengqie
xinxuan yi (The essential meaning of the Lan˙ka¯vata¯ra Su¯tra;
New Sources
T.D. no. 1790); (7) Fanwan jing pusa jieben shu (A commen-
Hartshorne, Charles. “Sankara, Nagarjuna, and Fazang, with
tary on the bodhisattva precepts in the Brahmaja¯la Su¯tra;
Some Western Analogues.” In Interpreting Across Boundaries:
T.D. no. 1813); and (8) Huayan jing chuanji (On the tradi-
New Essays in Comparative Philosophy, edited by Gerald
James Larson and Eliot Deutsch, pp. 98–115. Princeton,
tion of study of the Huayan jing; T.D. no. 2073).
1988.
According to legend, Fazang was a miracle worker who
Shim, Jae-ryong. “Faith and Practice in Huayan Buddhism: A
sought merit for the people. One of his miracles allegedly
Critique of Fazang (643–712) by Li T’ung-hsuan (646–
caused both Emperor Zhongzong and his successor Ruizong
740).” In Buddhist and Taoist Practice in Medieval Chinese
to receive the bodhisattva precepts and provide government
Society, edited by David W. Chappell, pp. 109–124. Hono-
support to establish five temples for the propagation of
lulu, 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

FEINSTEIN, MOSHE
3013
Wright, Dale. “The ‘Thought of Enlightenment’ in Fazang’s
of picturing what is wholly transcendent. This is probably
Huayan Buddhism.” Eastern Buddhist 33, no. 2 (2001):
the intended symbolism in depictions of Christ’s ascension,
97–106.
found especially in eleventh-century English art, where only
KIMURA KIYOTAKA (1987)
the feet and part of the legs show at the top of the picture.
Revised Bibliography
On a carved medieval bench-end from Launcells in Corn-
wall, the feet of Christ are seen vanishing into clouds while
footprints are left on a rock. Similarily, pilgrims to Palestine
FEASTING S
can see footprints in the Church of the Ascension on the
EE FOOD; SEASONAL CEREMONIES;
WORSHIP AND DEVOTIONAL LIFE
Mount of Olives.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
There is no really adequate discussion of feet as a religious symbol.
FEET are multivalent symbols. In some mythologies the
James G. Frazer in The Golden Bough, 3d ed., rev. & enl.
rays of the sun—as depicted, for example, in the figure of
(London, 1911–1915), discusses the taboo against touching
the swastika—are likened to feet. C. G. Jung finds the foot
the feet to the ground, but he focuses on the loss of power
frequently phallic in significance; others believe it is some-
and on the earth as the agency of loss rather than on feet. For
a more convenient and up-to-date source, see The New Gol-
times a symbol of the soul, an idea rarely directly substantiat-
den Bough, the one-volume abridgment by Theodor H.
ed but indirectly confirmed when lameness is taken to sym-
Gaster (New York, 1959). On foot washing, see G. A. Frank
bolize some defect of the spirit, as in the cases of Hephaistos,
Knight’s article “Feet-Washing,” in the Encyclopaedia of Reli-
Wieland the blacksmith, Mani, and Oedipus.
gion and Ethics, edited by James Hastings, vol. 5 (Edinburgh,
The heel of the foot is both suitable for and vulnerable
1912), which discusses both secular and religious customs in
to attack; it may dispatch a serpent or it may be the locus
great detail. Concerning Hephaistos and the “magical or sha-
manic lameness,” consult Hephaïstos, ou La légende du magi-
of a fatal wound (Achilles, Sigurd, and Kr:s:n:a). In the He-
cien by Marie Delcourt (Paris, 1957).
brew scriptures, Jacob grasps Esau’s heel in order to defeat
him. In Celtic legend, Gwydion masters Arianrhod by grasp-
ELAINE MAGALIS (1987)
ing her foot.
Feet are also vulnerable because of their contact with the
FEINSTEIN, MOSHE
earth. Vital and sacred forces can be drained away through
(1895–1986), was an Ameri-
them. For this reason, the Aztec ruler Moctezuma II was car-
can Orthodox rabbi and Jewish legal authority. Born to a
ried on the shoulders of noblemen, and members of the royal
rabbinical family in Uzda, Belorussia, Feinstein prepared for
family in Uganda were carried on the shoulders of men of
a career in the rabbinate under the tutelage of his father,
the Buffalo clan. An emperor of Japan, it is said, would have
David Feinstein, and subsequently as a student in the leading
been deprived of his office had his feet ever touched the
Talmudic academies of that region. Upon his arrival in the
earth. The Irish hero Oisín, who had lived in the Land of
United States in 1937, Feinstein became dean of the Tal-
Youth for three hundred years, could remain young upon re-
mudic academy Metivta Tiferet Jerusalem in New York, a
visiting the land of his birth only if he did not touch his feet
position that he held until his death. He played a prominent
to the ground.
role in both the Union of Orthodox Rabbis and Agudat Yis-
raDel, the world movement of Orthodox Jewry.
The foot is also a symbol of humility because it touches
Feinstein enjoyed worldwide recognition by Orthodox
and is besmirched by the dust of the earth. Victory and sub-
rabbis and laity alike as a leading interpreter and decisor of
jection are represented by the conqueror placing his foot on
Jewish law. His responsa (legal decisions) have been published
the neck of the vanquished or using him as a footstool. Wor-
in a work entitled Iggerot Mosheh (Letters of Moshe). Stu-
shipers all over the ancient world removed their shoes before
dents of Jewish law have enthusiastically hailed the appear-
entering sanctuaries and temples, as Muslims, Hindus, and
ance of Iggerot Mosheh because it offers a Jewish legal perspec-
Jains do today before entering places of worship. Foot wash-
tive on numerous issues relating to contemporary scientific,
ing has commonly served as part of rites of purification.
technological, and sociological developments. The topics
Foot washing as an act of hospitality was also wide-
Feinstein covers include heart transplants, autopsies, brain
spread throughout the ancient world. The Christian ritual
death, experimentation with live human tissue, intrauterine
of foot washing was derived from this practice, and especially
devices, the use of electric blankets and transistor micro-
from Jesus’ washing his disciples’ feet (Jn. 13:5). As such, the
phones on the Sabbath, adoption, life insurance, labor
ritual does not focus on cleansing but on humility, and on
unions, and sex manuals. Thus, the subject matter of Iggerot
the Christian ideals of willing service and penitence.
Mosheh dramatizes Feinstein’s concern to use the technical
Footprints of divine or holy figures may symbolize the
capability of Jewish law to address ongoing changes in social
way to the truth, or the salvation offered by them. Footprints
reality.
of both Vis:n:u and the Buddha appear all over India. Such
Moreover, a number of Feinstein’s rulings reflect a cre-
physical evidence of the earthly presence of divinity is a way
ative and bold flexibility, particularly in the realm of Jewish
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3014
FEMININE SACRALITY
family law. In one controversial decision, Feinstein permit-
the fullness of maturity and later with the flaccidity of old
ted, with qualification, artificial insemination even from a
age. Similarly, that which works changes on materials outside
donor other than the husband. In a series of rulings regarding
itself may be feminine, just as a woman’s care changes her
the status of a marriage solemnized in either a civil or non-
infant into a self-sufficient child or a woman’s processing
Orthodox ceremony, Feinstein permitted the subsequent re-
changes raw materials into food and clothing.
marriage of either spouse without the prior granting of a get:,
Feminine symbols and divinities were especially promi-
a Jewish writ of divorce.
nent in religious systems of ancient cultures, and they have
It would be inaccurate, however, to characterize Fein-
remained important in certain Asian cultures and among
stein as a liberal interpreter of Jewish law. A staunchly tradi-
small-scale agricultural and hunting peoples. Although over-
tionalist work, the Iggerot Mosheh contains numerous rulings
shadowed in the West for many centuries by male deities and
of a conservative nature as well. In the final analysis, then,
imagery, they have undergone a renaissance in Neopagan,
the Jewish legal process as reflected in the Iggerot Mosheh
feminist spirituality, and environmentalist movements.
demonstrates both receptivity and resistance to changing so-
ciocultural circumstances. Feinstein’s profound and encyclo-
FEMININE SACRALITY IN NATURE. Perhaps the best-known
pedic grasp of Jewish law and his legal creativity were cou-
and most frequently cited forms of feminine sacrality are
pled with an outstanding reputation for personal piety and
those connected with that portion of the world at large that
selflessness. It is because of these qualities that his halakhic
produces and reproduces itself without human intervention.
rulings are considered authoritative by a wide cross-section
Many peoples have experienced this “natural” world as a con-
of Orthodox Jewry.
stellation of powers and realities that both limit humans and
open human opportunities. Often such powers and realties
SEE ALSO Agudat YisraDel.
in nature are perceived as female. In fact, the entire natural
realm may be experienced as female; people in modern West-
ern cultures acknowledge such an experience when they
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Eisenstadt, Benzion. Sefer dorot ha-Ah:aronim. Brooklyn, N.Y.,
speak of “Mother Nature.” But the experience of the “femi-
1940. See volume 2, pages 191–192.
nine” in nature is more commonly restricted to certain
sectors.
Kirschenbaum, Aaron. “Rabbi Moshe Feinstein’s Responsa: A
Major Halakhic Event.” Judaism 15 (Summer 1966):
The earth. “According to [alchemist] Basilus Valentini-
364–373.
us, the earth . . . is not a dead body but is inhabited by a
Rackman, Emanuel. “Halakhic Progress: Rabbi Moshe Feinstein’s
spirit that is its life and soul. All created things, minerals in-
Igrot Moshe on Even Ha-Ezer.” Judaism 13 (Summer 1964):
cluded, draw their strength from the earth spirit. This spirit
365–373.
is life, . . . and it gives nourishment to all the living things
Rand, Oscar Z., ed. Toledot anshei shem. New York, 1950. See
it shelters in its womb” (Jung, 1968, p. 342). Throughout
page 98.
history many peoples have taught that the earth is a living
New Sources
organism and the source of all other life that inhabits its sur-
Rosner, Fred. “Rabbi Moshe Feinstein’s Influence on Medical
face and crevices. As such, it is the ultimate womb and moth-
Halacha.” Journal of Halacha and Contemporary Society 20
er of all.
(1990): 47–75.
A poet of ancient India celebrated the earth as “the mis-
ROD M. GLOGOWER (1987)
tress of that which was and shall be” and declared that “the
Revised Bibliography
earth is the mother, and I the earth’s son.” She is the “womb
of all,” pouring forth milk for her offspring (Atharvaveda
12.1.1, 10, 12, 43). A poet of ancient Greece sang to the
FEMININE SACRALITY.
earth as “mother of all things, feeding upon her soil all that
Attributing gender to
exists”(Homeric Hymn to Earth). The Oglala of the upper
manifestations of sacred power in the world is a long-
Great Plains in North America were solemnly taught: “For
standing human practice. Such manifestations generally are
the Earth is your Grandmother and Mother and she is sa-
said to be “feminine” when they function in ways analogous
cred. Every step that is taken upon her should be as a prayer”
to women’s most common modes of physiological or cultural
(Brown, 1953, pp. 5–6). Thus they prayed, “O you, Grand-
activity. Hence that which contains, as in a womb, is often
mother, from whom all things come, and O You, Mother
considered feminine, particularly if the containment can be
Earth, who bear and nourish all fruits, behold us and listen”
perceived as gestation (e.g., the gestation of seeds in the
(Brown, 1953, p. 133).
earth). That which nurtures by providing food and shelter
or spiritual sustenance, as a mother offers milk and refuge
When represented iconographically, the earth takes the
to her child, may also be considered feminine. That which
form of a buxom, mature woman. Hindu temple sculptors
changes may be feminine, especially if it changes periodical-
have portrayed her in this way when illustrating the story of
ly, as a woman’s body changes through its monthly cycle,
her rescue by a great boar that dives in pursuit after a demon
swells in pregnancy, or replaces childhood smoothness with
carries her to the bottom of the ocean; she clings demurely
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FEMININE SACRALITY
3015
to the boar’s tusk as he rises from the waters. This boar is
separate their parents because they have grown weary of the
a form of Vis:n:u, great Lord of cosmic order. The earth also
darkness. After several fruitless attempts, the son—Tane-
appears beside Vis:n:u in temple images as his consort the god-
mahuta, “father of forests” (a great tree)—shoves them apart.
dess Bhu¯, “She Who Becomes.” Buddhist art offers a more
In the Mediterranean world the act becomes still more vio-
revealing portrayal in scenes where the Buddha-to-be calls
lent; according to the version retold by the Greek poet Hesi-
the earth to witness to his generosity as he strives to repel the
od, the primeval mother and father, Gaia and Ouranos, sepa-
attack of Ma¯ra, the god of death and desire. Here, the god-
rate after their son Kronos castrates his father with a sickle.
dess appears as torso only, rising from the ground. The lower
portion of her body—her “womb”—must be understood as
If the earth is a sacred mother, it follows that the act of
the earth itself, of which the anthropomorphic torso is just
tilling her is also potentially an act of violence. The violence
a temporary projection. The earth goddess Gaia of ancient
implicit in gardening is vividly acknowledged in a myth from
Greece was similarly portrayed as torso only.
the island of Ceram in Indonesia. A pubescent maiden
named Hainuwele is slain and dismembered as her people
The earth’s motherhood is often understood quite liter-
perform a spiral dance. When planted, her body parts yield
ally. Across the world, myths have asserted that humans and
the yams that are the islanders’ chief staple food and garden-
other beings first emerged from a womb within the earth’s
ing product. Because her murder brings death into the world,
depths. Bronislaw Malinowski’s famed 1948 Trobriand Is-
the violence that brings the yams also costs Hainuwele’s peo-
land studies found that residents of each village traced their
ple the paradisal life that they had known before.
ancestry to a sister and a brother who emerged from a nearby
hole in the ground. In West Africa, the Ashanti likewise
Reluctance to violate the earth and seize her products
claimed that their ancestors first came from holes in the
can also be seen in a frequently cited speech by the American
earth. Among native peoples of North America, 120 versions
Indian prophet Smohalla. Told that his people should be-
of human emergence from the earth have been recorded. The
come farmers, Smohalla responded: “You ask me to plough
Oglala tell how their people were initially tricked into leaving
the ground. Shall I take a knife and tear my mother’s breast?
the earth womb as the result of a conspiracy between Ink-
Then when I die she will not take my bosom to rest. You
tomi, the trickster Spider, and Anukite, the double-faced
ask me to dig for stone. Shall I dig under her skin for her
Deer Woman. The two enticed the people to the surface
bones? Then when I die I cannot enter her body to be born
with gifts of meat and clothing and a promise of unending
again. You ask me to cut grass and make hay and sell it and
plenty. Then winter came, the buffalo grew scarce, and the
be rich like white men. But how dare I cut off my mother’s
people could no longer find their way back into the cave
hair?” (Mooney, 1896, p. 721).
womb. In the Southwest the Navajo and Pueblo peoples de-
The cave as earth womb. If humans are children of
veloped complex emergence myths describing how the peo-
earth, born from a womb in her depths, the significance of
ple evolved into higher and higher levels of refinement as
caves in religious belief and practice becomes apparent.
they ascended through a series of wombs before exiting onto
Often a people identifies some cave within its ancestral terri-
the earth’s surface.
tory as its own place of origin. For example, the Oglala say
How are earth’s offspring first engendered? The earth
their ancestors emerged at Wind Cave in the Black Hills of
need not have a partner to help her produce her children.
South Dakota. The belief that caves are the original earth
The Trobriand myths cited above make no mention of a
wombs may have been responsible for the great cave sanctu-
genitor who fertilizes their great genetrix. According to Mali-
aries of Paleolithic times in Europe. Sections that bear splen-
nowski, Trobrianders themselves did not believe that chil-
did paintings of animals and the hunt are all hard to reach
dren came through sexual fertilization. Like the earth from
and are located at a distance from the entrance. Some schol-
which they ascended, Trobriand women received departed
ars have argued that these caverns may have been utilized for
ancestral spirits into their wombs and returned these spirits
another sort of “birthing” from the earth—namely rituals of
to life as children. Hence both earth and women accom-
initiation—such as those that often feature a symbolic “re-
plished a form of parthenogenesis (virgin birth).
turn to the womb.” In this case the return would have been
literal, as initiates worked their way back into the bowels of
In many cultures, however, the earth is paired with a
the earth from which their ancestors had ascended.
male fecundator, usually Sky Father. Before the known
world is created, she and he are a single entity, locked togeth-
Another sort of return to the earth mother is accom-
er in a lasting embrace. Then the embrace is broken, and
plished when humans encounter death. The land of the dead
earth and sky separate, allowing light and motion to enter
is often located in a cavern beneath the earth. In the Latin
the intervening realm. Sometimes this separation is volun-
epic Aeneid, the hero Aeneas descends to the land of the dead
tary, as in the long cosmogonic cycle of the North American
via a cave at Cumae, west of present-day Naples. The Greeks
Zuni, where Earth Mother pushes Sky Father away after she
similarly located their Erebus or Tartarus in a subterranean
becomes pregnant. Often, however, the separation is forced.
region, as did the Hebrews their SheDol. Muslim texts portray
In a version of this myth told by the Arawa tribe of New Zea-
the underworld as the huge fiery crater Jahannam, into
land, the children of the primeval parents Ranga and Papa
which the unrighteous are thrown after judgment. Dante
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borrowed from such concepts when he portrayed his Inferno
alone existed in the beginning. The sweet and potable waters
as a fiery pit whose nadir is deep within the earth’s bowels.
called Apsu that now lie beneath the earth were then com-
The classical Mediterranean underworlds described
mingled with the primal sea Tiamat. As the two lay together,
above are not explicitly defined as female. Nor do females
early generations of the gods were born, culminating in the
alone rule them; in Greek and Roman sources a goddess
lord Ea. Then Apsu plotted to kill his children, because their
(Greek, Persephone; Latin, Proserpina) shares the throne of
clamor disturbed him. But Ea overcame Apsu and estab-
the dead with her consort (Greek, Hades; Latin, Pluto). In
lished a dwelling place for himself upon Apsu’s waters. Thus
ancient Sumeria, however, the netherworld’s queen was a
the first separation of waters occurred. The second followed
lone goddess, the dread widow Ereshkigal. Similarly, the
after Tiamat, angered by the loss of her consort, gave birth
Germanic goddess Hel was her underworld’s sole ruler. In
to an army of monsters that attacked her divine children.
Japan the counterpart was the primeval ancestress Izanagi,
The latter then found a new hero, Ea’s son Marduk. Follow-
who became the first being to die (after giving birth to fire).
ing a ferocious battle, Marduk slew Tiamat and split her
Among the Maori of New Zealand, the ruler of the dead was
body in a second separation of waters. Half of that body was
Hine-nui-te-po (great goddess of darkness), a former dawn
cast upward to become the waters of the sky. A gap in the
maiden who fled in shame to the underworld after learning
text prevents an understanding of what became of the other
that her husband was also her father.
half, but presumably it transformed into rivers and oceans,
whereas Ea’s dwelling, the land, was extended as homes for
Alternatively, a dread female guards the underworld’s
other gods were added. Finally, humankind was created to
entrance; she is often less a woman than a female monster.
serve the gods in their new shrines.
Perhaps the most interesting example is a figure prominent
in myth and ritual of the island of Malekula in the archipela-
According to one Hindu version of the cosmogony, the
go of Vanuatu. Malekulans say the wind blows the released
world’s source is a giant male who sleeps upon a serpent in
soul across the waters of death. On the farther side, by the
primal waters. A lotus or tree grows from his navel; both are
underworld’s entrance, the soul encounters the monstrous
symbols of the cosmos. Alternatively, an egg is born from the
female Le-hev-hev. Before her on the sand is the design of
waters and then breaks apart, its two halves evolving into
a maze or labyrinth, half of which she erases as the soul ap-
heaven and earth. In the Finnish epic Kalevala a bird lays the
proaches. The soul must restore the missing half of the draw-
cosmic egg on a knee that the Mother of Waters raises to give
ing in order to enter the land of the dead. If the soul fails,
the bird a place to build her nest.
the guardian devours it. Mastery of this labyrinth thus be-
comes a central feature of Malekulan initiation rites.
Waters preceding the earth’s birth become even more
explicitly amniotic in “earth diver” myths common in Siberia
Feminine sacrality and water. Note that the Maleku-
and on the west coast of North America. In a gesture remi-
lan myth perceives the journey of death not only as a passage
niscent of sexual intercourse, a male animal dives beneath the
into a female underworld but also as a voyage that crosses
waters to secure a few scrapings of soil that will become the
water. Water appears often in stories of human descents to
germ of the land. The land is then stretched out from a cen-
and emergences from subterranean regions. The Greek who
entered the underworld land of the dead had to cross the
tral point, just as an embryo grows from its navel. Often the
river Styx. Called by Hesiod the “awful goddess hated by the
diver in such stories is a duck or a turtle. The boar who res-
other gods,” the Styx was a branch of the ocean stream that
cues the earth and takes her as consort in the Hindu story
coiled around the world (Theogony 12.775–778). According
cited earlier is an alternative form of the Siberian earth diver
to Plato, a soul returning to the earth for rebirth had to cross
transplanted onto Indian soil.
and drink from another river, Lethe, the stream of forgetful-
Just as waters that give birth to the earth or nourish na-
ness (Republic 10.620). In some regions of rural Europe, even
scent life beneath its surface are often female, so also are wa-
during the twentieth century, the souls of children were said
ters flowing over the earth’s surface. India is the preeminent
to emerge not only from caves but also from grottoes, pools,
land of sacred female watercourses; all of its rivers are god-
and springs. Versions of the Native American emergence
desses, the first of them being Ganga¯ Ma¯ta¯ (Mother Ganges).
myth replace the usual cave of emergence with a lake, or a
Female deities guarded rivers in China, above all in the
subterranean flood drives the people to the surface.
South. Especially prominent in ancient times, they often had
Waters are not merely an amniotic presence within the
dragonlike characteristics. In ancient Mexico all rivers be-
earth womb; in many cosmogonic accounts they also become
longed to the goddess Chalchiuhtlicue (jade skirt). The face
the very matrix from which the earth is born. Even the reso-
of the Mediterranean world was dotted by springs, pools, and
lutely male-centered Judeo-Christian Creation myth ac-
streams inhabited by water nymphs or dryads. Similar lesser
knowledges their presence: in the beginning the spirit of God
female deities connected to local waters are found across Eur-
hovers upon the face of the waters. In the ancient Near East,
asia. Sometimes, like the little mermaid of Hans Christian
where this account originated, other stories of the world’s or-
Andersen’s celebrated folktale, they venture forth on the
igin depict a process of evolution from primeval waters. Ac-
earth seeking human lovers or husbands. The child born of
cording to the Babylonian creation epic Enuma Elish, waters
such a liaison may become a great king or hero.
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FEMININE SACRALITY
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Mounds, rocks, and mountains. Rivers are not the
animals is the ill-tempered Sedna of Inuit (Eskimo) legends.
only manifestation of the feminine upon the earth’s surface;
Deprived of her fingers and drowned by her father, this once-
any protuberance or extension of the earth may be viewed
human maiden tends the seals at the bottom of the ocean.
as a special concentration of the feminine. Mounds are often
Misdeeds of the Eskimo foul her hair, which she cannot
associated with the feminine sacred and honored as earth na-
comb for lack of fingers. She then becomes angry and with-
vels—places where the earth first rose above the waters. The
holds the seals, releasing them only after a shaman descends
famous omphalos (navel) at Delphi, where the Pythia sat to
to comb her matted hair. A far more positive figure is the
receive visions of the future, was such a mound; appropriate-
White Buffalo Calf Woman of the Oglala Lakota. Appearing
ly, like the mound itself and the earth from which it erupted,
either as a white buffalo or as a beautiful young woman, this
the priestess-seer of the oracle was also female. Rocks may
deity brought the sacred pipe to the Lakota and taught them
also manifest female power. In village shrines of South India
how to summon the Great Spirit with it. She is a prototype
small rocks or heaps of stones are icons for the ammas, local
not only of the buffalo but also of Oglala women, who were
goddesses who protect the villages. When the goddess Cybele
initiated at puberty by a rite in which they imitated move-
was moved to Rome from her initial home in Anatolia, she
ments of a buffalo cow.
traveled in the form of a sacred black stone. Again, a moun-
tain or volcano may be the visible form of a goddess or her
Darkness, night, and moon. The earth’s dark crevices
dwelling place or birthplace—a good example is the Hawai-
are often perceived as the womb of an awesome feminine
ian volcano Kilauea, venerated as home of the goddess Pele.
power, and by extension darkness of any kind may be per-
ceived as female. Hence night becomes a female deity, often
Vegetation. In the varied mythologies of the world, sa-
of awesome power—according to the Greek epic Iliad, even
cred plants and vegetation deities have been both male and
Zeus, king of the gods, dared not displease Night. Night may
female. Nonetheless, plants are conspicuously connected to
replace the waters as preformal matrix in accounts of the
both the earth and the waters and often linked with female
birth of the cosmos. An Orphic myth recounts how Night
powers. Popular images of a goddess who is a source of life
laid a silver egg in the womb of Darkness. Eros, or desire,
and fertility may show her seated under a tree or clinging to
was born from that egg and set the universe in motion. In
a branch with her hand, or her body becomes the tree’s trunk
most mythologies of the world, however, Night is relegated
while its branches rise from her shoulders. Female spirits
to the background of dramatic action; her principal lumi-
often haunt trees. Herbs too may be female: a hymn of
nary, the moon, receives far more attention.
India’s Yajur Veda exclaims: “O herbs! Oh, you who are
mothers! I hail you as goddesses!” (4.2.6). Sacred plants that
The moon is most simply perceived as a complement
grow in swamps are often female; India’s lotus, closely associ-
to the sun—as spouse, lover, or sibling. As the gentler of the
ated with Laks:m¯ı, goddess of prosperity, is an excellent ex-
two lights, the moon is often, but not always, the female
ample.
partner. Myths of marriage between the sun and the moon
are legion, as are etiological accounts explaining why they do
Staple food plants too are sometimes manifestations,
not travel the sky at the same time. The most common cause
gifts, or transformations of feminine sacred powers. This
of their separation is some kind of falling-out. An African
concept was mentioned above in the myth of the murdered
myth reports, for example, that the moon tired of the sun
maiden Hainuwele—the yam is the transformed maiden. In
and took a lover after she had borne many children (the stars)
North America a similar story is told about the origin of
with her husband. The sun then divided his possessions with
corn, which many Native Americans revered as Corn Moth-
her and drove her and her children away from his home. A
er. According to one version of Corn Mother’s story, the
similar myth of the Oglala tells how Moon and Sun were as-
slain goddess was killed and dragged along the ground to fer-
signed to separate realms after the woman Face usurped the
tilize the land where corn would emerge. An alternative ver-
Moon’s place beside her husband at a banquet.
sion claims the goddess gave the corn and its rites to the hus-
band who pursued her after she ran away from home.
Perhaps because she is so often a prototypical spouse,
or perhaps because her body swells periodically, the moon
Lady of the animals. Given the central role of the earth
is closely linked to pregnancy and childbirth. Lunar goddess-
and waters in crop production, it is not surprising that forms
es often preside over childbirth or protect married women
of feminine sacrality are often prominent among peoples
during their childbearing years. Examples include Juno, a
who practice gardening and agriculture. Except for the earth
powerful goddess of ancient Italy who became queen of the
mother, honored widely among all people who depend on
Roman pantheon, and Mama Quilla, sister and wife and sec-
her products, important feminine powers are found less often
ond in command to Inti, the sun god of the Inca Empire.
among hunting peoples. Occasionally, however, a goddess
In many areas of the world, mothers hold newborn babies
appears among the category of deities known as “lords of ani-
up to the light of the moon, believing that this act brings
mals.” Such deities control the supply of animals essential to
blessings upon the children. Even when portrayed as a mas-
the hunting economy, either by creating them, corralling and
culine power, the moon retains its connection with child-
releasing them to produce scarcity and abundance, or restor-
bearing; many peoples tell tales of women made pregnant by
ing them to life after they have been slain. One such lady of
moonbeams.
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The moon is also cyclic, and the connection between
tion in a mirror. She hid after her obstreperous brother Su-
lunar and menstrual cycles has often been noted. The Mbuti
sano-o polluted her sacred weaving hall by heaving into it a
(Pygmy) peoples of Africa call menstrual blood matu (moon
piebald colt skinned backward. One weaving maiden startled
maiden), while the Iroquois of North America have main-
by this stabbed her genitals with a shuttle and died (accord-
tained that all menstrual periods occur when the moon is
ing to one version of the story, Amaterasu herself was this
new. Both the association with childbearing and this link to
maiden).
the menstrual cycle seem to generate a special bond between
Like the sun, fire is usually understood to be a masculine
the moon and pubescent women. The Ceramese story of
power, but there are some noteworthy exceptions. In the an-
Hainuwele—the maiden whose murder results in the first
cient Mediterranean world, the hearth fire was a goddess
yams (see above)—has a striking variant in which a rape pre-
(Greek, Hestia; Roman, Vesta). In ancient Rome this god-
cedes the murder and the murdered maiden becomes the
dess had a special temple at which a perpetual fire burned.
moon. In this version an ugly rash-covered sun man named
Priestesses who tended this fire had to remain celibate—to
Tuwale seeks to marry the maiden, here called Rabia. After
lose one’s virginity (and hence pollute the vestal fire) brought
he passes harsh tests that her parents set to dissuade him, the
a penalty of death. The hearth fire was also a goddess among
parents allow the wedding but place a dead pig in the mar-
the Ainu people of Japan. This Old Goddess of the Hearth,
riage bed instead of their daughter. The angry Tuwale pur-
named Fuji like Japan’s most famous volcano, was not only
sues his fleeing bride and claims her so violently that he
a means of cooking and the source of a family’s warmth but
pounds her into the ground and no one can free her. As she
also a psychopomp, guiding souls of the dead back to the
sinks into the earth, she asks her parents to perform a three-
land of spirits from which they had come. Another apparent
day funeral ritual for her, substituting a dead pig for her
connection between the fire of the hearth and volcanic fire
missing body. On the third night, she says, she will reappear,
is found in one of the many Polynesian tales about the trick-
shining down upon them as a light from heaven.
ster Maui. Maui steals fire for the use of humankind from
The myth of Rabia points to a third important aspect
his ancestress Mahui-ike, who lives in the underworld and
of lunar sacrality, its ties to cycles of death and regeneration.
hoards the fire in her fingernails. Fire likewise emerges from
The moon constantly dies and is as constantly reborn. Thus
a tellurian woman’s body in the Japanese story (cited above)
the moon may be a source of immortality, or the home of
of the ancestress Izanagi, who dies as she gives birth to her
a goddess who possesses some life-sustaining nectar. The
fiery son.
Chinese say, for example, that the moon goddess ChDang-o
FEMININE SACRALITY IN CULTURE. In his massive study of
was once a woman who stole the elixir of immortality from
feminine symbols and divinities titled The Great Mother
her husband; she then fled to the moon to escape her hus-
(1963), the Jungian psychologist Erich Neumann points to
band’s anger. Women and children honored this goddess in
two fundamental aspects of feminine power that such sym-
one of China’s three great annual festivals.
bols and divinities manifest. On the one hand, feminine
power is source, giving rise to the multiple forms of life,
Finally, lunar cycles mark off the passage of time and
whereas on the other hand it is process, an agent of growth
help to weave the tapestry that is human history. The moon
and transformation. Both aspects of the feminine can be rec-
is linked to goddesses who determine human fate, such as the
ognized in the natural manifestations described in the pre-
Greek Moirai or the Germanic Norns. Like the moon her-
ceding section. But it is the second, the transformative, that
self, such goddesses are often portrayed as spinners and weav-
becomes most prominent in the modes of feminine sacrality
ers; two of the Norns spin and twist the thread of life, while
associated with cultural activities and institutions. For the
the third cuts it off. Lunar goddesses of fate are commonly
production of culture itself is a process of transformation:
portrayed in triple form, corresponding to the waxing, full,
that which comes to humans “raw” from the natural realm
and waning moon, as well as to past, present, and future or
is “cooked” and made fit for human consumption.
to youth, adulthood, and old age.
Feminine sacrality can enter at virtually any point in this
Sun and fire. In its journeys through the sky, the sun
transformative process. In rituals of initiation, for example,
has also woven human time and cosmic rhythms. The sun
where initiates must leave one mode of human existence and
may therefore also be a weaver, as in Japanese tales of Ama-
enter another, the transition may be accomplished by passing
terasu, one of the rare female solar divinities to become the
them through the womb of a female power. The postulated
focus of a significant cult. Amaterasu was the ancestress of
relationship between this practice and the cave sanctuaries of
Japan’s imperial lineage; a priestess from the imperial family
western Europe were noted above. Both men and women
still serves her shrine at Ise. According to the chronicles Ko-
may evoke feminine powers in rituals of this sort, although
jiki and Nihongi, Amaterasu emerged from the right eye of
the ways in which they utilize them are likely to differ.
the primal ancestor Izanami as he cleansed himself in a river
after an abortive attempt to rescue his consort Izanagi from
Gardening, weaving, baking and cooking, and pot-
the land of the dead. Amaterasu’s most famous myth de-
tery. However, certain transformative processes seem so in-
scribes how she fled from the earth and hid in a cave, from
herently female that some cultures assign them usually or
which she was coaxed by the sight of her own shining reflec-
solely to women. The underlying premise here seems to be
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3019
that the women who bear life and nurture it into growth are
stance. Thus pots, cauldrons, and ovens are doubly feminine,
better attuned than men to the powers that achieve these
both as extensions of the earth and as sources of nourish-
transformations. Hence they are better qualified to channel
ment. It is no wonder then that pottery making is sometimes
such powers.
restricted to women, as it is among the Pueblo peoples of
North America. Nor is it surprising that pots can substitute
Gardening is perhaps the simplest example of a process
for the earth or earth goddesses in myths and rituals. A story
in which women work with a power construed as feminine
of the Dinka in East Africa recounts how the Creator grew
to capture a segment of the wild natural world and tame it
the first humans to full size in a pot after he had made
for human appropriation. In some societies only women
them—the pot clearly represents the earth womb. Pots are
practice gardening, especially if other activities, such as hunt-
often used as movable images of goddesses during various
ing, give men alternative economic functions. Among the
rites and festivals of India.
North American Iroquois, for example, not only were
women responsible for all practical functions of gardening,
Spiritual transformations. The province of the femi-
but they also summoned and supervised all calendrical rites
nine sacred is not restricted to material transformations. Pro-
connected to gardening and “owned” all of the songs with
cesses of spiritual growth and transformation may also tap
themes related to food crops. Weaving is another transforma-
powers perceived as feminine.
tive skill often located within the special province of women.
Institutions offering spiritual nourishment and the
Celestial powers that mark off time, such as the moon and
promise of renewed life are often described through feminine
the sun, are regarded as spinners and weavers of human desti-
metaphors. The Christian Church has been called the moth-
ny. The women who shape human destiny on earth by bear-
er of Christ’s flock, nourishing his children with her milk.
ing and nurturing children may appropriately be accounted
Such maternal imagery is partly an extension of the meta-
mistresses of spinning and weaving. Indeed, the two process-
phor in the New Testament Letter to the Ephesians (5:23–32)
es may influence each other. Thus people of rural Sweden
portraying the church as a “wife” of Christ. For Jews, the life-
once believed that if a woman who had just finished weaving
giving bride is not the community itself but the radiant Sab-
rode away carrying a stick she had stuck in her web, she
bath that arrives to restore it each week. “Come, my friend,
would conceive a child of the same sex as the first person or
to meet the bride; Let us welcome in the Sabbath” begins the
animal she met. If her husband cut her web from its loom
sixteenth-century song Lecha Dodi by Solomon Alkabets, still
quickly and efficiently, his horses would deliver foals with
sung at Friday evening Sabbath services. Nor is this concept
ease. The power of the weaver’s web to alter the world
of the Sabbath bride merely a literary image; during medieval
around it also explains the many weaving enchantresses of
times in Europe, Jewish qabbalists dressed in their best
the world’s folklore.
clothes on the Sabbath eve and went to the fields to welcome
Cooking and baking also tap the transformative powers
the incoming beloved.
characteristic of feminine sacrality and of women. A striking
Alternatively, the knowledge, insight, or wisdom that
illustration is found in the Navajo Kinaaldá ceremony, which
brings spiritual maturation may be assigned feminine gender
completes a girl’s transition to adulthood after the appear-
and portrayed iconographically by female images. In Hindu
ance of her menses. During the ceremony the girl imperson-
India the goddess Sarasvat¯ı is the patron of knowledge, hon-
ates and becomes Changing Woman, a complex mythical
ored especially by scholars and students. For Buddhists of the
being who empowers all growth and transformation in the
Maha¯ya¯na tradition, also Indian in origin, the term for lib-
cosmos. As a focal act of the long and taxing ritual, the girl
erating insight (prajña¯) was likewise feminine; its ultimate
and the women who sponsor her prepare an enormous corn
form prajña¯pa¯ramita¯ (perfection of wisdom) is called the
cake. It is then baked in a pit in the earth for an entire night,
“Mother of Buddhas” and is represented iconographically as
during which time the girl and her helpers must not fall
a goddess. In writings of Hellenistic Judaism and of Greek
asleep. The cake is cut on the following day, and the girl
Orthodox Christianity, Sophia, saving Wisdom, was at times
hands out pieces to guests at the ceremony. Because many
identified as the female aspect of an androgynous God.
aspects of the ceremony test the girl’s ability to function as
a woman, it seems appropriate to assume that the cake is also
The compassionate figure who intervenes to aid the
a test. It tests her ability, as representative of Changing
needy struggler for salvation may likewise be female. The bo-
Woman, to take the corn that is sacred to the Navajo and
dhisattva Kuan-yin of Pure Land Buddhist sects in China is
change it into food.
an especially interesting example, because her prototype, the
Indian Avalokite´svara, was male. This personification of the
The story of Changing Woman’s own Kinaaldá asserts
Maha¯ya¯na virtue of compassion came to escort the faithful
that the cake represents Mother Earth. The cake is, in fact,
to paradise at the hour of death. But he or she also offered
born of the earth, a product of the corn and the pit in which
other, lesser, varieties of salvation by extinguishing fires, still-
it is cooked. Transformative powers of cooking and baking
ing waves, calming storms, freeing those condemned to pris-
are often linked to the earth, for the various pots, cauldrons,
on or slavery or execution, disarming enemies, blinding de-
and ovens in which these processes are accomplished are
mons, even bringing healthy babies to imploring women.
made of the clay or iron that constitute the earth’s own sub-
Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christians are famil-
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FEMININE SACRALITY
iar with the compassionate intervening female in the form
Cihuacoatl sometimes was said to change into a beauti-
of the Virgin Mary.
ful young woman. She would seduce men, who withered and
died after they had intercourse with her. She has counterparts
THE TERRIBLE SIDE OF THE FEMININE SACRED. Concepts
in the sirens and seducers recurring in folk songs and legends
of the earth as feminine power also include a more daunting
throughout the world—the seduction that lures men to
aspect. The power who brings forth life also reabsorbs it into
death or madness is a common characteristic of the awful
herself as the dread goddess who rules the subterranean land
feminine sacred. Dreadful female powers may also be patrons
of the dead. Moreover, the terrible aspect of certain female
of witches, like Hekate, the triple-headed goddess of ancient
deities is not merely a product of association with the bowels
Greece. In the dark of the night, Hekate prowled the world
of a feminine earth; rather it is the other side of the processes
with a pack of bitches, hunting souls to take to her friend
of growth and transformation that so many female deities
Persephone, queen of the dead.
represent. Life and growth inevitably entail death and decay,
while misdirected spiritual striving readily deteriorates into
FEMININE SACRALITY IN WOMEN. This same ambiguity of
madness.
response to feminine sacrality—the recognition that it holds
both constructive and destructive potential—is found in
Perhaps the most infamous of the deadly goddesses is
conceptions of the sacrality of ordinary women. Women
Ka¯l¯ı, the awesome Black Goddess of India, born from the
themselves have been viewed as repositories of creative and
wrath of her demon-slaying mother Durga¯. Ka¯l¯ı’s teeth are
transformative power throughout human history and within
fangs; her tongue lolls out of her devouring mouth like that
a wide variety of cultural contexts. This concept is inherent
of a wild dog or tiger. One of her many hands brandishes
in the belief that women are better attuned than men to
an upraised sword, another lifts a bowl of blood made from
transformative procedures, such as weaving and cooking.
the sliced-off cap of a human skull. Ka¯l¯ı wears a necklace of
The next section explores further this concept of feminine
human heads and a skirt of lopped-off human arms; some-
powers linking women to other aspects of the cosmos. This
times she stands, squats, or dances on the corpse of her con-
section examines two different ways in which women’s sa-
sort, the great Lord S´iva. Ka¯l¯ı is time and death, but also life,
crality has been imagined.
and may be adored as a loving mother. She is also the illusion
According to one prominent conception, women are sa-
inherent in life’s pleasures, so affirming her for what she is
cred under specific physiological circumstances: sacred
can sustain her worshiper on a liberating path.
power resides in the condition rather than in the woman. For
Still more gruesome than Ka¯l¯ı was a trio that reflected
example, menstruation and childbirth often render a woman
the horrors implicit in the Aztec cult of war and human sacri-
taboo and dangerous, because she produces blood, an ex-
fice. To recognize their role as the terrible side of the same
tremely potent substance. Pregnancy may likewise bring dan-
process that generates life, one must understand the Aztec
ger: in rural Taiwan a pregnant woman is a threat to brides
presuppositions that human sacrifice was necessary to replen-
and children. Virginity evokes purity, and virgins may be es-
ish the swiftly waning vitality of the cosmos and that war was
sential to certain ritual roles, such as cutting the sacred tree
also essential to provide victims for the sacrifice. Coatlicue
during the Lakota sun dance or tending the vestal fire in an-
(snake skirt) was mother to the war god Huitzilopochtli. She
cient Rome. Menopause may endow women with magical
wears a skirt of writhing snakes, from which she derives her
or healing powers; hence older women are subject to accusa-
tions of witchcraft but are also often solicited for special ritu-
name; her hands are the heads of serpents; her feet have the
al functions.
claws of a predatory bird. She is headless and twin spurts of
blood gush from her neck into the mouths of waiting rattle-
A different conception of women’s sacrality perceives
snakes. Closely related to Coatlicue is Cihuacoatl (snake
women as repositories of a single power that they manifest
woman), said to “preside over and personify the collective
and channel throughout their lives. But this power becomes
hunger of the gods for human victims” (Brundage, 1979,
alternatively beneficent or destructive depending on whether
p. 170). She was also sometimes called the war god’s mother,
or not it is properly disciplined. For example, all women of
for she incited the wars over which Huitzilopochtli presided.
Tamil Nadu in South India are understood to be vehicles for
In Aztec iconography the lower jaw of Cihuacoatl’s gaping
´sakti, a natural energy essential to all action and prosperity.
mouth is that of a bare human skeleton. Her clothes and
A married woman who controls her ´sakti via faithfulness to
body are the chalky white of a heap of bleached bones. She
her husband is extremely auspicious. Considered a living in-
prowls at night, braying and screaming insanely; on her back
carnation of Laks:m¯ı, the goddess of good fortune, she blesses
is the knife of sacrifice, swaddled like an Aztec baby. The
her family not only while she is alive but even after her death.
knife is a transformation of the third terrible goddess, Itzpa-
More capricious but still beneficent is the virgin female who
palotl (obsidian knife butterfly). This knife is one of the frag-
is not yet married—her ´sakti is an unrealized potential. Neg-
ments into which this goddess shattered after antagonistic
ative and potentially dangerous figures are widows, unmar-
gods cast her into a fire. She wears a skirt fringed with knives
ried mothers, barren women, and women who die in preg-
and has the wings and tail of a bird; similarly, her hands and
nancy and childbirth. The awesome power of a disciplined
feet have a predatory bird’s sharp talons.
´sakti is most dramatically displayed in the Tamil epic
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FEMININE SACRALITY
3021
Cilappatika¯ram. The faithful wife Kannagi, widowed by mis-
In some cases even the deity herself is understood to be
carried justice, destroys not only the king responsible for her
a form of some more abstract energy that she shares with
suffering but also his capital city Madurai. No matter how
other manifestations. South India’s multiple
conceived, women’s sacrality is often said to be prior to pow-
goddesses—Durga¯, her extension Ka¯l¯ı, the many village
ers that men hold or channel. A myth acknowledging this
“mothers”—are all modes of ´sakti, which, as demonstrated,
priority has been recorded in regions of the world as dispa-
is also manifested in ordinary women and in all forces of in-
rate as Africa, Australia, and Tierra del Fuego. Once upon
crease and prosperity. This inherently female energy may in
a time, it asserts, women had control of the sacred symbols
turn be located within some overarching schema that juxta-
and rituals. One day, however, the men stole these symbols
poses it against a complementary energy identified as male.
and rituals (according to some versions, because women were
The Chinese concept of yin and yang is a classic example:
abusing their power). An Australian version of the story
yin predominates in everything that is dark, shaded, cool,
points to the counterbalancing reserve of sacrality that com-
wet, waning, bending, earthy, and female; whereas yang is
pensates the women for their loss. When the Djanggawul sis-
bright, hot, dry, waxing, stubborn, aggressive, heavenly, and
ters realize what has happened, they say: “We know every-
male. Despite the high level of abstraction that has generated
thing. We have really lost nothing, for we remember it all,
these concepts, one recognizes in yin several components
and we can let them have that small part. For aren’t we still
that have been associated with feminine sacrality in many
sacred, even if we have lost the bags? Haven’t we still our
eras and cultures: the earth, the dark, the waters, the chang-
ing, and the dying.
uteri?” (Berndt, 1953, pp. 40–41).
F
More frequently the concept of a common power re-
EMININE SACRALITY AS UNIFYING POWER WITH MULTIPLE
M
mains unarticulated; only the network of symbols clustered
ANIFESTATIONS. While surveying the wide variety of forms
together in myth or ritual reveals the presumption that they
through which feminine sacrality has been manifested, it is
somehow share a common essence. Earth/waters/moon/
important to remember that the powers called “sacred” and
women/root crops is one such cluster, often found in horti-
“feminine” are not always related to these forms in the same
cultural societies, that links together the sources and manifes-
way. People who speak of the earth as their sacred mother
tations of growth and transformation. But the complex need
sometimes intend this statement quite literally: the earth it-
not be the same in all cultures. The ethnographer Joseph Bas-
self is the awesome power that sustains them. But they may
tien (2001) has studied a complex in Andean Bolivia that
also refer to a generative and transformative power that re-
clusters women, river, wind, and rats—all powers sharing the
sides within the earth. The same is true of other manifesta-
capacity to flow or erode, and therefore bring about change.
tions. The moon may be a deity, discrete and specific to the
ever-changing orb that paces the night sky. Or a deity may
CONTEMPORARY FEMININE SACRALITY. Many beliefs and
show herself or himself through the moon. This distinction
customs cited above have faded as the people who have car-
between manifestation and power is reflected in the common
ried them slip under the influence of modern secular culture.
assertion that the moon—or mountain, cave, or spring—is
Some, however, have gained new prominence as the result
the deity’s “home.” Such an assertion leaves open the possi-
of twentieth-century movements grounded in political or
bility that the deity will have another home, or possibly many
countercultural protest. During the later years of British co-
homes—that is to say, the power that is the deity may have
lonial rule in India, for example, nationalists striving to rouse
many modes of manifestation. In fact, many of the great god-
Hindus to resistance did so by evoking ancient images of
desses not explored in this article represent powers of birth,
land-linked goddesses and ´sakti. India was a goddess, they
transformation, and death that show themselves in many dif-
taught, a once-generous and loving mother currently bat-
ferent ways. The celebrated goddesses of the ancient Near
tered and starved by oppressive rulers. Nonetheless, ´sakti
East were all multiple-mode deities of this order. The Egyp-
newly awakening in the world could empower Mother
tian Isis, for example, was the deified throne, which in turn
India’s progeny to free her and restore her. One by-product
extended and concentrated the power of the earth. But she
of such rhetoric has been a revival of Hindu interest in female
was also known as the “mother of stars,” or Night, and her
deities, female symbols, and holy women.
tears produced the Nile’s annual and fructifying flood. She
In English-speaking countries of the Western world, re-
could bring life out of death—and did so when she awoke
newed interest in female sacred imagery has been largely a
her dead husband Osiris and secured from him the child
product of three separate but intertwined movements: con-
Horus. Yet she was also death, as is shown by her title “queen
temporary paganism, especially the several strands of Wicca
of the west”—west being the direction of the underworld.
(“wise one”; also called “the Craft”); the closely related “fem-
Isis even became the compassionate savior who bestows wis-
inist spirituality” movement; and the environmental or
dom and immortality upon the faithful when the Greeks and
“green” movement. The first documented coven of the
Romans converted her cult into a mystery religion. Changing
movement called Wicca began meeting in England in 1948
Woman of the Navajo, Durga¯ of India—even the Virgin
under the leadership of occult enthusiast Gerald Gardener.
Mary of Christianity—all are feminine powers with multiple
Gardener claimed he was reviving pre-Christian ritual tradi-
modes of expression.
tions that had been preserved in secret over the centuries by
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3022
FEMININE SACRALITY
lineages of practitioners who, during the Middle Ages, had
nection, the female body, sexuality, and change; that they aid
been burned as witches. Intended to bring worldly benefit
in dealing with death; that they promote creativity and re-
and healing, these ancient rituals drew on sacred powers
spect for nature; and that they counteract exploitation not
grounded in the natural realm. Central to these were a
only of nature but also throughout human society.
horned god and an awesome goddess said to have been wor-
shiped since Paleolithic times, as well as assignment of priest-
SEE ALSO Durga¯ Hinduism; Earth; Gender and Religion;
ly roles to women. Portrayals of the goddess reflected ideas
Lady of the Animals; Lotus; Moon; Mountains; Phallus and
current in popular and academic literature of the time. She
Vagina; Sexuality; Shabbat; Stones; Textiles; Water; Webs
manifested in three modes (maiden, mother, and crone), was
and Nets; Wisdom.
immanent in all nature, and had special links to earth and
BIBLIOGRAPHY
moon, fertility and transformation. Certain Wiccan tradi-
A path-breaking comparative study of female sacrality still of value
tions emerging after Gardener’s further emphasized roles of
is the Jungian psychologist Erich Neumann’s The Great
both the goddess and of women—so-called Dianic Wiccans
Mother, 2d ed., translated by Ralph Manheim (New York,
honor the goddess alone and initiate only women into their
1963; reprint, Princeton, N.J., 1972). Especially valuable are
covens.
its many photographic plates. Neumann’s data are embedded
in a controversial theory of the evolution of human con-
The feminist spirituality movement is an offshoot of a
sciousness, and readers using his work must remain critically
critique of patriarchy in religion that began among woman
alert. Many fine studies of goddesses and goddess mythology
theologians in the late 1960s and the 1970s. Although some
supplement Neumann’s work. Useful essay collections are
feminist theologians chose to work for change within tradi-
James J. Preston, ed., Mother Worship (Chapel Hill, N.C.,
tional religious frameworks, others aligned themselves with
1982); Carl Olson, ed., The Book of the Goddess, Past and
Wiccans in embracing feminine symbols and constructions
Present (New York, 1983); and John Stratton Hawley and
of deity. Proponents of feminist spirituality seek to empower
Donna M. Wulff, eds., Dev¯ı: Goddesses of India (Berkeley,
women, to help them draw on their own strengths and value
Calif., 1996). Valuable single-author works are Lotte Motz,
their own bodies, and to turn women’s energies toward
The Faces of the Goddess (New York and Oxford, 1997);
David R. Kinsley, The Goddesses’ Mirror (Albany, N.Y.,
working for a more humane and sustainable world. In doing
1989); and Kinsley, Hindu Goddesses (Berkeley, Calif.,
so they have drawn on many ideas and images described in
1986).
this essay: images of female deity immanent in the world and
Mircea Eliade’s Patterns in Comparative Religion, translated by
natural processes; mythic images of divine maidens, mothers,
Rosemary Sheed (New York, 1958), cites many valuable ex-
and crones that reveal different modes of female potentiality;
amples of earth, waters, moon, vegetation, and gardening
and positive values placed on transformation, nurture, and
symbolisms; his Birth and Rebirth (London, 1958), issued in
interdependence.
the United States as Rites and Symbols of Initiation (New
York, 1958; reprint, New York, 1975), offers significant in-
Many contemporary pagans and proponents of feminist
sight into the role of feminine symbolism in initiation.
spirituality strongly support environmental movements, as-
Charles H. Long’s Alpha: The Myths of Creation (New York,
serting that their beliefs promote reverence for nature and re-
1963) furnishes fine examples of world parent, earth diver,
sistance to earth’s exploitation. An important link between
and emergence myths. For a helpful survey of the latter in
these groups and environmentalists has been the “Gaia hy-
North America, see also Erminie Wheeler-Vogelin and Re-
pothesis,” first published in Gaia: A New Look at Life on
medios W. Moore’s “The Emergence Myth in North Ameri-
Earth (1979) by the scientific writer James Lovelock. Love-
ca,” in Studies in Folklore, edited by W. Edson Richmond,
lock argues that earth and the natural environment should
pp. 69–91 (Bloomington, Ind., 1957). Sam D. Gill’s Mother
be viewed as a single massive organism, which he calls Gaia,
Earth: An American Story (Chicago, 1987) challenges the idea
the ancient Greek name for the goddess Earth. To Lovelock,
that Mother Earth is an ancient Native American conceptu-
the image of earth as goddess is a metaphor meant to change
alization. See also C. G. Jung, Psychology and Alchemy, vol.
12 of Collected Works (Princeton, N.J., 1968), and Bronislaw
attitudes toward the matrix in which humans live. Neopa-
Malinowski, Magic, Science, and Religion (Garden City,
gans and spiritual feminists sometimes interpret his image
N.Y., 1948).
more literally, however.
A valuable resource for the study of goddesses who produce food
But this need not be the case, for precise nuances of be-
crops from their bodies is Gudmund Hatt’s “The Corn
lief within such movements vary widely. Goddesses may be
Mother in America and Indonesia,” Anthropos 46 (1951):
understood literally as powerful sacred beings external to hu-
853–914. The original collection of variations on the Hainu-
mans, as powers of growth and transformation surging with-
wele motif is Adolf E. Jensen’s Hainuwele (Frankfurt am
Main, 1939). Although highly specialized, Steven G. Dari-
in the world and humans, and as metaphors for human po-
an’s The Ganges in Myth and History (Honolulu, Hawai‘i,
tentiality. Some groups honor the Wiccan threefold goddess
1978) and Edward H. Shafter’s The Divine Woman (Berke-
and address her by Celtic or classic names; some may study
ley, Calif., 1973) furnish interesting views of water-related
and call upon female figures from all the world’s mytholo-
female deities in India and China; see also Diana L. Eck’s
gies; or some may say that, in the end, all goddesses are one.
“Ganga¯: The Goddess Ganges in Hindu Sacred Geography”
All assert that imageries of feminine sacrality affirm life, con-
in Hawley and Wulff (1996), cited above.
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FEMINISM: FEMINISM, GENDER STUDIES, AND RELIGION
3023
A good twentieth-century study of Indian village goddesses is
and feminist spirituality are legion. A meticulous reconstruc-
Richard Brubaker, The Ambivalent Mistress: A Study of South
tion of Wiccan history and antecedents in Britain is in Ron-
Indian Village Goddesses and Their Religious Meaning (Ph.D.
ald Hutton’s The Triumph of the Moon (Oxford, 1999); an
diss., University of Chicago, 1978, microform). For the
American counterpart of broader reach is Margot Adler’s
White Buffalo Calf Woman of the Oglala, see Black Elk, The
Drawing down the Moon, 2d ed. (Boston, 1986). Perhaps the
Sacred Pipe, edited by Joseph Epes Brown (Norman, Okla.,
most famed writing from within Wicca is the San Francisco
1953); a broader survey of female powers among the Oglala
priestess Starhawk’s The Spiral Dance (San Francisco, 1979).
is Marla N. Powers’s Oglala Women (Chicago, 1986). See
For a Wiccan approach to deity, see Monica Sjöö and Barba-
also James Mooney, The Ghost Dance Religion and the Sioux
ra Mor, The Great Cosmic Mother (San Francisco, 1987).
Outbreak of 1890, Annual Report of the Bureau of American
Carol Christ’s essay “Why Women Need the Goddess” was
Ethnography, 14: 2 (Washington, D.C., 1896).
of major importance in launching the feminist spirituality
movement; it is easiest to find in Carol P. Christ and Judith
Materials on the transformative powers manifested through
Plaskow’s anthology, Womanspirit Rising (San Francisco,
women’s cultural activities remain sparse. But see K. R. V.
1992). A good example of more recent writing on Wicca-
Wikman’s Die Magie des Webens und des Webstuhls im Schwe-
linked feminist spirituality is Melissa Raphael, Thealogy and
dieschen Volksglauben (Turku, Finland, 1920). The original
Embodiment (Sheffield, U.K., 1996). For an approach by
source on the Navajo puberty ritual for girls is Charlotte
feminists working within the Christian tradition, see Char-
Johnson Frisbee’s Kinaaldá (Middletown, Conn., 1967).
lotte Caron, To Make and Make Again (New York, 1993).
Neumann’s The Great Mother (see above) is a comprehensive
James Lovelock first published his Gaia hypothesis in Gaia:
source on the role of feminine powers in spiritual transfor-
A New Look at Life on Earth (Oxford, 1979).
mations. But see also Joanna R. Macy’s “Perfection of Wis-
dom,” in Beyond Androcentrism, edited by Rita M. Gross,
NANCY AUER FALK (1987 AND 2005)
pp. 315–334 (Missoula, Mont., 1977); the same volume in-
cludes an intriguing essay on the transformative powers of
Sedna, the Inuit mistress of animals.
FEMINISM
A readable account of the goddess Ka¯l¯ı is Kinsley’s The Sword and
This entry consists of the following articles:
the Flute (Berkeley, Calif., 1975); Burr C. Brundage offers
a compact and fascinating sketch of the terrifying Aztec god-
FEMINISM, GENDER STUDIES, AND RELIGION
FRENCH FEMINISTS ON RELIGION
desses in The Fifth Sun (Austin, Tex., 1979). For the monster
Le-hev-hev, see John W. Layard’s Stone Men of Malekula
(London, 1942).
FEMINISM: FEMINISM, GENDER STUDIES,
For the sacrality of women’s physiological states, see Rita M.
AND RELIGION
Gross’s Exclusion and Participation: The Role of Women in
Very few academic fields have remained untouched by the
Aboriginal Australian Religion (Ph.D. diss., University of
emergence of feminist and gender theory as critical tools for
Chicago, 1975, microform). A summary of Gross’s principal
reflecting on, and challenging, the legitimacy of regnant epis-
argument is in Unspoken Worlds, edited by Nancy A. Falk
temologies. The study of religions is no exception, although
and Rita M. Gross, 3d ed., pp. 301–310 (Belmont, Calif.,
it has been slower than other fields to incorporate the insights
2001). The same volume includes Joseph W. Bastien’s “Ro-
of contemporary feminist and gender discourses. This entry
sinta, Rats, and the River,” pp. 243–252, on the women/
provides a brief survey of the development of feminism and
river/wind complex of the Bolivian Kallawaya, and Inés M.
gender theory and their place within the field of religious
Talamentes’s “The Presence of Isanaklesh,” pp. 290–301,
studies, and also discusses their critique of traditional meth-
with materials on the Apache Isanaklesh, a counterpart of the
Navajo Changing Woman. Carolyn Niethammer’s Daugh-
odologies and concepts within the context of the (predomi-
ters of the Earth (New York, 1977) offers examples of re-
nantly Western) study of religious traditions.
sponses to menstruation, childbirth, and postmenopausal
FEMINISM AND GENDER STUDIES: AN OVERVIEW. As with
women among Native Americans. Emily M. Ahern’s “The
many terms, defining feminism presents an immediate diffi-
Power and Pollution of Chinese Women,” in Women in Chi-
culty, as it suggests a homogeneity that is belied both by the
nese Society, edited by Margery Wolf and Roxanne Witke
history of its development and the diversity of its articula-
(Stanford, Calif., 1975), also documents perceptions of men-
tions and forms. The multiplicity of feminisms that together
struation and childbirth. Excellent information on the con-
constitute feminism—whether early suffrage campaigns, dis-
cept of ´sakti is in Susan S. Wadley, ed., The Powers of Tamil
Women (Syracuse, N.Y., 1980). For the myth of Australian
cursive analyses of gender hierarchies, or lesbian activism, for
women’s prior power, see Ronald M. Berndt, Djanggawul
example—indicates subtle differences of emphasis and con-
(New York, 1953).
text. Most feminisms are concerned, nonetheless, with pro-
moting political and theoretical programs that address the
Two essays by Nancy A. Falk address the contemporary resur-
secondary status of women. In this entry, the term feminism
gence of feminine sacrality among Hindus: “S´akti Ascend-
ing,” in Religion in Modern India, edited by Robert D. Baird,
will be deployed to refer to a broad set of common themes
pp. 298–334 (New Delhi, 1995), and “Mata, Land, and
and concepts, however differently expressed, that articulate
Line,” in Invoking Goddesses, edited by Nilima Chitgopekar,
a critical analysis of gender relations at meta-theoretical and
pp. 140–164 (New Delhi, 2002). See also Ronald M.
empirical levels. Feminist theory, as the intellectual conduit
Berndt, Djanggawul (New York, 1953). Materials on Wicca
of a diversity of feminisms, engages with an array of con-
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3024
FEMINISM: FEMINISM, GENDER STUDIES, AND RELIGION
cerns, all of which reflect an accumulated fund of knowledge
early emphasis on women contributed to the tendency of
and experience that is situated in an ongoing teleological and
methodological and epistemological evaluation by feminist
etiological analysis of gender inequalities and identities in all
scholars to be rather narrowly focused. While it was crucial
social and cultural arenas. The possibility of conceptual and
for identifying the unique place of female expression within
political transformation is thus at the heart of feminist prac-
religious traditions, it was marginalized in broader method-
tices, theories, and methodologies.
ological debates. Feminist scholars therefore developed mul-
tiple critiques of the history of religious studies and, from the
It is common to discuss the development of feminism
1980s onwards, gender theory was increasingly applied not
in terms of the three main “waves.” First wave feminism,
only to the analysis of religious phenomena but also to the
from the mid-1850s to the publication of Simone de Beau-
disciplinary paradigms that sought to understand them.
voir’s ground-breaking book The Second Sex in 1949, was
Feminist and gender theory began to be articulated in terms
characterized by materialist debates and political activism
of offering the possibility of a paradigm shift, one that would
concerning universal suffrage, women’s rights to self-
generate conceptual change and renewal within the disci-
determination, access to higher education, and ownership of
pline and provide a necessary corrective to its androcentric
property. Second wave feminism refers to the reemergence
foundations (see King, 1995, pp. 1–38). Accordingly, gen-
of feminist political activism and literature in the late 1960s.
der-critical scholarship has since been conceived of as a sup-
It was largely defined by its liberal agenda; its vision of female
plementary discourse.
solidarity; political interventions in the spheres of reproduc-
tion and sexuality, employment, and cultural representation;
For Jacques Derrida, a supplement is something “added
and theorization of patriarchy. It was during the second wave
on,” seemingly deliberately, to a prior term in order to ad-
that feminist theory emerged as a field of cultural critique
dress an omission within it, although it appears to be exterior
and began to make its presence felt in a wide variety of aca-
and secondary to the primary term it supplements. Derrida,
demic disciplines. These decades saw the establishment of a
however, argues against the metaphysical logic that places the
large number of women’s studies departments, an innovation
supplement in a secondary or derivative position. He sug-
that sought to address the absence of women in the andro-
gests that if the supplement is necessary to compensate for
centric intellectual history of most academic fields by devel-
the absence it reveals in a prior term, then it is not so much
oping women-focused syllabi and research programs.
an external extra as a necessary constituent of the term it sup-
plements: “The supplément is neither a plus nor a minus, nei-
While many of the concerns of the second wave contin-
ther an outside nor the complement of an inside, neither ac-
ue to be important, feminist activity in the late twentieth and
cident nor essence” (Derrida, 1981, p. 43). An example of
early twenty-first centuries is referred to as third wave femi-
supplementarity that provides a useful parallel for under-
nism, or post-feminism. It marks both a self-reflexive turn and
standing the role of feminist and gender theory in the study
a mature phase in feminist theorizing as it seeks to critique
of religions is the emergence of the field of “women’s histo-
the previously hegemonic assumptions of the second wave.
ry.” As Joan Scott has argued, “there is a troubling ambiguity
This stage registers a shift in the common preoccupations
inherent in the project of women’s history for it is at once
that have informed many of the debates between feminists.
an innocuous supplement to, and a radical replacement for,
Most notably, third-wave feminists have moved away from
established history” (Scott, 1991, p. 49). As the study of
the denunciation of gender inequalities towards the theoriza-
women is added to the discipline of history it also occasions
tion of discursive, dialogic constructions of gender. In addi-
its rewriting. Gender theory, applied to the study of reli-
tion, influenced by poststructural, postcolonial, and queer
gions, similarly attends to the exclusion of female and non-
theories of identity formation, third wave feminists advocate
elite male perspectives at the level of data gathering and anal-
the rejection of oversimplistic and essentialist descriptions of
ysis, and, further, queries the epistemological and conceptual
female and male identity. This includes a sustained examina-
formulations that enable such exclusion in the first place.
tion of hegemonic representations of masculinity, and a
Feminist interventions have thus insisted on the implemen-
more nuanced understanding of the often significant differ-
tation of a series of critical adjustments to traditional con-
ences between men and women in the contexts of class, eth-
cepts and theories in the study of religion’s methodological
nicity, sexuality, and economic status. In academic circles,
paradigms.
the focus has shifted from women’s studies to gender studies.
FEMINIST AND GENDER THEORY: TRANSFORMING METH-
FEMINIST THEORY, GENDER THEORY, AND THE STUDY OF
ODOLOGIES. June O’Connor, in her influential article “The
RELIGIONS. The emergence of the feminist study of religious
Epistemological Significance of Feminist Research in Reli-
traditions has paralleled the three-wave pattern of feminism’s
gion” (1995), usefully summarizes the epistemological
development. Much pioneering feminist scholarship in the
framework of feminist and gender theory in the context of
1960s and 1970s was concerned with mapping women’s
the study of religions. She identifies five moments that define
lives and experiences within religious traditions in order to
the contours of feminist research (p. 46):
render them analytically visible. In addition, feminist schol-
ars challenged the androcentrism of the field’s epistemologi-
1. Application of a hermeneutics of suspicion that recog-
cal foundations and outlined alternative methodologies. The
nizes the androcentric content and context of sources;
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FEMINISM: FEMINISM, GENDER STUDIES, AND RELIGION
3025
2. Attention to the retrieval of the religious history of
first step in confronting this bias and correcting its glaring
women, alongside other marginalized groups;
lacunae has been to undertake what Jantzen calls “a radical
deconstruction of both religion and secularism to make evi-
3. Critique and transformation of established concepts,
dent their unacknowledged dependence on alterities of race,
particularly universal and androcentric notions of
gender, and sexuality” (Jantzen, 1998, p. 2). Subsequently,
human subjectivity;
Jantzen seeks to develop alternative epistemologies that cele-
4. Rejection of exclusionary modes of scholarship;
brate difference, acknowledge the subjective basis of knowl-
5. Self-reflexive scrutiny of assumptions and ideological
edge production, and promote a variety of new models from
commitments in order to avoid the assertion of new or-
a feminist perspective, including an emphasis on metaphors
thodoxies.
of natality and human flourishing as foundational principles.
These steps constitute the basis for the critical transforma-
Feminists have also challenged the conceptual assump-
tion, by feminist discourses, of the epistemological grounds
tions of the phenomenology of religion, particularly its claim
of the study of religions, a task that has been taken up vigor-
to undertake disinterested observation of religious phenome-
ously.
na and to replicate scientific empiricism at the methodologi-
cal level. Given the feminist critique of the androcentric na-
Feminist scholars have identified central androcentric
ture of the traditional study of religions, the claim of
biases in the formulation of core disciplinary questions that
methodological disinterestedness is both demonstrably false
were, historically, defined from the perspective of predomi-
and theoretically naive. Although the attempt to justify such
nantly white, educated men. It is for this reason that femi-
a methodology on the grounds of the autonomy of disciplin-
nists have been quick to criticize the textual bias of tradition-
ary boundaries is understandable, feminism’s meta-
al studies for unthinkingly replicating elite, male perspectives
theoretical orientation suggests, instead, a fluidity of critical
and rendering the participation of women in religious tradi-
perspectives and the benefits of multidisciplinarity.
tions as either invisible, or as defined only in androcentric
terms. Moreover, categories like homo religiosus and the in-
Related to the rejection of “disinterested” research and
sider/outsider debates have been censured for further enact-
the rigid policing of disciplinary boundaries has been the de-
ing the marginalization of women. Rosalind Shaw argues, for
velopment, by feminist scholars of religion, of a cooperative
example, that the homo religiosus, as representative of a reli-
relationship with feminist theology. There are two main rea-
gious collective, is generally “undifferentiated by gender,
sons for this: firstly, feminist theology, with its emphasis on
race, class or age, or defined explicitly as male” (1995,
the primacy of female experience for assessing the validity of
p. 67). The insider/outsider formulation also falls down on
religious doctrines and authority, offers both an academic
its failure to account for the “outsider” status of women with-
method and a social vision with regard to the position of
in their own religious traditions. From the perspective of
women within religious traditions; secondly, the hermeneu-
feminist analyses then, the main consequence of biased, an-
tic orientations of many feminist theologians provide a
drocentric scholarship has been the production of distorted,
promising and well-trodden pathway for the analysis and cri-
partial scholarly accounts that contain serious deficiencies at
tique of patriarchal religious symbols, narratives, and dis-
the basic level of data-collection and interpretation, as well
courses. Importantly, the affiliation with feminist theology
as in the subsequent development of theoretical paradigms
has occurred at a time when many scholars of religious
(see Gross, 1974, p. 7).
studies have made a concerted effort to delineate between
their own nonconfessional, secular approach and the confes-
Randi Warne points out, however, that the partiality of
sional stance of Christian theology. As feminist scholars of
traditional epistemological models is not solved by simply
religion have sought to make connections with feminist
adding the study of women to existing scholarship: “Women
theologians, they have called into question both the clarity
were not simply ‘omitted’ through a[n] . . . act of scholarly
of disciplinary boundaries and the purportedly secular orien-
absent-mindedness; women were excluded from . . . schol-
tation of religious studies.
arship, as from ‘significant’ subject matter, as from positions
of authority and power, when the basic ideas, definitions,
Some scholars of religion have criticized the tendency
principles and facts were being formulated” (2001, p. 150).
of feminist scholars to reduce religious phenomena to their
A key feminist strategy for confronting gender bias has thus
interrelation with cultural forms such as gender and class.
been to revisit traditional methodological debates and to pro-
Feminists have replied to the charge of reductionism by argu-
pose critical adjustments to their fundamental premises.
ing that the acknowledgment of the social and political con-
Grace Jantzen, for example, in her book Becoming Divine
stitution of religious phenomena is a vital frame of reference
(1998), has argued that the traditional philosophy of reli-
for adequately theorizing difference in religious contexts. As
gion, and Western thought more generally, has wielded theo-
Shaw has noted:
retical categories that are considered neutral—for example,
Attempting to understand a woman’s experience of reli-
rationality, objectivity, truth, and God—but which are un-
gion in terms of (not just “in the context of”) her posi-
deniably biased towards male values, authorizing masculine
tion within a male-dominated religious tradition is re-
master-discourses at the expense of female perspectives. A
ductionist only if we have severed “religion” from
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3026
FEMINISM: FEMINISM, GENDER STUDIES, AND RELIGION
“power” in the first place. On the contrary, it would be
of poststructuralism to feminist politics. It affirms the impor-
a “reduction”—in the rather different sense of a dimin-
tance of feminist theorizing for the transformation of gender
ished and distorted representation of her experience—
relations and understandings and provides a useful overview
to bracket off “male dominance” and “gender asymme-
of contemporary feminist debates operating at the meta-
try” as a mere biographical backdrop to, but not really
theoretical level.
part of, the experiences which she calls “religious.”
Castelli, Elizabeth A., and Rosamond C. Rodman, eds. Women,
(Shaw, 1995, p. 70)
Gender, Religion: A Reader. New York and Basingstoke,
Feminism and gender studies offer innovative epistemologi-
U.K., 2001. This interdisciplinary and multitraditional vol-
cal tools for scholarly reflection on the processes and politics
ume highlights the contributions that different disciplinary
of academic knowledge production, as well as for the under-
approaches offer feminist and gender-theoretical studies of
standing of religious phenomena. They insist on conceptual
religion. It demonstrates the theoretical richness of contem-
transformation in order to account for the fluid, heteroge-
porary debates in the field and includes contributions from
Mieke Bal, Donna J. Haraway, Nancy Jay, Patricia Jeffery,
neous, and polymorphic dimensions of religious expressions,
Aihwa Ong, Oyèrónké Oyeˇwùmí, and Judith Plaskow,
and further maintain that the topography of religious studies
among others. A useful reader for the classroom.
must be mapped within a cultural arena that accounts for,
and acknowledges, the contradictions and contexts that at-
Derrida, Jacques. Positions. Translated by Alan Bass. London,
1981.
tend cultural symbolizations. The breadth and depth of fem-
inist scholarship in the study of religions holds out the prom-
Flax, Jane. Thinking Fragments: Psychoanalysis, Feminism, and
ise of a much-needed paradigm shift, one that is slowly, but
Postmodernism in the Contemporary West. Berkeley, Los An-
surely, being realized.
geles, and Oxford, 1990. Flax offers a wide-ranging and care-
ful critique of psychoanalytic, feminist, and postmodern the-
SEE ALSO Gender and Religion, overview article and article
ory, examining the relations between them and evaluating
on History of Study.
the ways in which each set of theories succeeds in coming to
terms with the crises of truth, knowledge, self, and power in
contemporary Western culture. An essential text for thinking
BIBLIOGRAPHY
through the role of theory in humanities research.
Anderson, Pamela Sue. A Feminist Philosophy of Religion: The Ra-
tionality and Myths of Religious Belief. Oxford, 1998. Ander-
Franzmann, Majella. Women and Religion. New York and Oxford,
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the theoretical devices that exclude women. She develops a
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revisionist program using feminist frameworks and episte-
women’s accounts of their own religious experiences. It dis-
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and women’s creative reimaginations of older forms of reli-
the different types of feminist philosophies of religion, and
gion.
considers some of the important religious concepts that are
addressed by poststructuralist and psychoanalytical ap-
Garry, Ann, and Marilyn Pearsall, eds. Women, Knowledge, and
proaches. It includes essays from leading thinkers in the field,
Reality: Explorations in Feminist Philosophy. 2d ed. London
including Grace Jantzen, Alison Jasper, and Janet Martin
and New York, 1996. A broadly useful collection of twenty-
Soskice.
five essays by well-known feminist scholars that addresses key
issues in feminist philosophizing, including epistemology,
Butler, Judith P. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of
metaphysics, mind-body dichotomies, gender and language,
Identity. London and New York, 1990; reprint, 1999. A now
gender and race, and postmodern perspectives. It also offers
classic study of gender theory and one of the most influential
a window into some of the most prominent controversies in
books in the field. It addresses the limits of French feminist
feminist theory and philosophy.
theory for interrogating gender ontologies, proposing instead
to understand gender construction in terms of parody and
Gross, Rita M., ed. Beyond Androcentrism: New Essays on Women
performativity. In the 1999 tenth-anniversary edition, Butler
and Religion. Missoula, Mont., 1974. A classic collection of
addresses the critical response to her original arguments and
essays dealing with methodological issues in the study of
the ways her thinking has been adjusted as a result. Although
women and religion.
its language is dense and often difficult, it is ultimately re-
Jantzen, Grace. Becoming Divine: Towards a Feminist Philosophy
warding and is compulsory reading for anyone working with
of Religion. Manchester, U.K., 1998. A compelling and
gender theory.
groundbreaking revision of the field of the philosophy of reli-
Butler, Judith P., and Joan W. Scott, eds. Feminists Theorize the
gion. Jantzen proposes a lucid and timely critique of the core
Political. New York and London, 1992. A rich collection of
preoccupations and epistemological assumptions of the field
work by leading feminist scholars that addresses the relevance
and sketches alternative philosophical models based on ideas
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FEMINISM: FRENCH FEMINISTS ON RELIGION
3027
about gender, desire, community, and justice. Drawing on
queer theory, and some of the contentious efforts to address
the critical thought of key continental thinkers like Derrida
issues of masculinity in gender theory. An important and
and Luce Irigaray, she further proposes an imaginative con-
well-timed assessment of the status and influence of feminist
cept of the divine that challenges traditional dualistic
inquiry.
thought and emphasizes process and becoming as a model of
Shaw, Rosalind. “Feminist Anthropology and the Gendering of
divinity. A substantial, solidly argued, and scholarly book,
Religious Studies.” In Religion and Gender, edited by Ursula
not aimed at beginners.
King, pp. 65–76. Oxford and Cambridge, Mass., 1995.
Juschka, Darlene M., ed. Feminism in the Study of Religion: A
Tong, Rosemary. Feminist Thought: A More Comprehensive Intro-
Reader. London and New York, 2001. A useful anthology of
duction. 2d ed. Oxford, 1998. Tong provides a substantial
the feminist theories that have been influential in the devel-
and thorough summary of twentieth-century feminist
opment of the feminist study of religion. The selected read-
thought, including the liberal, radical (libertarian and cultur-
ings provide a wide range of perspectives and include the
al), and Marxist-socialist schools of feminism, and psychoan-
work of religious studies scholars, as well as scholars from
alytic, existentialist, and postmodern approaches to questions
other disciplines, such as Nancy Chodorow and Judith But-
of gender.
ler. The book shows how debates about feminism within the
study of religion have been influenced by broader theoretical
Warne, Randi. “Engendering the Study of Religions.” In Femi-
discussions and offers an excellent overview of the range and
nism in the Study of Religion: A Reader, edited by Darlene M.
breadth of feminist theorizing.
Juschka, pp. 147–156. London and New York, 2001.
King, Ursula, ed. Religion and Gender. Oxford and Cambridge,
SÎAN HAWTHORNE (2005)
Mass., 1995. The standard textbook for the field of gender
theory and the study of religion. The book brings together
an international group of scholars, provides a systematic
overview of the new theoretical and critical perspectives that
FEMINISM: FRENCH FEMINISTS ON
gender theory offers religious studies and offers a compre-
RELIGION
hensive discussion of important methodological and herme-
neutical issues. King’s introduction provides a thorough and
French feminism, understood here to refer to a variety of fem-
systematic outline of key developments and interventions in
inisms of sexual difference that have evolved in France since
the field.
1968, has become increasingly influential in religious studies
in the late twentieth century and the early twenty-first centu-
King, Ursula, and Tina Beattie, eds. Gender, Religion, and Diversi-
ty: Cross-Cultural Perspectives. London and New York, 2004.
ry. While the term French feminism has been criticized widely
An essential collection of twenty articles that provides a time-
as a construct of Anglophone academic feminists—a con-
ly follow-up to King’s well-received volume Religion and
struct that ignores the majority of movements for women’s
Gender. It is particularly useful for its assessment of the im-
rights in France—it has nevertheless become entrenched in
pact of postcolonial, queer, and gay and lesbian theories on
common parlance in the English-speaking world, and the
feminist theory in the study of religions. Contributors in-
“French feminist” movement is widely understood to in-
clude Melissa Raphael, Rita M. Gross, Morny Joy, and
clude such theorists as Hélène Cixous, Catherine Clément,
Diane Treacy-Cole. A key volume for advanced undergradu-
Luce Irigaray, Julia Kristeva, and Monique Wittig. Unlike
ate and postgraduate teaching.
many Anglo-American feminists, these French thinkers are
Morgan, Sue. “Feminist Approaches.” In Approaches to the Study
less concerned with liberal projects such as equal rights for
of Religions, edited by Peter Connolly, pp. 42–72. London
women than with articulating the problematic of sexual dif-
and New York, 1999. A comprehensive overview of the his-
ference that they perceive as fundamental to all forms of cul-
tory and context of feminist approaches to the study of reli-
tural expression in the West. The “French feminists,” while
gions, including a helpful discussion of the relationship of
representing diverse perspectives on this problematic, can be
these approaches to feminist theology.
seen to be engaged in an ongoing conversation based on a
O’Connor, June. “The Epistemological Significance of Feminist
set of shared premises that each adopts or critiques to varying
Research in Religion.” In Religion and Gender, edited by Ur-
degrees.
sula King, pp. 45–63. Oxford and Cambridge, Mass., 1995.
Scott, Joan W. “Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analy-
Although all of the French feminists are at least some-
sis.” In Coming to Terms: Feminism, Theory, Politics, edited
what critical of the work of the French psychoanalytic theo-
by Elizabeth Weed, pp. 81–100. London and New York,
rist Jacques Lacan, most are influenced by his theories of sub-
1989.
ject formation and gender construction (the notable
Scott, Joan W. “Women’s History.” In New Perspectives on Histor-
exception to this being Monique Wittig, who rejects psycho-
ical Writing, edited by Peter Burke, pp. 42–66. Cambridge,
analytic feminism as inherently apolitical). Central to much
U.K., 1991.
French feminist theory is the Lacanian view that the subject
Segal, Lynne. Why Feminism? Gender, Psychology, Politics. Cam-
is linguistically constructed and that the earliest forays into
bridge, U.K., 1999. Surveys the shifts in feminist thought
language position the subject within an Oedipal, paternal
since its emergence in the 1960s. Segal examines critically the
order (governed by what Lacan calls the “Law of the Father”
significance of feminism for cultural theorizing, its contro-
and symbolized by the phallus). Further, the French femi-
versial relationship with psychoanalysis, the influence of
nists tend to follow Lacan in seeing both gender and sexuality
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FEMINISM: FRENCH FEMINISTS ON RELIGION
as effects of the sociolinguistic foundations of subjectivity.
ment and sin; and the resources offered to Western feminists
Where most differ from Lacan is in their view that the “phal-
by non-Western religious traditions. What follows below is
locentric” Law of the Father is not the only possible social
merely a suggestion, in somewhat arbitrary order, of the ways
order and that feminist interventions in the linguistic and
these themes find expression in the work of the French femi-
symbolic structures of both Western and non-Western cul-
nists, based primarily on the ways in which their work has
tures might open a path to a new, postpatriarchal world.
been taken up by feminist scholars of religion. Further it
should be noted that many aspects of French feminist theory
Additionally most of the French feminist theorists are
that have no direct bearing on religion have found such wide
influenced by the deconstructive literary-critical methodolo-
acceptance in religious studies that the French feminists, es-
gy and the philosophical thought of Jacques Derrida—
pecially Julia Kristeva and Luce Irigaray, are frequently refer-
although again not without reservations. Of particular signif-
icance is Derrida’s strategy of examining texts for the hidden
enced in feminist religious scholarship.
meanings that both supplement and challenge any explicit
MATERNITY AND MOTHER-DAUGHTER GENEALOGIES. The
signification as well as his claim that the Western philosophi-
issue of the erasure of mothers and daughters from the reli-
cal and theological traditions have organized reality into op-
gious traditions of the West—and the necessity for rework-
posing and hierarchically ordered binaries (e.g., presence/
ing those traditions in ways that allow maternity to emerge
absence, good/evil, spirit/body, writing/speech), with man/
as sacred in its own right—has generated much comment
woman serving as the paradigmatic example. Derrida’s no-
from the French feminists, and their thought in this area has
tion of différance, an unending play of differing and deferring
in turn sparked much interest from feminist scholars of reli-
that both underlies and disrupts the “logocentric” produc-
gion. In her 1987 “Stabat Mater” and In the Beginning Was
tion of univocal meaning, is also useful, as is his view that
Love, for example, Julia Kristeva offered a psychoanalytic
“woman” is the privileged site of différance (although this lat-
reading of maternity intended to undermine what she saw
ter notion is also seen as somewhat problematic).
as the phallocentrism of Lacan’s theory of subject formation,
Beginning from their various understandings of these
a reading that has implications for patriarchal understand-
two thinkers then—and further influenced by such figures
ings of Christianity as well. In questioning the primacy ac-
as Ferdinand de Saussure, Louis Althusser, Emmanuel
corded to the father by Lacan, Kristeva also challenges the
Levinas, Roland Barthes, and Claude Lévi-Strauss—the
appropriation of the Virgin Mary within the Catholic and
French feminists have articulated a profoundly important
Orthodox traditions, arguing that that appropriation erases
body of philosophical and critical thought about the role of
the bodily nature of motherhood and domesticates maternity
sexual difference in the Western tradition, and their work has
within a patriarchal order. For Kristeva, the bond between
many implications for the study of religion. The religious
mother and infant is the precursor of the infant’s ability to
discourses of the West emerge as key instances of the “phallo-
relate to an Other, so that maternal love is the necessary con-
gocentrism” of Western thought (that is, of the central role
dition of Christian agape.
occupied by the phallus and the written word), with the Jew-
Although Luce Irigaray too is very much influenced by
ish and Christian Father-God appearing as a symbol with
psychoanalytic methods, she tends to approach her discus-
even more power than those marshaled by the state to found
sion of motherhood genealogically, sifting through the
a repressive model of subjectivity. The exclusive maleness of
myths of the Western tradition for lost images of sacred
the Trinitarian divinity—God conceived as Father, Son, and
mothers and daughters. In such essays as “The Forgotten
Holy Spirit—is seen as paradigmatic of the “logic of the
Mystery of Female Ancestry” (1994), for example, she ex-
same” that the French feminists, and many other French the-
plores the story of Demeter and Persephone for what it has
orists of the late twentieth century and early twenty-first cen-
to tell the modern world about the ways the mother-
tury, trace from Plato through Hegel. This model of God
daughter relationship, seen by Irigaray as the paradigmatic
comes under censure both for its eclipsing of the central im-
relationship between women, has been co-opted and subvert-
portance of the mother in the process of (re)producing life
ed by patriarchy and argues that the re-sacralization of such
and for its underwriting of a patriarchal model of the subject
relationships is essential to establishing social justice for
that reduces the feminine to the inferior “other” of the mas-
women.This approach has not been uniformly welcomed by
culine. However, French feminist religious thought is as
feminist scholars of religion, many of whom see it as yet an-
noteworthy for its constructive impulses as for its critique of
other attempt to reclaim or reimagine goddess traditions that
established religions and is characterized, especially in later
fail to intervene effectively in the male-centeredness of the
works, by attempts to imagine new ways of being religious
Western religious traditions. Alternatively then in “When
that would allow the repressed feminine to find expression.
the Gods Are Born” (1991), Irigaray turns to Friedrich
In this context French feminists have explored such
Nietzsche to show how the maternal function is appropriated
areas of interest as the necessity for honoring (and sacraliz-
both by the Greek gods Apollo and Dionysos, with whom
ing) mother-daughter genealogies; the relationship between
Nietzsche was so fascinated, and by Nietzsche himself in his
divinity and subjectivity; the affinity of women for mysti-
quest for a revaluation of all values. Behind this metaphoriza-
cism; the nature of Jewish and Christian notions of defile-
tion of motherhood, Irigaray claims, lies a betrayal of the
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FEMINISM: FRENCH FEMINISTS ON RELIGION
3029
body that is all too often repeated in Christian thinking
forms of Yoga, as examples of the marginal figures who haunt
about embodiment, although in her view it need not be.
and destabilize the masculine social order but do not have
the power to overturn it. For Clément, these figures repre-
SUBJECTIVITY AND DIVINITY. In Speculum of the Other
sent a privileged relationship to the sacred, outside of the
Woman (1985) Irigaray examined psychoanalytic and philo-
confines of any form of organized religion.
sophical theories of subjectivity to mount a critique of what
she saw as the implicit masculinity of the Western subject.
Irigaray too has expressed interest in female mystical ex-
Although she paid little attention in that text to religion, her
perience; indeed the essay “La Mystérique” in Speculum was
argument that Freudian and Platonic conceptions of knowl-
one of her first interrogations of religious experience. In this
edge function to render true sexual difference invisible was
essay she argued that mysticism was properly feminine be-
quickly taken up by feminist scholars of religion who saw in
cause of its preference for embodied modes of knowledge
it a valuable resource for intervening in the patriarchal legacy
over reason. She also suggested that in Christianity the rela-
of the Christian and Jewish traditions. In a subsequent and
tionship of mystic to God is essentially specular—that is, that
widely cited essay, “Divine Women” in Sexes and Genealogies
the mystic attempts to obliterate her own imperfect identity
(1993), Irigaray returned to this theme to assert the impor-
in order to mirror divine perfection. In this way, for Irigaray,
tance for women of a feminine conception of divinity. Bor-
the role of the female mystic echoes the role of women in
rowing from Ludwig Feuerbach’s claim that God is the ideal-
patriarchal society, where women are expected to mirror
ized expression of “man’s” potential, Irigaray suggested that
men’s selves to them to sustain the masculine illusion of self-
the Father-God of Christianity could only perform this func-
sufficiency. Since I Love to You (1996), however, Irigaray has
tion for men and that women need a feminine divine to
increasingly turned her attention to Yoga and to a lyrical ap-
ground the specifically feminine mode of subjectivity that
preciation of the importance, especially for women, of culti-
she envisions.
vating the breath, which she sees as having the power to undo
such binaries as inside/outside, matter/spirit, and the like. In
In spite of her many theoretical differences from Iri-
Between East and West: From Singularity to Community
garay, Monique Wittig implicitly follows this same line of
(2002) she offers her most extended consideration of the dis-
reasoning in her radical lesbian interventions in the mythic
cipline of Yoga, contrasting it with Christian mysticism and
and religious imagery of the West. Wittig rejects the psycho-
suggesting that it might provide a key to rethinking the patri-
analytic foundations of Irigaray’s project, and yet she too
archal religious traditions of the West.
wants to reimagine divinity in a feminine mode, as is clear
in such novels as Les Guérillères (1971), in which, for exam-
DEFILEMENT AND SIN. Kristeva is widely known, both with-
ple, the Eve of the Genesis creation myth emerges as a super-
in and outside the context of religious studies, for her theori-
human solar goddess who willingly eats the forbidden fruit
zation of abjection—the quality of repulsiveness that haunts
to gain divine knowledge, and The Lesbian Body (1975), in
human experience of bodily fluids, seen as waste products
which the biblical Song of Solomon is reworked as a hymn of
with the power to defile whomever they touch. First elabo-
divinized love for another woman. In both of these texts Wit-
rated in her Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection (1982),
tig creatively appropriates masculine gods from a wide range
Kristeva’s interest in the abject is clearly related to her inter-
of religious traditions of the world to recast them as goddess-
est in the effacement of the maternal body in Western cul-
es who then function as idealized images of the power of
ture; as she sees it, the mother’s body must be abjected, or
women to free themselves from masculine oppression and to
cast away, if the subject is to enter into the symbolic order
become autonomous subjects in their own right.
of language. To the great interest of many scholars of reli-
gion, Kristeva has developed some of the religious implica-
WOMEN AND MYSTICISM. The importance of mystical reli-
tions of this theory in her psychoanalytic reading of the Le-
gious experience as an expression of repressed elements of
vitical prohibitions in Powers of Horror and in the later
Western culture has long been a favorite theme of Catherine
“Reading the Bible” in New Maladies of the Soul (1995) and
Clément. For Clément, who is strongly influenced by La-
has linked the sacrificial logic of Judaism and Christianity
canian psychoanalytic theory, every culture necessarily ex-
with the primal matricide that she sees, pace Sigmund Freud,
cludes from representation certain aspects of its own experi-
as underlying both culture and the individual subject.
ence, and Western culture, with its demand for rationality,
tends to exclude the nonrational. Because women have his-
Hélène Cixous’s approach to the problem of sin is inti-
torically been excluded from full participation in society,
mately bound up with her notion of écriture feminine, a femi-
they have borne the burden of representing these excluded,
nine practice of writing that reaches beyond what she sees
nonrepresentable elements. In The Newly Born Woman (co-
as a masculine fear of otherness to enable new modes of rela-
written with Hélène Cixous, 1986) it is primarily the witch
tionship between self and other. For Cixous, writing is, or
and the hysteric who capture Clément’s attention in this
has the potential to become, a process that instantiates both
context, but in such later books as Syncope: The Philosophy
the feminine (otherwise lost in the patriarchal order of West-
of Rapture (1994) and The Feminine and the Sacred (cowrit-
ern culture) and God. This is so because writing participates
ten with Julia Kristeva, 2001), Clément increasingly offers
in what Cixous calls the feminine economy, in which the self
Asian mystics, especially practitioners of Tantric and other
gives with no thought of return. To illustrate this notion,
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3030
FEMINISM: FRENCH FEMINISTS ON RELIGION
Cixous has at several points taken up the Genesis creation
FRENCH FEMINISM AND RELIGION: THE POSSIBILITIES. In
story, reworking it so that it reveals the feminine economy
its multifaceted approach to the problematic of sexual differ-
underlying Eve’s eating of the apple. For Cixous, that is, Eve
ence, French feminist thought is clearly a valuable resource
eats the apple not in spite of the prohibition against doing
for the study of religion. Indeed many of the themes sketched
so but precisely because of that prohibition; in choosing the
out above have yet to be extensively mined by feminist schol-
pleasure of taking the fruit into herself over obedience to di-
ars of religion, and the work of only two of the thinkers dis-
vine law, Eve enacts the economy that risks the loss of self
cussed—Irigaray and Kristeva—has found wide acceptance
to open the self up to the other. Eve is also exemplary of Cix-
in religious studies. Clearly though Clément, Cixous, and
ous’s notion, articulated in “Grace and Innocence: Heinrich
Wittig also have much to offer in the domain of religious
von Kleist” (1991), that the only innocence worth having is
thought, and it is certain that a further investigation of their
a second innocence that comes after knowledge and guilt,
work will shed light on the place of women in the patriarchal
after paradise is lost. For Cixous, in other words, the possibil-
religious traditions of the West.
ity of relationship with the other is of paramount impor-
tance, and the law that punishes Eve for pursuing that possi-
SEE ALSO Gender and Religion, overview article and article
on History of Study; Goddess Worship; Mary.
bility is itself the source of “sin.”
NON-WESTERN RESOURCES. As suggested above, several of
BIBLIOGRAPHY
the French feminists are especially noteworthy for their inter-
Cixous, Hélène. “Coming to Writing” and Other Essays. Edited by
est in what they see as the resources offered by non-Western
Deborah Jenson, translated by Sarah Cornell et al. Cam-
religious traditions. In Les Guérillères and The Lesbian Body,
bridge, Mass., 1991. This volume includes essays in which
for example, Wittig has mined Hindu and Buddhist mythol-
Cixous articulates her fascination with God, links the divine
ogies as well as those of ancient Africa and Mesoamerica both
with the feminine and with writing, and explores the Genesis
for potentially feminist forms of religious worship and for
myth of Eve and the apple.
goddesses, such as Ka¯l¯ı and the Aztec solar goddess Cihua-
Cixous, Hélène. “Grace and Innocence: Heinrich von Kleist.” In
coatl, who represent the fierce, self-sustaining qualities of
Readings: The Poetics of Blanchot, Joyce, Kafka, Kleist, Lispec-
tor, and Tsvetayeva. Edited and translated by Verena Ander-
women, qualities that would help bring into being the radical
matt Conley. Minneapolis, 1991. This essay explores the
lesbian culture that Wittig envisioned. As is the case when
dramatic work of Kleist as a pretext for raising questions
she invokes various figures from Judaism and Christianity,
about the nature of grace and innocence in political as well
she freely appropriates from Asian traditions to suit her own
as theological contexts.
purposes rather than to shed any light on those traditions as
Cixous, Hélène, and Catherine Clément. The Newly Born Woman.
they are practiced.
Translated by Betsy Wing. Minneapolis, 1986. This is the
Clément’s consideration of non-Western traditions is
first major work of both authors to be translated into En-
arguably more respectful, although she has been criticized by
glish, and it introduces themes that are essential to under-
some scholars for being overly romantic in her appreciation
standing their subsequent writings.
of those traditions. As noted above, Syncope reveals a fascina-
Clément, Catherine. Syncope: The Philosophy of Rapture. Translat-
tion with Tantra and other forms of Yoga, practices that pro-
ed by Sally O’Driscoll and Deirdre M. Mahoney. Minneapo-
lis, 1994. Throughout the essays of this collection, Clément
duce moments of rapture that, for Clément, are among the
draws on the mystical elements of both Western and Eastern
deepest expressions of both the sacred and the feminine. In
religious traditions to elaborate her affinity for the kinds of
the novel Theo’s Odyssey (1999) too she explores such diverse
nonrational experiences often repressed in Western culture.
traditions as Hinduism, Zen Buddhism, and African tribal
Clément, Catherine. Theo’s Odyssey. Translated by Steve Cox and
religions to show what she sees as the healing power of ecstat-
Ros Schwartz. New York, 1999.
ic experience, a power linked in the narrative of the novel to
Clément, Catherine, and Julia Kristeva. The Feminine and the Sa-
being able both to mourn and to recapture the lost feminine.
cred. Translated by Jane Marie Todd. New York, 2001. This
It is in the work of Irigaray, perhaps, that the most dra-
volume consists of a collection of e-mailed and faxed letters
matic turning to the East emerges. In such texts as “Practical
in which Clément and Kristeva explore the relationship be-
Teachings: Love—Between Passion and Civility” in I Love
tween women and the sacred and consider whether there ex-
ists a specifically feminine form of the sacred.
to You, The Age of the Breath (1999), and Between East and
West, Irigaray elaborates the value of Yogic discipline, specifi-
Duchen, Clare. Feminism in France: From May ’68 to Mitterand.
London, 1986. This book offers a comprehensive overview
cally cultivation of the breath, for feminist religious practice.
of the development and intellectual context of French
Here the breath is seen as paradigmatic of what Irigaray refers
feminism.
to as the “sensible transcendental,” that is, the breath is both
Grosz, Elizabeth. Sexual Subversions: Three French Feminists. Syd-
transcendent (of each individual’s limitations) and imma-
ney, 1989. Although not concerned solely with religious
nent (in the body). Thus learning to practice the art of
themes, this book is a helpful introduction to the work of
breathing offers a path out of the binaries of self/other, body/
Julia Kristeva, Luce Irigaray, and Michèle Le Dœuff and
spirit, immanent/transcendent that haunt Western thought
elaborates themes that bear on their religious thought.
and underlie the repression of the feminine and the oppres-
Irigaray, Luce. Speculum of the Other Woman. Translated by Gilli-
sion of women.
an C. Gill. Ithaca, N.Y., 1985. This is Irigaray’s first major
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

FEMINIST THEOLOGY: AN OVERVIEW
3031
work to be translated into English, and its deconstructive cri-
ly cited essay offers a poetic and scholarly meditation on
tique of what she calls the “phallogocentrism” of Western
motherhood, focusing in particular on the appropriation of
thought lays the groundwork for her subsequent writings.
the Virgin Mary in the Catholic and Orthodox traditions of
Irigaray, Luce. “When the Gods Are Born.” In Marine Lover of
Christianity.
Friedrich Nietzsche, pp. 121–190; translated by Gillian C.
Kristeva, Julia. “Reading the Bible.” In New Maladies of the Soul,
Gill. New York, 1991. This essay explores the ways Nietz-
pp. 115–126. Translated by Ross Guberman. New York,
sche’s suppression of the feminine echoes that found in
1995. This essay offers a good example of Kristeva’s psycho-
Christianity.
analytic reading of sacred texts. Here she applies her earlier
Irigaray, Luce. Sexes and Genealogies. Translated by Gillian C.
work on abjection to Leviticus and demonstrates that the
Gill. New York, 1993. Included here are several important
subject in the Hebrew Scriptures can be understood only in
essays exemplifying Irigaray’s early religious thought.
relation to the Other.
Irigaray, Luce. “Equal to Whom?” Translated by Robert Mazzola.
Wittig, Monique. Les Guérillères. Translated by David Le Vay.
In The Essential Difference, edited by Naomi Schor and Eliza-
New York, 1971. In this early novel Wittig offers her vision
beth Weed, pp. 59–76. Bloomington, Ind., 1994. This often
of Eve as a heroine who acts alone, without the company of
referenced essay represents Irigaray’s response to the feminist
Adam, to win essential knowledge for women. Wittig also in-
theological project of Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza.
vokes a number of warlike solar goddesses from ancient reli-
Irigaray, Luce. “The Forgotten Mystery of Female Ancestry.” In
gious traditions around the world.
Thinking the Difference: For a Peaceful Revolution,
Wittig, Monique. The Lesbian Body. Translated by David Le Vay.
pp. 89–113. New York, 1994. In this essay Irigaray argues
New York, 1975. Although not concerned primarily with re-
for the necessity of resacralizing mother-daughter genealo-
ligious themes, this novel nevertheless illustrates how Wittig
gies.
reworks patriarchal religious figurations from a wide variety
Irigaray, Luce. I Love to You. Translated by Alison Martin. New
of traditions in her attempt to construct a lesbian imaginary.
York, 1996.
Wittig, Monique. The Straight Mind and Other Essays. Boston,
Irigaray, Luce. The Age of the Breath. Rüsselsheim, Germany,
1992. This is a collection of essays in which Wittig articulates
1999. Irigaray develops her emerging emphasis on the sacred
her understanding of feminism and challenges aspects of the
power of the breath.
projects of other French feminist theorists.
Irigaray, Luce. Between East and West: From Singularity to Commu-
JUDITH L. POXON (2005)
nity. Translated by Stephen Pluhácˇek. New York, 2002. In
this book Irigaray presents a meditation on the importance
of the breath in Asian religious disciplines and suggests that
FEMINIST THEOLOGY
the Yogic tradition offers resources for Western feminist reli-
This entry consists of the following articles:
gious practice.
AN OVERVIEW
Joy, Morny, Kathleen O’Grady, and Judith L. Poxon, eds. French
CHRISTIAN FEMINIST THEOLOGY
Feminists on Religion: A Reader. London, 2002. This volume
consists of a selection of important excerpts from the writings
FEMINIST THEOLOGY: AN OVERVIEW
of the French feminists on a variety of religious and theologi-
Theology, as rational exploration of the nature and traits of
cal themes. It includes a foreword by Catherine Clément.
God or deity, is central to Christianity. While other reli-
Joy, Morny, Kathleen O’Grady, and Judith L. Poxon, eds. Reli-
gions, by definition, include some theological assumptions,
gion in French Feminist Thought: Critical Perspectives. Lon-
exploring the nature of deity does not have the same prestige
don, 2003. This volume contains thirteen scholarly essays on
aspects of the religious thought of the French feminists. It
or importance in any other religion, including the other mo-
includes an introductory essay by Luce Irigaray.
notheistic religions. Therefore, it is sometimes claimed that
Kim, C. W. Maggie, Susan M. St. Ville, and Susan M. Simonaitis,
explicit and deliberate attention to theology by adherents of
eds. Transfigurations: Theology and the French Feminists.
other religions is more an imitation of Christianity than an
Minneapolis, 1993. This is an important early collection of
indigenous pursuit. For Buddhism and other nontheistic re-
scholarly papers on the emerging significance of French femi-
ligions, the term is especially awkward, and some commenta-
nist thought for religious studies.
tors refuse to use the term even if they wish to do critical and
Kristeva, Julia. Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection. Translated
constructive reflections on their traditions. Nevertheless, by
by Leon S. Roudiez. New York, 1982. In this early work Kr-
extension, many non-Christians do use the term for their
isteva offers an extended exploration of her concept of abjec-
own reflective work.
tion, a concept that has been influential among feminist
Feminist theology originated among Christians in late
scholars in religious studies.
1960s and early 1970s, though Jewish feminist commenta-
Kristeva, Julia. In the Beginning Was Love: Psychoanalysis and
tors quickly joined the discussion. But while Christian femi-
Faith. Translated by Arthur Goldhammer. New York, 1987.
As the title suggests, the essays in this volume explore aspects
nist theologians took up questions about the implications of
of the relationship between religious belief and psychoanaly-
feminism for traditional concepts of deity as a major con-
sis; in “Credence-Credit,” Kristeva links Christian agape
cern, feminists in many other traditions bracketed the ques-
with the love between a mother and an infant.
tion of language and imagery of deity, claiming that other
Kristeva, Julia. “Stabat Mater.” In Tales of Love, pp. 234–263.
issues, such as women’s status under religious law, were
Translated by Leon S. Roudiez. New York, 1987. This wide-
much more pressing for women.
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FEMINIST THEOLOGY: AN OVERVIEW
When discussing feminist theologies other than Chris-
women’s needs more adequately. However, feminist theolog-
tian feminist theology, the term feminism is equally problem-
ical reflection does not always take up the second, more com-
atic. In much of the world, the term has extremely negative
prehensive and challenging task. Is the whole religious wor-
connotations; people think it means an anti-men and anti-
ldview implicated in the male dominance of the tradition
family movement that imposes Western values on other cul-
and in its typical disregard for women’s well-being? This
tures. (This assessment of feminism tends to be promoted by
question is extremely threatening to many religious people,
religious conservatives who do not want women in their tra-
regardless of their specific religious tradition, because a posi-
ditions to take a critical stance vis-à-vis the tradition.) There-
tive answer would involve rethinking the most fundamental
fore, most people avoid the term, even if the work they are
assumptions of the tradition. Nevertheless, some feminist
doing would qualify as feminist according to the Western use
theologians have explored this question. One notable exam-
of the term. The term feminist implies taking a critical and
ple is the critique of the assumed maleness of the deity, which
constructive approach that centers on questions of women’s
has been made mainly by Jewish and Christian feminist theo-
well-being and agency to a religious tradition. Such critical
logians. Lurking behind the assumed maleness of the deity,
and constructive tasks can involve changing or reinterpreting
some feminist theologians have also found questionable as-
the tradition when it is found that women’s well-being is
sumptions about the relationship between the deity and the
compromised by traditional teachings and practices. The
world, as well as about many other basic theological issues.
practice of feminist theology can also involve highlighting as-
This question has not been raised so thoroughly in other reli-
pects of a tradition that have been largely neglected, but that
gious traditions, though some feminists have questioned
do promote women’s well-being. However, scholarship that
some basic Buddhist assumptions. The guru or religious
simply provides more information about women’s religious
teacher is usually male, raising the question of whether this
lives without invoking any critical perspectives does not qual-
practice limits Buddhist women in the same way the male-
ify as feminist theology.
ness of the deity is claimed to limit Jewish and Christian
women? Would women gurus highlight teachings and prac-
Feminist theologies generally take up two separate but
tices that have been largely downplayed by male gurus? How
interrelated tasks (these same tasks are also major topics in
helpful is the strong feminine imagery prevalent in some
Christian feminist theology). Feminist reflection within a re-
forms of Buddhism for women?
ligious tradition is usually first sparked by women’s resent-
ment of their secondary and peripheral status in all the
FEMINIST THEOLOGY IN JUDAISM AND ISLAM. Judaism and
world’s major religious traditions. This discovery leads to
Islam are similar to each other in many ways. Both are strictly
many explorations. The history of the tradition is reexam-
monotheistic and often use male imagery and language for
ined to search out forgotten but more inspiring role models
the deity. Both value religious law over theology and pride
for women; sometimes this research leads to the conclusion
themselves on providing a comprehensive overarching way
that the religion actually had feminist values originally, but
of life for their followers. Both regard the sexes as comple-
mentary; each sex has its distinctive sphere, and it is often
that these values gradually eroded under the weight of con-
claimed that these separate spheres are of equal value. Both
vention and tradition. The scriptures are examined anew to
regard public religious observance as a male preserve and see
see if the traditional patriarchal interpretations are the only
women’s roles as being centered in home and family. Both
possible interpretations; many feminist interpreters of their
look extremely male-dominated by standard feminist assess-
scriptures claim that the scriptures do promote women’s dig-
ments.
nity, equality, and well-being, but that traditionalists have
focused on a few passages, often taken out of context, that
There have been strong women’s movements in both
seem to promote male dominance. Rituals and liturgies are
traditions, but the movements are quite different, in part be-
studied to see if they can be practiced in ways that are more
cause the Jewish feminist movement is quite critical of the
inclusive of women. Sometimes this involves advocating the
tradition, whereas Muslim women’s movements often seek
actual presence of women in the ritual spaces that were for-
to educate women about rights they have under Muslim law
merly closed to them. Sometimes it involves changing litur-
that are often not fully observed. These differences are also
gical language to be gender-neutral and gender-inclusive.
due to the fact that the Jewish women’s movement is cen-
Sometimes it involves creating new rituals that meet
tered in North America, where feminism is part of the cul-
women’s religious needs more adequately. Finally, religious
ture, whereas Muslims must constantly deal with the accusa-
institutions are critiqued. Are women kept out of leadership
tion that any attempts to critique or reform Muslim practices
roles? Is study of their tradition difficult for them? Do the
surrounding gender are inappropriate forms of “westerniza-
laws and customs favor men over women? Feminists find tra-
tion” and should be resisted.
ditional institutional set-ups quite inadequate if one defines
the purpose of religious institutions as promoting the well-
Jewish feminist theology takes the form of both an at-
being of women equally with that of men.
tempt to include women in all aspects of traditional Judaism
from which they have previously been excluded and an at-
Such questions are all part of the first agenda for femi-
tempt to radically rethink the basic categories of Judaism,
nist theology—reforming the tradition so that it serves
such as God, Torah, and Israel. Women have been ordained
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FEMINIST THEOLOGY: AN OVERVIEW
3033
as rabbis in all forms of Judaism, except the Orthodox move-
least formally opened to them. Nowadays, Sanskrit learning
ment. Jewish education for women and girls has grown expo-
is largely accessible to women, and some guru¯s have transmit-
nentially since the 1960s, with the result that women insist
ted their lineages to women disciples, who now hold posi-
on participating equally in the synagogue roles for which
tions of the highest religious authority. Additionally, offset-
they are trained, and many women have taken on the obliga-
ting the male dominance of much public religious practice,
tions of daily prayer that are required only of men. But such
Hindu women have always had a rich repertoire of rituals for
egalitarian reforms do not go far enough, according to some
women led by women. The problem of the male deity does
Jewish feminists, who argue that Jewish theology must be en-
not exist in Hinduism, not because there are no male deities,
tirely reconceptualized. For example, in addition to insisting
but because there are also numerous female deities, many of
that female imagery and language of deity is appropriate,
them fierce and strong. Hinduism is largely a theistic reli-
many wish to challenge traditional images of the deity as a
gion, but it traditionally includes an almost unlimited num-
ruler with power over humanity and develop partnership
ber of ways to imagine deity. For all these reasons, as well
models of the relationship between deity and humanity.
as a general Asian reluctance to use the term feminism, there
has been little feminist theology, per se, in the Hindu con-
Muslims, both feminist and nonfeminist, insist that
text, and few organized movements to improve women’s sta-
Islam improved the status of women over what it had been
tus in religion. Nevertheless, women are quietly doing virtu-
in pre-Islamic Arabia. Muslims also insist, correctly, that
ally everything religiously in Hinduism, at least in some
Islam gave women rights that women in Christian and West-
places.
ern countries have obtained only recently, even if these rights
may seem inadequate from a contemporary feminist point
For Buddhism, the situation is somewhat different. Be-
of view. Many Muslims also insist that the primary problem
cause of Buddhism’s growing popularity in the West, it has
for women is lack of education, not lack of rights. Women
encountered more direct feminist critiques and reconstruc-
may not know what rights they have under Islamic law, and
tions. There is also a worldwide Buddhist women’s move-
local customs have often eroded whatever rights they have.
ment. Its agenda is restoring the bhikkhun¯ı (nuns) ordina-
Some Muslim feminists have shown that many traditional
tion in places where it has been lost and improving the
beliefs about women’s inferiority have no basis in genuine
education and status of nuns everywhere, but it also addresses
Muslim thought. The customs that feminists find most
women’s concerns more generally. Buddhist teachings are re-
problematic, such as female circumcision, honor killings, and
markably gender-neutral and gender-free, probably more so
even veiling, have no basis in the QurDa¯n, though modest
than those of any other religion. That is because all Buddhist
dress is required for both women and men. However, the tra-
teachings point to the ultimate irrelevance of gender and to
ditional practices of sexual segregation and the requirement
the fact that, like all phenomena, gender lacks substantial re-
of separate spheres for women and men have not been chal-
ality and is, in that sense, illusory. Buddhism is also a nonthe-
lenged consistently. Traditional theology and concepts of
istic religion, so the problem of the male deity does not exist.
God have not been subjected to feminist analysis.
The plentiful anthropomorphic imagery found in Maha¯ya¯na
and Vajraya¯na Buddhism features many prominent and pop-
FEMINIST THEOLOGY IN HINDUISM AND BUDDHISM. The
ular female representations, as well as male ones. The prob-
agenda for feminist theology has been largely determined by
lem in Buddhism has been its institutional setup, which his-
its Western and Christian practitioners. Some of their con-
torically has been extremely male-dominated and much
cerns merge well into the Hindu and Buddhist contexts, but
more favorable to men than to women. Thus, Buddhist fem-
others find no parallels in Hinduism and Buddhism. Gener-
inists primarily point to this internal contradiction within
ally, concerns about male-dominated religious institutions
Buddhism rather than suggesting profound changes in its
and women’s access to prestigious religious practices are cen-
worldview. Regarding institutional reforms, progress in Asia
tral to feminist critiques of these traditions. However, many
is slow, but things are definitely changing. In North Ameri-
of the more theological issues involving claims about the
ca, which in many ways can take a fresh start, the situation
deity simply do not translate into Hindu or Buddhist con-
is different. Many of the best-known Western teachers of
texts.
Buddhism are women, as are about half the senior teachers.
Hinduism, an umbrella term for extremely varied reli-
However, most of these women teachers do not explicitly
gious beliefs and practices in India, is as formally male-
deal with feminist issues.
dominated as religion could possibly be. However, feminist
FEMINIST THEOLOGY IN EAST ASIAN RELIGIONS. The major
commentators frequently point out that there are the formal
religions of East Asia—Confucianism and Daoism—are reli-
law codes on the one hand, and there is religion as it is actual-
gions under stress due to the influence of missionaries and
ly practiced on the other. In India, the former are usually
other Western critics of Chinese religion, as well as to the
more stringent than the latter. For example, women should
hostility of the Chinese Communist government to religion
not study the Sanskrit Vedas, but they do; a son is needed
in any form. Consequently, there has been little feminist
to light the parent’s funeral pyre, but in the absence of a son,
analysis or reconceptualization of these religions. A few
daughters sometimes light the fire. Especially in the twenti-
Western-educated Chinese scholars have compared the
eth century, most areas formerly closed to women were at
teachings of these religions with the claims of modern femi-
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3034
FEMINIST THEOLOGY: CHRISTIAN FEMINIST THEOLOGY
nism and have found much room for dialogue between Dao-
most of them are descriptive rather than analytical. More an-
ism and feminism, but less consonance between Confucian-
alytical discussions include Barbara Freyer Stowasser’s
ism and feminism. It remains to be seen if these religions
Women in the Qur’an: Traditions and Interpretations (Oxford,
regain their former influence, but Daoism in particular does
1994) and Fatima Mernissi’s The Veil and the Male Elite: A
seem to be making a comeback and is also attracting non-
Feminist Interpretation of Women’s Rights in Islam (Reading,
Chinese followers. If they do make a comeback, these reli-
Mass., 1991). For a gripping autobiographical account, The
Hidden Face of Eve: Women in the Arab World (Boston,
gions will also undoubtedly receive more attention from fem-
1980), by the well-known feminist activist Nawal el Saadawi,
inist theologians.
is recommended. Finally, the anthology Progressive Muslims:
CONCLUSION. Feminist theology may or may not be an appro-
On Justice, Gender, and Pluralism (Oxford, 2003), edited by
priate term for the feminist analysis that is done in non-
Omid Safi, includes a section on gender issues in Islam.
monotheistic or nontheistic contexts. But it is important to
Many fine anthropological accounts on Hindu women have
recognize that critical and constructive work regarding gen-
appeared, so that earlier generalizations about Hindu women
der has been done and is appropriate in those religious con-
are no longer relevant or appropriate. Nevertheless, there are
texts. Too often in North American theological and academ-
few explicitly feminist analyses of Hinduism. One of the few
such books is Alf Hiltebeital and Kathleen M. Erndl, Is the
ic studies of religion, the process of Christian theologizing
Goddess a Feminist?: The Politics of South Asian Goddesses
is thoroughly discussed, whereas other religious traditions are
(Sheffield, U.K., 2000). The most thorough feminist analysis
presented only as static, completed systems of thought. The
of Buddhism is Rita M. Gross, Buddhism after Patriarchy: A
term theology does acknowledge that all religious traditions
Feminist History, Analysis, and Reconstruction of Buddhism
are changing and responding to current issues, including
(Albany, 1993). Three anthologies on women and Buddhism
those brought about by the various feminist critiques of
also offer useful feminist perspectives: Marianne Dresser, ed.,
male-dominated religions and societies.
Buddhist Women on the Edge: Contemporary Perspectives from
the Western Frontier (Berkeley, 1996); Lenore Friedman and
However, feminist theologies in the various religions are
Susan Moon, eds., Being Bodies: Buddhist Women on the Par-
much more complex and nuanced than could be indicated
adox of Embodiment (Boston, 1997); and Karma Lekshe
within the limits of this short article. It is also important to
Tsomo, Innovative Buddhist Women, Swimming against the
note that even though several major religions have been dis-
Stream (Richmond, U.K., 2000).
cussed, many others, including all the world’s indigenous tra-
RITA M. GROSS (2005)
ditions, have been omitted from this short survey.
SEE ALSO Dialogue of Religions; Feminism, article on Fem-
inism, Gender Studies, and Religion; Gender and Religion,
FEMINIST THEOLOGY: CHRISTIAN FEMINIST
overview article, and article on History of Study; Religious
THEOLOGY
Diversity; Theology, articles on Christian Theology, Com-
Christianity’s encounter with feminism might be one of the
parative Theology.
most significant revolutions ever to happen within the Chris-
tian tradition, rivaling the impact of the early councils or the
BIBLIOGRAPHY
reformation in its implications for the future of Christian be-
Three anthologies give systematic accounts of feminist theology
lief and practice. Although feminism continues to be margi-
in various religions: Paula M. Cooey, William R. Eakin, and
nalized, ignored, or condemned by many Christians, its ef-
Jay B. McDaniel, After Patriarchy: Feminist Transformations
fects are felt across the whole spectrum of contemporary
of the World Religions (Maryknoll, N.Y., 1991); Arvind Shar-
Christianity.
ma and Katherine K. Young, Feminism and World Religions
(Albany, 1999); and Arvind Sharma and Katherine K.
Feminist theology emerged in the United States during
Young, Her Voice, Her Faith: Women Speak on World Reli-
the 1960s when so-called second wave feminism was making
gions (Boulder, Colo., 2003). Two other anthologies have
an impact on academic ideas as well as on western politics
collected religious views on topics important to feminists:
and culture. European feminists have made their own dis-
Daniel C. Maguire, ed., Sacred Rights: The Case for Abortion
tinctive contribution. In the last forty years, feminist theolo-
and Contraception in World Religions (Oxford, 2003), and
gy has become a global movement representing a wide range
Patricia Beattie Young, Mary E. Hunt, and Radhika Balakr-
ishnan, eds., Good Sex: Feminist Perspectives from the World’s
of cultural, political, and religious perspectives. The Ecu-
Religions (New Brunswick, N.J., 2001). For an overview of
menical Association of Third-World Theologians (EAT-
feminist issues in the world’s religions see Rita M. Gross,
WOT) has provided a significant forum for the development
Feminism and Religion: An Introduction (Boston, 1996). The
of feminist theologies in engagement with a wide range of
most important feminist analyses of Judaism include, in the
women’s concerns and experiences from all five continents.
order of their publication, Blu Greenberg, On Women and
Judaism: A View from Tradition (Philadelphia, 1981); Judith
However, it is also true that women have been doing
Plaskow, Standing Again at Sinai: Judaism from a Feminist
theology since the early church, and the task of feminist
Perspective (San Francisco, 1990); and Rachel Adler, Engen-
theologians is as much about retrieving the neglected voices
dering Judaism: An Inclusive Theology and Ethics (Boston,
of women of the past as it is about formulating new theologi-
1998). Many books on women and Islam have appeared, but
cal symbols and values for the present and the future. The
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FEMINIST THEOLOGY: CHRISTIAN FEMINIST THEOLOGY
3035
Woman’s Bible, a critique of Christianity produced in the
ture, the natural law, and the prayerful use of human reason
1890s by American suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton
(described by St. Anselm as “faith seeking understanding”),
(1815–1902), is regarded as an important founding moment
feminists point out the extent to which theological knowl-
in Christian feminism. Today, feminist theological reflection
edge is shaped by the cultural context and bodily specificity
includes academic scholarship as well as literature, music, lit-
of the theologian, including his or her gendered embodi-
urgy, and a range of insights drawn from the exploration of
ment. Strictly speaking, therefore, the appeal to women’s ex-
women’s experiences in many different contexts. Although
perience need not be seen as an attempt to construct a theory
feminist theology is not simply another form of liberation
of God from the starting point of woman but rather as a cor-
theology, its challenge to the oppression and exploitation of
rective to the androcentrism of existing theological discourse.
women gives it a strongly liberationist perspective.
If Christianity recognizes the ultimate mystery and un-
The publication of Valerie Saiving’s article in 1960,
speakability of God, it also believes that it can and, indeed,
“The Human Situation: A Feminine View” (Saiving, 1992),
must speak of God in the language and concepts of human
has with hindsight been recognized as a key event in the con-
embodiment because it believes that God is supremely and
temporary development of feminist theology. Saiving asked
(for some) uniquely and exclusively revealed in the human
the extent to which Christian concepts of sin (pride, ambi-
person of Jesus Christ and in the Bible. If male and female
tion, self-centeredness) are influenced by masculine perspec-
are both made in the image of God (Gen. 1:27), then the
tives so that they do not reflect feminine sins (self-
human understanding of God requires the theological partic-
denigration, triviality, lack of focus). Feminist theology thus
ipation of both sexes. To bring women’s perspectives into
began to question much of what had gone before, not only
theology is not simply to “add women and stir,” but to intro-
in terms of women’s place in the church, but more generally
duce a catalyst capable of initiating radical transformation.
in terms of the gendering of theological ideas and in the im-
Nevertheless, the appeal to women’s experience has
plicit and explicit privileging of the masculine over the femi-
been criticized by some feminists and by some antagonistic
nine at every level of Christian doctrine and practice.
to feminism. An early and significant critique came from
The encounter between feminism and theology was
those who argued that the work of theologians such as Rue-
given added impetus by the Second Vatican Council (1962–
ther and Daly was premised on the experience of white West-
1965), which encouraged Roman Catholics to enter into a
ern women, and that the category of “woman” did not reflect
positive engagement with the non-Catholic world. Pioneers
the plurality and diversity of women’s experiences in differ-
such as Rosemary Radford Ruether, Mary Daly, and Eliza-
ent contexts. As a result, feminist theology now embraces a
beth Johnson were Catholics working in the initially opti-
wide range of perspectives and methods. In seeking to ex-
mistic climate that followed the council. Daly’s 1968 book,
press both a relationship to and a distance from Western
The Church and the Second Sex, offered a hard-hitting femi-
feminism, these diverse theologies use a variety of names, in-
nist critique of Christian misogyny, but still expressed hope
cluding, among others, womanist theology (arising out of the
that the church could be transformed. Later editions include
experiences of black North American women), dalit
disclaimers in which Daly makes clear her subsequent rejec-
women’s theology (which explores the situation of low-caste
tion of Christianity as irredeemably patriarchal (Daly, 1985).
Christian women in India), concerned African women’s the-
Daphne Hampson has come to the same conclusion about
ology (primarily focusing on the encounter between African
the impossibility of reconciliation between feminism and the
culture, Christianity, and feminism), minjung feminist theol-
Christian tradition (Hampson, 1996).
ogy (Korean women’s theology from the perspective of the
poor and the marginalized), and mujerista theology (in-
Nevertheless, feminist theology brings together academ-
formed by the experiences of Hispanic-American women)
ics, activists, and believers from all denominations, men as
(King, 1994). This plurality means that methods and sources
well as women, who believe that the Christian faith, however
extend far beyond those regarded as theological in the strictly
problematic, can be transformed and continues to offer a
academic sense, including, among others, oral traditions, lit-
message of hope for the world. While it is impossible to do
erature, art, biography, and autobiography.
justice to the full range of feminist theological reflection in
a short survey, this is an overview of general trends and sig-
While these theologies are often based on a liberal or lib-
nificant developments in a field of study that is constantly
erationist approach, since the early 1990s a growing number
evolving as new perspectives emerge.
of feminist theologians have adopted a postmodernist per-
WOMEN’S EXPERIENCE. In 1983, Ruether defined “the criti-
spective informed by the deconstructive and poststructuralist
cal principle of feminist theology” as “the promotion of the
approaches of secular feminist theory, and by the work of
full humanity of women” (Ruether, 1992, p. 18). This defi-
critical theorists such as Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault,
nition has inspired a process of theological reflection that be-
Luce Irigaray, and Julia Kristeva (Chopp and Davaney,
gins with women’s experience, in recognition of the fact that
1997; Kim, St. Ville, and Simonaitis, 1993). From this per-
theology has been almost exclusively informed by the experi-
spective, the appeal to women’s experience is problematized
ences of men. Although theology as a discipline is concerned
by the recognition that all experience is socially constructed
with reflection upon the nature of God as revealed in scrip-
and linguistically mediated, and it is argued that feminist
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3036
FEMINIST THEOLOGY: CHRISTIAN FEMINIST THEOLOGY
theology needs to concern itself with the analysis of theologi-
an appeal to pre-Nicene theology, particularly that of the
cal language and symbolism. Although this approach has
Cappadocians, arguing that the doctrine of the Trinity is
gained some currency, there has been considerable debate
practical and has radical social implications (LaCugna,
over the extent to which political concerns for justice become
1992). Elizabeth Johnson, in her influential book She Who
marginalized if feminist theology aligns itself too closely with
Is, argues that the mystery of God as Trinity can only be ex-
theory at the expense of practice. As Janet Martin Soskice
pressed through a rich plurality of images and associations,
notes, “Feminism in theology may lack the theoretical frame-
including both male and female terms (Johnson 1992).
work of some of its sister subjects, but its prospect for reach-
ing millions of lives, including those of the world’s poorest
While these constitute feminist refigurations of, rather
women, is immense” (Soskice in Soskice and Lipton,
than departures from, traditional theology, some radical fem-
2003, p. 8).
inist theologians (sometimes referred to in the feminized
form as thealogians) would associate the Judeo-Christian tra-
Another critique of the appeal to experience comes from
dition with the triumph of patriarchal monotheism over the
those who argue that theological reflection cannot begin with
more matriarchal goddess religions. They would advocate
the individual subject but must take the form of a prayerful
the reclamation of goddess worship and symbolism as a re-
encounter with the revelation of God. From this perspective,
source for women’s spirituality. While for some this entails
while it is right to criticize excessive androcentrism as a fail-
the transformation rather than the rejection of Christianity,
ing in the theological tradition, the corrective is not to intro-
including the reclamation of the Virgin Mary as the goddess
duce another foundational form of gendered subjectivity but
of the Christian tradition, others would see it as a form of
to rediscover the importance of doing theology in a space of
post-Christian feminist spirituality that liberates women
communication between human awareness and divine reve-
from the constraints of patriarchal religion (Baring and
lation within the context of the Christian community (Mar-
Cashford, 1991).
tin, 1994). Feminists such as Linda Woodhead and Susan
T
Parsons have raised similar concerns, arguing that feminist
HE BIBLE. Feminist biblical criticism has in its short history
exhibited a dynamic and innovative capacity for scriptural
theology risks the sacrifice of a vital transcendent perspective
interpretation, discovering in the biblical narratives a multi-
of faith and hope in favor of a more modernist and individu-
faceted resource for the critique of patriarchy and for the rec-
alistic rhetoric of women’s liberation (Woodhead, 1997; Par-
lamation of women’s stories of redemption. Feminist herme-
sons, 2000).
neutics entail the recognition that the meaning of a text
THEOLOGICAL LANGUAGE. Potentially the most challenging
depends both upon the context in which it was written and
aspect of feminist theology is its questioning of Christian
the context in which it is interpreted. To consciously read
concepts of God. At one level, this involves the recognition
the Bible as a woman and to resist dominant, androcentric
that theological language is almost exclusively masculine,
readings is to discover previously unrecognized challenges
with God being referred to in concepts associated with fa-
and meanings. This also involves the acknowledgment that
therhood and maleness, and never with images that evoke
the authors of scripture were male and that the Bible, like
maternal feminine characteristics. Although the idea of refer-
every other text, is situated within particular cultural and his-
ring to God as “mother” or “she” is anathema to many mod-
torical contexts that reflect the perspectives of its authors.
ern Christians, theological language was in the past much
The quest for revelation thus becomes a struggle with the
more fluid in terms of gender, frequently referring to God,
text, and a resistance to authoritative readings that justify the
Christ, and the Holy Spirit in maternal metaphors and sym-
subordination or oppression of women. Elisabeth Schüssler
bols. Feminist theologians whose work is informed by critical
Fiorenza pioneered a hermeneutical approach that seeks to
theory reject the appeal to inclusive language as masking
reclaim the lives of the women around Jesus and in the early
rather than resolving the problem of androcentrism. They
church, arguing that the first Christian communities were
would argue that symbols and language must be deconstruct-
radically egalitarian and that women shared roles of disciple-
ed in order to identify the dynamics of power, dissimulation,
ship and leadership with their male counterparts (Schüssler
and ideological manipulation that are encoded within the
Fiorenza, 1994a and 1994b). No less influential is the rhe-
structures, values, and relationships of theological narratives.
torical criticism and exegesis of Phyllis Trible, whose read-
ings of the Hebrew scriptures challenge existing orthodoxies,
The critique of masculine theological language also
particularly with regard to the construction of sexual hierar-
challenges the privileging of the Father-Son relationship be-
chies through an appeal to the story of Genesis 2–3 (Trible,
tween God and Jesus Christ, and the representation of the
1978).
relationship among the three persons of the Trinity, per-
ceived as masculine. Catherine Mowry LaCugna, in God for
The participation of women from many different cul-
Us, argues that western theology constructed its doctrine of
tural perspectives also brings rich new insights to biblical in-
the Trinity around a hierarchy of relationships that in turn
terpretation (King, 1994, pp. 183–242). The Womanist
lends justification to social hierarchies based on submission
theologian, Delores Williams, proposes a reading of the story
to patriarchal authority figures. She seeks the reclamation of
of Hagar in Genesis 16-21 as one in which Hagar, the Egyp-
a more interpersonal understanding of the Trinity through
tian slave woman persecuted and sexually exploited in the pa-
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FEMINIST THEOLOGY: CHRISTIAN FEMINIST THEOLOGY
3037
triarchal household of Abraham, reflects the experiences of
Virgin Mary have been seen as worthy exemplars of Christian
black women in the United States (Williams, 1993). The
womanhood, female sexuality associated with Eve, tempta-
women disciples of Jesus and those who feature in the Paul-
tion, sin, and death has been viewed with fear and condem-
ine letters have been the focus of extensive feminist study,
nation. Christian feminists seek the celebration of sexuality
as have the Pauline injunctions on marriage and on women’s
in general and female sexuality in particular as a God-given
behavior in church.
dimension of human embodiment. For some, this includes
the affirmation of lesbian sexuality and its capacity to express
While all feminist biblical criticism is to some extent de-
Christian love and friendship between women (Stuart,
constructive, in recent years there has been a significant shift
1995). For others, the primary concern is the extent to which
in some feminist approaches to the Bible, through the adop-
women and children continue to be victims of sexual vio-
tion of a more theoretical linguistic approach to the study
lence and abuse, both with regard to the ongoing problem
of texts. This includes asking to what extent women in an-
of domestic violence and to the burgeoning problem of the
cient literature are in fact ciphers employed by male writers
global sex trade (King, 1994, pp. 105–79).
rather than reliable historical accounts. From this perspec-
tive, the attempt to reconstruct women’s histories from bibli-
Questions about the theological significance of the fe-
cal and early Christian texts becomes a more challenging task
male body open into wider concerns regarding Christian atti-
than has previously been recognized (Clark, 1998).
tudes toward nature, given the long-standing association be-
tween female embodiment and nature. Women’s theologies
EMBODIMENT, SEXUALITY, AND NATURE. The position of
are thus often deeply influenced by the arguments and ideas
the female body in Christian worship, language, and ethics
of eco-feminism, seeking a way beyond modern attitudes of
is a central concern of feminist theology (Isherwood and Stu-
domination and exploitation in order to rediscover a sense
art 1998). Again, the ways in which this is addressed vary
of the goodness of creation and the interdependence of the
widely according to different theological perspectives and
relationship between humankind and the natural world (Mc-
contexts. For some, the belief that God became incarnate in
Fague, 1993).
Jesus Christ raises a fundamental question about the place
of the female body in the doctrine of salvation, summarized
At a time when many secular academics regard the
in Ruether’s question, “Can a male savior save women?”
whole pursuit of theology as moribund or anachronistic, it
(Ruether, 1992). For Ruether, the answer is dependent upon
is in the field of feminist studies that this discipline continues
the recognition that Christ’s maleness is a contingency of his
to develop with vitality and intellectual vigor, exposing the
humanity, and does not have doctrinal significance. Sarah
extent to which the practices and methods of Christian
Coakley analyzes the representation of sexuality and the body
scholarship have been intellectually limited by the unac-
in Christian texts to show the ambiguity and inherent insta-
knowledged biases of patriarchy and androcentrism. To say
bility of theological concepts of gender (Coakley, 2002).
this is not to dismiss the legitimate criticisms that have been
Others explore the significance of the Virgin Mary as one
made of some feminist arguments, nor is it to deny that femi-
who bodily participated in the incarnation in a way that has
nists too bring their own ideological presuppositions and cul-
redemptive significance for the female body (Beattie, 2002).
tural assumptions to their task. Feminist theologians face
complex challenges, not least in accommodating the perspec-
Related to questions about the masculinity of Christ are
tives of those women who resist some or all of their claims
questions about the role of the female body in relation to
because they still find in traditional forms of Christianity a
Christian symbols and sacraments. Given the relationship
deep source of meaning and inspiration. The challenge is to
between the shedding of Christ’s blood, the doctrine of salva-
sustain a sense of the Christian community as inclusive, in-
tion, and the doctrine of the Eucharist, some women theolo-
teractive, and mutually responsible for the creation of a ma-
gians ask what symbolic associations might be discovered be-
terially significant culture of redemptive hope, while contin-
tween the body of Christ and the body of women in terms
uing to work for the transformation of a tradition that is also
of their capacity to nurture, to bleed, and to give new life.
associated with a long and tragic history of violence, sexual
From an anthropological perspective, Nancy Jay’s work has
oppression, and abusive power relations, which have been
been influential in exploring the relationship between reli-
both sanctioned and challenged by the Christian under-
gious concepts of sacrifice and taboos against women priests
standing of God.
associated with fears of menstruation and childbirth (Jay,
1992). Bynum has shown that there was a close association
SEE ALSO Androcentrism; Biblical Exegesis, article on Chris-
between female embodiment and the body of Christ in me-
tian Views; Ecology and Religion; Feminine Sacrality; Femi-
dieval women’s devotions, based on the belief that the divini-
nism, article on French Feminists on Religion; Gaia; Gen-
ty of Christ derived from God the Father, but his humanity
der and Religion, overview article, articles on Gender and
derived from the female flesh of his mother (Bynum, 1992).
Christianity, History of Study; Gender Roles; God; Goddess
Worship; Gynocentrism; Human Body, article on Human
Another area of widespread concern to feminist theolo-
Bodies, Religion, and Gender; Liberation Theology; Mary;
gians is the question of female sexuality, which has almost
Patriarchy and Matriarchy; Priesthood; Sexuality; Stanton,
universally been portrayed in negative terms in Christian
Elizabeth Cady; Thealogy; Virgin Goddess; Women’s
writings. While obedient and chaste women modeled on the
Studies in Religion.
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FEMINIST THEOLOGY: CHRISTIAN FEMINIST THEOLOGY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
means of establishing and sustaining patriarchal social struc-
Baring, Anne, and Jules Cashford. The Myth of the Goddess: Evolu-
tures that allow paternal lineage to transcend the maternal re-
tion of an Image. London, 1991. The authors offer an in-
lationship established by childbirth and motherhood.
depth study of goddess myths and religions that they argue
Johnson, Elizabeth A. She Who Is: The Mystery of God in Feminist
have been repressed or annihilated by Judeo-Christian patri-
Theological Discourse. New York, 1992. Johnson offers a fem-
archal monotheism.
inist re-evaluation of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity in
Beattie, Tina. God’s Mother, Eve’s Advocate: A Marian Narrative
a careful reading of the Catholic tradition and its influential
of Women’s Salvation. London and New York, 2002. Beattie
thinkers such as Thomas Aquinas and Karl Rahner.
reads the texts of the early church and recent Catholic theol-
Kim, C.W. Maggie, Susan M. St. Ville, and Susan M. Simonaitis,
ogy in engagement with Luce Irigaray and other critical theo-
eds. Transfigurations: Theology & The French Feminists. Min-
rists, to argue for the symbolic reclamation of Eve and Mary
neapolis, 1993. This edited collection of essays offers a criti-
in the Christian story.
cal engagement with feminist theology from the perspective
Bynum, Caroline Walker. Fragmentation and Redemption: Essays
of French feminism.
on Gender and the Human Body in Medieval Religion. New
King, Ursula, ed. Feminist Theology from the Third World: A Read-
York, 1992. Bynum’s study of medieval attitudes towards
er. London and Maryknoll, N.Y., 1994. King’s selection of
gender and the body in the writings of Christian mystics,
feminist theological writings from around the world gives a
saints, and theologians has proved an enduring resource for
sense of the range of hopes and struggles that informs Chris-
feminist scholarship.
tian women in their engagement with feminism and of the
Chopp, Rebecca S., and Sheila Greeve Davaney, eds. Horizons in
methods and perspectives that shape their work.
Feminist Theology: Identity, Tradition, and Norms. Minneap-
olis, 1997. Chopp and Davaney bring together a range of
LaCugna, Catherine Mowry. God for Us: The Trinity and Chris-
feminist theologians in essays that explore the significance of
tian Life. San Francisco, 1992. LaCugna interprets the doc-
feminist theory for feminist theology. For a debate concern-
trine of the Trinity as having far-reaching practical implica-
ing the relevance and the limitations of this approach, see
tions for human relationships, through the ways in which
also Emily R. Neil et al., “Roundtable Discussion: From
theology understands the action of God in the world.
Generation to Generation. Horizons in Feminist Theology
Martin, Francis. The Feminist Question: Feminist Theology in the
or Reinventing the Wheel?” in The Journal of Feminist
Light of Christian Tradition. (Edinburgh, 1994). While Mar-
Studies in Religion 15, no. 1 (1999): 102–138.
tin acknowledges the importance of feminist theology, he is
Clark, Elizabeth A. “The Lady Vanishes: Dilemmas of a Feminist
critical of its foundationalism in appealing to the individual
Historian after the ‘Linguistic Turn’” Church History 67, no.
experiencing subject as the source of theological knowledge.
1 (1998): 1–31. Clark’s article is informative for those seek-
McFague, Sallie. The Body of God: An Ecological Theology. Minne-
ing to understand the problematic relationship between
apolis, 1993. Using the idea of the universe as a metaphor
poststructuralist and deconstructive approaches to language,
for the body of God, McFague seeks the transformation of
and the feminist retrievals of early Christian women’s
Christian attitudes to the body and creation. Although her
histories.
work has been criticized by some scholars for its misreading
Coakley, Sarah. Powers and Submission: Spirituality, Philosophy,
of the Christian tradition, she remains an influential resource
and Gender. Oxford, and Malden, Mass., 2002. Coakley
for feminist environmental theology.
brings a finely honed feminist sensibility to her reading of the
Parsons, Susan Frank. “Accounting for Hope: Feminist Theology
Christian tradition in these wide-ranging essays analyzing
as Fundamental Theology” in Challenging Women’s Ortho-
western philosophy and theology.
doxies in the Context of Faith. Aldershot, U.K., 2003. Parsons
Daly, Mary. The Church and the Second Sex. Boston, 1985. First
criticizes the work of some feminist theologians, particularly
published in 1968, reissued in 1975 with an autobiographi-
Ruether and Fiorenza, for a nihilistic tendency in which the
cal preface and feminist postchristian introduction, and in
hope of the Christian faith in God is negated in favor of a
1985 with a new archaic afterword; the various versions of
politicized approach that fails to recognize its own collusion
this book offer an insight into one woman’s journey from
in perpetuating modern forms of power and control.
radical Catholic theologian to controversial post-Christian
Ruether, Rosemary Radford. Sexism and God-Talk: Towards a
feminist.
Feminist Theology. London, 1992; first published, 1983. One
Hampson, Daphne. After Christianity. London, 1996. Hampson
of the pioneering books of feminist theology, Ruether’s
argues that Christianity is neither true nor moral and must
work, although sometimes criticized for its liberal orienta-
be rejected as a false patriarchal myth to allow for new ways
tion, remains highly influential for a new generation of femi-
of conceptualizing God that more truthfully reflect the expe-
nist scholars.
riences and spiritual ideals of people today.
Saiving, Valerie. “The Human Situation: A Feminine View,” first
Isherwood, Lisa, and Elizabeth Stuart. Introducing Body Theology.
published 1960. In Womanspirit Rising: A Feminist Reader in
Sheffield, U.K., 1998. This book provides a good survey of
Religion, edited by Carol P. Christ and Judith Plaskow. San
feminist concerns regarding the theological representation of
Francisco, 1992. Saiving’s essay is widely recognized as a pio-
the relationship between the body, sexuality, and spirituality.
neering analysis of the gendering of sin in the Christian
Jay, Nancy. Throughout Your Generations Forever: Sacrifice, Reli-
tradition.
gion, and Paternity. Chicago, 1992. Jay’s interdisciplinary
Schüssler Fiorenza, Elisabeth. In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theo-
study of sacrifice leads her to argue that blood sacrifice is a
logical Reconstruction of Christian Origins, second edition,
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FÉNELON, FRANÇOIS
3039
first published 1983. London, 1994a. Although her histori-
Ordained at the age of twenty-four, Fénelon worked in
cal interpretation of women in the early Church has been
the parish of Saint-Sulpice from 1675 to 1678. In 1678 he
criticized, Schüssler Fiorenza’s work remains an important
became superior of the Convent of New Catholics (a posi-
resource for feminist biblical hermeneutics.
tion he held until 1689), where he strengthened the faith of
Schüssler Fiorenza, Elisabeth, ed. Searching the Scriptures, Vol-
young women recently converted to the Catholic church. In
umes 1 and 2. New York and London, 1994b. This two-
August 1689 Louis XIV chose him to be private tutor to his
volume edited collection provides an excellent insight into
grandson, the duke of Burgundy, a post Fénelon held until
the methods, approaches, and concerns of feminist biblical
1699. In 1693 he was elected a member of the French Acade-
scholars.
my and in 1695 was nominated archbishop of Cambrai. Fé-
Soskice, Janet Martin and Diana Lipton, eds. Feminism & Theolo-
nelon spent the final years of his life as a successful adminis-
gy. Oxford, 2003. This anthology of writings by Jewish and
trator and zealous bishop.
Christian women reflects the ways in which the encounter
between feminism and theology is explored in literature, his-
Fénelon’s writings concern pedagogy, literature, poli-
torical studies, theological reflection, and biblical studies.
tics, philosophy, and theology. In his Traité de l’éducation des
Stuart, Elizabeth. Just Good Friends: Towards a Lesbian and Gay
filles (1687), for example, foreshadowing Rousseau’s Émile,
Theology of Relationships. London, 1995. Stuart asks what it
one finds his educational philosophy. His literary ability and
would mean for the church to accept gays and lesbians as
political ideas are felicitously woven together in his Les aven-
equal in the eyes of God, and what heterosexuals might learn
tures de Télémaque (1699), a mythological novel written for
from this acceptance.
the instruction of the dauphin. Here allegory dissimulates
Trible, Phyllis. God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality. Minneapolis,
the real import of his views. Fénelon depicts the confused
1978. Trible’s acclaimed study of the Hebrew scriptures, in-
ideal of a monarchy at once absolute, aristocratic, and ur-
cluding her vastly influential re-reading of the story of Gene-
bane, while condemning indirectly the despotic and bellicose
sis 1–3, continues to be an important resource for feminist
reign of Louis XIV. The views expressed in this novel re-
biblical criticism.
dounded inevitably to his discredit in the eyes of the king
Trible, Phyllis. Texts of Terror: Literary-Feminist Readings of Bibli-
and his loss of favor at court.
cal Narratives. London and Minneapolis, 2003; first pub-
It is the controversy over quietism, however, that has
lished 1984. Trible analyzes some of the most problematic
texts of the Hebrew scriptures in their representation of vio-
weighed most heavily on the memory of Fénelon, making it
lence against women and shows how they can be read as a
difficult to give an objective assessment of him. His undulat-
divine protest against rather than an endorsement of such vi-
ing and generous nature had made him adopt the principle
olence.
of the “dévotion idéale” professed by Madame Guyon
Williams, Delores S. Sisters in the Wilderness: The Challenge of
(1648–1717), a mystic Fénelon had met and befriended in
Womanist God-Talk. Maryknoll, N.Y., 1993. Williams pres-
1688: The soul, completely absorbed by the love of God, be-
ents a Womanist theology in which she examines the doc-
comes indifferent to everything, even its own life and salva-
trines and values of Christianity from the perspective of black
tion. Feeling obliged, however, to justify himself before the
American women’s experiences, including their history of
public, Fénelon formally disowned the excesses and conse-
slavery and sexual and economic exploitation.
quences of quietism in his L’explication des maximes des saints
Woodhead, Linda. “Spiritualising the Sacred: A Critique of Femi-
sur la vie intérieure (1697). Nevertheless, in 1699 the Holy
nist Theology.” In Modern Theology 13, no. 2. (April 1997).
See decided to condemn twenty-three propositions extracted
Woodhead offers a critique of feminist theology for failing
from this book.
to represent the true interests of women through its confor-
mity to modern individualistic ideas of spirituality and its ne-
Yet, with his aristocratic cast of mind and his poetic
glect of traditional theological methods materially rooted in
makeup, Fénelon exercised a strong influence on his contem-
communal practices of faithfulness and prayer.
poraries and left a mark on the history of spirituality. Origi-
nal insofar as he adopted a scale of values that was personal
TINA BEATTIE (2005)
to him, he provided a philosophical justification for his atti-
tude toward spiritual matters by establishing as the basis of
his spiritual system two notions directly connected with each
FÉNELON, FRANÇOIS (1651–1715), was a French
other: pure love and indifference, the latter being the psycho-
philosopher, theologian, and educator, and Roman Catholic
logical state in which pure love is born.
archbishop of Cambrai. Born in the Château de Fénelon in
Fénelon’s life and works witness to the more human and
Périgord, François de Salignac de la Mothe Fénelon, an aris-
subtle exigencies of French spirituality. He was aware of his
tocrat by birth and upbringing, spent the first years of his
own defects yet was too deeply committed to the world to
education at home. After the death of his father in 1663, he
have the courage to deny it. His troubled and sublime spirit
was sent to study with the Jesuits at the University of Cahors;
needed more the experience of God and less the life of the
then, in 1665, he went to Paris, where he studied philosophy
intellect; more freedom for the soul, more spontaneity, and
and theology at the College of Le Plessis. Finally, probably
less dedication to the rewards of piety.
in 1672, he entered the Seminary of Saint-Sulpice to prepare
for the priesthood.
SEE ALSO Quietism.
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

3040
FERGHUS MAC ROICH
BIBLIOGRAPHY
and goddess of sovereignty, whose sexual capacity is a com-
There have been numerous editions of Fénelon’s Œuvres com-
monplace of the early literature, should have cuckolded
plètes: Paris, 1810; Versailles, 1820–1830; Paris, 1835; Paris,
her husband Ailill with Ferghus, as recounted in Táin Bó
1851–1852; and Paris, 1854. For general information about
Cuailnge.
Fénelon, the following two biographies are still useful: Paul
Janet’s Fénelon (Paris, 1892) and Élie Carcassonne’s Fénelon
Ferghus had a famous sword called Caladhbholg (the
(Paris, 1946). Janet’s book has been translated into English
Irish counterpart of the Welsh Caledvwlch, later to become
and edited, with introduction, notes, and index, by Victor
the Excalibur of Arthurian romance), and with it he lopped
Leuliette as Fénelon: His Life and Works (Port Washington,
off the tops of three hills in the province of Midhe when in
N.Y., 1970). See also Carcassonne’s État présent des travaux
the grip of his battle rage. According to T. F. O’Rahilly, this
sur Fénelon (Paris, 1939). For informative articles on Féne-
is the lightning sword of the great otherworld deity with
lon, see A. Largent’s “Fénelon,” Dictionnaire de théologie
whom he identifies Ferghus and other mythic-heroic figures
catholique, vol. 5 (Paris, 1924), and Louis Cognet’s “Féne-
(Early Irish History and Mythology, Dublin, 1946, p. 68). In
lon,” Dictionnaire de spiritualité ascétique et mystique, vol. 5
several archaic genealogical poems a number of tributary
(Paris, 1964).
peoples in the province of Munster are assigned descent from
E. GERHARD CARROLL (1987)
Ferghus, and it is clear that the substance of the tradition em-
bodied in the Ulster saga of Táin Bó Cuailnge was already
familiar in the southern province in the early seventh centu-
ry. The name Ferghus is borne by several pseudohistorical
FERGHUS MAC ROICH. Tradition has it that Fer-
kings of Emhain Mhacha (the royal center of the province
ghus mac Roich was king of the Ulaidh, or Ulstermen, but
of Ulster), and one of these, Ferghus mac Leide, who is the
was driven from his throne by Conchobhar mac Nessa, the
hero of a submarine adventure, is very probably a doublet
king of Ulster, during the momentous events related by the
of Ferghus mac Roich.
epic Táin Bó Cuailnge (The cattle raid of Cuailnge) and other
tales. Ferghus went into exile to Cruachain, the court of Ailill
BIBLIOGRAPHY
and Medhbh of Connacht, and this is why he and his com-
Further information on Ferghus can be found in Rudolf
panions were in the Connacht camp when Ailill and Medh-
Thurneysen’s Die irische Helden- und Königsage bis zum sieb-
bh made their famous incursion into Ulster. An alternative,
zehnten Jahrhundert, 2 vols. (Halle, 1921), the classic study
and probably secondary, explanation for his absence from
of Táin Bó Cuailnge.
Ulster is provided by the Old Irish tale Longes mac nUislenn
PROINSIAS MAC CANA (1987 AND 2005)
(The exile of the sons of Uisliu), which is really the story of
the tragic heroine Deirdre: acting on Conchobhar’s behalf,
Ferghus offers to the Sons of Uisliu safe conduct back from
their exile in Scotland, and when Conchobhar slays them de-
FESTIVALS SEE SEASONAL CEREMONIES;
spite these assurances, Ferghus wreaks carnage at Emhain
WORSHIP AND DEVOTIONAL LIFE
Mhacha, capital of the Ulstermen, before going into exile
himself.
Both elements of his name suggest physical power: Fer-
FESTSCHRIFTEN. Festschrift or Festgabe (plural,
ghus is a compound word meaning “manly vigor, excellence”
Festschriften, Festgaben) is the German word for a collection
and Roich (originally disyllabic Roïch) is the genitive of ro-ech
of articles written in honor of a scholar or high-ranking per-
(“great horse”). His virility was proverbial and measured in
son (poet, politician, etc.) on the occasion of an anniversary
heptads: he ate seven times as much as an ordinary man and
(birth, award of doctorate, term of service, or death) or other
had the strength of seven hundred men; his nose, mouth, and
important event, usually written by colleagues, pupils, or
penis were seven fingers in length, and his scrotum as large
friends of the honoree. A list of publications may also be part
as a sack of flour; finally, he needed seven women to satisfy
of a Festschrift, as well as unpublished articles by the hon-
him when separated from his wife Flidhais, a goddess who
ored person. In addition, it has become customary to provide
ruled over the beasts of the forest. This is reminiscent of the
a picture of the honoree as the frontispiece of the volume.
description of Indra in the R:gveda (6.46.3) as sahasramus:ka
The first German Festschriften were published in the 1840s.
(“with the thousand testicles”), an epithet which, as Georges
Subsequently, the German word was taken over into other
Dumézil remarks, alludes to the supervirilité which all peo-
languages, although these also developed their own words or
ples freely attribute to warriors and warrior gods (Heur et
expressions for this academic genre: English Studies in hono-
malheur du guerrier, Paris, 1969, p. 64). As late as the nine-
(u)r of; French Mélanges or Hommage; Italian Studi in onore
teenth century the famous Lia Fáil, the standing stone at
di or Omaggio; Russian Sbornik statej, etc. While Festschrif-
Tara which in early times was reputed to cry out on contact
ten for the anniversaries of such institutions as universities
with the man destined to be king, was known to local people
or cities may also contribute to academic discussion, this is
as bod Fhearghusa (“the phallus of Ferghus”). It is particularly
not necessarily the case with Festschriften for anniversaries
appropriate, therefore, that the much-mated Medhbh, queen
of such societies as fire brigades or sports clubs, which be-
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

FESTSCHRIFTEN
3041
came very popular in German-speaking countries. An exam-
Victor Turner, and Joachim Wach. Judging from extant
ple of this nonacademic type of commemorative collection
Festschriften, however, one can easily find examples of the
would be the Festschrift produced in 1882 for the twentieth
characteristics mentioned earlier. A Festschrift tells some-
anniversary of the Mitteldeutsche Pferdezucht-Verein (Central
thing about the transition of theories from one generation
German Horse-Breeding Association).
to another; to name but one example, Robin Horton edited
a Festschrift for E. E. Evans-Pritchard (1973). That
Hence, the genre of Festschriften is a typical product of
Festschriften may serve as instruments comparable to confer-
nineteenth-century German Gelehrtenkultur (culture of the
ence proceedings for putting themes on the scholarly agenda
educated), with its peculiar social structure and habits, that
may be exemplified with Gershom Scholem (1967), Carsten
took on new characteristics after having been introduced into
Colpe (1991 and 1994), or Antoine Faivre (2001).
academic milieus outside Germany and Austria. After World
War II, particularly in the 1960s, Festschriften lost much of
When scholars receive more than one Festschrift on dif-
their former prestige and were often regarded as old-
ferent occasions, a comparison of these collections may illu-
fashioned, but this trend was reversed in the 1990s. Once
minate progress or changes of interest in their research. The
again it became very fashionable to present Festschriften to
work and impact of Carl Gustav Jung, for instance, is reflect-
older scholars—in fact, to precisely those scholars who had
ed in the five Festschriften dedicated to him between 1935
been most opposed to this academic custom when they were
and 1975, from his sixtieth to his hundredth birthday. The
students.
1945 Festschrift, published as volume 12 of the Eranos-
Jahrbücher, may be read as an attempt to cope psychological-
FESTSCHRIFTEN AS HISTORICAL SOURCES. The academic
ly with the catastrophe of the Second World War. The pref-
merit of this particular genre is an open question. When the
ace to the volume, written by O. Fröbe-Kapteyn, spoke of
historian Theodor Mommsen received a Festschrift on the
an “archetypal situation of transition between ending and be-
occasion of his sixtieth birthday in 1877, he said it would
ginning, death and rebirth on all fields.” Explicitly harking
take him months to disprove the nonsense that had been
back to the “psychological universe” of the “wisdom of the
said. Because a Festschrift is an occasion to honor rather than
endlessly gifted antiquity,” W. Wili’s Geleitwort (foreword)
critique, to which friends rather than academic enemies are
presented Jung’s archetypal theory as a cure for the “epidem-
invited to contribute, and because articles are not usually
ic of sadism” that swept over Germany and its concentration
peer-reviewed, these collections are of mixed academic quali-
camps, as well as the east and Europe, “as apocalyptic riders,”
ty. On the other hand, Festschriften gained a status of their
against the “soul-pestilences” of the twentieth century, and
own within academic debate as an appropriate tool in order
against the “terrible force of the neuroses of the politically
to call attention to the research of a particular person—at
leading persons.” Other Festschriften listed in the collection
times ironically known only through the Festschrift—and to
below likewise reflect their Zeitgeist both with regard to the
expand on his or her theories, apply them to other fields, or
cultural context and the particular scholarly fashions of the
discuss them in a friendly atmosphere. Festschriften are thus
time.
important resources for historians of science because they re-
flect the contemporary discourse on a given subject and the
SEE ALSO Encyclopedias; Reference Works.
influence of certain theories on subsequent generations of
scholars. In addition, from an anthropological perspective
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Festschriften tell a lot about the “family relations” within the
academic community: Who contributes to a given volume
A Collection of Major Festschriften
and who does not? Although contingencies are involved in
The following overview is intended to provide the reader with ex-
the selection of authors, the field of religious studies—
amples of the characteristics of Festschriften discussed in the
article. It focuses on important figures in the history of reli-
particularly in such small academic communities as those of
gion and well-known contemporary scholars. The honorees
Germany, the Netherlands, or France—can be described and
are listed in alphabetical order.
analyzed according to the names of the contributors to
Festschriften.
Carsten Colpe received two Festschriften: Elsas, Christoph, and
Hans G. Kippenberg, eds. Loyalitätskonflikte in der Religions-
EXAMPLES. Not all major scholars in the broad field of reli-
geschichte. Festschrift für Carsten Colpe (Würzburg, Germany,
gious studies received Festschriften. In fact, so many lacked
1991); and Elsas, Christoph et al., eds. Tradition und Trans-
a respective volume that the absence of a Festschrift should
lation. Zum Problem der interkulturellen Übersetzbarkeit re-
not be interpreted to their discredit. Eminent scholars in the
ligiöser Phänomene. Festschrift für Carsten Colpe zum 65. Ge-
field who did not receive Festschriften include Johann Jakob
burtstag (Berlin and New York, 1994). Mircea Eliade’s
Festschrift is a rigorous collection of a few articles from a
Bachofen, Auguste Comte, Henry Corbin, Wilhelm Dilthey,
large pool of interested authors: Kitagawa, Joseph M., and
Émile Durkheim, Sir James George Frazer, Jane Ellen Harri-
Charles H. Long, eds. Myths and Symbols: Studies in Honor
son, Lucien Lévy-Bruhl, Bronislaw Malinowski, Robert
of Mircea Eliade (Chicago and London, 1969). Edward E.
Ranulph Marett, Marcel Mauss, J. H. Mead, Friedrich Max
Evans-Pritchard received two Festschriften: Cunnison, Ian,
Müller, Raffaele Pettazoni, Friedrich Schleiermacher, Wil-
and Wendy James, eds. Essays in Sudan Ethnography, Pres-
liam Ramsey Smith, Nathan Söderblom, Ernst Troeltsch,
ented to Sir Edward Evans-Pritchard (London, 1972); and
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3042
FETISHISM
Horton, Robin, and Ruth Finnegan, eds. Modes of Thought:
seinem 65. Geburtstag, dargebracht von Freunden und Kollegen
Essays on Thinking in Western and Non-Western Societies. Col-
(Bonn, Germany, 1967).
lection dedicated to Sir Edward Evans-Pritchard (London,
A typical example of a nineteenth-century Festschrift is that for
1973). The voluminous Festschrift for Antoine Faivre fos-
Theodor Mommsen: Commentationes philologae in honorem
tered the study of Western esotericism: Caron, Richard,
Theodori Mommseni scripserunt amici (Berlin, 1877). The
Joscelyn Godwin, Wouter J. Hanegraaff, and Jean-Louis
Festschriften for Rudolf Otto include Frick, Heinrich, ed.
Vieillard-Baron, eds. Ésotérisme, Gnoses et Imaginaire sym-
Rudolf-Otto-Festgruß. Aufsätze eines Kollegenkreises zu Rudolf
bolique. Mélanges offerts à Antoine Faivre (Leuven, Belgium,
Ottos 60. Geburtstag (Gotha, Germany, 1931); Frick, Hein-
2001). Among the major Festschriften for Sigmund Freud
rich, ed. Rudolf-Otto-Ehrung. 3 vols. (Berlin, 1940); and
is Alexander, Franz, ed. Freud in der Gegenwart. Ein Vortrags-
Benz, Ernst, ed. Rudolf Otto’s Bedeutung für die Religion-
zyklus der Universitäten Frankfurt und Heidelberg zum 100.
swissenschaft und die Theologie heute. Zur 100-Jahrfeier seines
Geburtstag (Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 1957). A Fest-
Geburtstags, 25.9.1969 (Leiden, Netherlands, 1971). Hein-
schrift for Friedrich Heiler that clearly reflects his theological
rich Rickert also received a Festschrift: Faust, August, ed.
agenda was edited by Christel Matthias Schröder: In Deo
Festgabe für Heinrich Rickert zum 70. Geburtstag (Buhl, Ger-
omnia unum. Eine Sammlung von Aufsätzen, Friedrich Heiler
many, 1933). Kurt Rudolph’s Festschrift influenced the
zum 50. Geburtstage dargebracht (Munich, Germany, 1942).
study of Gnosis and Gnosticism: Preißler, Holger, and Hu-
Karl Hoheisel was also honored with a Festschrift: Hutter,
bert Seiwert, eds. Gnosisforschung und Religionsgeschichte.
Manfred, et al., eds. Hairesis. Festschrift für Karl Hoheisel zum
Festschrift für Kurt Rudolph zum 65. Geburtstag (Marburg,
65. Geburtstag (Münster, Germany, 2002).
Germany, 1994).
William James received two important Festschriften: Essays, Philo-
An important Festschrift for Gershom Scholem was edited by
sophical and Psychological, in Honor of William James . . . ,
Ephraim E. Urbach and others: Studies in Mysticism and Reli-
by His Colleagues at Columbia University (New York, 1908);
gion, Presented to Gershom G. Scholem on His 70th Birthday
and Kallen, Horace Meyer, ed. In Commemoration of Wil-
by Pupils, Colleagues and Friends. 2 vols. (Jerusalem, 1967).
liam James, 1842–1942 (New York, 1942). The five
Georg Simmel was honored with a more personal Festschrift:
Festschriften for C. G. Jung are: Alm, Ivar et al., eds. Die kul-
Gassen, Kurt, and Michael Landmann, eds. Buch des Dankes
turelle Bedeutung der komplexen Psychologie. Festschrift zum
an Georg Simmel. Briefe, Erinnerungen, Bibliographie. Zu
seinem 100. Geburtstag am 1.3.1958 (Berlin, 1958). Edward
60. Geburtstag von Carl Gustav Jung (Berlin, 1935); Fröbe-
B. Tylor received a Festschrift late in his career: Balfour,
Kapteyn, Olga, ed. Studien zum Problem des Archetypischen.
Henry, et al., eds. Anthropological Essays Presented to Edward
Festgabe für C. G. Jung zum siebzigsten Geburtstag 26.7.1945
Burnett Tylor in Honour of His 75th Birthday, 2.10.1907.
(Zürich, Switzerland, 1945); Fröbe-Kapteyn, Olga, ed. Aus
(Oxford, 1907). Max Weber received several Festschriften:
der Welt der Urbilder. Sonderband für Carl Gustav Jung zum
Palyi, Melchior, ed. Hauptprobleme der Soziologie. Erin-
75. Geburtstag, 26.7.1950 (Zürich, Switzerland, 1950);
nerungsgabe für Max Weber. 2 vols. (Munich, Germany,
C.-G.-Jung-Institut Zürich, ed. Studien zur analytischen Psy-
1923; König, René, and Johannes Winckelmann, eds. Max
chologie Carl Gustav Jungs. Festschrift zum 80. Geburtstag von
Weber zum Gedächtnis. Materialien und Dokumente zur
C. G. Jung. 2 vols. (Zürich, Switzerland, 1955); Dieckmann,
Bewertung von Werk und Persönlichkeit (Cologne, Germany,
Hans, et al., eds. Aspekte analytischer Psychologie. Zum 100.
1963); and Englisch, Karl et al., eds. Max Weber Gedächt-
Geburtstag von Carl Gustav Jung 1875–1975 (Basel, Switzer-
nisschrift der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München zur
land, 1975).
100. Wiederkehr seines Geburtstags (Berlin, 1966).
Among the important recent Festschriften is one for Hans G. Kip-
Reference Works about Festschriften
penberg: Luchesi, Brigitte, and Kocku von Stuckrad, eds. Re-
Leistner, Otto. Internationale Bibliographie der Festschriften / Inter-
ligion im kulturellen Diskurs. Festschrift für Hans G. Kippen-
national bibliography of Festschriften. Osnabrück, Germany,
berg zu seinem 65. Geburtstag / Religion in Cultural Discourse.
1976. This resource provides a German and English index
Essays in Honor of Hans G. Kippenberg on the Occasion of His
of names and subjects.
65th Birthday (Berlin and New York, 2004); and one for E.
For the period after 1983, the Internationale Jahresbibliographie
Thomas Lawson: Light, Timothy, and Brian C. Wilson, eds.
der Festschriften IJBF / International Annual Bibliography of
Religion as a Human Capacity: A Festschrift in Honor of E.
Festschriften, published by K. G. Saur in Munich, Germany,
Thomas Lawson (Leiden, Netherlands, 2004). Gerardus van
is the major reference tool. This interdisciplinary database
der Leeuw received a Festschrift that reflected a strong theo-
with information about 20,300 international Festschriften
logical commitment: Kooiman, W. J., et al., eds. Pro regno–
and 450,000 contributions is available on CD-ROM and
pro santuario. Een bundle studies en bijdragen bij de 60. ver-
online through some university networks. About a thousand
jaardag van Prof. Dr. Gerardus van der Leeuw (Nijkerk,
Festschriften comprising twelve thousand articles are added
Netherlands, 1950). Of interest for religious studies is also
to the indexed references each year. The IJBF focuses on Eu-
a Festschrift for Karl Löwith: Braun, Hermann, and Manfred
ropean Festschriften in the area of the humanities.
Riedel, eds. Natur und Geschichte. Karl Löwith zum 70. Ge-
burtstag (Stuttgart, Germany, 1967); and one for Johann
KOCKU VON STUCKRAD (2005)
Maier: Merklein, Helmut, et al., eds. Bibel in jüdischer und
christlicher Tradition. Festschrift für Johann Maier zum 60.
Geburtstag (Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 1993). Gustav
Mensching’s Festschrift was edited by Rudolf Thomas: Reli-
FETISHISM. The Oxford English Dictionary (1893–
gion und Religionen. Festschrift für Gustav Mensching zu
1897) defines fetishism as the “superstition of which . . . 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

FETISHISM
3043
characteristic feature” is “an inanimate object worshipped by
the often misrecognized attempt is made to mediate differ-
savages on account of its supposed inherent magical powers,
ence(s) by means of material objects (or persons). Simulta-
or as being animated by a spirit.” This fetish is distinguished
neous epistemic and value crises are often provoked by per-
from an idol “in that it is worshipped in its own character,
sistent contact with otherness. An inadequacy of extant
not as the image, symbol, or occasional residence of the
categories and a disproportion of ascribed values distinguish
deity.” The only problem with this definition is that neither
this ongoing encounter and are met by both avowal and dis-
fetishism nor the fetish exists as such. There are indeed mate-
avowal of that difference. The threatened party finds the
rial objects believed to be imbued with force or power, the
ever-deferred resolution of these dilemmas by displacing the
nature of which varies with object and culture, and that are
recognition of difference upon an object that in its material
used with the intention of achieving particular ends. Consid-
opacity embodies even as it screens the ambiguity. Corre-
er the list offered by Mesquitela Lima:
spondingly, ambivalent affect is directed at, even as signifi-
cance is affixed to, the object. Thus localized and material-
diviners’ implements (i.e., the figurines contained in the
ized, otherness can be marked and mastered while the
diviner’s basket, most of which are carved from any one
of a variety of materials); figurines sculpted in clay or
marking individual or group’s identity is rendered the norm.
in termite secretion; small dried trees or even parts of
The seemingly incommensurable differences between Euro-
a tree, such as roots, twigs, leaves, branches, and fruit;
pean and non-European, colonizer and colonized, capitalist
coarsely sculpted tree trunks; small dolls clothed in net;
and worker, male and female are articulated during contact
miniature musical instruments or miniature agricultural
in terms of oppositions, including religion and nonreligion,
or hunting implements; a large number of figurines
science and superstition (the absence of science), rationality
carved in wood, bone, or ivory in the shape of human
and irrationality, spirit and matter, necessity and accident,
beings, animals or even abstract forms; horns, nails, or
subject and object, order and chaos, culture and nature,
claws, or bits of human or animal skin; small tortoise
human and animal, public and private.
shells; sacred rocks or minerals; crucifixes, medals, or
images used in Christian cults; philters or magic sub-
Since its emergence in the contact zone of European-
stances and medicines. (Lima, 1987, p. 315)
African encounter, no other signifier in the history of the
However, these objects and their use by no means constitute
study of religions has been appropriated by so many secular
a system or the entirety of any culture’s religious practices
discourses. This article will follow how fetishism has tra-
and beliefs. Moreover Wyatt MacGaffey, in his analysis of
versed from mercantile encounter to rationalist anthropology
Kongo religious practices surrounding what have been con-
to philosophy to positivist sociology to political economy to
sidered the exemplary fetish objects known as minkisi, has
sexology to psychoanalysis to aesthetics to postcolonial analy-
demonstrated the inadequacy of any notion of fetish that en-
sis. During its journey “fetishism” functioned as a camera ob-
tails the personification of material cultic objects. Supple-
scura, projecting an inverted picture of Euro-America upon
menting Marcel Mauss’s dismissal of the ethnographic sig-
the screen of a number of persistent others, including the
nificance of “fetishism” as “nothing but an immense
non-Euro-American, the woman, the Jew, and the insane.
misunderstanding between two civilizations, the African and
THE INVENTION OF FETISHISM. While the term fetishism (fé-
the European” (Mauss, 1905–1906, p. 309), MacGaffey
tichisme) was coined in 1760 by Charles de Brosses in his Du
placed the ethnographic data against the characteristic com-
culte des dieux fétiches (The cult of the fetish gods), the pur-
ponents of the fetish as determined by William Pietz, whose
ported practices and beliefs to which the term referred as well
analysis of discourses about fetishism is the standard against
as the family of Portuguese words related to feiticaria or
which contemporary discussions of this topic take their mea-
witchcraft from which it emerged had long been in circula-
sure (MacGaffey, 1994a). Pietz delineated the four primary
tion. Indeed the philological genealogy of fetishism in many
attributes of the fetish as:
ways anticipated the series of oppositions the term would
eventually mediate. Feiticaria finds its roots in the Latin facti-
1. irreducibly material and not representing an immaterial,
cius (manufactured), which also had the occasional pejorative
elsewhere located spirit,
connotation of artifice or something factitious (without an
2. fixing previously heterogeneous elements (e.g., an object
original). In medieval Christian discourse such objects were
and a place) into a novel identity,
associated with the manufactured amulets, images, and po-
tions employed for witchcraft (as opposed to the talismans,
3. embodying the problem of the nonuniversality of value,
remedies, relics, and other sacramental objects given legiti-
and though separate from the body,
macy by the church) and, in medieval Portuguese, came to
4. functioning at times as though it were in control of it.
be known as feitiços. Feitiços were distinguished from idolos
(MacGaffey 1994a; cf. Pietz 1985, 1987, 1988, 1993)
as witchcraft was from idolatry or more generally as magic
was distinguished from those religions—Christianity, Juda-
In his studies MacGaffey finds fundamental disjunctions be-
ism, Islam, and paganism or idolatry—that could found an
tween Kongo minkisi and the fetish so defined.
orderly society. An additional distinction was that feitiços
Consequently this article will focus on how the signifier
were concerned with material bodies rather than souls. In
fetishism has come to delineate a discursive space in which
contradistinction to such magical objects, the object of idol
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3044
FETISHISM
worship was the immaterial demon or false god that the idol
gious origins. From the privilege ascribed to theistic belief
represented and who acted upon the soul of the worshiper.
and the human-divine relation, a discourse emerged in Ber-
nard Fontanelle and David Hume that located the source of
As the Portuguese developed a trade zone along the west
religion in faulty epistemology, childlike intellects, imagina-
coast of Africa from what is now Senegal to Angola, feitiço
tion, fear, and desire. Where natural causality would be,
rather than idolo came to be the dominant Portuguese ascrip-
there were the gods. With de Brosses, a stage of human and
tion of the “religious” practices of the cultures encountered
religious development that preceded polytheism was recog-
in this series of spaces. As trade grew the related pidgin term
nized. Neither beliefs in invisible beings nor amorphous na-
fetisso became affixed by all involved parties to sacramental
ture initiated that development, rather the forces behind the
objects, traded commodities, political emblems, medical
gratification of human desires or the realization of human
preparations, and women’s ornaments that circulated among
fears lay in supernaturally endowed “material, terrestrial enti-
the various populations who peopled these areas of cross-
ties”: fetishes (Brosses, 1988, p. 11).
cultural exchange. The travel accounts of sixteenth- and sev-
enteenth-century European traders, Protestant Dutch and
Although in the wake of Brosses’s work the primitivity
English as well as Catholic Portuguese and French, frequent-
and primordiality of fetishism became a truism, its material
ly referred to material objects held to be endowed by the Afri-
and magical dimensions, in contrast to the spiritual and so-
can populations with magical powers or animated by spirits.
cial dimensions of polytheism and the three monotheisms of
Attribution of religious value by Africans to a wide range of
Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, led to the question whether
material objects was correlated with their apparent inability
fetishism indeed represented the original religion or was in-
to recognize the proper value of the commodities involved
stead the stage preceding religion. Complicating the theolog-
in trade with the Europeans as well as their inability to main-
ical and philosophical questions over the relationship be-
tain proper distinctions between public and private, male
tween the material and the spiritual were the demands of
and female, animal and human. Ironically the same anec-
colonialism (and later imperialism). Indigenous religion was
dotes that illustrated the moral depravity of fetishists depict-
a fundamental tool for maintaining control of the colonized.
ed anarchic polities ruled exclusively by the principle of in-
Consequently, as David Chidester argues, “fetish worship”
terest—projecting upon the other the forces and values that
would be characterized as a religion, not as a consequence
shaped European society. Moreover that the Africans were
of “prolonged exposure, increased familiarity, acquired lin-
said to arbitrarily associate these fetissos with the accom-
guistic competence, intercultural dialogue, or participant ob-
plishment of some desired end appeared to confirm the Eu-
servation,” but as a result of Europeans achieving political
ropean assumption of the Africans’ allegedly deficient mental
and economic control of the particular region (Chidester,
abilities.
1996, pp. 16–17). The Europeans did not perceive them-
selves as supplanting some other legitimate sovereign entity,
By the eighteenth century, as the fetisso began its migra-
rather European control was imposed upon an anarchic situ-
tion from the exclusive reserve of travel literature to the
ation ruled by arbitrariness, irrationality, and desire. On a
emergent rationalist critique of clericalism and superstition,
more fundamental level the distinction between order and
it was rechristened as the fétiche (fetish). The scene shifted
disorder represented the distinction between the human, de-
from the zone of contact where Europe fashioned itself
fined as the zoon politikon (political animal), and the nonhu-
against its non-European other to the emerging zone where
man, pictured as the demonic or savage that found its confir-
the secular fashioned itself against its religious other. Anec-
mation in the distinction between religion and fetishism
dotes from those travelogues, especially Willem Bosman’s A
since, as Ludwig Feuerbach, drawing upon René Descartes
New and Accurate Description of the Coast of Guinea (1704)
and Thomas Hobbes (and before them John Calvin), assert-
and its analogy of fetish worship with Roman Catholicism,
ed in the opening of his Essence of Christianity, “Religion has
became illustrations of the irrationality and immoral conse-
its basis in the essential difference between man and the
quences of ascribing supernatural or teleological qualities to
brute” (Feuerbach, 1989, p. 1).
material objects rather than recognizing physical and me-
chanical causality.
CONTACT, CONQUEST, AND CRISIS: FETISHISM AND THE
HUMAN SCIENCES. As a consequence of its delineation and
Just after mid-century a new term to describe and gener-
appropriation by French philosophes, fetishism disseminated
alize fetish worship, fetishism, emerged with the publication
throughout European philosophic discourse. In his Religion
of Charles de Brosses’s Cult of the Fetish Gods. Fetishism
within the Limits of Reason Alone (1793) Immanuel Kant
would become the zero degree of the Enlightenment taxono-
analogized clericalism to fetishism in order to distinguish be-
my of its other, religion. Rather than sui generis, African fe-
tween true moral religion and false religion, between autono-
tish worship became only the foremost surviving variant of
my and heteronomy. Such labeling allowed Kant to discredit
a variety of worldwide practices relating to cult objects: from
his opponents, render them “irrational,” without ascribing
the biblical Urim and Thummim to Egyptian obelisks to Na-
either evil intent or demonism to them.
tive American manitous. Fetishism was distinguished from
polytheistic idolatry and provided a deeper wedge for crack-
Now the man who does make use of actions, as means,
ing open the theological monopoly on the definition of reli-
which in themselves contain nothing pleasing to God
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FETISHISM
3045
(i.e., nothing moral), in order to earn thereby immedi-
of fetishism “primitive man” endows all external objects with
ate divine approval of himself and there with the attain-
agency and therefore rises above sheer animal inertia. While
ment of his desires, labors under the illusion that he
Comte later reevaluated “fetishism,” or rather “pure fetish-
possesses an art of bringing about a supernatural effect
ism,” as a necessary component of his new positivist religion
through wholly natural means. Such attempts we are
of humanity, his implicitly (r)evolutionary scheme was most
wont to entitle sorcery. But (since this term carries with
influential. While the primacy he ascribed to fetishism as the
it the attendant concept of commerce with the evil prin-
ciple, whereas the above mentioned attempt can be con-
first religion (evolving from a primal atheism) was asserted
ceived to be undertaken, through misunderstanding,
by John Lubbock in his Origin of Civilisation and the Primi-
with good moral intent) we desire to use in place of it
tive Condition of Man (1870) and by representatives of the
the word fetishism, familiar in other connections.
German school of ethnopsychology (Völkerpsychologie)
(Kant, 1960, p. 165)
among others, its primordial status was contested by ani-
By extending materiality from particular objects to all means,
mism, animatism, totemism, Urmonotheismus (primal mo-
fetishism, or “fetish-faith,” came to extend beyond the bor-
notheism), and other claimants.
ders of Africa to encompass everything in the realm of reli-
In the 1840s Brosses’s work not only influenced
gion—including, in a clear allusion to Moses Mendelssohn’s
Comte’s positivist musings, it was also picked up and ex-
Jerusalem (1783), the Jews—except for “purely moral” reli-
cerpted by the young Karl Marx, who was in the midst of
gion (Kant, 1960, p. 181–182).
an extensive ethnographic reading program that also includ-
G. W. F. Hegel, by contrast, limited the extent of fetish-
ed other discussions of fetishism by Karl Böttiger and Benja-
ism to sub-Saharan Africa, where it came to exemplify the
min Constant. These early studies of what Marx called “the
historical development or lack thereof of a continent and its
religion of sensuous desire” were soon relocated from the co-
peoples. Fetishism was emblematic of the African character,
lonial periphery to a metropole itself divided into secular and
which
religious spheres as well as into exploiting capitalist and ex-
ploited proletariat classes. Marx began his analysis of value
is difficult to comprehend, because it is so totally differ-
in contemporary capitalism in the first volume of Capital
ent from our own culture, and so remote and alien in
with a discussion of the fetishism of commodities: that which
relation to our own mode of consciousness. We must
forget all the categories which are fundamental to our
was viewed as most primitive came to characterize the seat
own spiritual life, i.e. the forms under which we nor-
of civilization, and that which was viewed as the most secular
mally subsume the data which confront us; the difficul-
of activities—political economy—was unveiled as the reli-
ty here is that our customary preconceptions will still
gion of everyday life. In a dialectically materialist appropria-
inevitably intrude in all out deliberations. (Hegel, 1975,
tion of Feuerbach’s theory of religion, the value borne by the
p. 176)
fetishized commodity was the culmination of the alienation
The people characterized by fetishism were outside history
and objectification of human labor. In contrast to Marx’s
and substantial objectivity, outside God and morality; they
earlier construction, fetishism, as the fetishism of commodi-
were ruled by caprice, by the arbitrary rule of the individual
ties, is directed at “a thing which transcends sensuousness.”
projected outward onto a misrecognized natural form. This
With the circulation of commodities, “the definite social re-
religion of “sensuous arbitrariness” was the lowest form of
lation between men themselves . . . assumes here, for them,
religion, immediate religion. If religion it was: “A fetish of
the fantastic form of a relation between things” (Marx, 1977,
this kind has no independent existence as an object of reli-
pp. 163, 165). As in the fetishism described in his early read-
gion, and even less as a work of art. It is merely an artifact
ings, Marx analogizes, “The products of the human brain ap-
which expresses the arbitrary will of its creator, and which
pear as autonomous figures endowed with a life of their own,
always remains in his hands” (Hegel, 1975, pp. 190, 181).
which enter into relations both with each other and with the
This debasement of consciousness mirrored the debasement
human race” (Marx, 1977, p. 165). Even as it expropriates
of social life: fetishism was one with cannibalism and slavery.
use value from the fetishist other, capital reproduces the mis-
Fetishism embodied the origin that future development
recognitions that it ascribes to that other.
would disavow; it was the threshold moment when humanity
Just as the fetish had come to figure and facilitate the
separated itself from bare life, from animal nature.
debasement of social life—whether in the form of slavery ac-
Though Samuel Taylor Coleridge analogized fetishism
cording to Hegel or proletarianization for Marx—and of so-
with vulgar empiricism, the proponent of scientific positiv-
ciety-sustaining morality, so it became associated with the
ism Auguste Comte would determine it to be the first devel-
fears of degeneration that haunted the Europeans of the last
opmental stage of human intelligence and world history. In
decades of the nineteenth century. In a France that was expe-
his Course in Positive Philosophy (1830–1842) Comte posited
riencing a decline in both its colonial reach and its European
three universal stages of human development—theology,
position, the perceived source of the threatening physical and
metaphysics, and science (scientific positivism)—with the
moral debilitation and consequent devirilization and depop-
first, the age of theology, itself assuming a triadic structure:
ulation, of cultural crises of national, sexual, and gender dif-
fetishism, polytheism, monotheism. For Comte, in the stage
ference, was sexual perversion. The psychiatrist Alfred Binet
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3046
FETISHISM
(1887) gave the cause of individual and national decay a
stereotype often entailed the Euro-Americans’ discursive fix-
name: fetishism. Like the people under French colonial dom-
ation upon a part of the other’s body. The fixated-upon body
ination, French men were seeking the satisfaction of their
part was often one that had been subjected to some disci-
sensuous desires not by the real (here: “natural” acts of geni-
pline, practice, or technique: the circumcised penis, the
tal sexuality) but by fixing their attention upon objects (or
bound foot, tattooed skin. This overvalued mark or member
body parts) whose value accrued from some past accidental
uncannily conjoined the natural and the cultural. This am-
encounter. Fetishism was characteristic of a perverse predis-
biguous conjunction of two (culturally) differentiated orders
position, just as Hegel had suggested that the fetishistic be-
of being contributed to both the fascination and the horror
havior of Africans was inherent to their character. Yet even
evoked by such body techniques. Further, through such cor-
as the fetish was displaced from the religious to the sexual,
poreal metonymies, discourses in which historical difference
Binet felt compelled to analogize different levels of fetishism
was naturalized as race and in which natural difference was
with those other religious stages with which fetishism had
figured by sex combined to construct the ethnic, gender, and
previously been contrasted, polytheism and monotheism. He
sexual identity of the other. These fetishistic constructs pro-
compared normal love, which is composed of a myriad of fe-
vided symbolic substitutes for and objectified representations
tishistic excitations, with polytheism and fetishism, previous-
of the otherness—both the indigenous heterogeneous popu-
ly associated with the base of the pyramid of religious forms,
lations of modern Euro-American society and the different
in its most singular and perverted form with monotheism,
peoples contacted in colonial expansion—which under-
the pinnacle. In a world gone upside down, the civilized were
mined the narcissistic phantasy of Euro-American whole-
going native. Within four years after the publication of
ness, of autonomy and dominance.
Binet’s 1887 “Le fétichisme dans l’amour” (Fetishism in
In sum, fetishism has come to signify the apotropaically
Love), the authoritative compendia of sexual pathology,
monumentalized negotiations at the internal and external
Richard Krafft-Ebing’s Psychopathis Sexualis declared fetish-
borders of culture. That is, it signifies the stuff that helps one
ism the general form of sexual pathology.
think (or more likely misrecognize) the alienations, ambigui-
ties, and contradictions that make up everyday life.
Unlike totemism, fetishism came under Sigmund
Freud’s scrutiny in his analyses of sexuality and not of the
SEE ALSO Transculturation and Religion.
genesis of religion. Instead of the perception of fetishism as
the sign of a crisis of difference, the degeneration feared by
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JAY GELLER (2005)
thought. For Feuerbach, the real is that which offers resis-
tance to the entire sensuous being of the person—to sight,
feeling, even love. Consequently, human existence is exis-
FEUERBACH, LUDWIG (1804–1872), German
tence with others—it is communal.
humanistic philosopher of religion and influential spokes-
Feuerbach’s inversion of Hegel’s basic metaphysical vi-
man for the Young Hegelians. Born into a gifted Bavarian
sion informs The Essence of Christianity. If Hegel regarded
family, Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach studied theology at the
nature and history as the self-objectification of the Absolute,
University of Heidelberg before transferring to Berlin, where
Feuerbach regarded God, the Absolute, as the reification of
he became an enthusiastic convert to Hegelianism. In 1828
the essential predicates of human existence: reason, feeling,
he completed his doctoral work at the University of Erlang-
and love. The idea of God is the idea of the species character-
en, where he remained as a docent until he was denied ten-
istics of humankind involuntarily and unconsciously project-
ure, having been identified as the author of the anonymously
ed as an object of thought and worship. God is, so to speak,
published book Thoughts on Death and Immortality. In it he
an acoustical illusion of consciousness. Hence the history of
argued that the Christian doctrine of personal immortality
religions, of which Christianity is the culmination, is the
was a form of egoism incompatible with a belief in the Abso-
childlike, collective dream of humanity in which it worships
lute as infinite love. The book was especially offensive be-
and contemplates its own essential nature. Just as Hegel ar-
cause of the sarcastic epigrams about pietistic Christianity
gued that the Absolute must become reconciled with its
appended to the text. Never again was he offered an academ-
alienated objectifications (the finite), so too Feuerbach ar-
ic position.
gued that human well-being depends on the reappropriation
In 1837 Feuerbach married Bertha Löw, and the in-
of the real content contained in the alienated idea of God.
come from a porcelain factory of which she was part owner
The inner meaning of Christian theology is anthropology.
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3048
FICHTE, JOHANN GOTTLIEB
The first part of The Essence of Christianity attempts to
lected Correspondence from and to Ludwig Feuerbach, together
show that all the major Christian doctrines—especially those
with some of Bolin’s memoirs.
of God and the incarnation—can best be understood as an-
Six of Feuerbach’s works have been translated into English: (1)
thropology. The second part is more negative, seeking to es-
Thoughts on Death and Immortality, translated with introduc-
tablish that Christian theology is full of contradictions if
tion and notes by James A. Massey (Berkeley, 1980); (2) The
these human predicates are attributed to a single, metaphysi-
Essence of Christianity, the famous translation by George
cal being.
Eliot of the second German edition (New York, 1957); (3)
The Essence of Faith According to Luther, translated with a
Feuerbach’s book is still regarded by many as one of the
brief but suggestive introduction by Melvin Cherno (New
seminal works of the nineteenth century and the first com-
York, 1967); (4) Principles of the Philosophy of the Future (In-
prehensive projection theory of religion. Religion is not dis-
dianapolis, 1966), which contains a long introduction by the
missed merely as superstitious belief, but seen as a necessary
translator, Manfred H. Vogel, exploring Feuerbach’s philos-
stage in the development of human self-consciousness.
ophy of religion and his relationship to Hegel; (5) Lectures
Moreover, the book is the first systematic attempt to develop
on the Essence of Religion (New York, 1967), a translation by
a body of principles for interpreting Christian doctrine in its
Ralph Manheim based on the Bolin-Jodl version of 1908 and
not the text Feuerbach himself published; and (6) The Essence
entirety. Christian doctrines are profound insights when
of Religion (New York, 1873), an abridged edition translated
taken as anthropological truths, but a mass of contradictions
by Alexander Loos, long out of print.
when taken as objective theological propositions.
There are four scholarly treatments of Feuerbach in English: Van
Feuerbach modified his theory of religion in a small
A. Harvey, Feuerbach and the Interpretation of Religion,
book, The Essence of Religion (1845), which in turn was am-
(Cambridge, 1995); Larry Johnston, Between Transcendence
plified in Lectures on the Essence of Religion (1848). In these
and Nihilism, (New York, 1995); Marx W. Wartofsky,
books he emphasized the role of external nature in the devel-
Feuerbach (New York, 1977); and Charles A. Wilson Feuer-
opment of the religious consciousness, as well as the causal
bach and the Search for Otherness, (New York, 1989). A useful
role played by wishes, needs, instincts, and desires. The basic
introduction is Eugene Kamenka’s The Philosophy of Ludwig
Feuerbach (New York, 1970). There are many important
drive of the self to preserve and develop all its powers (Egois-
books about Feuerbach in German. Still indispensable is
mus) is said to be the hidden subjective cause of religion,
Simon Rawidowicz’s Ludwig Feuerbachs Philosophie: Urs-
while nature, falsified by the imagination, is said to be its ob-
prung und Schicksal (1931; reprint, Berlin, 1964). Also rec-
jective ground.
ommended is Michael von Gagern, Ludwig Feuerbach. Philo-
Feuerbach stated that his first and last thoughts were
sophie und Religionskritik (Munich and Salzburg, 1970).
about religion, and he turned to it once again in Theogonie,
VAN A. HARVEY (1987 AND 2005)
first published in 1857 and again, with a slightly altered title,
in 1866. This work attempts to explain morality, culture,
and religion in terms of a basic drive for happiness (Glück-
seligkeitstrieb), with arguments drawn from classical Greek,
FICHTE, JOHANN GOTTLIEB (1762–1814),
Hebraic, and early Christian sources. The gods are said to
was a German Idealist philosopher and religious thinker.
be the reified wishes of humankind. Since all wishes are
Usually remembered mainly for his part in the development
fraught with a haunting sense of their contingency and possi-
of German Idealism from Kant to Hegel and for his contri-
ble failure, the imagination seizes upon the idea of a being
bution to the rise of German national consciousness, Fichte
that is not subject to limitation and death. Although Feuer-
is also an important figure in European religious thought at
bach regarded this book as his finest, it has generally been
the end of the Enlightenment. Born in Rammenau (Lausitz),
ignored.
he enrolled in the University of Jena as a student of theology
when he was eighteen. During his studies and a subsequent
period as a private tutor in Zurich, he was apparently unac-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
quainted with Kant’s philosophy and seems to have been a
A new critical edition of Feuerbach’s works, Gesammelte Werke,
determinist who admired Spinoza. Returning to Leipzig in
20 vols. (Berlin, 1967–), is under the editorship of Werner
1790, he began a study of Kant that led to his conversion
Schuffenhauer; indispensable for serious scholarship, it con-
tains the textual variations of all editions of Feuerbach’s
to Kantian practical philosophy. His fragmentary “Aphoris-
major works. It supplants Wilhelm Bolin and Friedrich
men über Religion und Deismus,” written at this time, re-
Jodl’s edition, Sämtliche Werke, 10 vols. (Stuttgart, 1903–
veals his concern with the tension between simple Christian
1911), which was reissued in facsimile in 1960–1964 under
piety and philosophical speculation.
the editorship of H.-M. Sass. In the facsimile edition, two
A fateful turn in Fichte’s life and career came in 1791,
more volumes were added. The eleventh contains a photo-
graphic facsimile of Feuerbach’s inauguration dissertation of
when he traveled to Königsberg to meet Kant. Hoping to at-
1828 (in Latin), his Thoughts on Death and Immortality
tract the master’s attention, Fichte set out to write his own
(1830), and an extensive bibliography of all works on Feuer-
letter of introduction in the form of a Kantian-style “critique
bach in German between 1833 and 1961. The twelve (dou-
of revelation.” When financial hardship cut short his stay in
ble) volumes contain Sass’s expanded edition of Bolin’s Se-
Königsberg, Fichte asked Kant for a loan to finance his re-
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

FICINO, MARSILIO
3049
turn to Leipzig but got instead an offer to arrange publica-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
tion of Fichte’s manuscript with Kant’s own publisher. De-
Works by Fichte
layed for a time by the Prussian state censor, Fichte’s Attempt
The standard and most accessible edition of Fichte’s works is Jo-
at a Critique of All Revelation made its debut at the Leipzig
hann Gottlieb Fichte’s sämmtliche Werke, 8 vols., edited by J.
Easter Fair in 1792 under puzzling circumstances. The pub-
H. Fichte (1845–1846; reprint, Berlin 1971); the writings
lisher, perhaps deliberately, omitted both the author’s name
on religion make up volume 5. A critical edition is being
and his signed preface. The book was widely assumed to be
published as the J. G. Fichte-Gesamtausgabe der Bayerischen
Kant’s long-awaited work on religion and received laudatory
Akademie der Wissenschaften, edited by Reinhard Lauth and
Hans Jacob (Stuttgart, 1964–). I have translated Versuch
reviews in the leading journals. When Kant announced the
einer Kritik aller Offenbarung, 2d ed. (Königsberg, 1793), as
true authorship, Fichte became an important philosopher
Attempt at a Critique of All Revelation (Cambridge, 1978),
virtually overnight. The book appeared in a revised second
with an introduction and a bibliography of primary and sec-
edition the following year, with Fichte’s name on the title
ondary works.
page, and in 1794 he was appointed to a chair of philosophy
Works about Fichte
in Jena.
An insightful discussion of Fichte’s importance for Christian
thought is contained in volume 4 of Emanuel Hirsch’s
Like Kant’s Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone
Geschichte der neuern evangelischen Theologie, 5 vols. (Güters-
(published a year later), Fichte’s Critique of All Revelation ar-
loh, 1949). Wolfgang Ritzel traces the development of Fich-
gues that a valid revelation must conform to the moral law,
te’s religious thought through his entire career in Fichtes Reli-
which is purely an internal concern of reason. Fichte main-
gionsphilosophie,
“Forschungen zur Kirchen- und
tains that a revelation in external nature is nevertheless possi-
Geistesgeschichte,” vol. 5 (Stuttgart, 1956).
ble because some people are so enmeshed in the sensuous
GARRETT GREEN (1987)
that God can advance the moral law only by presenting it
in sensuous terms. When Fichte published his own Idealist
system in 1794, titled Wissenschaftslehre (Science of knowl-
edge), he abandoned his explicit dependence on Kant’s phi-
FICINO, MARSILIO (1433–1499), was the most em-
losophy while claiming to remain loyal to its fundamental
inent philosopher of the Renaissance. Ficino employed Neo-
aims. By giving up the Kantian “thing-in-itself” (Ding an
platonism, the characteristic form of Renaissance philoso-
sich), Fichte overcomes the duality of theoretical and practi-
phy, as a support for Christianity. Cosimo de’ Medici,
cal, deriving all knowing from the activity of the transcen-
impressed with Ficino’s precosity, gave him the opportunity
dental ego (das Ich). He thereby inaugurates the transforma-
to learn Greek and presented him with his country house at
tion of Kant’s critical philosophy, which culminates in the
Florence, the Villa Careggi, where Ficino presided over his
absolute Idealism of Schelling and Hegel. Fichte’s essay on
“Platonic academy.”
the divine governance of the world, published in 1798, led
Ficino edited the complete works of Plato, translated
to the famous Atheism Controversy, which resulted in the
Plato’s Dialogues, wrote a commentary on the Symposium,
loss of his position in Jena and his move to Berlin. Fichte’s
and edited and translated various works of Neoplatonists
religious position at this time could be more accurately de-
such as Plotinus (the Enneads), Proclus, Iamblichus, Porphy-
scribed as ethical pantheism than as atheism, for he equated
ry, and Dionysius the Areopagite. He also translated from
the human inner sense of the moral law with God’s gover-
Greek to Latin various second- and third-century mystical
nance of the world. Convicted of teaching “atheism,” he was
and gnostic texts (Poimandres) ascribed to Hermes
dismissed from the University of Jena in 1799.
Trismegistos.
During the last period of his life in Berlin, Fichte devel-
In 1473, after an extended period of melancholy, Ficino
oped his political and economic views in the Speeches to the
became a priest. His own best-known works are On the
German Nation, while continuing to revise and develop his
Christian Religion and Platonic Theology, the latter an elabo-
Wissenschaftslehre in lectures and in print. Ironically, the man
rate statement of his Christianized Neoplatonic philosophy.
who lost his position for being an atheist moved in an in-
Ficino’s “pious philosophy” or “learned religion” presup-
creasingly mystical and theosophical direction in his later
posed an epistemology of poesy and faith. Divine poetry and
years.
allegory serve as a veil for true religion, for the rhapsodic and
the mystical express religious truth, which cannot be ex-
Fichte died in 1814 of a fever caught from his wife, who
pressed by simple intellectual formulas. A religious syncretist
was nursing victims of an epidemic. His writings exerted a
and universalist, Ficino believed that truth has been trans-
continuing influence not only on philosophers but also on
mitted through a long tradition from the ancient philoso-
theologians, including Friedrich Schleiermacher. Fichte
phers and that wisdom has been revealed in many forms.
stands as a Janus figure between the religious rationalism of
Plato and the Neoplatonists, he believed, encompassed in
the Enlightenment, which he embraced in his youth, and the
their thought all the elements of the “ancient philosophy of
new currents of Idealist and Romantic thought, to which he
the gentiles.” Ficino envisioned everything within the cos-
contributed original impulses.
mos as a great hierarchy of being. The One (God) is the abso-
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3050
FICTION: HISTORY OF THE NOVEL
lute and uncontradicted original essence prior to the plurality
FICTION: HISTORY OF THE NOVEL
of finite things, the ultimate unity of all things. The lesser
The novel has long been considered a literary form existing
orders are brought into being by emanations proceeding
apart from religion, even if religion as social and moral fact
from the One. The way of ascent to the eternal One moves
may enter into the lives of its characters from time to time.
from bodies, through qualities, souls, and heavenly intelli-
The belief that the novel, our term for a lengthy work of fic-
gences, with humanity at the center of this great chain of
tion in prose, is solely the product of the period currently (if
being, for humans are bound to the world of matter by their
unhappily) labeled “Early Modern” has helped to sustain the
bodies and linked to the realm of the spirit by their souls.
belief that the novel is a triumphantly modern and secular
Humanity is assured of its own divinity, since God is imma-
form of literature. We dwell on authorship and prose style,
nent in humans through emanation. Ficino added a Chris-
but ignore earlier problematic points of development, in-
tian patina to this Neoplatonic theodicy by identifying the
cluding the eventual advent of the author as an individual
demiurge, or intermediary, between the One and the subdi-
“maker” instead of inspired recipient of divine information
vided spiritual and material world with the divine Logos,
(see Finkelberg, 1998); in modern literature departments we
Christ, through whom the world was made and who “be-
rarely pause to inquire into the rise of prose itself as a signifi-
came flesh and dwelt among us.” The church through dogma
cant and perhaps intrinsically democratic medium (see Gold-
and sacrament keeps its people in touch with the spiritual
hill, 2002).
world. Someday the immortal human soul, freed from the
THE HISTORY OF THE NOVEL AND ITS HISTORIANS.
prison house of the body, will enjoy the beatific vision of
God without mediation.
Claude de Saumaise. The English history of the novel,
born in the eighteenth century and placing its conception
All parts of the universe, Ficino taught in his treatise On
and birth in that century, flew in the face of another history
Light, are held together by bonds of sympathetic love. The
composed by scholars on the Continent. The noted scholar
highest form of love, Platonic love, moves the true lover to
and political theorist Claude de Saumaise (Claudius Salmasi-
love another for the sake of God. This love guides humanity
us; 1588–1653) in 1640 proposes a line of transmission in
in its choice of good over evil and of the beautiful over the
succinct prefatory essays to his edition of the Greek text of
unlovely. Ficino’s close association of goodness and truth
Achilles Tatius’s novel, here presented as Erotikon, sive de
with beauty appealed to the aesthetic sense of the Renais-
Clitophontis et Levkippes Amoribus (Erotic stories, or the
sance and influenced literature and art as well as philosophy
Loves of Kleitophon and Leukippe). In his dedicatory Prae-
and theology.
fatio and the address Ad Lectorem (To the reader) Salmasius
tacitly picks up a suggestion made by Miguel de Cervantes
BIBLIOGRAPHY
(1547–1616), when the Spanish novelist’s unnamed frame-
Ficino’s works have been published as Opera omnia (1576), 2 vols.
narrator of Don Quixote describes the finding of the mysteri-
(Turin, 1959), and Supplementum Ficinianum, 2 vols., edited
by Paul O. Kristeller (Florence, 1937). See also The Letters
ous manuscript written in Arabic by Cide Hamete Benen-
of Marsilio Ficino, 3 vols. (London, 1975–1981). On his
geli, for which he must find a (Muslim) Arab-speaking trans-
thought, the most comprehensive study available in English
lator, although officially there are no such persons left in
is Kristeller’s The Philosophy of Marsilio Ficino (1943; reprint,
Spain after the ethnic cleansing of the Catholic kings. (The
Gloucester, Mass., 1964). For a brief introduction to his
initial act of censorship is massacre and expulsion.) Salmasius
thought, one may turn to Kristeller’s Eight Philosophers of the
proposes that the novel’s origins lie in the East, “The Persians
Italian Renaissance (Stanford, Calif., 1964), pp. 37–53, and
first affected this kind of amorous literature. . . . You will
The Renaissance Philosophy of Man, edited by Ernst Cassirer
not find it hard to believe that of old they introduced the
et al. (Chicago, 1948), pp. 185–212. For the larger picture
beginning [originem] of Milesian fables in Asia [i.e., Asia
of Neoplatonism and its influence, see Nesca A. Robb’s Neo-
Minor] which they ruled. Certainly they gave to the Arabs
platonism of the Italian Renaissance (1935; reprint, New York,
the fashion of this same kind of writing and the genius for
1968).
it. The Arabs then transmitted it to the Spanish. From the
LEWIS W. SPITZ (1987)
Spanish we Gauls in turn took it, and from them indeed it
also went elsewhere.”
Salmasius traces a clear line of transmission: antique fic-
FICTION
This entry consists of the following articles:
tion comes from the Persians into Asia Minor and thence
into Greek and Roman writings; modern European prose fic-
HISTORY OF THE NOVEL
THE WESTERN NOVEL AND RELIGION
tion derives from Arabic fiction already influenced by Per-
LATIN AMERICAN FICTION AND RELIGION
sians and Greeks and then transmitted through the Moors
CHINESE FICTION AND RELIGION
to Spain and thence to the rest of Europe.
JAPANESE FICTION AND RELIGION
SOUTHEAST ASIAN FICTION AND RELIGION
Pierre-Daniel Huet. A few years after Salmasius suc-
AUSTRALIAN FICTION AND RELIGION
cinctly propounded this theory, Bishop Pierre-Daniel Huet
OCEANIC FICTION AND RELIGION
AFRICAN FICTION AND RELIGION
(1630–1721) wrote his Traité de l’origine des romans. This
NATIVE AMERICAN FICTION AND RELIGION
important work was first published in 1670 as a preface to
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

FICTION: HISTORY OF THE NOVEL
3051
Zayde, a novel about an Oriental woman written by a
became suspect by the mid-eighteenth century, and the term
woman, though issued under the name of a male writer (Se-
history was more generally employed to describe a full-length
grais). Huet’s treatise (in the form of a letter to Segrais, a re-
work of prose fiction, for example, Fielding’s The History of
spectable male-male discussion) was soon reprinted and am-
Tom Jones, a Foundling. This influenced Continental usage;
plified as a book. Huet argues that in composing histories
see, for example, Antoine-François Prévost d’Exiles’s (1697–
of this kind of writing we have stuck too close to home, “It
1763) L’Histoire d’une Grecque moderne.
is neither in Provence nor in Spain, as many believe, that we
ANCIENT NOVELS. We must admit, along with Huet, that
must hope to find the first beginnings of this agreeable
the novel in the West has much longer and less certainly
amusement of good idle folk [cet agréable amusement des hon-
“Western” roots. Certain prose fictions by authors writing
nestes paresseux]; we must go to seek them in the most distant
in Greek and Latin from about the first century BCE to the
countries and in the most remote antiquity.”
third century CE continued to influence Western literature
Huet’s history makes the novel an arena of cultural anxi-
both in the Byzantine regions and in Roman Europe. Their
ety and contestation. By 1674 Nicolas Boileau (1636–1711)
influence was renewed in the Age of Print; some of these
was forced to take into account the implications of Huet’s
novels were among the earliest fictional works to be printed,
Traité. Boileau initiated the brilliant strategy of attacking the
such as Asinus aureus (The golden ass) by the second-century
novel not only as a feminine and effeminating kind of litera-
author known as Apuleius (c. 124–c. 170), first printed in
ture, but also as a “bourgeois” form. For Huet, the novel ex-
1469. Many of these works, rendered familiar to readers of
isted before such modern social or literary classifications,
the Renaissance, acted as decided influences on the develop-
springing as it does from the deep past and from diverse
ment of new fictions in the vernacular, including novelists
sources in folk traditions and various aristocratic cultures. It
writing in English in the eighteenth century and later. The
was an international—one could say “multicultural”—form
influence of Aithiopika, to take but one example, can be seen
of literature. The English definers of the novel tradition were
not only in the Arcadia by Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586),
trying to wrest the form from Huet and from contamination
but also in Cervantes’ Persiles y Sigismunda, and in Richard-
by the alien. Their strategy entails ignoring Continental fic-
son’s Clarissa.
tion almost entirely at least, until after the “rise” of the novels
What were these early Western novels? We must be
of Daniel Defoe (1660–1731), Samuel Richardson (1689–
leery of writing stories of “origins” at least in the sense of
1761), and Henry Fielding (1707–1754) ensured the estab-
finding an exact terminus. We do not know when the first
lishment of the “new” form as of English growth. Such a
of the Greek stories of love and adventures (such as used to
story of the novel has been freshly established in Ian Watt’s
be called “Greek romances”) was written. Possibly the earliest
The Rise of the Novel: Studies in Defoe, Richardson, and Fiel-
of those surviving in full is Chariton of Aphrodisias’ (first or
ding (1957). In this English-manufactured account, only
second century CE) Chaireas and Kallirhoe, which some wish
Don Quixote of all Continental works is allowed a place. Un-
to date as early as 50 BCE, though others would put it as late
like Salmasius and Huet, English claimants to the invention
as the second century. One piece of literary evidence indi-
of the novel do not see in Don Quixote a tribute to the Orien-
cates that there were a number of such novels in existence
tal sources of this literature, but rather a handy repudiation
by the early first century CE. If we accept the standard equa-
of all Continental forms of novelistic fiction. Don Quixote
tion of Petronius the author with Petronius Arbiter, his work
becomes an honorary British fiction, a herald of the realistic
on the Satyricon was finished by the date of his enforced
and commonsensical novel that remained for the English to
death in 66 CE. This novel plays with the tropes of the Greek
invent and perfect. (Too bad for Cervantes that such an ac-
novels: with wandering lovers separated, much roaming from
count made it necessary to suppress all reference to his last
place to place, impediments resulting from offenses commit-
work, Persiles y Sigismunda, a prose romance manifesting the
ted against the gods, the temporary enslavement of the cen-
devices and tropes that Cervantes is supposed to have killed
tral characters, a sea journey and shipwreck, and so on. If Pe-
off.)
tronius is able to treat the material of the novel as well known
and to play thus with it, the genre must have been fully estab-
Development of the term novel. The word novel is a
lished by the mid-first century, though the best of the surviv-
relatively modern invention; in the sixteenth and seventeenth
ing examples come to us from the second and third centuries.
centuries the term was in use but functioning much like our
term novella, referring to a short fiction. A long fiction in
Latin novels. Only two major novels in Latin have
prose, like long fictions in poetic narration, was termed a ro-
come down to us. Petronius’ Satyricon, if early in the tempo-
mance; the word romance indicated simply and basically a
ral sequence, is ultrasophisticated and its fragmentary state
work written in the vernacular (one of the romance lan-
adds to a sophistication in montage creatively imitated by
guages, such as French, Italian, or Spanish) and had no nega-
writers like François Rabelais (1483–1553), Laurence Sterne
tive significance—save to those who disliked all made-up sto-
(1713–1768), and James Joyce (1882–1941). Apuleius’
ries. To this day, Continental languages have stubbornly
Metamorphoses has an ascertained author and a fairly clear
adhered to the basic terms il romanzo (Italian), le roman
date (c. 160 CE). Shorter works in Latin include the late
(French), and der roman (German). For the English the term
Ephemeris Belli Troiani (Diary of the Trojan War), presented
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

3052
FICTION: HISTORY OF THE NOVEL
as a found manuscript by an invented narrator “Dictys Cre-
BCE), one of the foreigners who brought the scientific spirit
tensis” or “Dictys of Crete” (traditionally, all Cretans are
of Ionia to the marketplace of Athens. Dangerous if attractive
liars). There were many other fictions, now lost; Apuleius
representatives of alien cultures were introducing moral rela-
wrote a second novel that—sadly—has not come down to
tivism, disrespecting tradition, and undermining the inde-
us. Apuleius’ extant novel is based on the Greek novel Onos
pendent city-state, the polis. The democratizing of power
(The ass), which was once attributed (wrongly, we now
through rhetoric probably did herald the end of an idealized
think) to Lucian of Samosata (c. 120–c. 190), who is, howev-
enclosed and aristocratically controlled polis. After the polis
er, certainly the author of that fine parodic work of science
had been fundamentally altered in the Hellenistic age and
fiction, known as Vera Historia (True story; c. 170 CE).
then subsumed into the Roman Empire, gentlemen from dif-
Greek novels. There are many more extant examples of
ferent regions shared a common educational syllabus, includ-
ancient novels in Greek, including the novella Chion of
ing training in rhetoric. Athens had become a kind of univer-
Heraklea (c. 100 CE), which demonstrates that the classical
sity where wealthy young males from various parts of the
world had already invented epistolary narrative. There are
Roman Empire could meet, instilling in themselves the Hel-
five works of substantial length; one, Ephesiaka (The Ephe-
lenic—or Hellenistic—sense of the beautiful and true. The
sian story; c. 150 CE) by Xenophon of Ephesus (dates un-
writers of our novels arose out of this colonial matrix, sharing
known), may be partly a paraphrase. The other four are com-
something of the culture of the center. Yet, they were capable
plete texts (given a few cruxes and some missing sentences):
of going beyond the Hellenistic- and Roman-adapted mental
Chaireas and Kallirhoe by Chariton; Kleitophon and Leukippe
world. By and before the second century CE writers and read-
(c. 150 CE) by Achilles Tatius; Daphnis and Chloe (c. 200 CE)
ers were evidently interested in finding ways of understand-
by Longus; and Aithiopika (The Ethiopian story) by Helio-
ing and assimilating influences that did not emanate from
dorus of Emesa (date uncertain; estimates have ranged from
Rome or Athens as Rome interpreted it. By this time the He-
the second to the late fourth century, but it is most tempting
brew scriptures had become available in the Greek Septua-
to believe it belongs to the period of rule of the African em-
gint to non-Jewish readers. Christianity was becoming a
peror Septimius Severus (r. 193–211 CE). All these have
force to be reckoned with, though it was only one of many
named authors (though whether these are the genuine names
strange religions. Christian, Jewish, and “pagan” authors
of the writers has been challenged) and all are referred to in
sought new narrative forms, visible to us in works like the
varying titles, sometimes naming the heroine alone: Achilles’
Apocrypha, the Gospels, and the Acts; some recent studies
Leukippe and Heliodorus’s Charikleia.
attend to the relation between Christian writings and the
early novels (e.g., Thomas, 2003). Christian imagination
The dating of these works is vexed, and we should be
found expression in a number of works, including the Greek
warned by the errors of great scholars of the past such as
Poimen (The Shepherd of Hermas), a sometimes novelistic text
Erwin Rohde (1845–1898) not to put too much faith into
that once had practically canonical standing). Recognitiones
our own current temporal schemata. Scholars used to be at-
(Recognitions; c. 150–250), the Latin Christian novel, has
tracted to the late classical self-definition of the period of the
as its narrator Clement, the future second pope; here, he is
“Second Sophistic,” in which rhetorical play of a kind partly
a young man, who becomes a convert and a member of the
associated with the East (including Alexandria) enjoyed a re-
circle around Saint Peter (d. c. 64 CE) during the conflict
crudescence in new works. Plays of ideas and words, an un-
with Simon Magus.
derstanding of how to interpret and describe works of visual
art, clever and unexpected uses of literary allusions, and a
There is at least one Jewish novel, aside from works like
self-conscious stance in relation to the literary tradition—all
Judith and Daniel. Joseph and Asenath perhaps existed in the
mark works of the Second Sophistic. These qualities, howev-
first century BCE, if rewritten later, so as to convey a Chris-
er, can be found outside the second-century temporal zone.
tian perspective. The Egyptian heroine Asenath, based on a
The term Second Sophistic was coined in reference to a
personage crisply alluded to in Genesis 41:50, is the center
presumed “First Sophistic,” the period of the late fifth and
of the story. Amusingly, she is at first utterly contemptuous
early fourth century BCE, in which rhetoricians had flour-
of Joseph (her future husband), seeing him as an alien for-
ished in Athens. “Sophists” were repudiated as pseudo-wise
tune-teller who (she has heard) lay with his mistress. (She will
and dangerous by Socrates (c. 469–399 BCE) and Plato
be converted to Joseph and to Judaism.)
(c. 428–348 BCE). Sophists, Plato believed, pervert the truth
Cultural variety of novelists. One thing is as clear to
with ingenious twisting of words and undermine aristocracy
us as it evidently was to Huet: the authors of the Greek nov-
by the employment of verbal techniques that they could
els were not Hellenes from the mainland of Greece. These
make available to anyone who pays. Proponents of the Sec-
authors came from the conquered eastern areas of the Roman
ond Sophistic consciously reversed Plato, declaring there is
Empire. They were Syrians like Lucian and Heliodorus (who
value in this préciosité.
came from a town in modern Iraq), or they came from inland
The Sophists were often foreign to Athens—men such
Asia Minor like Chariton or from the intellectually and ma-
as Gorgias of Leontini, who came to Athens as an ambassa-
terially rich coastal region, like Xenophon of Ephesus and
dor in 427 BCE, or Hippodamos of Miletus (fifth century
Longus, who appears to be from the Lesbos he describes. Pe-
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FICTION: HISTORY OF THE NOVEL
3053
tronius alone has the credentials of a man of the center of
should the resort to Babylon, Phoenicia, the Assyria of
Italy, a genuine Roman citizen, but Apuleius, in marked con-
Ninus, or the Egypt of Pharaoh Sesonchosis be thought of
trast, is a North African, a Berber from Numidia who after
as mere “exoticism.” Readers and writers alike came from
much travel settles in Carthage.
these regions. A matter capable of future examination is the
possible influence on the novel of literatures of even more
The same pattern of diverse authorship appears when
ancient cultures than those that we customarily mean in re-
we consider the novels in Greek that exist only in fragments
ferring to “antiquity”—a passé label. When Renaissance
or in paraphrase. Substantial pieces of a number of these have
scholars first seriously published commentaries on these fic-
been found, though the fullest account of some can be gath-
tional texts, they lacked almost completely any real informa-
ered only from the paraphrases prepared by Photios (c. 820–
tion (aside from Hebrew scripture and the Apocrypha) about
891), Patriarch of Constantinople, who composed a sort of
the literature of Babylon, Assyria, and Egypt. Slowly, more
reader’s diary. Called Bibliotheke, it gives a fairly full account
is coming come to light.
of the books he liked including novels, offering not only his
opinion of style and substance, but also detailed plot summa-
Consider, for example, the incursion of Gilgamesh on
ries. His commentary and paraphrase gives us a fairly full if
our literary studies in the late twentieth century. This epic
muffled rendition of Iamblichos’ (second century CE) Ba-
is not an action-epic like the Iliad or Aeneid, nor a story of
byloniaka (The Babylonian story) or Antonius Diogenes’ Ap-
wandering, discovery, loss, and restoration like the Odyssey
ista hyper Thulen (Wonders beyond Thule). Exact dates for
(which, however, can strike one as having some Egyptian
these works and others surviving in fragments are not
strands). Gilgamesh begins as an action story but becomes a
known; see the scholarly edition of Ancient Greek Novels by
story of love, death, grief, and loss—of coming to terms with
Susan Stephens and John J. Winkler (1995).
something that will not allow a victory. The central character
in his coming to grips with the hard fact of death and be-
Photios provides manuscript sources of about six pages’
reavement becomes a hero of the interior life. Gilgamesh
worth each of Semiramis and Nisus (a love story set in an ex-
might guard us against rash suppositions about regularly pro-
otic past with historical characters, perhaps written as early
gressive development, of the sort that Friedrich Nietzsche
as 100 BCE) and of Metiochos and Parthenope (c. 150 CE), a
(1844–1900) negatively imagines in The Birth of Tragedy
story surviving in fragmentary papyrus emanating from the
(1871), when he propounds an original fall from the Dionys-
Fayum in Egypt. The novels were certainly read in Egypt—
iac perfection of ancient theater to the degenerate rationalism
but we know from the evidence of expensive mosaic illustra-
and individualism signaled in Socrates and the works of the
tions that a wealthy house owner in Syrian Antioch wanted
ancient novelists, in which a sublime communal experience
to surround himself with images from these two novels. De-
has been exchanged for individual self-consciousness and
spite disdainful assumptions on the part of some that these
emotional self-attention.
early novels could have been perused only by women and the
semiliterate, evidence indicates a wide readership, socially
Our desire for linear progression leads us to render liter-
and geographically, definitely including wealthy males, that
ary history in a rather simplistic mode: first there was the
was able to pay not only for full-length manuscript copies,
folktale, then there was the epic, reflecting national and
but even for costly artwork illustrating the stories.
group consciousness shaped by an aristocratic class; then, in
Different styles of Greek novels. A strange work that
a new development (progressive or degenerative, according
has recently come in its fragmentary way to light is Pho-
to taste), the epic action became the story of an unimportant
inikika (The Phoenician story; first published in 1972) by
individual, and the action turned inward, toward conscious-
Lollianos. The discovery of this lively comic novel put an end
ness and what Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller
to our earlier theory that only Latin novelists penned realis-
(1759–1805) termed the “sentimental,” away from the first
tic, sexually explicit, and comic works of fiction, whereas the
“naive” strength. Poetry gave place to prose, and action to
Greek novelists were romantic and sentimental. It is more
sentiment, as we move (sadly, perhaps) from Homer (eighth
likely that the authors choosing to write in Latin took up
century BCE) to Henry James (1843–1916). So attractive is
forms and comic styles from works in Greek, and it is proba-
this line of progress or regress that we are unwilling to notice
ble that works in Latin of a more romantic style are now lost
how this plotline can be changed. At any moment, what we
to us. Other works of Greek fiction that have come into view
call “folk” material can reenter the picture and refresh the
include Herpyllis, whose surviving passage deals with a storm
narrative—as with the advent of the folk tales of Jacob
at sea, a trope beloved of novelists; Sesonchosis, with Egyptian
Grimm (1785–1863) and Wilhelm Grimm (1786–1859).
characters and themes; and Chione, about a heroine whose
Poetic narrative can reassume the telling elsewhere associated
name could be translated as “Snow White” (Stephens and
with prose fiction as in Evgeny Onegin (1823–1831) by Ale-
Winkler, 1995).
ksandr Pushkin (1799–1837).
THE DEEP TRADITION: FICTIONS OF BABYLON, SYRIA AND
One text that challenges the paradigm is the Cretan nar-
ELSEWHERE. It is apparent from the previously mentioned
rative poem Erotókritos. This heroic love story is a narrative
titles that the Greek novels are interested in dealing with ma-
poem written by a Venetian Cretan Vitzéntzos Kornáros
terial related to various regions that were not Roman. Nor
(seventeenth century). Kornáros’s work, drawing on the ma-
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3054
FICTION: HISTORY OF THE NOVEL
terial of novels, is also epic and nationalistic, a defense not
(1265–1321) Inferno and the Purgatorio both have an ulti-
only of Greek Orthodox personages against the Ottomans,
mately Egyptian ancestry. Journeying is important to the
but also of Cretan identity. This novel-based literary work
Egyptian ordeal, loss of self, loneliness in the midst of an un-
of an individual Renaissance artificer becomes for Cretans
marked world momentarily completely alien, and the en-
their genuine national epic. It folds itself back into folklore
counter with the monster or the monstrous. Yet, in “classic”
and folk motif, with many tellings and popular, even home-
Egyptian fiction of the two millennia BCE, redemption seems
made, graphic depictions of the hero and heroine, into at
almost always possible, as does some new negotiation of the
least the twentieth century. Erotókritos challenges many of
relation between authority and its subject, as between divine
our assumptions, as it seems in so many ways to go “back-
and human.
ward”—from novel back to epic and then back to folktale.
But our surprised impression of an almost unnatural reversal
When we look at the longest and most sophisticated of
arises from our adaptation of a linear notion of a “progress”
our Greek and Latin “early” and “Western” novels, Meta-
and certain staid, if recent assumptions about absolute divi-
morphoses and Aithiopika, we can see that the writers are very
sions between literary culture and popular culture.
conscious of the possibilities of multicultural narratives. Dif-
ferent traditions are signaled in the introduction of different
Eastern and African influences on the novel. If we
kinds of story within the main or frame story. We meet char-
question our linear representations of such “histories,” we
acters of varying national or ethnic identities. People estab-
may be willing to admit into the novel written and not just
lish relations who have no original familial or even ethnic
folkloric “influence” from non-Hellenic sources, as Huet di-
connection with each other. A young Sicilian woman, once
vined. It is tantalizing to know that Babylonians of Chaldea
in the power of the Persian Great King, develops a friendship
had libraries (destroyed by Sennacherib [c. 704–681]) and
with the Persian queen, and on returning to her native Sicily
that the Assyrians followed suit, with libraries of books in
urges the queen “write to me often.” A chatty young Athe-
clay tablets open to the public. The Chaldeans invented sys-
nian walks on the banks of the Nile with an elderly Egyptian
tems and discovered much mathematical knowledge, includ-
priest and hears the story of the trials of an Ethiopian family.
ing geometrical figures; when the Greeks fell in love with ge-
A blond young Greek male from Attica, sentenced to the
ometry as a training for the mind, they were really imbibing
harshness of the Roman games in Corinth, is spared and con-
the discoveries of Mesopotamia, as transmitted through the
soled by the ministrations of an Egyptian priest and becomes
cultures of coastal Asia Minor. Much of what we call “litera-
fully a convert to the Egyptian religion of Isis.
ture” could have followed a similar route.
Poetry, drama, folk tale and the novel. Traditional or
Punic Carthage had philosophies, a priesthood, and a
“classical” Hellenic stories are mixed in with new styles and
library—all was wrecked by the invading Romans, save for
materials from other sources. As examples of the interweav-
one useful treatise on agriculture. Yet, it seems hard to be-
ing of different forms of narrative, we may take Heliodorus’
lieve that so much thought could altogether disappear; and
inclusion of the “Phaidra and Hippolytus” kind of story told
elements of Phoenician and more particularly Carthaginian
by a young and somewhat silly if good-natured Athenian
thought and style may be lurking in a number of texts, invisi-
young man who is the Hippolytus of his tale; we can note
ble to us. By contrast we can now pick out the bright red
how his story contrasts with the story about himself told by
thread of Egyptian thinking, style, and concerns. Since the
the dignified Egyptian priest Kalasiris, a story that has some
late nineteenth century we have possessed a collection of clas-
resonance with the early Christian semifictional The Shep-
sic Egyptian fiction, and poetic stories like The Story of
herd of Hermas. In Metamorphoses Apuleius sets within with
Sinuhe or The Shipwrecked Sailor seem strongly related not
his hero’s comically painful autobiography a miniature epic-
only to some biblical material, but also to many elements in
cum-love elegy, the charming and puzzling story of “Eros
our own fiction. More saliently visible is the influence of the
and Psyche,” and then includes sex stories both grim and rib-
Egyptian religion. The story of Isis (Isis/Osiris) is everywhere
ald, told with a twist, and set in a heavily marked social con-
alluded to in the ancient novels, and Isis worship forms an
text, the sort of thing medieval writers were to call fabliau.
extensive part of Apuleius’ Metamorphoses. The other and
Folk material of magic, ghosts, and werewolves mingles with
older central Egyptian religious story, that of the solar boat
reference to elegantly written literature, and realistic observa-
in its journey through the underworld during the twelve
tion of behavior exchanges places with magical transforma-
hours of darkness, was elaborated by Egyptian thinkers and
tion, as in realismo magico. We do not here forget the pres-
artists, so that it becomes the basic story of all ordeals—and
ence of alien and oppressive power. Apuleius strikingly
of all twelve-step programs.
describes the way the brutal soldier piles his weapons on top
The Egyptians are strongly attracted to stories of an or-
of his dunnage so as to strike terror in the hearts of the ordi-
deal (of Isis, or of the solar voyager) that develops through
nary people. Perhaps Apuleius is the first to employ the word
multiple sequent phases. A number of the “Gnostic gospels,”
terror in such an ideologically critical manner. Certainly, he
written around the same time as our novel texts, betray de-
is aware throughout the entire novel of the accoutrements of
cided signs of Egyptian influence, especially in the love of
power used by an oppressive ruler and daily encountered by
progressions through the twelve stages. Dante Alighieri’s
the vanquished.
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FICTION: HISTORY OF THE NOVEL
3055
NOVEL AND POLITICAL RESISTANCE. The novels of the first
Charikleia is Greek or Ethiopian is less important than that
centuries CE reflect a tacit resistance to Roman (or Greco-
she is Charikleia.
Roman) domination, a search for an imaginative home free
Individual life. These novels consistently show the life
of the oppressive dominion of the present. It may have been
of the individual as central; the individual casts off, overtly
prudence that dictated that most of these novelists should
or secretly, the restrictions of familial authority, arranged
give their works a historical setting, in an era safely past, cus-
marriage, and custom. Individuality encompasses an inner
tomarily when Persia was the ruler of the world. (Persians
life. From this individual inner life spring new apprehensions
could be safely criticized.) The political implications of an-
of morality, new orderings of society, and new religious in-
cient novels have been underemphasized. This may be be-
sights. New perceptions and actions may be deeply spiritual,
cause of our own allegiance to Rome and our reluctance to
but the central religion is no longer the religion of the state.
realize that its presence could be felt—not only in Judea but
Public religious ceremonies indeed figure—often as a means
elsewhere—as an unjust weight. We do not customarily hear
for the lovers to lay eyes on each other—but the most loved
in school, for instance, about the overt expressions of revul-
deity has intercourse with the individual spirit, as Isis makes
sion against Roman rule, as in 88 BCE when the people of
herself known to asinine Lucius. Epic must not put the indi-
Ephesus, with the assistance of the king of Pontus, Mithra-
vidual at the center; the heroic individual, like an Aeneas, is
dates VI Eupator (120–63 BCE), revolted against the Ro-
simply and grandly at the service of his clan or nation, and
mans, first overthrowing Roman statues and then massacring
the enticements of a Dido must be got over. It cannot be pos-
the Italians found in the region. (Freedom was short lived;
sible for Aeneas to have a new revelation as to how to live.
the Romans inevitably exacted a strong penalty.) If analyzed,
In the novels, individuals constantly make new cultural ad-
almost every one of these novels is capable of bearing an in-
justments and experience new revelations.
terpretation of resistance to imposed power. The theme of
Women and freedom. Another great change from the
resistance is strongest in Chion of Heraklea, where the stu-
traditional Greco-Roman view of things is the installation of
dent-hero becomes a tyrannicide. Less overtly, the theme of
the female at the center of the story. Many of the Greek nov-
resistance also becomes clear at the end of Chariton’s novel
els were called simply by the name of the heroine: Kallirhoe,
Chaireas and Kallirhoe, when Chaireas invites all those of his
Leukippe, and Charikleia.
fellow warriors, hitherto living among the Persians and fight-
ing for the Great King of Persia, to join him in coming to
The story of courtship in the Greek novels sets aside the
Sicily, here imagined as a land of the free (book 8, cap. 2).
reality of marriage in most parts of the empire. Traditionally,
The hero is willing to include his former enemies, Egyptian
a good Greek marriage consisted of the union of a young girl
fighting men, as well as the Greeks, but only with their own
of fifteen or so—who had nothing to say in the matter—with
free will; each person is to be asked individually: “hina monon
a man of about thirty. The two were not equal and were not
tous hekontas paralabomen” (so that we take up only those
meant to be so. Love as a practical affection was supposed
to grow between a married pair, though given the limitations
who are willing).
of the female and her patent inferiority, the role of the erotic
Slavery and choice. “Choice” is at the center of the mo-
was to be limited in marriage; in illegitimate heterosexual
rality pursued or invented by the novels—of all kinds. Aris-
connections, the desirable female (slave or freedwoman) was
totle notably gave great weight to choice, but only a few peo-
usually a prostitute, well below the male in class, and not of-
ple (educated free males) in his view had the power of real
ficially important. When the Greeks—especially the Athe-
choice. Slaves represent human entities who are not persons
nians—of the classical period wrote about what we recognize
and absolutely lack choice. In the novels, however, most of
as romantic love (e.g., in the Symposium), they treat the ho-
the central characters experience enslavement and degrada-
mosexual connection of an older man (the lover) with a
tion—in a sense it is true to say that all the central characters
youth (the beloved). (Or, in the poems of Sappho [late sev-
are both rulers and slaves. The characters, however low their
enth century BCE], the pull of an older woman toward a nu-
circumstances, are never without significance, and never,
bile girl.)
even in enslavement, without the concept of choice—which
As David Konstan points out, the traditional Greek
is proclaimed and presented through their attention to their
equation of love is always unequal, the relation asymmetrical;
own inner lives. This is a monumental, not to say monstrous,
thus, the novels make a great leap in boldly imagining court-
departure from the classical ordering of the social world. In
ship between equals. The hero and heroine in any of the new
the novel the individual matters most. The definition of a
novels are both young and near in age, and each is both lover
set cannot be the ultimate measure of a person. A personage
and beloved. There is no division between agent and patient.
is first of all a person—and not first of all, slave or free, Greek
The two have chosen to love each other—despite their fami-
or Egyptian, or even male or female. Barriers between civi-
lies. The woman consistently has a choice about what she or
lized and barbarian are set aside. The identity we now call
even they will do, and both display intelligence and courage
“racial,” the difference between “black” and “white” persons,
(and sometimes dull-wittedness and timidity). This equal
becomes in Aithiopika a gigantic conundrum; the heroine
couple escapes the confines of family and city, roaming
proves to be both “black” and “white.” Whether Heliodorus’
through the world. In the course of their wanderings they
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FICTION: HISTORY OF THE NOVEL
make friends who are by all traditional standards unsuitable
entering the new, being cut off from past life at an initial crit-
(in any case, it is traditionally unsuitable for the woman to
ical moment, and crossing a borderland of marsh or muddy
have friends outside of home, her oikos). The rule of the
margins. The reader vicariously undergoes a kind of baptism,
household, the rule of the polis, and the rule of the empire
walks the labyrinth, gazes on enigmatic images demanding
are all challenged in this representation, which offers a new
interpretation and understanding, descends into the abyss,
definition of what freedom might mean.
and is resurrected. The hidden pattern of initiatory ritual and
enlightenment within each novel makes it possible for us to
Hero and heroine together overthrow the “citizen” as an
read novels, which would otherwise fly apart under the pres-
ideal. Love takes them away from convention and into dis-
sure of their novelty, becoming abstract kaleidoscopes of
covery. They are not unguided, for there is a tutelary deity,
words, or mere journalism. The goddess presides over this
perhaps several; the deity presiding over many of these nov-
new life, this metamorphosis and grappling with the phe-
els, however, is a female god: Artemis, Aphrodite, or Isis.
nomenal—phainomena symbola, to use a term from the
(Ephesus, the center of the worship of powerful Artemis,
opening of Aithiopika.
“Diana of the Ephesians,” figures incessantly in the novel as
locale and reference.) The novels can be seen as explorations
That the “goddess” presides can be explained in another
of the relation with the goddess rather than with the god.
fashion. Under the sign of the male we have placed the cre-
The goddess endorses freedom, love, experience, and search-
ation of what is abstract and enduring: a philosophy, a law,
ing. The goddess also implicitly endorses the significance of
and a work of art—monuments more lasting than bronze.
both the physical life of the body (which must include death)
The sphere of the female is more lowly; women create what
and the life of consciousness. The goddess recurs in modern
is temporary and consumed: cakes, fabric, and babies. The
novels as much as in ancient ones, and may be lurking in sur-
novel is the only form that consistently summons the god-
prising haunts; one critic (Brown, 2004) convincingly traces
dess because it is the form that centrally deals with the sa-
the pattern of Celtic myth and the role of the fierce Celtic
credness of daily transitory and physical life. It respects the
mother goddess Mor Rigan in Mrs. Dalloway (1922) by Vir-
fundamental equality of all human beings and their relation
ginia Woolf (1882–1941).
both to the animal and spiritual worlds. The novel never ig-
RELIGION AND THE NOVEL IN THE WEST. Unlike tragedy,
nores the perishable and transient things such as food, love-
comedy, or epic, the novel has traditionally been supposed
making, dreams, conversation, fabric, babies.
to have arisen without religious affiliation. That view was
Plato opposed the changeable, and even Aristotle saw
challenged by some twentieth-century scholars, most notably
our love of change as a weakness, but the novel gives over
by Karl Kerényi in Die Griechish-Orientalische Romanlitera-
the search for steadfast rest and permanence, celebrating the
tur in Religionsgeschichtlicher Beleuchtung (1927) and by Re-
capacity to change. Every novel could really bear the title of
inhold Merkelbach in Roman und Mysterium in der Antike
Apuleius’ Metamorphoses, because all characters are meta-
(1962).
morphosing—Elizabeth Bennet, Anna Karenina, or Gregor
Kerényi emphasizes the connection between novelistic
Samsa. And all are journeying, through space and time. The
and Christian perceptions; the central character(s) of the an-
title Journey to the West could apply to all—the journey to
cient novel imitates on the human level the trials of a divine
enlightenment is simultaneously a journey toward sunset and
being. Merkelbach proposes that the early novels embody
the grave.
and encode a mystery ritual, a sequence of experiences initi-
RELIGION AND THE NOVEL IN THE EAST. Both Chinese and
ated ultimately by the divine power. Merkelbach considers
Japanese fiction display qualities and patterns remarkably
that these Greek and Latin novels present to us and their
similar to those found in Western novels. The orderly disor-
readers the actual images and practices of the mystery cults
der of birth/death, muddying, eating, contemplating images,
and are close to the religions of Demeter and Isis. The char-
plunging into the depths and arising—all these ritual experi-
acters, like the mystery initiates, undergo tests and trials—
ences can be found. There is perpetual contestation between
being beaten, imprisoned, and even left for dead; they even-
the political public male-ordered world and the world of pri-
tually encounter various important figures of consolation
vate experience.
and enlightenment, including the shepherd or herdsman and
The earliest collection of poems in Chinese literature
the fisherman. From a near-death or seeming death (Schein-
may be read as personal lyrics of love and longing, or as
tod) they are resurrected to new life.
coded references to political affairs. The personal can be set
Merkelbach applies his discovery only to the ancient
against the ideal of order—even the ideal of political order,
novels, but it can be applied to novels beyond this temporal
so central to Chinese thinking and endorsed by Confucian-
range. The novel, if we look at the templates suggested by
ism. Rebellion is a topic, as in the fourteenth-century Out-
the ancient novels, embodies a sequence of experiences that
laws of the Marsh, where we follow the individual lives of
not only the character, but also the reader follows in a se-
bandit-heroes, who dwell on the muddy margins. One of
quence of initiation. These “tropes of the novel” take the
them, Song Jiang, is given three heavenly books by the god-
reader through a participatory ritual. It is the reader as well
dess-like Mystic Queen of the Ninth Heaven, who exhorts
as the character who undergoes the shock and excitement of
him to remember justice and bring peace to the people. In
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FICTION: HISTORY OF THE NOVEL
3057
the sixteenth-century classic known as Journey to the West, a
to live—and not only to live but to satisfy curiosity and to
complex narrative of a pilgrimage from China to the borders
undergo change in ourselves—which means living through
of India to find the original Buddhist scriptures and bring
perpetual dying (and very dangerous that may be). In living
them to China, the heroes are often aided by a divine female,
our lives and in reading a novel we pursue a mystery that lies
the bodhisattva Guanyin, who gave them their assignment.
deeper than any plot.
By contrast with the refreshment of her rare presence,
CONCLUSION. The novel is really a religiously developed
monasteries encountered en route seem abodes of greed and
form. It quietly sets itself in opposition to political and reli-
inertia, masculinity without heart and without spirit. Spiri-
gious conventions and traditions to plunge itself and its read-
tual life develops in the lived life. The insertion of Monkey,
er into a closer apprehension of the sacredness that imbues
the famous mischief-making hero, reinstates the body and
the individual person and the world. It may at times appear
the life of desire in a story that both supports and questions
dismissive of what is called religion, or it may appear fasci-
Buddhism itself, as it also questions the Dao that supplies
nated by religions, but it is not orthodox and will never yield
so many of this narrative’s fascinating systems of contrasts
humbly to orthodox authority—even when an author tries
and affinities. At the end of the novel, the importance of “sa-
to do so. The novel is secular—secular in the original sense,
cred text” becomes subtly ironic—the truth is within, so a
having to do with the saeclum, that is, with time. Novels,
blank page is as good as any other. This strange ending also
more than any other form, show the individual dealing with
suggests that the real story is always about to be—that the
experience in time—including not only biological time, but
religious truth can be encountered only in the experience of
also a particular social and political era (historical or imagi-
seeking it.
nary). The novel pays heed to the importance of time and
space, in which the phenomena of matter manifest them-
In the high flowering of the Chinese novel, the feminine
selves. It draws on each reader’s bodily and temporal experi-
moves to a central place, countering both the worldly orderli-
ence; the smell of jasmine or urine, the feeling of spring rain,
ness of Confucianism and the sense-rejecting purity of Bud-
and the taste of honey are supplied by the reader’s sensuous
dhism. One of the greatest of the world’s novels is Hong Lou
knowledge. The novel exhibits characters living with the bio-
Meng (Dream of the Red Chamber, or Story of the Stone) by
logical body amid a welter of detail and necessities (including
Cao Xueqin (c. 1715–1763). Generations have marveled at
food and money). To live so realistically is not to be subordi-
and wept over the complex and fated loves of Bao-yu and
nated to things, but to have an arena for spiritual experiment,
Dai-yu. Divine discontent has never been more subtly or
and the novel displays consciousness itself as a major experi-
powerfully revealed in a novel teeming with multifaceted
ment, in harmony with the expedient that is each individual
characters and taking time to deal with many developments
novel.
over half a lifetime. Its only rival in representing the subtle-
ties of consciousness in relation to love and loss is the great
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Japanese novel Genji Monogatori (The Tale of Genji), written
Anderson, Graham. Ancient Fiction: The Novel in the Graeco-
at the turn of the eleventh century by a woman author called
Roman World. London, 1984.
Murasaki Shikibu (late tenth to early eleventh century). In
Brown, Keith. “An Offering to the Goddess.” Times Literary Sup-
both of these novels, love is at the center, love and the yearn-
plement, June 18, 2004, pp. 14–16.
ing of desire, which is constantly faced by the great fact of
Burkert, Walter. The Orientalizing Revolution: Near Eastern Influ-
Death. In contemplating loss and absence, the soul stirs. In-
ence on Greek Culture in the Early Archaic Age. Cambridge,
dividual life is experienced in a world full of social, financial,
Mass., 1992.
and moral complexity, with much bustle and comedy, as well
Cohen, David. Law, Sexuality, and Society: The Enforcement of
as beautiful and ugly objects; yet, amid the welter of experi-
Morals in Classical Athens. Cambridge, U.K., 1991.
ence the spirit knows an inalienable loneliness, sharpened by
Doody, Margaret. The True Story of the Novel. New Brunswick,
the metamorphoses demanded by living. The quest for love
N.J., 1996.
can awaken and enlighten the spirit, but is not soothing.
Finkelberg, Margalit. The Birth of Literary Fiction in Ancient
Greece. Oxford, 1998.
These Eastern novels have extraordinarily fine and sub-
Goldhill, Simon. The Invention of Prose. Oxford, 2002.
tle endings, endings that dramatically make the reader expe-
Harrison, S. J. Apuleius: A Latin Sophist. Oxford, 2000.
rience that what is desired cannot be grasped; it is the experi-
Henrichs, Albert. Die “Phoinikika” des Lollianos. Bonn, 1972.
ence of the desire that educates the soul and continually kills
Hermas. Le Pasteur. Edited and translated by Robert Joly. Paris,
and gives rebirth to the self. The self, too, is something not
1968.
capable of being fully known, even to the self. These are reli-
Kerényi, Karl. Die Griechisch-Orientalische Romanliteratur in Reli-
gious revelations, but they cannot be precisely squared with
gionsgeschichtlicher Beleuchtung (1927). 2d ed. Darmstadt,
Dao or Buddhism, however much is to be learned from
Germany, 1962.
these. What is most approachable is the feminine deity, the
Konstan, David. Sexual Symmetry: Love in the Ancient Novel and
goddess of compassion and of the senses, who makes cons-
Related Genres. Princeton, N.J., 1994
tant change bearable. There is in both Western and Eastern
Merkelbach, Reinhold. Roman und Mysterium in der Antike. Mu-
novels an allusion to something that endorses our eagerness
nich, 1962.
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FICTION: THE WESTERN NOVEL AND RELIGION
Morgan, J. R., and Richard Stoneman. Greek Fiction: The Greek
be those elements describable as numinous. If, indeed, hu-
Novel in Context. London, 1994.
mans are naturally religious, the novel cannot avoid religion,
Photius I. Bibliothèque. Edited and translated by René Henry. 11
though its principal theme will continue to be the human
vols. Paris, 1959–1991.
being.
Reardon, Bryan P., ed. Collected Ancient Greek Novels. Berkeley,
Although it is actually an ancient genre (Doody, 1996),
Calif., 1989.
the novel in its most recognizable current form developed in
Rohde, Erwin. Der griechische Roman und seine Vorlaufer. Hildes-
the seventeenth century as a successor to the epic, which
heim, Germany, 1876.
dealt with humans as heroic beings, and the romance, which
Stephens, Susan, and John J. Winkler. Ancient Greek Novels.
was free of any necessity for its characters to obey the broad
Princeton, N.J., 1995.
laws of probability, or for stated causes to bring their usual
Tatum, James, ed. The Search for the Ancient Novel. Baltimore,
consequences. Conditioned by the Renaissance and strongly
1994.
influenced by the Reformation, the modern novel required
Thomas, Christine M. The Acts of Peter, Gospel Literature, and the
that a story should be, in broad terms, probable, and its char-
Ancient Novel: Rewriting the Past. Oxford, 2003.
acters believable in terms of common experience. The novel
was expected to be a story about what most readers would
Watt, Ian P. The Rise of the Novel: Studies in Defoe, Richardson,
and Fielding. Berkeley, Calif., 1957.
accept as real life, and as ideas of real life are inseparably asso-
ciated with what human beings, at any period of history, are
MARGARET ANNE DOODY (2005)
inclined to take for granted without much reflection, the
novel became a mirror of society, and thus a mirror of the
nature of the era for which it was written. Although the novel
does not seek to avoid issues that are properly religious, its
FICTION: THE WESTERN NOVEL AND
principal energy in this area is better described as moral.
RELIGION
While a foremost contemporary American writer of fiction
The morality put forward by Western novelists may be
asserts that “the literary artist, to achieve full effectiveness,
reduced to a number of broad precepts. “God is not mocked:
must assume a religious state of mind” (Updike, p. 239),
for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Gal.
there is no denying that the novel is a genre of literary art
6:7); “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord” (Rom.
that rarely takes religion as its obvious and principal theme.
12:19); “The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the
Among the more prominent twentieth-century theorists of
sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire” (2 Pet.
the novel, one viewed it as “the epic of a world that has been
2:22); “For if a man think himself to be something, when
abandoned by God” (Lukács, p. 88), and another considered
he is nothing, he deceiveth himself” (Gal. 6:3). These are but
it the genre in which “the absolute past” of the gods, demi-
a few of the more minatory precepts found in the Bible that
gods, and heroes is “contemporized” and “brought low, rep-
underlie scores of novels. That these general laws may be seen
resented on a plane equal with contemporary life, in an
at work in daily life, in the uttermost variety of circum-
everyday environment, in the low language of contempora-
stances, and that they are psychological truths, makes them
neity” (Bakhtin, p. 21).
natural guides of the novelist, who must be, like any artist,
an undeluded observer. The novelist may deal with these
Some books that read like novels do overtly take religion
grim truths humorously, and some of the most truly religious
as their theme, but they are better described as works of edifi-
novels are seen by the world as funny books, but their under-
cation—although they may possess grace of style or persua-
lying morality is far from funny.
sive power, their inspiration is not artistic but propagandist.
A true novel, even in modest categories of this genre, seeks
This encyclopedia treats the history of the novel in a
to show the human being in society; any teaching that may
separate entry, but it is useful here to begin with Don Quixote
be inherent in it, or any moral conclusion it may point to,
(pt. 1, 1605; pt. 2, 1615), by Miguel de Cervantes, often
is secondary to this artistic impulse. The great novelists fre-
spoken of as the first truly modern novel. Its story is of the
quently write on themes that have religious implications, but
fortunes of a Spanish gentleman whose wits have been
these are approached indirectly and shown in action or re-
turned by reading old books of romance and chivalry. He
flection rather than direct admonition. To form any notion
equips himself absurdly as a knight and rides forth in search
of the connection between the novel and religion, we must
of adventures, and in a rambling and sometimes coarse and
look below the surface of the work of art, and we must not
perfunctory tale he is mocked, beaten, and humiliated until,
expect wholehearted assent to any version of orthodoxy.
on his deathbed, he understands the folly of his delusion.
This is not to set the novel at odds with religion, if we
The book is often read superficially, or not read at all,
accept the latter word in terms of its derivation as implying
by many people who are nevertheless aware of it, as the story
the careful consideration of forces, laws, ideas, or ideals that
is familiar from stage, film, and operatic adaptations, and as
are sufficiently powerful to inspire awe or devotion. The
the word quixotic, meaning “actuated by impracticable ideals
novel seeks to show the human being, confused and fallible,
of honor,” is in common use. A careful reading of the novel
meeting the complexities of life, among which are likely to
reveals the mainspring of the book’s extraordinary power. It
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is the first instance in popular literature of the profoundly
is very common and is explored in Émile Zola’s L’Assommoir
religious theme of victory plucked from defeat, which has
(1877); avarice is popular, and Balzac’s Le cousin Pons (1847)
strong Christian implications. The Don, who is courteous
shows it in the guise of the collector’s mania, linked in Syl-
and chivalrous toward those who abuse or mock him, and
vain Pons with a greed that exemplifies gluttony in the guise
who is ready to help the distressed and attack tyranny or cru-
of gourmandise (the gourmet’s refinement of the uglier
elty at whatever cost to himself, is manifestly a greater person
word); sloth recalls Ivan Goncharov’s Oblomov (1857), in
than the dull-witted peasants and cruel nobles who torment
which that sin is explored to its depth. This list is certainly
and despise him. Many readers love him because his folly is
not meant to be definitive, and the Seven Deadly Sins do not
Christlike—his victory is not of this world.
include cruelty, of which Dickens affords many examples,
The theme is repeated in countless novels, including a
nor stupidity, which Gustave Flaubert displays subtly in Ma-
lineage of works in which the quixotic protagonist undergoes
dame Bovary (1857), nor snobbery, which, though hardly a
a discernible process of “sanctification” that runs counter to
sin, is a deep preoccupation of the bourgeois world and has
the more oft-discussed secularizing tendency of modern liter-
never been more searchingly anatomized than in Marcel
ature. Three of the most notable examples are Henry Fiel-
Proust’s À la recherche du temps perdu (1913–1927). Virtually
ding’s Joseph Andrews (1742), Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Idiot
any attribute, when exaggerated, may become a vice, and in
(1869), and Graham Greene’s Monsignor Quixote (1982),
some circumstances vice may take on the color of virtue. This
with their respective depictions of Parson Adams, Prince
makes heavy work for the moralist but is the delight of the
Myshkin, and Father Quixote. In these novels, the modes of
novelist, who thrives on delicate distinctions and on that en-
living, acting, and speaking as a good-natured man (Adams),
antiodromia, or tendency of attributes and emotions to run
a holy fool (Myshkin), or a Roman Catholic priest struggling
into their opposites, which is familiar in psychology.
with faith and doubt (Father Quixote) reflect different as-
The novel has proved effective in depicting what, from
pects of the Christian ideal, though they also call to mind
the mad delusion of Cervantes’s hero by virtue of their dis-
the traditional Jewish or Christian perspectives, would be ul-
crepancy with the predominantly profane or secular currents
timate acts of human evil: rebellion against God through an
of the modern West (Ziolkowski, 1991).
effort to be God’s equal (cf. the biblical tale of Babel), and
the human conversion of life in this world to a hell on earth.
Among the greatest literary adaptations of the Quixote
The preeminent example of the first theme is Mary Shelley’s
theme is Charles Dickens’s Pickwick Papers. The titular hero,
Frankenstein (1818), which represents the effort of a scientist
whom we first meet as a foolish and almost buffoonlike char-
to, in effect, usurp God’s role as creator and conqueror of
acter, is deepened by an unjust imprisonment to a point
death. To affirm the jointly Hellenic and Hebrew roots of
where he is truly aware of the misery that is part of the society
this theme, Shelley dubbed her titular protagonist “the Mod-
in which he lives. It is of importance to our theme that Mr.
ern Prometheus” and included in her narrative explicit refer-
Pickwick is dependent on his valet, Sam Weller, as Don Qui-
ences to the rebellious Satan of John Milton’s Paradise Lost.
xote is dependent on his peasant squire, Sancho Panza, for
Frankenstein crystallized a distinctly Gothic dimension of
a measure of common sense and practical wisdom that saves
early nineteenth-century Romanticism, some of whose expo-
him from disaster. Faith, hope, charity, justice, and fortitude
nents displayed an irrepressible fascination with medieval
are exemplified in the masters, but without the prudence and
legends about the Devil (Mephistopheles) and lore of the de-
temperance of the servants they would be lost. A character
monic. In the twentieth century, in contrast, the theme that
who possessed all the seven great virtues would never do as
emerged of the human-made, terrestrial inferno, where
the hero of a novel, but when a hero who has most of them
countless innocents suffer and perish, was an immediate out-
is complemented by a helper and server who has what he or
growth of historical reality. The theme is thus chiefly exem-
she lacks, great and magical fiction may result.
plified in novels by actual survivors of the pogroms, the “con-
As the mighty virtues appear in numerous, though often
centration-camp universe,” the gulag, and other forms of
disguised, forms in great novels, so also do the capital sins.
genocide that marked the century. Elie Wiesel’s La Nuit
To provide an equivalent for each suggests a list that inevita-
(1958) and Jerzy Kosinski’s The Painted Bird (1965) are
bly means the exclusion of many others equally cogent.
among the most haunting novelistic testimonies to the hor-
When we think of pride, however, we remember how bril-
rors of the Nazi Holocaust, while Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s
liantly it is deployed in Dickens’s Domby and Son (1846);
The First Circle (1968) and his multivolume The Gulag Ar-
wrath recalls Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov (1880)
chipelago, 1918–1956: An Experiment in Literary Investiga-
and Herman Melville’s Moby Dick (1851); envy is the main-
tion (1973–1978) expose unforgettably the infernal dimen-
spring of Honoré de Balzac’s La cousine Bette (1846); lust has
sions of the Soviet slave-labor camps. As memory is the
many exemplars, some of them presenting the vice in a re-
capacity that is sine qua non for any novelist, and perhaps es-
fined form, as in Samuel Richardson’s Clarissa Harlowe
pecially for those who record atrocities, the novels of Toni
(1747), and others explicit, as in John Cleland’s Fanny Hill
Morrison have represented most poignantly the abomination
(1748–1749); gluttony is a less popular theme, though
of human slavery and its psychological and spiritual legacies
drunkenness, which might be regarded as one of its forms,
in America.
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FICTION: THE WESTERN NOVEL AND RELIGION
When novelists choose churches and churchmen as
weakness, and acute conscience with bitter prejudice, redeem
their theme, they frequently dwell on faults that are undeni-
Trollope’s clergy and emphasize his very English, very Victo-
able, but paint an ungenerous picture of the whole. This is
rian conviction that a clergyman is not required to be a saint
particularly the case when the sort of religion portrayed is of
but should unquestionably be a man of principle and a gen-
the evangelistic, nonsacramental kind. In such religion, pop-
tleman. This is a long way from Elmer Gantry, who was
ular opinion expects that the evangelist or the parson will ex-
neither.
emplify in himself the virtues he urges on others; in Sinclair
No discussion of this subject can escape some consider-
Lewis’s term, he is a Professional Good Man. His failure to
ation of the part the intellectual and artistic character of the
be wholly good makes diverting reading, for hypocrisy pro-
novelist plays in his depiction of religion, and its influence
vides livelier fiction than virtue. In Lewis’s Elmer Gantry
on his characters. All generalizations are suspect, but it may
(1927), all the shams of vulgar religiosity are exposed, and
be stated broadly that the temperament that makes a writer
its appeal to naive and unreflective people held up to ridicule.
a novelist is unlikely to be friendly to orthodoxy, and that
Set likewise during the first half of the twentieth century, but
the Manichaean struggle between darkness and light is more
focusing upon a particular African American family against
friendly to the novelist’s purpose (the depiction of the
the bleak backdrop of a racist, segregated America, James
human being in society) than is an unwavering adherence to
Baldwin’s Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953) presents the
a creed. Inevitably, there are important exceptions. Calvinist
deacon Gabriel Grimes as the quintessential religious hypo-
predestination is the mainspring of James Hogg’s fine The
crite. Having once thought himself divinely promised to fa-
Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (1824).
ther a saintly lineage, Gabriel espouses a harshly moralistic
There is no mistaking the Roman Catholic thought behind
brand of Pentecostalism while mistreating his own family
all the work of James Joyce, Graham Greene, and Anthony
(especially his good stepson John, the novel’s central protag-
Burgess, or the monolithic Russian Orthodoxy that informs
onist) and concealing his own past moral lapses, most nota-
the novels of Solzhenitsyn. Likewise the novels of Chaim
bly his having fathered another son out of wedlock and then
Potok are thoroughly saturated by the world of Orthodox Ju-
abandoned him and the mother.
daism in modern urban America, highlighting the tensions
between the everyday, worldly Orthodoxy and a more strin-
A variant depiction of the religious life as it is lived by
gent form of Hasidism.
well-intentioned but not spiritually gifted priests is to be
found in the novels of Anthony Trollope. In The Warden
More often, however, the theme of Don Quixote is re-
(1855), the principal character, the Reverend Septimus Har-
peated: the good man or woman exhibits, and is betrayed by,
ding, is a good man, but timid and weak, and his dilemma
weaknesses, but the forces that oppose him or her—which
when he is accused of holding a sinecure is a choice between
are more likely to be stupidity, conventionality, and self-
Christian precept and the way of the world; obedient to pub-
seeking than determined evil—succeed in the short view. It
lic opinion, he resigns his wardenship. In its sequel, Bar-
is the reader who understands and appreciates the goodness
chester Towers (1857), we meet the warden’s son-in-law,
of the hero, and whereas in a work of inferior artistic merit
Archdeacon Grantly, who dearly longs to succeed his father
this may simply flatter the reader’s ego, in a great novel it
as bishop, for he is a man of strong worldly ambition; but
may leave readers with a larger vision of life and an apprecia-
in the first chapter of the book Grantly must decide whether
tion of the weight of religious feeling that they did not have
he desires the bishopric at the cost of his father’s life. His de-
before.
cision is made in terms of his faith rather than his ambition.
Good novelists manage this by indirect means; the aim
The scene in which he prays for forgiveness at his father’s
of such novelists is not to teach but to entertain, and thus
bedside is moving and finely realized. Not a crumb of religi-
to persuade. Their chief purpose, from which they stray at
osity or false sentiment is to be found in it. Grantly is no
their peril as artists, is to depict life as they see it, and whatev-
saint, but he is a man of principle.
er they touch will be colored by their own temperament. The
In the same fine novel we meet the bishop’s chaplain,
temperament of the artist is not unwaveringly noble—
Mr. Slope, who cloaks inordinate ambition under evangelis-
wholeness of spirit, not perfection, is the artist’s aim. Many
tic piety, and the Reverend Dr. Vesey Stanhope, who draws
novelists, of whom Sinclair Lewis may serve as an example,
his salary as a clergyman but lives a fashionable life in Italy,
are disappointed idealists, angry with life because it does not
leaving his work to curates. Trollope parades before us a wide
conform to the best they can conceive, and their strictures
variety of clergy, some of whom are saved from moral igno-
on religion, as on other great themes, are apt to be bitter. The
miny by the fact that the Church of England, through its ca-
calm observation of Trollope is a rarer gift.
tholicism, separates the priestly function from the man who
Examples could be cited to the point of weariness, with-
discharges it (though abuse of this distinction is frowned
out achieving very much. Let it suffice to say that a turbulent
upon). But such characters as Mr. Harding, the warden; the
and tormented spirit such as Dostoevsky will not see religion
Reverend Francis Arabin, an exemplar of the scholar-priest
as it is seen by a stronger, more deeply and often more nar-
and intellectual; and the Reverend Josiah Crawley, in whom
rowly moral writer such as Tolstoy. Neither exhibits the
his creator combines pride with humility, manliness with
philosophical, ironic, but finally positive spirit of Thomas
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3061
Mann. To look for what is called “real life” in the novels of
Marchmain was ridiculed by those critics who could not
these and countless others is to search for something defin-
bring themselves to believe that it might be true. That the
able only in vague terms. Vladimir Nabokov once described
wit, the funnyman, should also be religious was unbearable
a fictional masterpiece as an “original world” that is unlikely
to multitudes of religious illiterates, many of them critics.
to fit the reader’s own world. Serious readers enter such an
It is significant that when Huxley revealed the quester
original world as they encounter any work of art—in search
beneath the cynic he was forty, and that when Waugh forced
of enlargement and enlightenment. If the novel has this ef-
his readers to face an embarrassing fact he was forty-two.
fect, the reader’s concept of “real life” has been changed.
Both men had reached the midpoint in life, when radical
Serious readers, however, are not a majority, nor are se-
psychological change presents problems that can no longer
rious writers. We must beware of the critical error that tries
be dismissed or dissembled before the artist’s audience. The
to define art solely in terms of the best. Below the level of
lives of virtually all novelists of the serious sort reveal some
greatness are innumerable novels that cannot be dismissed
such alteration in the thrust of their work. If not religion in
as having no merit; they may be lesser works of art, or on
some readily identifiable form, the religious spirit of awe and
a level below that, or they may be widely popular and thus,
a moral conviction asserts itself and shows in the work that
in some measure, influential. The best-seller should not be
is most characteristic.
brushed aside simply because many people like it; its very
In fiction on the most popular level, that of the best-
popularity is a strong clue to what a multitude of people will
seller, religion or the trappings of religion may be used (not
accept as a depiction of the human being in society, and
necessarily cynically) by an author to induce in readers an
therefore as an indication of what those people believe soci-
impression that they are thinking about and weighing serious
ety to be. Even more than what these readers believe to be
problems. The familiar tale of the priest who falls in love lies
true, popular literature displays what they wish were true,
beneath many plots, an example of which is The Thorn Birds
about religion as well as many other things. Thus, having ap-
(1977), by Colleen McCullough, hailed as admirable and
peared at a time when idealistic discussions of social and eco-
even profound by innumerable readers. The priest cannot
nomic “globalization” are persistently defied by the realities
deny his love, for to do so would be to reject something nec-
of international conflicts or tensions that are often rooted in
essary to his wholeness. In time, as a cardinal, he receives his
religious differences, Catherine Clément’s international best-
unacknowledged son into the priesthood.
seller Le Voyage de Théo (1997) tells of a boy taken on a tour
There may lie beneath McCullough’s book, and others
of the world’s religions, traveling literally from one continent
like it, something that should not be ignored: Christianity
to the next, and arriving finally at the simple morale that one
has never wholly accepted human sexuality as a potentially
should be at peace with God, whatever one conceives God
noble part of the human makeup. Such books are a protest
to be. In one sense, Le Voyage de Théo seeks to exploit the
against that attitude, a demand that religion include sexuality
same function that numerous profounder novels have ful-
and the distinctively feminine element in the human spirit
filled in illuminating forms of religious life largely unfamiliar
as it shows itself in both sexes. The conflict between a high
to “mainstream” Western readers. The portrayals of Brah-
feminine spirit and a torturing, wholly masculine morality
manic and Buddhist asceticism in Hermann Hesse’s Sidd-
is finely explored in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Let-
hartha. Eine indische Dichtung (1922), and of Chippewa tra-
ter (1850); Hester Prynne’s greatness is opposed to the ortho-
ditions in the novels of Louise Erdrich, are but two examples
doxy of her secret lover, the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale,
that come immediately to mind.
and there can be no doubt which spirit is the more truly reli-
What many readers seem to wish is that religion should
gious.
not obtrude into a novel, either directly or in some awareness
Innumerable books have dealt with this question in a
of the numinous. Writers who ignore their wish feel the lash
manner that may have been the best possible to their authors
of their resentment. Aldous Huxley, who seemed to a large
but that can only be called slight and, in some cases, cynically
and eager group of readers to be the perfection of the cyni-
frivolous. An early example is The Monk (1796), the im-
cism of the period following World War I, astonished and
mensely popular novel by Matthew Gregory Lewis, in which
displeased them when, in 1936, he published Eyeless in Gaza,
the externals of Catholicism are exploited in a tale of nym-
in which the voice of the moralist and explorer of faith that
phomania, murder, magic, and unappeasable lust. Unques-
had been earlier evident in Brave New World (1932) could
tionably it is lively reading, but its notions of numinosity
no longer be ignored. A similar experience befell Evelyn
reach no higher than scenes of the Inquisition and a trum-
Waugh, whose works, being both witty and funny (for the
pery pact with the Devil. (For a fine example of the theme
two are not interchangeable terms), had secured him a de-
of the pact with the Devil, one may turn to Thomas Mann’s
lighted following of readers who, although they knew him
Dr. Faustus, 1947.) Lewis’s Gothic shocker is mentioned
to be a Roman Catholic, did not appreciate how determined-
here because it is the forerunner of many such tales in which
ly Catholic he was until 1945, when Brideshead Revisited de-
religion serves indecency in the manner Shakespeare de-
manded that Catholic orthodoxy be taken with the utter-
scribes as “to have honey a sauce to sugar” (As You Like It,
most seriousness. The deathbed repentance of the earl of
3.3.26–27). But they are popular, and it cannot be denied
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FICTION: THE WESTERN NOVEL AND RELIGION
that they represent what religion means to many people. Vic-
When Tolstoy wrote War and Peace (1868) and Anna
tor Hugo’s Notre-Dame de Paris (1831) offers an artistically
Karenina (1878), his powerful depiction of this tension made
superior example. Eugène Marie-Joseph Sue’s Le Juif errant
him a literary artist of the highest achievement, yet when he
(1844–1845) is a lesser work in which the supposed unscru-
was impelled later to write works determinedly improving in
pulous intellectualism of the Jesuits is exploited.
tone, that splendor did not survive. But we must sympathize
with Tolstoy’s deep conviction that art should be religious
Some reference must be made to the large category of
in its impulse and make religious feeling at its highest avail-
books that make use of the occult as part of the paraphernalia
able to a public neither devout nor philosophical. This is a
of their stories, employing a romantic Satanism to produce
conviction recognizable in many novels of the first rank.
an atmosphere of evil and decadence. Two works of Joris-
Karl Huysmans have been admired: À rebours (1884), in
In vast areas of popular literature a defensible, if some-
which Catholicism is embraced as a remedy against a blight-
times crude, morality asserts itself, greatly to the satisfaction
ing pessimism, and Là-bas (1891), in which the hero searches
of its readers. In Westerns, the Good Guy—and the values
for a consoling faith through the path of black magic. On
he stands for—triumphs over the Bad Guy, who is corrupt,
a lower level of artistic achievement is the long-lived romance
cruel, and frequently cynical in his attitude toward women.
by Bram Stoker, Dracula (1897), in which the popular
For the Bad Guy to win in the struggle would topple the
theme of vampirism is the mainspring of the action (among
myth of worthiness and decency that readers of Westerns
today’s popularizers of this theme, the foremost is undoubt-
value. The same simple morality informs much science fic-
edly Anne Rice). These books are relevant to any discussion
tion and fantasy literature (e.g., C. S. Lewis’s “Space Trilogy”
of religion and the novel inasmuch as they are evidence of
[1938–1945] and his “Chronicles of Narnia” [1950–1956],
a yearning in a large reading public for something to balance
with their overarching Christian cosmology), and even J. K.
the apparent spiritual barrenness of the world that has
Rowling’s wildly popular Harry Potter novels of alternate
emerged from the industrial, scientific, and technological
worlds and sorcery.
revolution. That the public responds to the negative spirit
This is significant. In the words of G. K. Chesterton,
of black magic rather than to something more hopeful is not
“men’s basic assumptions and everlasting energies are to be
surprising. Where religion loses its force, superstition is
found in penny dreadfuls and halfpenny novelettes” (Here-
quick to supplant it, and it would need a strong new religious
tics, 1905). Great numbers of readers of detective stories are,
impulse or revelation to reverse that movement.
without ever defining their attitude, devoted to the morality
It is not surprising that when religion appears in this
of “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord,” or the
class of literature it is usually Catholicism, Orthodoxy, or
bleaker law of Exodus 21:23–24: “If any mischief follow then
Jewish mysticism (Qabbalah) that accommodate naive or un-
thou shalt give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand
evolved religious feeling more sympathetically than Protes-
for hand, foot for foot.” Who is the instrument of the Lord’s
tantism. The reformed versions of Christianity in their eager-
vengeance, who brings the murderer or the thief to his just
ness to banish superstition appear sometimes to have
reward? The Great Detective, of course. Be he the cold rea-
banished any sense of the numinous along with it, and it may
soning-machine Sherlock Holmes; the man of pity, Chester-
be argued that the human being cannot live comfortably
ton’s own Father Brown; the high-born, donnish Peter
without some elements of belief that a stern moralist would
Wimsey, or the immobile, intellectual Nero Wolfe; he—or
class as superstitious. The human psyche cannot relate whol-
she, as in the cases, say, of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple or
ly toward the positive and the light side of life; it must have
Sara Paretsky’s V. I. Warshawski—is always the figure recog-
some balancing element of the dark, the unknown, and the
nizable from medieval religious drama, sometimes called Di-
fearful.
vine Correction. He or she is the restorer of balance, the dis-
penser of justice, working on behalf of a higher authority.
It is because of this unrecognized pull toward the numi-
The same pattern is observable in the spy story, which
nous in its dark side that it is so difficult, even for a great
is the main rival of the detective novel. However attractive
literary artist, to portray a wholly good and admirable charac-
or extenuating may be the temptations that make the spy be-
ter. Dickens’s villains have a power not found in his good
tray his country, and however plodding, weary, disillusioned,
men and women, and the great artist usually provides a bal-
and dowdy the spy-catcher may be, in the end the betrayer
ance, as he does in The Old Curiosity Shop (1841), where the
of the highest values must be found and brought to some sort
innocent and saintly Little Nell is opposed to the grotesque
of justice. Often the tone is cynical; often the secret service
villainy of the dwarf Quilp. This opposition provides the ten-
is represented as no more than a game; but behind every
sion that gives the novel life and would slacken if Nell had
game lies the desire to win, and thereby to establish or reaf-
things too much her own way. In The Brothers Karamazov
firm some superiority. What superiority? That of an overrid-
(1880), Dostoevsky cannot, by his finest art, make the saintly
ing morality.
Alyosha as real to us as the man divided between his good
and evil, his brother Ivan. Modern human beings are aware
How far is morality from religion? To the novelist it
of this tension as a demanding element in their own lives and
sometimes looks like the religion that people profess who
respond to it in fiction.
wish to ignore God—or keep him behind a veil as being too
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3063
grand for common concerns. It may be the religion of people
of such invention and of the theological conflicts caused in
who find an ever-present God embarrassing company, be-
Western Christian thought by the encounter of a New
cause they are aware that they cannot live always on the
World different from the known world of Europe, Asia and
heights, and they do not believe that God understands their
Africa. The zeal of evangelization, which accompanied politi-
insufficiencies. But to support a system of morality without
cal and economic expansion, resulted in theological schisms
some reference to numinous values is uphill work for a phi-
within the Church that lasted for centuries, vestiges of which
losopher, and beyond the scope of even a highly intelligent
can be seen today in the figure of revolutionary priests such
general reader.
as Camilo Torres and Ernesto Cardenal, Liberation Theolo-
The novel, at its best, is a work of literary art and a form
gy and, in various forms, in nineteenth and twentieth centu-
of entertainment at all levels, concerned with human beings
ry Latin American literary discourses. Christian theology,
in every aspect of their lives, including, but not necessarily
Judeo-Christian messianic literature, and medieval legends
approving, their religious life. That its connection with reli-
and myths colored the way Europeans perceived the New
gion should be, in the main, through morality rather than
World. Even Christopher Columbus, who believed he had
through faith or revelation should therefore surprise no one.
arrived in India, also claimed in his fourth diary to have
Whatever pinnacles it may achieve in morality or philoso-
found the entrance to Paradise: a claim that the Postmodern
phy, its character remains secular.
Argentinean writer, Abel Posse, humorously engages in his
novel Los perros del paraíso (1983). Augusto Roa Bastos, in
Vigilia del Almirante (1992), and Alejo Carpentier, in El arpa
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Many books of criticism that deal with the novel make passing ref-
y la sombra (1979), return to the figure of Columbus to ques-
erence to religious concerns when these are relevant, but not
tion foundational truths in the history of the New World.
all critics are even-handed in their treatment of religion, and
In an attempt to understand native religions, and as a
some of them seem almost to be religious illiterates, who ei-
vehicle for teaching Christian faith, Humanist Christian mis-
ther stand in foolish awe of what they have not examined or
sionaries in the New World established analogies between in-
ignorantly decry it. The reader who wishes to pursue the
digenous religions and Christianity. Even as late as the eigh-
train of thought suggested in the preceding entry might well
reread the novels mentioned, with special attention to their
teenth century the association was made between Christ’s
religious implication. The following list confines itself to
Apostle Thomas and Viracocha, the white deity of the Incas,
those critical works cited in the article:
and between Thomas and the Aztec wind god Quetzacoatl.
Christian theology, fused with pre-Columbian and African
Bakhtin, M. M. The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays. Edited by
Michael Holquist. Translated by Caryl Emerson and Mi-
myths, and infused with Erasmus’s theological treaties on
chael Holquist. Austin, Tex., 1981.
human liberty, dignity, and pure spirituality (De libero ar-
bitrio, 1524), created the conditions for the emergence of
Doody, Margaret Anne. The True Story of the Novel. New Bruns-
wick, N.J., 1996.
messianic movements of different religious and political or-
ders. Some announced an apocalyptic second-coming of
Lukács, Georg. The Theory of the Novel: A Historico-Philosophical
Christ colored by indigenous New World and African reli-
Essay on the Forms of Great Epic Literature. Translated by
gions; others longed for political messiahs. Alejo Carpentier’s
Anna Bostock. Cambridge, Mass., 1971.
novel The Kingdom of This World (1957), and Gabriel García
Updike, John. “Religion and Literature.” In The Religion Factor:
Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude (Cian anˇos de sole-
An Introduction to How Religion Matters, edited by William
dad, 1967), find in these religious prophesies a metaphor for
Scott Green and Jacob Neusner. Louisville, Ky., 1996.
a cosmic revolution that, like the Arawak and the Quiché
Ziolkowski, Eric. The Sanctification of Don Quixote: From Hidalgo
Maya deity Huracán, destroys an old order of things. The
to Priest. University Park, Pa., 1991.
already archetypal image in Latin America of the cosmic
ROBERTSON DAVIES (1987)
wind of destruction and creation (Popol Vuh), brings togeth-
ERIC ZIOLKOWSKI (2005)
er in these two novels the Judeo-Christian story of the Flood,
the Christian prophesies of a Judgement Day, as well as the
Maya-Quiché stories in the Popol Vuh about the gods’ de-
FICTION: LATIN AMERICAN FICTION AND
struction of their first creation. In his monumental 1981
RELIGION
novel The War of the End of the World (La guerra del fin del
As in most places in the world where different cultures and
mundo), Mario Vargas Llosa records the tragic destruction
religions have come together as the result of political con-
of one such movement in the hinterlands of Bahia, Brazil.
quests, in Latin America, fiction, religion and history are in-
The novel is based on Euclides da Cunha’s accounts in his
separably connected. In The Invention of America: An Inquiry
1903 Brazilian Classic Rebellion in the Backlands (Os sertoes),
into the Historical Nature of the New World and the Meaning
about the war the Republic of Brazil waged against Canudos
of History (1961), Edmundo O’Gorman makes substantiated
and its messianic spiritual leader. Both texts are meditations
claims that the New World was already an invention in the
on religious and political fanaticisms in Latin America.
European imagination before 1492. Early documents about
Sixteenth-century political and religious conflicts have
the conquest and colonization of the Americas tell the story
attracted the attention of twentieth-century Latin American
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writers. The writers often return to the foundational texts of
pector offers a different metaphor for the Christi sacrifice re-
this period in order to explore the conflictive religious
membered in the Christian rite of the Eucharist. Clarisse’s
thoughts that participate in the formation of Latin American
1964 novel, The Passion according to G.H., represents an alle-
cultures, and the imprints those thoughts left in local memo-
gorical communion between an artist, the writer, and the
ries and in those cultures. Mario Vargas Llosa’s novel, El
very origins of life, through the self-sacrificial act of ingesting
hablador (1987) is the story of a modern Peruvian of Jewish
a roach. Lispector metaphorically associates the ingested in-
and Christian background who becomes involved in the life
sect, which represents a lower but primal form of life in con-
of an Amazonian tribe. He eventually becomes an itinerant
temporary urban society, with the sacred Egyptian beetle,
tribal storyteller who blends into the traditional tribal tales
also a symbol of life and rejuvenation. In another Brazilian
he narrates, Western literature and Judeo-Christian myths.
Classic, Grande Serta˜o: Veredas (1958), Joa˜o Guimara˜es Rosa
The novel is a metaphor for the religious and cultural syncre-
explores the universal struggle between good and evil, from
tism that has taken place in Latin America.
the syncretic gaze of Christian theology and Asian thought,
while at the same time proposing that the act of writing is
An example of the religious exchanges that have attract-
an alchemical search for a higher truth that can only be inti-
ed writers in Latin America, especially in the second half of
mated through imagination. In Grande Serta˜o: Veredas, the
the twentieth century, is the apparition in Mexico of the
hinterland of Brazil is the stage for the universal battle be-
dark-skinned Virgin of Guadalupe in 1531, to an Indian
tween good and evil. At the end of the novel, good and evil
man, Juan Diego. This is the single most important religious
destroy each other, resulting in a state of nothingness, a non-
event for modern Mexico, as she is a symbol of national iden-
ada that reduces humanity’s universal saga to the ritual act
tity and religious consciousness. Guadalupe served as an icon
of memory, and to a repetitive imaginary act of recovery
for the Mexican war of independence, for the Chicano move-
through fiction. Guimara˜es Rosas’s novel also records, recon-
ments in the 1970s, and for the Zapatista movement in the
structs, and reinvents a way of thinking in the hinterlands,
1990s. What is of interest for contemporary Mexican writers
characterized by the fusion of indigenous, African and Chris-
is the fact that, as Jacques Lafaye points out, the Christian
tian religions.
Virgin of Guadalupe appeared at the same site, in Tepeyac,
where the Aztec mother goddess Tonantzin was worshipped
AFRICAN RELIGIONS IN LATIN AMERICAN FICTION. Ritual
prior to the arrival of the Spanish. Like other contemporary
allows its participants to experience and be a part of the
Latin American writers, Mexican fictional literature dwells
source of creation. In Latin American fiction, writers often
on the significance of such syncretisms in modern Mexico.
turn to the representation of ritual in order to record the im-
Carlos Fuentes’s work places a special emphasis on the rela-
portance of African traditions in the development of Latin
tionship between pre-Colombian religions and modern
American cultures. The Cuban writer Alejo Carpentier pro-
Mexico. In his novel, La región más transparente (1958), his
poses in The Kingdom of this World, that the unwavering faith
novella, Aura (1964), and in his short story, “Chac Mool,”
in the African loas in Haitian Vodou is what gave Haitian
Fuentes explores the duality of a pre-Colombian realm
slaves the will power and spiritual strength to defeat the
masked by modern Mexican culture. In Aura, we find a con-
French and to gain independence. Twentieth-century Carib-
temporary Mexican historian, and in “Chac Mool,” a mod-
bean and Brazilian fiction demystify the demonic image that
ern day collectionist of pre-Colombian art, both drawn into
African religions have endured since the sixteenth century,
a mythical Aztec-Maya cyclical time of death and renewal.
while recording the drama of African gods in an American
Fuentes is interested in exploring the religious ambiguities
context, colored by Christian and Classical myths.
of modern Mexico in relationship to the concepts of death
and sacrifice. Based on the Aztec notion that time is a living
Caribbean and Brazilian writers may refer to a given or-
entity rejuvenated through sacrifice, Fuentes establishes a
isha or loa, with the name of a saint, a religious characteristic
contrast between the Christian veneration of Christ’s sacri-
or a symbol without referring directly to the deity. For exam-
fice for the salvation of humanity and the Aztec veneration
ple, terms like red, sun, fire and double ax, may refer to the
of sacrificial death as a mode of collective salvation. Syncre-
orisha Shango, while images of yellow, copper, cinnamon,
tism, as a literary trope, can be found in Mexican literature
honey and fresh waters, may refer to Oshun. Jorge Amado’s
as far back as the seventeenth century when Sor Juana Inés
title for his novel, Gabriela, Clove, and Cinnamon, alerts the
de la Cruz, a Mexican nun and a major writer of the Baroque
reader to the association in the text between Gabriela and the
period, made the association in her play El divino Narciso be-
orixá Oshun. African languages also survived in the Caribbe-
tween Christ, the Classical figure of Narcissus—who
an and in Brazil due to their ritual importance, and to the
through metamorphosis transcends his humanity—and the
fact that ritual words that define religious concepts, like ashe
Aztec God of the Seeds, who is reborn after death.
or in Cuba aché, do not find exact correspondences in West-
ern thought. The presence of these words in Latin American
The image of a self-sacrificial crucified Christ and the
vernacular languages and in fiction, disrupts, but also enrich-
idea of redemption through death appear frequently in Latin
es the dominance of Western traditions in Latin America by
American fiction as a literary trope for social inequality and
slowly inscribing in them different ways of conceiving life,
political injustice. However, the Brazilian writer Clarisse Lis-
humanity, and the divine.
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3065
African religious thought conceives the cosmos as a dy-
Western thought in Latin American literature and history.
namic play of forces in which human beings are also players;
It also brings together as one Bantu and Yoruba traditions
therefore, through a ritual process of give-and-take, sacrifice,
with Haitian Vodou, in which, significantly, Legba is associ-
divination, and offerings, human beings can control those
ated with Christ, in order to propose a greater African, Afro-
forces. This is also the dynamic realm of the orixás, which
Indo-American consciousness conceived in Zapata’s novel
the Brazilian writer Jorge Amado represents in his novels, al-
from the gaze of African religious thought. Zapata also col-
ways in the syncretic cultural setting of Salvador, Bahia. In
lapses the conceptual and rhetorical differences between fic-
Donna Flor and Her Two Husbands, Amado constructs an in-
tion and religion by claiming that he wrote this novel under
visible realm of popular African traditions and beliefs that co-
the spiritual guidance of Ifá: a system of divination of African
exist in Brazilian society with Christianity in a cultural and
Yoruba tradition brought to the New World by African
religious dynamic interchange. This is a process Fernando
slaves that serves as a spiritual guide to those who follow it.
Ortiz calls transculturation (in Bronislaw Malinowski’s intro-
In and through Ifá the natural divine forces speak to humans
duction to Ortiz’s Cuban Counterpoint, Tobacco and Sugar,
through a system of letters or figures made by the position
1940, 1995) to differentiate it from the concept of syn-
in which cowrie shells or kola nuts thrown by the priest or
cretism.
Babalawo fall on the divining table. Each position forms an
Odu, or road, of positive or negative outcomes. There are nu-
In Cuba, Lydia Cabrera’s work carved out a sacred space
merous anecdotes with each Odu that the Babalawo recites
in Cuban studies and literature for the religious Afro-Cuban
as part of the divining process. The anecdotes related to Ifá
concept of monte, meaning jungle, forest, mount, country-
constitute a sacred oral tradition in Africa. In the Caribbean,
side and backyard, as the space where the dynamic forces of
the anecdotes of Ifá, and those of a similar divining system
the cosmos are at play; where the give-and-take between
known as Diloggun, form a written corpus of religious litera-
human beings and natural forces takes place. In her short sto-
ture (known in Cuba as Pataki) that records the survival of
ries and fables, from Cuentos negros de Cuba in 1936 to
an ancestral African consciousness in America. This con-
Ayapá. Cuentos de Jicotea in 1971, monte is the creole Olym-
sciousness is what Zapata defines in his novel as Muntu. As
pus where the drama of the Afro Cuban deities takes place,
in Zapata’s novel, the drama of the African deities in Latin
mirroring the strengths and weakness, desires, longings, faith
American fiction provides a record of African religious tradi-
and politics of creole society.
tions, while at the same time recording and retelling the
A unique representation of African religions and of a
greater story of the Indo-African experience in America.
greater African consciousness in the Americas can be found
in the 1984 novel by the Colombian writer Manuel Zapata
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Olivella, Changó el gran Putas. The novel turns to sixteenth-
Arnone, Robert, Stephen Franz, and Kimberly Morse Cordova.
century Latin American history in order to reinvent America
“Religion in Latin America.” In Understanding Contemporary
from the gaze of African thought. Here the history of Ameri-
Latin America, edited by Richard Hillman. Boulder, Colo.,
2001.
ca, including slavery, is the providential design of Shango, the
ancestral Yoruba orisha-king of Ò:yó:, lord of lightning, thun-
Barnet, Miguel. La fuente viva. La Habana, Cuba, 1983.
der and fire, whose American counterparts in Zapata’s novel
Batallón, Marcel. Erasmo y España. Vol. 2. Mexico, 1990. A com-
are the Aztec wind-god Quetzacoatl, and the Supreme Fire-
prehensive study on the influence Desiderus Erasmus’s theo-
Father Sun, Inti, of the Incas. Zapata’s choice for choosing
logical thought had in the Spanish Church and in Spanish
Shango as the Supreme African Patriarch, is based on the his-
Humanism. Here Batallón also discusses the passage of
Erasmian theology to Spanish America.
torical fact that Shango is one of the most important African
deities in the New World (Bascom, Shango in the New
Bascom, William. “Two Forms of Afro-Cuban Divination.” In
World, 1972): a cultural African and African American hero
Acculturation in the Americas, edited by Sol Tax. Chicago,
1952.
and deity, whose strengths and powers are always balanced
by his human-like weaknesses.
Castellanos, Jorge, and Isabel Castellanos. Cultura afrocubana
(Vol. 4). Miami, 1992. A comprehensive study of four vol-
In order to place the act of writing within an African
umes, covering the relationship of Afro Cuban religions and
tradition from which to retell the same, but different, story
culture with literature and art (Vol. 4), and with languages
of the Americas from the gaze of a triethnic writer, Zapata
(Vol. 3).
follows the structure of African ritual recitations and Afro-
Cuervo Hewitt, Julia. Aché: Presencia africana. Tradiciones Yoruba
Caribbean rituals. The novel begins with the act of summon-
Lucumí en la narrativa cubuana. New York, 1988.
ing African and Afro-Indo-American ancestors and orishas.
Deive, Carlos Esteban. Vodú y magia en Santo Domingo. Santo
As we find in Zapata’s novel, in Afro-Caribbean rituals
Domingo, Dominican Republic, 1975. A study of Vodou as
Legba, or Elegua in Cuba, lord of the crossroads, doors,
it is practiced in the Dominican Republic, its history and im-
roads and the Word, is the first one and the last one to speak
prints in Dominican literature and art.
in all rituals. From a postmodern perspective the novel ques-
Demangles, Leslie. The Faces of the Gods: Vodou and Roman Ca-
tions and breaks away from the strictures of literary genres
tholicism in Haiti. Chapel Hill, N. C., 1992.
and Western epistemology, and also resists the hegemony of
Eliade, Mircea. The Vanishing God. Chicago, 1972.
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FICTION: CHINESE FICTION AND RELIGION
Fernández Olmos, Margarite, and Lizabeth Parvisini-Gebert. Cre-
dhist. Some zhiguai collections of the Six Dynasties, especial-
ole Religions of the Caribbean. New York, 2003.
ly the early ones, were perhaps composed by fangshi
Gerbi, Antonello. The Dispute of the New World: the History of a
magicians. They are reminiscences of fangshi magicians, di-
Polemic (1750–1900), Pittsburgh, 1973.
viners, and healers as well as of their erudition and expertise.
Jahn, Janheinz. Muntu: African Culture and the Western World.
New York, 1990.
Zhiguai anthologies of mainly Buddhist and Daoist ori-
Lafaye, Jacques. Quetzalcóatl y Guadalupe. La formación de la con-
gins were apparently put together by those who maintained
ciencia nacional en México. Mexico, 1995 (translated from
and practiced the religious faith shown in the works repre-
the French: Quetzalcóatl et Guadalupe. La formation de la
sented. The most explicit are the collections focusing on bi-
consciente nationale au Mexique. Paris, 1974).
ographies of Daoist immortals (xian) and Buddhist miracle
Linsay, Arturo, ed. Santería Aesthetics in Contemporary Latin
tales. Narratives belonging to the Daoist mode tell of ascen-
American Art. Washington, D.C., 1996.
sion, meditation, and autonomy, all laying claim to the Dao-
Lópe-Calvo, Ignacio. Religión y militarismo en la obra de Marcos
ist authority. They emerged predominantly out of the im-
Aguinis 1963–2000. New York, 2002. A study of Aguinis’s
mortality cult and the alchemical practices common to
work of fiction and the writer’s representation of Judaism
popular Daoism.
and the Jewish experience in Argentina.
Regarding the Buddhist mode, these Buddhist miracle
Phelan, John Leddy. The Millennial Kingdom of the Franciscans in
the New World: A Study of the Writings of Gerónimo de
tales are largely of the following three general types: (1) ac-
Mendieta (1525–1604). Berkeley, Calif., 1956, 1970.
counts of divine intervention and supernatural power in
Stanley, Porter, Michael Hayes, and David Tombs, eds. Faith in
times of need, usually wielded by Avalokite´svara (Guanyin);
the Millennium. Sheffield, U.K., 2001. Numerous papers by
(2) illustrations of piety and sincere belief, often through de-
different authors that include theological perspectives in
scriptions of the inexorable workings of the law of karmic
Latin America, theology and literature, millenary movements
retribution; and (3) remarkable deeds of monks or laypeople,
past and present, theology of liberation, art, religion syncre-
serving to demonstrate their high spiritual attainments.
tism, and literature.
Verger, Pierre Fatumbi. Orixás. Bahia and Sa˜o Paulo, Brazil,
Zhiguai tales stress communication between humans
1981.
and supernatural beings. Whether it is a man’s union with
a female deity or a human’s sojourn in the immortal territo-
JULIA CUERVO HEWITT (2005)
ry, the stories invariably embody a state of transcendence for
which Daoist practitioners yearn. One of the motifs is com-
munication between the living and the dead. Still many
FICTION: CHINESE FICTION AND RELIGION
zhiguai stories are about retributive phenomena.
This essay examines five genres or subgenres of Chinese fic-
tion, namely the zhiguai, chuanqi, bianwen, vernacular short
CHUANQI. Chuanqi (transmission of the extraordinary) as a
story, and vernacular novel (premodern and modern). Each
genre refers to fictional narratives in the classical language,
genre contains works that have themes or structures with reli-
longer than zhiguai, that emerged during the Tang dynasty
gious dimensions. Readership and religious functions of later
(618–907 CE). Tang chuanqi tales were overwhelmed by a
fictional works will also be mentioned, although these as-
curiosity about traffic with the transcendent world of gods,
pects of early works should not be neglected.
immortals, and numinous beings or with the world beyond
Z
the grave. Compared to the Six Dynasties zhiguai, what dis-
HIGUAI. The birth of what is usually rendered as Chinese
prose fiction (xiaoshuo) remains a subject of debate. In defin-
tinguishes Tang chuanqi lies not so much in what kinds of
ing Chinese fiction in a strict sense, most literary historians
supernatural themes are presented in a tale, as in how they
trace its origin to the zhiguai (records of anomalies), fictional
are represented. With its particular narrative method and
narratives in classical language, in the Six Dynasties period
polished style, the concern of chuanqi is mainly on human
(220–589
motivations and on the exemplary side of human nature. In
CE). These narratives are characterized by an out-
look and context rooted in the supernatural world replete
other words, the supernatural tends to be less arbitrary and
with themes such as immortality, the afterlife, the causal rela-
arrogant but more benevolent and accessible in its relation-
tion between merit and punishment, magic, shamanism, and
ship with humans. Their sympathy lies with those who have
alchemical theories and procedures. In composing these
withdrawn from the official life or shown a tendency to a re-
tales, many authors assumed the serious mission of proving
ligious life.
the actual existence of the supernatural. Whether or not they
While half of the chuanqi tales are determined by the
succeeded in convincing their readers, this intent along with
theme of the supernatural, the other favorite subject is love,
the general subject matter constitutes the religious dimen-
which is sometimes amalgamated with religious elements. In
sions in zhiguai tales. Definitive examples in the genre like
terms of depiction of supernatural beings, chuanqi brought
the Soushen ji (In search of the supernatural) of Gan Bao (fl.
several innovations. First, supernatural beings could become
320) all represent this tendency.
psychologically complex and sympathetic. The common
Zhiguai narratives with religious dimensions can be di-
topoi in chuanqi tales include the predestined marriage made
vided into the modes of fangshi magicians, Daoist, and Bud-
in heaven, in which the romance with a nonhuman woman
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FICTION: CHINESE FICTION AND RELIGION
3067
was particularly suited to the chuanqi’s combination of the
extension, and relinquishment of the claim that verifiable
emotional with the extraordinary. In some tales black magic
historical facts are being recorded) and provided an immea-
transforms humans into beasts, including the self-motivated
surable variety of stories and figures.
transformation of Daoists and Buddhists. Some tales present
VERNACULAR SHORT STORIES. Chinese vernacular fiction
the process of alchemical formation as a psychological trial
has its origins in the professional storytelling of the Song
of dangerous experiences. Dragon lore in Tang chuanqi high-
(960–1279) and Yuan (1206–1368) periods. Scholars debate
lights human involvement in the dragon family. Some tales
what the precise categories of storytelling are in Song records.
are about the predestination or revelation of a person’s fu-
There were at least two schools of storytelling, among four
ture, likely because of the belief given by the Buddhist doc-
or six, related to religious phenomena: first, xiaoshuo or short
trine of karmic retribution. Some tales narrate new kinds of
stories that included such supernatural themes as ghosts and
oddity involved in dream phenomena and put into service
marvels, and second, Buddhist scriptural narration, monastic
essentially the Daoist-Buddhist ideas concerning the illusory
tales, and scriptural parodies. In the Yuan, professional story-
nature of life and the vanity of striving after worldly gain.
telling xiaoshuo is divided into eight classes. Of the eight,
A great number of tales provide ideal knight errantry that
three are primarily concerned with religious themes: spirits
possesses supernatural and fantastic elements, with the Dao-
and demons, sorcery, and gods and immortals. All these
ist propensity to having the xia (swordsman) hero or heroine
types of the Song-Yuan storytelling continued to appear in
retire from the human world after his or her mission is ac-
later written stories.
complished. And again many tales tell of communication
With this background in mind, huaben should be con-
with ghosts.
sidered next. Huaben, or the vernacular story, refers to a
Although the zhiguai from the Six Dynasties and chuan-
short story from the Song to the Qing dynasties that is writ-
qi from the Tang are the most well known, later collections
ten in the vernacular. Many huaben stories dealt with the
of zhiguai and chuanqi are also numerous. Some of them,
lives of the middle to lower classes, focusing on down-to-
such as Hong Mai’s (1123–1202) Yijian zhi (Records of the
earth concerns like preservation of family or lineage and the
listener), have been used extensively by historians of Chinese
quest for worldly success. Some, however, treated Daoist and
religion as a source book for delineating religious beliefs and
Buddhist themes, emphasizing the emptiness of mundane
ritual practice at that time. In the Qing dynasty (1644–
glory as well as the happiness of reclusion and transcendence.
1911) Liaozhai zhiyi (Strange tales from make-do studio) by
The development of vernacular stories can be divided
Pu Songling (1640–1715) is the most celebrated collection
into three periods. In the early period (the Yuan and early
of supernatural tales in the entire canon in the Chinese tradi-
Ming dynasties, up to 1450), the themes of these early stories
tion, which alone contains almost five hundred stories. It is
include demons, ghosts, and religion. The demon stories
viewed as the pinnacle of the zhiguai and chuanqi traditions.
normally tell how a young man encounters an animal spirit
Liaozhai zhiyi is especially famous for the depiction of female
or a ghost in the guise of a young girl, makes love to her, dis-
ghosts and fox spirits.
covers his danger, and calls an exorcist, usually a Daoist mas-
B
ter, to subdue her.
IANWEN. Bianwen (transformation texts) of the Tang
dynasty and the Five Dynasties periods (907–960 CE) from
One distinctive story type of the middle period (mid–
the Dunhuang caves are narratives written in semicolloquial
Ming dynasty, 1400–1575) pertains to the Buddhist stories.
Chinese in a prosimetric style. These texts, as a type of story-
They tell of priests, their deaths, and sometimes their reincar-
telling, were performed, intending to represent a miraculous
nations, combining themes involving the priesthood with
event for the purpose of enlightening the audience with Bud-
that of karmic causation. The stories are concerned above all
dhist teachings. Transformation texts are believed to have
with the priest’s vow of chastity and the temptations to
been used in combination with visual images for perfor-
which he is subjected, but they also possess a certain religious
mances in Buddhist temples or in certain ritual services. The
meaning. The stories of the middle period are either Bud-
performers of these transformations were professional enter-
dhist in inspiration or reveal a down-to-earth morality that
tainers, and the copyists of the extant manuscripts were
inevitably links deeds to punishments.
mostly lay students studying a largely secular curriculum in
The stories of the late period (after 1550) were written
schools run by Buddhist monasteries.
by literati who often fused Confucian principles with popu-
Some transformation texts with Buddhist subject matter
lar religious ideas. Many stories in the “Three Words” (sany-
excel in conjuring vast man:d:alas of fantastic beings, divini-
an), three forty-piece collections of stories compiled by Feng
ties, or demons surrounding the central Buddha and vistas
Menglong (1574–1646), have a strong Buddhist flavor. A
of other worlds. Bianwen have their roots in Buddhist litera-
representative sanyan story has its plot building on Buddhist
ture, though the genre quickly became a secular form of en-
beliefs, its narrative furnished with Buddhist lore, and its
tertainment, adopting Chinese historical and contemporary
conclusion engaging the mediation of Buddhist deities or the
themes. As an example of the Buddhist influence on Chinese
attainment of buddhahood.
thought and writing, bianwen stimulated Chinese fiction
Among storywriters of this period, Langxian’s stories
with many new forms and themes (prosimetric form, greater
stress reclusion and religious beliefs. They are devoted to
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3068
FICTION: CHINESE FICTION AND RELIGION
Daoist themes, such as the attainment of immortality, more
Besides The Story of the Stone, Dong Yue’s (1620–1686)
than any previous stories. Yet the Daoism of Langxian’s
Xiyou bu (Supplement to journey to the west) manifests Bud-
works was not a rigid doctrine but one of the sentimental and
dhist psychology. In Jin Ping Mei (Plum in the golden vase)
artistic.
and Xingshi yinyuan zhuan (The bonds of matrimony; or,
Marriage destines to awaken the world), the Buddhist vision
Confucian literati also described religious phenomena
based on merit-making and karmic retribution is apparent.
in their short stories. Ling Mengchu (1580–1644) in Paian
One type of Buddhist novel is the hagiographical fictional
jingqi (Slapping the table in amazement) and in Erke paian
work, such as Qiantang hu yin Jidian Chanshi yulu (The re-
jingqi (Slapping the table in amazement, second collection),
corded sayings of the recluse from Qiantang Lake, the Chan
two collections of stories commonly known as “Two Slap-
master Crazy Ji; 1569).
pings” (erpai), described many religious people and motifs.
These stories are ultimately related to the typical example of
Most Chinese novels begin with an account of the initial
the Shanshu (morality books).
cosmogony. In these novels this familiar Chinese creation
myth is immediately followed by an embodiment of the gen-
VERNACULAR NOVELS. Zhanghui xiaoshuo, a term that is
eral patterns in specific mythical-historical processes. This
used for full-length vernacular fiction, from premodern
pattern of cosmogony is of Daoist character. Indeed Daoism
times, is customarily translated as “vernacular novel.” When
provides the Chinese novel with a soteriologic and narrative
novel is used in the premodern Chinese context, however, it
structure. In many novels the heroes (or heroines) usually
does not imply a secular literary genre. Nor does it necessarily
have divine origins (chushen) in heaven or paradise, and be-
project humans in society as the novel in the Western coun-
cause of their own mistakes they are banished to or reborn
terpart.
in the human world to experience suffering, redemption, and
Lu Xun (1881–1936), in his pioneering Zhongguo
self-cultivation (xiuxing) and to accumulate merits by rescu-
xiaoshuo shilue (Brief history of Chinese fiction), defines
ing other sentient beings, saving the world, or subduing de-
shenmo xiaoshuo (novels of gods and demons) as a subgenre
mons. After they accomplish their mundane missions, they
with religious or supernatural subject matters. There are over
return to their primordial heavenly positions or reattain im-
one hundred extant novels in this category. But religious or
mortality. All works of “fiction of gods and demons” and
supernatural elements are not limited to these novels. Any
many other novels share this pattern of development. While
novel without a religious or supernatural element would be
The Story of the Stone can be read undoubtedly as a profound
rare. The Buddhist imagery and its underlying ideology in
Buddhist allegory, the same novel can also be read as a Daoist
Chinese novels are obvious. Among the most important
myth in which the male and female protagonists as heavenly
Buddhist motifs in Chinese novels are karmic retribution, re-
immortal beings are banished to the human world to repay
birth, heavens and hells, miraculous transformations and
their debts of love. After they fulfill their long-cherished wish
manifestations, and illusion and dream. In many novels the
of falling in love with each other as an experience of the vicis-
theme, plot, structure, mode of expression, psychological
situdes of life, they have no other way but to return to their
conflicts, and finale are shaped by Buddhist epistemic-
origins.
soteriological models, especially by the quest for enlighten-
In Shuihu zhuan (Outlaws of the marsh; or, Water mar-
ment as prescribed by the Chinese Maha¯ya¯na tradition.
gin) the 108 bandits are 108 stars who are released by acci-
Honglou meng (Dream of the red chamber; or, The story
dent. They finally vanish in the world because of their re-
of the stone) by Cao Xueqin (1715?–1763 or 1764) is the
demption and accomplishment. The same sort of Daoist
universally acknowledged masterpiece in the Chinese novel.
frame of previous origins is present in the Ming novel
The relationship between Bao-yu and his cousin, Dai-yu, can
Pingyao zhuan (The quelling of demons), Luo Maodeng’s (fl.
be interpreted as the narrative enactment of their karmic rec-
1597) Sanbao taijian xiyang ji tongsu yanyi (Journey to the
iprocity, origin, and destiny. The novel shows the Buddhist
western ocean), Li Baichuan’s (c. 1720–after 1762) Lüye
complication of desire, as exemplified by Bao-yu’s long jour-
xianzong (Trials of immortals in the green wilds), and Li
ney to the Gates of Emptiness. The Story of the Stone deals
Ruzhen’s (c. 1763–1830) Jinghua yuan (Flowers in the mir-
with important Buddhist images of dreams and mirrors. It
ror) and is used more ironically in Wu Jingzi’s (1701–1754)
also represents the paradox of Maha¯ya¯na Buddhism: only in
Rulin waishi (The scholars). Even for the historical novel
the world of suffering can one find deliverance. That a full-
Sanguo yanyi (Romance of the three kingdoms; c. 1400–
length novel centers its plot on the protagonist’s desire for
1500), its antecedent Sanguozhi pinghua (Stories from the re-
liberation from his emotional sufferings and on his final de-
cords of the three kingdoms; c. 1321–1323) still retains this
termination to become a monk has few precedents. While
supernatural episode. In a majority of erotic novels, toward
the affirmation of the Buddhist view of reality is but one side
the end the protagonists forgo their practice and attain im-
of the novel, its success lies in the author’s masterful transla-
mortality, centering on the Daoist art of love and pursuit of
tion of the mythic and religious into the aesthetic and realis-
longevity. Of course one of the best-known Daoist novels is
tic. The Story of the Stone in this light can be read as a book
Fengshen yanyi (Investiture of the gods). Despite Buddhist
of enlightenment through love.
influence, this novel exhibits the most explicit Daoist frame-
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FICTION: CHINESE FICTION AND RELIGION
3069
work and elements by changing a historical novel into a
The story of Journey to the West raises a rather perplexing
“novel of gods and demons.” The Daoists participate in the
phenomenon, that is, that the narrative provides astonishing-
transition between the Shang and the Zhou from the begin-
ly few details traceable to specific Buddhist sources, although
ning to the end. The war between the two Daoist sects in
its story is built on the historical pilgrimage undertaken by
the novel represents a hierarchical struggle in Daoism: the
Xuanzang (596–664 CE), one of the most famous Buddhist
official Daoism and folk Daoism. In fact the wars launched
personalities in Chinese history. It is rather noteworthy how
in the human world are envisioned as part of the divine cos-
extensively the Daoist themes and rhetoric appear in every
mogonic process, that is, the “investiture of the gods.”
part of the work. In the novel Daoist elements function not
merely as means of providing commentary on incidents and
Some novels even have the flavor of popular or sectarian
characters in the narrative but often as an aid to disclose the
religion. Pan Jingruo’s Sanjiao kaimi guizheng yanyi (The ro-
true nature of the fellow pilgrims, to help characterize their
mance of the three teachings clearing up the deluded and re-
essential relationships, and to evolve the narrative action it-
turning them to the true way; 1612–1620) reveals the men-
self. Moreover Journey to the West on the whole presents a
tality behind morality books, a lay religious movement. The
complete process of internal alchemical cultivation, both the
moral motif of the novel was also stimulated by the Religion
cultivation of nature (xinggong) and cultivation of life (ming-
of the Three Teachings, a syncretic popular religious sect
gong), including various stages in a proper sequence. Besides
founded by Lin Zhao’en (1517–1598). Liu E’s (1857–1909)
the Buddhist notion of salvation or enlightenment and the
Laocan youji (The travels of Laocan; 1907) intends to show
neo-Confucian rectification of the mind, the author now
the author’s religious vision based on the Taigu school, an
adds immortality as the distinctive goal of the pilgrimage.
esoteric philosophy-turned-religious society with a syncretic
creed, that embodied elements from Confucianism, Bud-
Religious functions. Many authors, editors, and pub-
dhism, Daoism, and probably even Manichaeism. Episodes
lishers of novels intended their works to be read as religious
in the novel, especially in chapters eight to eleven, which
scriptures, and many readers accepted this claim. In this light
constitute the central part of the twenty-chapter work, were
Journey to the West is one of the three most important Daoist
modeled after the Taigu school and its main figures, includ-
texts for adepts to study in their self-cultivation as a modern
ing a Taigu version of worldly paradise, a religious vision and
Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) Daoist asserts. Indeed
cosmology of the Taigu school, the transcendental realm of
many Chinese novels serve as religious texts, namely, morali-
this sectarian movement with its cultivation arts, and its pro-
ty books. Certain novels and morality books were printed to-
phetic faith in and eschatological problems with history and
gether as two parts of the same work, making the former the
Chinese culture as well as its political criticism.
exemplar and the latter the tenet. Many temples have printed
and issued several novels as morality books or religious texts.
The religious novel par excellence is Xiyou ji (Journey
There are always some messages at the end of these novels
to the west; or, Monkey), which is attributed to Wu
encouraging distributing these novels as merit making. Thus
Cheng’en (c. 1500–1582). Religious themes and rhetoric
the readers, with their shared value and understanding of the
permeate the entire work. Journey to the West contains many
devotional intent of the novels, constituted a religious com-
references to yinyang and five-phases (wuxing) terminology,
munity by disseminating and receiving these devotional nov-
Yijing (Classic of change) and alchemical lore, and various
els in the same temples.
other Daoist, Buddhist, and Confucian ideas and practices.
Some of these novels were not only devotional in nature
For more than three centuries the principal concern of criti-
but also revelatory as well. They have their origins in a con-
cism on the novel has been to decipher the allegory by sepa-
text of religious revelations. At some point of their transmis-
rating the narrative surface into moral, religious, and philo-
sion, the novels may have been associated with a personage
sophical meanings. While the novel can be read as a tale of
or group with techniques of revelation, such as spirit posses-
travel and adventure or Confucian rectification of the mind
sion, shamanism, and spirit writing. In this case perhaps ei-
and moral self-cultivation, it can also be read as a religious
ther the patron deities of the cults revealed the text or the
allegory. The immense appropriation of the teaching from
mediums that the deities possessed “delivered” the text in
the Three Religions (sanjiao) is what makes Journey to the
spirit writing of planchette séances (fuji). The appendixes at
West a unique text in the history of the Chinese novel. On
the end of Dongyou ji (Journey to the east) reveal that it was
the Buddhist side, Journey to the West consistently projects
obviously an output of the planchette spirit writing. New
a distinctly Buddhist worldview. There are countless allu-
novels, such as Dongming baoji (A precious record of the
sions to Buddhist concepts and legends structured in the nar-
mysteries of outlying realms), were uttered by the deities
rative. Although there may be no systematic discourse of one
through this technique of spirit writing.
particular Buddhist doctrine in the narrative, certain themes
and figures, such as karmic laws, merit making, Buddha’s
The novels that functioned as vehicles for their protago-
mercy, and the paradoxical connection between mind and
nists’ cults can also affirm these cults’ existence. Thus it may
buddhahood, do receive consistent development. Viewing
well be that a proselytizing purpose probably underlies at
the text this way, Journey to the West can be read as a story
least some “novels of gods and demons.” For example, Ro-
of Buddhist karma and redemption or enlightenment.
mance of the Three Kingdoms has had an enormous impact
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3070
FICTION: CHINESE FICTION AND RELIGION
on secret societies, and its character Lord Guan (Guan Yu)
Wenbing; 1901–1967) accepted the Buddhist philosophy
was deified as a universal god in Chinese religion. With re-
and acknowledged the imperfectness of this world and the
spect to Journey to the West, Monkey exerts its influence on
sadness of human life; others like Yu Dafu (1896–1945)
folk religion, making the Monkey cult in southeast China
were pessimistic romantics, taking refuge in the nirva¯n:a of
and Hong Kong one of the most popular cults. Many popu-
love. Among modern Chinese fiction writers, Xu Dishan
lar deities are drawn from Investiture of the Gods as well.
(1893–1941) had a strong interest in religion, including
Sometimes the influence of popular novels has had imprints
Buddhism and Christianity. What distinguished Xu Dishan
on the monastic attitude toward the saints or deities. And
from his contemporaries was his concern with the basic reli-
some novels themselves were even canonized by the Buddhist
gious experience of charity or love and endeavor, which man-
or Daoist institutions.
ifests in nearly all his stories to show its pervasive presence
in human lives.
Many novels, such as Plum in the Golden Vase, provide
vivid pictures of Daoist and Buddhist rites. More important
The decades from the 1990s onward saw a revival of in-
the novel has had a closer affinity with religious ritual. The
terest in folklore and awareness of religion in Chinese fiction.
ritual appendix found at the end of Beiyou ji (Journey to the
Jia Pingwa (1952–), in his short stories, particularly the col-
north) stipulates the rules of worship. The readership was
lection Taibai (1991), demonstrates a return to the classical
thus anticipated not to read the novel passively but to active-
tale tradition and its fascination in mystical and numinous
ly perform rites in honor of the novel’s protagonist, God Per-
phenomena, including religious magic. Gao Xingjian
fect Warrior. In Jiangxi province in the early twenty-first
(1940–), the 2000 Nobel literature laureate, is more out-
century a Daoist ritual called “Breaking the Yellow River
standing in this respect in his quest for individual spiritual
Trap” is directly from a battle described in chapter fifty of
freedom. In his best-known epic novel Lingshan (Soul moun-
Investiture of the Gods.
tain, 1990), Gao Xingjian makes manifest his sincere pursuit
of religious values. Much of Soul Mountain explores or imag-
Martial arts novels. Wuxia xiaoshuo or martial arts nov-
ines a Chinese tradition counter to the orthodoxy and gives
els as a genre of popular fiction emerged in the popular urban
a reference to Daoism, which provides a moral baseline and
press of the 1920s and 1930s and was later produced in the
cultural ground. It marks not only the first Chinese winner
1950s in Hong Kong and Taiwan (also encompassing
of the Nobel Prize for literature but also the fading of scorn
the genre’s thematic predecessors in earlier literature). In the
for religion among most modern Chinese intellectuals and
1920s and 1930s Huanzhulouzhu (1902–1961), in Shushan
their literature, including fiction.
jianxia zhuan (Swordsmen of the mountains of Shu), nar-
rates amazing tales of flying swordsmen, monsters, and magi-
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vulgaire du 17ème siècle.” T’oung Pao 76, nos. 1–3 (1990):
RICHARD G. WANG (2005)
62–94.
Li, Fengmao. Xu Xun yu Sa Shoujian: Deng Zhimo Daojiao
xiaoshuo yanjiu (Xu Xun and Sa Shoujian: Studies in Deng
Zhimo’s Daoist novels). Taipei, 1997.
FICTION: JAPANESE FICTION AND RELIGION
Li, Qiancheng. Fictions of Enlightenment: Journey to the West,
Like its Western counterpart, modern Japanese fiction is pre-
Tower of Myriad Mirrors, and Dream of the Red Chamber.
dominantly secular. Despite the ostensibly heavy Buddhist
Honolulu, 2004.
overtone in premodern Japanese literature, modern Japanese
Liu Ts’un-jen. Buddhist and Taoist Influences on Chinese Novels,
fiction reflects the rapid westernization and modernization
vol. 1: The Authorship of the Feng Shen Yen I. Wiesbaden,
brought on by the Meiji Restoration (1868) and betrays a
Germany, 1962.
deliberate break from the premodern when literature was at
Liu Ts’un-jen. “Quanzhen jiao he xiaoshuo Xiyou ji” (Quanzhen
times used as a vehicle for conveying Buddhist thoughts and
Daoism and the novel Journey to the West). In Hefeng tang
teachings. Modern Japanese fiction, in its predominantly in-
wenji (Collected works of the harmonious hall), edited by
trospective mode, can be seen as an extended quest for a god
Liu Ts’un-jen, vol. 3, pp. 1319–1391. Shanghai, 1991.
that is not there rather than a testimony of religious faith.
Liu, Xiaolian. The Odyssey of the Buddhist Mind: The Allegory of
Ichiro¯ in Natsume So¯seki’s (1867–1916) The Wayfarer
the Later “Journey to the West.” Lanham, Md., 1994.
(Ko¯jin, 1912–1913) is the prime example of the frustrated
Mair, Victor H. “The Narrative Revolution in Chinese Literature:
spiritual quest of a modern intellectual. In a moment of exis-
Ontological Presuppositions.” Chinese Literature: Essays, Ar-
tential angst, he proclaims that the three choices open to him
ticles, Reviews 5, nos. 1–2 (1983): 1–28.
are “religion, suicide, and madness” and proceeds to hover
Mair, Victor H. “The Contributions of T’ang and Five Dynasties
in a state of mental breakdown, knowing in fact that religion
Transformation Texts (Pien-Wen) to Later Chinese Popular
as a choice was foreclosed to him. Another character who
Literature.” Sino-Platonic Papers 12 (1989): 1–71.
personifies the futile quest for solace in religion is So¯suke in
Mair, Victor H. T’ang Transformation Texts: A Study of the Bud-
So¯seki’s The Gate (Mon, 1910) who, in a moment of intense
dhist Contribution to the Rise of Vernacular Fiction and Drama
guilt and spiritual exhaustion, knocks in vain at the closed
in China. Cambridge, Mass., 1989.
gate of a Buddhist temple. It is as if the modern ego is told
Maspero, Henri. “Un text Daoiste sur l’orient roman.” In Études
to look somewhere else for spiritual redemption, if such an
historiques, edited by Henri Maspero, pp. 93–108. Paris,
1950.
option exists at all.
Robinson, Lewis Stewart. Double-Edged Sword: Christianity and
To recognize the difficult and elusive relationship be-
Twentieth Century Chinese Fiction. Hong Kong, 1986.
tween religion and modern Japanese fiction from the onset
Sawada Mizuho. Bukkyo¯ to Chu¯goku bungaku (Buddhism and
is not to deny the relevance of a religious quest in writers
Chinese literature). Tokyo, 1975.
ranging from Kitamura To¯kuku (1868–1894) to Kunikida
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FICTION: JAPANESE FICTION AND RELIGION
Doppo (1871–1908) in the Meiji era (1868–1912), from Ar-
Divine, language and self dissolve into a state of the sublime
ishima Takeo (1878–1923) to Miyazawa Kenji (1896–1933)
(Brownstein, 1990). Thus, Christianity provides a context
in the Taisho era (1912–1926), and from Endo Shu¯saku
and language for To¯koku and his contemporaries to define
(1923–1996) to Sono Ayako (b. 1931) in the Sho¯wa (1926–
spiritual freedom, love, and aesthetic and poetic ideals crucial
1988) and Heisei (1988–) eras. In the following sections, we
to Japanese Romanticism.
will examine some representative works in the different eras
Kunikida Doppo was a leading voice in Naturalism (shi-
and explore the following aspects: the intellectual and spiri-
zen shu¯gi, 1906–1910), a literary movement marked by an
tual reaction generated by the encounter between a pantheis-
intense inward search for the individual in the form of the
tic mode of religion (Shintoism and the legendary gods in
confessional novel (watakushi sho¯setsu). Unlike To¯son in
the Kojiki [712]) and a monotheistic mode; the interpreta-
Spring (Haru, 1908) and Tayama Katai in The Quilt (Futon,
tion and exploitation of Buddhist imagery and shamanism;
1907), who wallow in their own sins and confessions, Doppo
and the intersection between religion and modern Japanese
considers his role as a poet to be a heaven-sent mission. “I
fiction.
am to a be a poet of God,” Doppo declared, and one of his
MEIJI ERA. The Japanese government lifted the ban on
famous poems begins: “Freedom is found in the mountains
Christianity in 1873, and many Meiji writers absorbed the
and forests./ As I recite this verse I feel my blood dance./ Ah,
influence of Christianity in various degrees as part of the
freedom is found in the mountains and forests behind”
drive for “Enlightenment and Civilization” (bunmei kaika).
(1897) (quoted in Keene, p. 231). Like many of his contem-
Among them, Kitamura To¯koku, Shimazaki To¯son (1872–
poraries, Doppo experienced some ambivalence with his
1943), Kunikida Doppo, and Tayama Katai (1871–1930),
adopted faith, and his works betray not so much the influ-
all Christian converts in their youth, contributed significant-
ence of a monotheistic culture as the romantic notion that
ly to the Meiji literary movements of Romanticism and Nat-
he is an instrument through which the splendor of God’s cre-
uralism. To¯koku was baptized by Iwamoto Yoshiharu
ation is conveyed. He says that the aim of his work is “to de-
(1863–1942), the founder and editor of Jogaku Zasshi, a
scribe with my pen all that my independent soul has been
women’s magazine whose goals and contents were defined
able to learn, observe, and feel” (1893) (quoted in Keene,
by his Christian faith and idealism. While To¯koku kept his
p. 233).
Christian faith throughout his short life, shifting from Pres-
Like To¯koku, Doppo is under the heavy influence of the
byterianism to Quakerism, he was soon disenchanted with
English Romantic poets, and his fiction is a testimony of the
Iwamoto’s moralistic and utilitarian view of literature and re-
magnificence of nature. “Old Gen” (Gen-oji, 1897) captures
ligion. In 1893, along with To¯son, Hoshino Tenchi (1862–
a Wordsworthian stormy sea, while “Unforgettable People”
1950, also a Christian convert), Hirata Tokuboku (1873–
(Wasureenu hibito, 1899) resembles a painted scroll of im-
1943), and Togawa Shu¯kotsu (1870–1939), To¯koku sepa-
pressionistic scenery in which human existence is marked by
rated from Jogaku Zasshi and founded Bungakukai, one of
its insignificance and randomness. In his later works, such
the most influential literary magazines in the Meiji era. Bun-
as “The Bamboo Fence” (Take no kido, 1908), Doppo shows
gakukai carried a terse announcement that summed up the
a great capacity to understand human suffering and despair.
break between literature and Christianity: “Literature is liter-
In the historical context of scientific and social enlight-
ature and religion is religion. Bungakukai is made up of a
enment and technological advancement after 350 years of
group of people with literary aspirations; they are not neces-
feudalism and isolation, the Nietzschean modern man in
sarily religious adherents. Furthermore, it is not limited to
So¯seki’s fiction remains skeptical of religion, and the rational
Christians or to Christian beliefs” (Brownstein, 1980,
physician/scientist in Mori O
¯ gai’s (1862–1922) fiction (e.g.
p. 335).
Kompira, 1909) doubts yet fears the power of folk religious
Disappointment with the external trappings of the
practices. These texts are moral inquiries into the soul of the
church led To¯koku toward a more internal form of Chris-
modern individual: What becomes of him or her when the
tianity, and his spiritual quest is evident in his essays and po-
whirlwind of change brought on by modernization creates
etry. In “Essay on the Inner Life” (Naibu seimei ron, 1893),
a spiritual vacuum in which old Confucian morality and feu-
he argues that “The great difference between the cultures of
dal order are swept away while a new morality and a new
the East and West is that in one there is a religion which
faith is not in sight? What happens when the individual com-
preaches life and in the other there is not” (Mathy, 1964,
mits a grave sin? Unlike Dostoevsky, for whom, according
p. 102). Perhaps in reaction to centuries of feudalism marked
to R. B. Blackmur, “a true rebirth, a great conversion, can
by an underevaluation of the individual and an overevalua-
come only after a great sin” (quoted in Irving Howe, Politics
tion of society, To¯koku celebrates love (rabu) in “The Pessi-
and the Novel, 2d ed. [New York, 1987], pp. 55–56), So¯seki
mistic Poet and Womanhood” (Ensei shika to josei, 1892):
knows no such religious assurances, so he would eliminate
“Love is the secret to life. Only after love came into being
his protagonists before they commit a potential crime—for
did human society exist” (quoted in Keene, 1987, p. 195).
example, Takayanagi in The Autumn Wind (Nowaki,
But above all else, Christianity provides To¯koku with a lan-
1905)—or condemn the sinner to face the dark abyss of his
guage for a new poetics. He defines “inspiration” as an aspect
guilt and choose death—for example, Sensei in Kokoro
of the Divine (shin), and, in To¯koku’s view, as one enters the
(1914).
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FICTION: JAPANESE FICTION AND RELIGION
3073
Izumi Kyo¯ka (1873–1939) explores the religious imagi-
lated by John Bester, 1997, p. 54). Miyazawa’s indebtedness
nation from a purely aesthetic angle by tabbing into a twi-
to Christianity is also evident in the description of a tran-
light zone populated by divine beings, ghosts, and monsters
scendental world in his famous The Night of the Milky Way
in his fiction, including The Holy Man of Mount Ko¯ya (Ko¯ya
Express (Gingatetsudo¯ no yoru, posthumous) and the night-
hirjiri, 1900). If a religious imagination is marked by an abil-
hawk’s transfiguration and ascension to heaven in “The
ity to envision a world other than that which one inhabits,
Nighthawk Star” (Yodaka no hoshi, posthumous). Miyazawa
then the twilight world in Kyo¯ka’s fiction expresses that
also alludes to Japanese folklore, legends, myths, and ethno-
imagination most eloquently. In “The Taste of Twilight”
graphical studies to create a cosmology distinguished by its
(Tasogare no aji, 1900), Kyo¯ka speaks of a “twilight” aesthet-
structural beauty and integrity as a profound alternative
ics in which day meets night and engenders a subtle dimen-
reality.
sion beyond ordinary sensations, an otherworldliness in
SHO¯WA AND HEISEI ERAS. The atrocity and calamity of the
which modern individuals come in contact with their inner-
Fifteen Years’ War (1931–1945), ending in the nuclear de-
most being and experiences a sense of wonder and mystery.
struction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, stirred up feelings of
TAISHO¯ ERA. Arishima Takeo received his early education
guilt, incomprehension, and pain, compelling a whole gener-
in a mission school, attended Sapporo Agricultural College
ation of writers to embark on soul-searching literary journeys
(founded by the Christian educator William Clark), lodged
to understand what Ibuse Masuji, in “The Crazy Iris” (Kakit-
with Nitobe Inazo¯ (a renowned Japanese Quaker), and be-
subata, 1951), called a “crazy age.” The list of Christian writ-
came a close friend to a disciple of the samurai-Christian
ers is substantial, ranging from the famous and prolific Endo
preacher and pacifist Uchimura Kanzo¯. An intensely spiritual
Shu¯saku, Ariyoshi Sawako (1931–1984), Inoue Hisashi (b.
and sincere Bible-reading Protestant Christian, Arishima
1934), Miura Ayako (b. 1922), and Sono Ayako, to the seri-
eventually bent under the puritanical and austere ideals he
ous and contemplative Shimao Toshio (1917–1986) and
imposed on his life, and his encounter with the poetry of
Shiina Rinzo¯ (1911–1973) (Gessel, 1982, pp. 437–457).
Walt Whitman made him long for individual liberation and
Some writers handle religious themes and issues directly in
personal independence. A Certain Woman (Aru onna, 1919)
their works, while some refer to Christianity only at an
is “an attack on conventional Christians” (Strong, 1978,
oblique angle. Some texts are hopeful and optimistic (Shiina)
p. 18) and an exploration of human nature in the raw. True
while others have a darker shade of sin and guilt (Shimao).
to his Protestant upbringing, Arishima shows a moral imagi-
Endo Shu¯saku is most forthright about his identity as a
nation that is strictly confined to a puritanical dimension;
Catholic author and consistently thematizes Japanese church
after the rejection of Christianity, the fate that awaits his
history in his fiction, earning himself the appellation of the
heroine is moral and physical degeneration, sin, and death:
“Graham Greene of the East.” Francis Mathy points out that
“She was not a woman any longer, only a nameless, gro-
Endo contrasts a pantheistic Japanese world that is “insensi-
tesque, animal contorted with suffering” (p. 380). Like the
tive to God, sin and even to death” to the monotheistic
protagonist in The Descendants of Cain (Kain no matsue,
Christian world of the West that affirms the judgment and
1917), there is no atonement after the fall.
salvation of a supreme being. In some texts, Christianity is
swallowed up or transformed in the metaphorical swamp
In the broad canon of Japanese fiction, perhaps Miyaza-
that is Japan—for example, Yellow Man (Kiiroi hito, 1955),
wa Kenji possesses the most creative religious imagination.
Silence (Chinmoku, 1966)—while in others, such as Wonder-
As Giles Gunn pointed out, if “what typifies religious man’s
ful Fool (Obakasan, 1959), Christ-like characters appear to
experience of the sacred, of that which he takes to be of the
lift others out of the non-Christian mud swamp (Mathy,
essence of life, is its ‘otherness,’ its differentiation (though
1992). Endo’s description of Christ in A Life of Jesus (Iesu
not necessarily alienation) from his own mode of being”
no sho¯gai, 1973) is a sad figure to whom “a yellow man” can
(1975, p. 107), then Miyazawa’s poetry and tales reveal a
relate to, much like the earthy figure of the Virgin Mary in
special ability to access this “otherness.” A devout Buddhist
“Fumie,” whom illiterate Japanese peasants worship. Despite
of the Nichiren sect who recites the Lotus Su¯tra daily, Mi-
his tremendous output as a writer on religious themes, many
yazawa wrote tales (often featuring animals and nature and
of Endo’s works use church history as a pretext for telling
written in the guise of “children’s stories”) that are medita-
exotic tales with the suggestion of a distorted form of Orien-
tions on birth, suffering, sorrow, death, and rebirth. The
talism and are wanting in theological or spiritual depth.
mysterious “A Stem of Lilies” (Yomata no yuri, posthumous)
is itself a Buddhist fable, while the description of dying in
Among Catholic writers in the Sho¯wa era, Sono Ayako
“The Bears of Nametoko” (Nametoko no kuma, posthumous)
is noteworthy for the spiritual strength, humanity, and sin-
explores the dimension of “otherness” when death bodies
cerity in her work. Sono received seventeen years of Catholic
forth in life. Embedded in Miyazawa’s tales is poetry whose
education at the Sacred Heart Girls School and College, and
piercing beauty introduces an epiphanic moment of wonder
the strength of her faith is revealed in her boldness in creating
and amazement, as in the following from “The First Deer
intelligent, humane, yet fundamentally questioning charac-
Dance” (Shishi-odori no hajimari, 1921): “Now the sun’s be-
ters who challenge the certitude of a divine order. In doing
hind its back,/See the leafy alder tree/Like a mirror crack/
so, she posits a world of incertitude in which believers and
And shatter in a million lights” (in Once and Forever, trans-
nonbelievers alike have to struggle to make sense of suffering
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3074
FICTION: JAPANESE FICTION AND RELIGION
and death that often elude understanding. In Watcher from
meaning in a world without God. Enchi Fumiko (1905–
the Shore (Kami no yogoreta te, 1979–1980), Dr. Nobeji, a
1986) explores the world of shamanism and spiritual posses-
gynecologist whose work in artificial insemination, delivery,
sion in a number of her novels, including Masks (Onnamen,
and abortion forces him to confront life-or-death decisions
1958) and A Tale of False Fortunes (Namamiko monogatari,
daily, finds himself struggling to understand the will of God.
1965), a theme that ostensibly links her fiction to the phan-
Without providing comforting answers to moral issues raised
toms and rituals of the Heian past. However, Enchi’s spiritu-
in the novel but adhering to a sympathetic treatment of the
al world is not meant to be a space for philosophical or reli-
protagonist’s incertitude, Sono forces the reader to reflect
gious contemplation but a device that effectively ties her to
upon faith and moral judgment in an imperfect world.
the legacy of the literary past and an excuse to explore the
Sono’s tremendous output in fiction and essays is a continu-
psychology of her female characters. Nakagami Kenji (1946–
ous quest of the place of humanity in the larger scheme of
1992) wades even deeper into the spiritual realm in such
God.
novels as The Immortal (Fushi, 1984) and Gravity’s Capital
(Jûryoku no miyako, 1981) by setting his fiction in the sacred
Among modern Japanese writers, Mishima Yukio
spaces of Kumano and linking his texts, linguistically and
(1925–1970) uses various religious thoughts and iconogra-
temporally, to the world of the mythical gods in Kojiki. Yet
phy most lavishly in his stories. Yet the frequent evocation
Nakagami uses the spiritual realm fundamentally to create
of religion is for the most part a pretext to summon a remote
a postmodern space of multiple realities in order to address
and exotic other world that provides an alien and fantastical
political and social problems of the discrimination of the
setting for the fermentation of his aesthetic theories. The
burakumin. In that sense, religious imagery is a convenient
biblical iconography of the Madonna, Sodom and St. Sebas-
pretext for Abe, Enchi, and Nakagami to examine existential,
tian in The Confessions of a Mask (Kamen no kokuhaku, 1949)
feminist, and political issues, while their writings remain fun-
sets up a triadic tension among the purity of spirit, the cor-
damentally secular.
ruption of flesh, and martyrdom as the ultimate vision of
beauty in Mishima’s aesthetic world. The references to sacred
In the contemporary literary scene, when the novel has
space in The Temple of the Golden Pavilion (Kinkakuji, 1956)
to compete with other forms of more readily consumable
and the three holy shrines of Kumano in “Acts of Worship”
media stimulation, a few writers continue to grapple with re-
(Mikumano mode, 1965) are instances in which famous Bud-
ligious and spiritual issues. Kaga Otohiko (b. 1929), a medi-
dhist and Shinto¯ sites are borrowed as convenient locales for
cal doctor who practiced psychiatry and taught psychology,
the protagonists to confront their hopeless search for an ever
wrote novels and essays about World War II, including Rid-
elusive beauty and the all too nagging presence of their self-
ing the East Wind: A Novel of War and Peace (Ikari no nai
ishness, desires, and physical ugliness or deterioration. The
fune, 1982), and death row inmates (Love and Light on the
Buddhist idea of reincarnation, so prominent a plot mecha-
Brink of Death; Letters from Death Row [Shi no fuchi no ai
nism in his tetralogy The Sea of Fertility (Ho¯yu¯ no umi, 1965–
to hikari, 1992]) as a means to understand humanity and
1970), is no more than a device for him to indulge in the
come to terms with his faith. Suga Atsuko (1929–1998)
longing of eternal youth and a beautiful death, a destiny priv-
wrote stories and essays that capture the lives of Catholic
ileged to his chosen casts of iconic references, ranging from
saints with great persuasion. A simple metaphor in “The Life
the sailor in The Sailor who Fell from Grace with the Sea (Gogo
of St. Katalina” (Shiena no seijo: sei Katalina den, 1957) helps
no eiko¯, 1963) to Joan of Arc and St. Sebastian in The Confes-
to illuminate the connection between Japanese fiction and
sions of a Mask, and Kiyoaki and his reincarnated selves in
religion: “Prepare a secret little chamber in your soul, and
The Sea of Fertility. To his credit, Mishima’s references to
enter the chamber when it is ready. Find yourself, and find
Christian, Buddhist, and Shinto¯ thoughts and iconography
God” (Suga Atsuko zenshu¯, 8: 187). If the quest for divine
are articulate and serve as points of interest to the student
understanding can be undertaken by way of a quest for the
of religious practices and tradition, most impressive of which
self, then the majority of Japanese fiction, itself a continuous
being the reference to the five signs of angelic decay in his
process of introspection and reflection, is very close to a spiri-
last novel The Decay of the Angel (Tennin gosui, 1970). Yet
tual and religious quest, despite its predominant secular
the final negation in his last novel of the tenet of suffering
nature.
and rebirth in Buddhist thought—ideas that underlie the
construction of the tetralogy—testifies the nihilistic view of
Religion intersects with modern Japanese fiction in vari-
a man who is tired of exploiting popular religious beliefs as
ous ways and serves, on the one hand, as a channel for a new
an excuse for horror and extravagance, and has left not a trace
poetics, a romantic quest for individual liberation, and moral
of serious engagement in a dialogue of literature and religion.
inquiries, and on the other hand, as a pretext for generating
exotic modern tales. There is no master narrative that gov-
Non-Christian Japanese writers also explore religious
erns the relationship between religion and modern Japanese
imagery for various purposes in their texts. Abe Ko¯bo¯’s
fiction, but perhaps the following scene of mass cremation
(1924–1993) vision of an apocalypse and a surviving ark of
in Ibuse Masuji’s Black Rain (Kuroi ame, 1966), a novel
humanity in The Ark Sakura (Hakobune no sakura, 1984)
about the aftermath of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima,
transforms his fiction into a continuous quest of existential
expresses most eloquently the place of religion in modern
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FICTION: SOUTHEAST ASIAN FICTION AND RELIGION
3075
Japanese fiction. As the protagonist Shigematsu wanders
Mathy, Francis. “Kitamura To¯koku Essays on the Inner Life.”
among the mounds of dead bodies, the only expression that
Monumenta Nipponica 19, nos. 1/2 (1964): 66–110.
comes to him, an atheist who survived the atomic bomb and
Mathy, Francis. “Shu¯saku Endo: Japanese Catholic Novelist.”
finds himself acting as a surrogate priest to offer prayers for
America 167, no. 3 (1992): 66–71.
the dead, are words from the Buddhist “Sermon on Mortali-
Nakamura Mariko. “Novelists of Integrity: Nogami Yaeko and
ty”: “Sooner or later, on this day or the morrow, to me or
Kaga Otohiko.” Japanese Studies 20, no. 2 (2000): 141–157.
to my neighbor. . . . So shall the rosy cheeks or morning
Sono Ayako. “Drifting in Outer Space.” Translated by Robert
yield to the skull of eventide. One breath from the wind of
Epp. Japan Christian Quarterly: An Independent Journal of
change, and the bright eyes shall be closed” (Black Rain,
Christian Thought and Opinion 38 (1972): 206–215.
1988, p. 277). Religion intersects with modern Japanese fic-
A
tion most intimately in addressing the spiritual need to un-
NGELA YIU (2005)
derstand the mystery and inscrutability of life and death, and
a larger force that exists beyond humanity.
FICTION: SOUTHEAST ASIAN FICTION AND
BIBLIOGRAPHY
RELIGION
Most criticism that deals with modern Japanese fiction does not
The term Southeast Asia was coined during World War II to
touch upon religious issues, so the reader who wishes to
make further religious inquiries might prefer to read the
refer to the part of the continent of Asia that lies south of
works of fiction mentioned with special attention to their re-
China and east of India. The region can be divided into two
ligious implications. Those who wish to pursue the study of
sections.
Christianity and Japanese fiction are advised to read the arti-
There are the “mainland” states: Myanmar (Burma),
cles by Brownstein, Mathy, and Gessel quoted in the article.
Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. The distinct cul-
Further adventures in reading will include exploring the
tures of these states remain strongly influenced by Therava¯da
works of the list of Japanese Christian authors quoted in the
article as well as the following works of fiction: Natsume
Buddhism and elements of South Asian religious traditions.
So¯seki, Ten Nights of Dream (Yume juya, 1908) (deals with
In addition, Vietnam has been strongly influenced by Chi-
“other worlds”); And Then (Sore kara, 1909) (a near religious
nese culture, including Taoism, Confucianism, and
quest of love and beauty by an atheist); Akutagawa
Maha¯ya¯na Buddhism.
Ryu¯nosuke, “The Man from the West” (Saiho¯ no hito, 1927)
Below the latitude of approximately seven degrees north
(an attempt to understand the relevance of Christ); “Death
of the equator as marked on the Malay Peninsula are the “is-
of a Martyr” (Ho¯kyo¯jin no shi, 1918) (a dramatic account of
the life of a saint); Shiga Naoyo, “At Kinosaki” (Kinosaki ni
land” states of Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, and
te, 1917) (a meditation on life and death); A Dark Night’s
the Philippines. Although the cultures of these states also ac-
Passing (An’ya ko¯ro, 1921–1937) (note especially the divine
cepted the influence of Hinduism and Buddhism, from the
revelation in nature towards the end of the novel).
thirteenth century CE onward they were strongly influenced
Some of the most thought-provoking and valuable studies on reli-
by the spread of Islam. The northern part of the Philippines
gion and literature do not mention Japanese fiction at all but
was converted to Catholicism after 1535.
provide important background in exploring modernity, liter-
TRADITIONAL RELIGIOUS NARRATIVES. The traditional nar-
ature, and religion. These include:
rative literature of both parts of the region can be divided
Gunn, Giles. The Interpretation of Otherness: Literature, Religion,
into two levels. There is the mass of folk literature, which
and the American Imagination. New York, 1975.
varies from one country to another, and often extensively
Keene, Donald. Dawn to the West: Japanese Literature in the Mod-
within each country as well. Being oral literature, this is not
ern Era. New York, 1987.
available to historical inspection. There is also the written lit-
Strong, Kenneth. Introduction to A Certain Woman, by Takeo
erature produced in the various courts and religious centers;
Arishima. Tokyo, 1978.
records of some of this, but only a small amount, has sur-
vived. From the religious perspective, this written literature
Journal Articles
Brownstein, Michael. “Jogaku Zasshi and the Founding of Bun-
dealt in different ways with the stories of the past lives of the
gakukai.” Monumenta Nipponica 35, no. 3 (1980): 319–336.
Buddha, known as the jataka tales, and with the two Indian
Brownstein, Michael. “To¯koku at Matsushima.” Monumenta Nip-
epics, the Ra¯ma¯yan:a and the Maha¯bha¯rata.
ponica 45, no. 3 (1990): 285–302.
Cambodia was the site of the earliest kingdom in South-
Gessel, Van C. “Voices in the Wilderness: Japanese Christian Au-
east Asia, called Funan (first century CE). As the area devel-
thors.” Monumenta Nipponica 37, no. 4 (1982): 437–457.
oped with a variety of religious influences through the Ang-
Hagiwara Takao. “Innocence and the Other World: The Tale of
kor period, it came to incorporate areas that are now known
Miyazawa Kenji.” Monumenta Nipponica 47, no. 2 (1992):
as Laos, Thailand, and parts of Burma and Vietnam. Around
241–263.
the ninth century the Burmans settled in the area known
Hagiwara Takao. “The Bodhisattva Ideal and the Idea of Inno-
today as Myanmar, where they came into contact with earlier
cence in Miyazawa Kenji’s Life and Literature.” Journal of the
settlers, the Pyu, whose ancient cities attest to the influence
Association of Teachers of Japanese 27 (April 1993): 35–56.
of Hinduism and Buddhism. By the mid-eleventh century
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the pagan dynasty was founded, ushering in a golden age of
of animistic beliefs and Chinese influence and includes the
art and the popularization of Therava¯da Buddhism, a trend
Daoist theme of mortals forming relationships with immor-
also occurring in Angkor, whose glory would finally be
tals. There are also records of storytelling in the vernacular
eclipsed in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries by the Thai
for entertainment at palace gatherings during the Tran
kingdom of Ayutthaya, itself destroyed by the Burmese in
dynasty (1225–1400). This Chinese style of literature at the
1767.
court and in the government bureaucracy was ultimately
In Myanmar palm leaf manuscripts were used for reli-
transformed by an indigenous rich narrative to produce a
gious, grammatical, literary, historical, legal, and other major
uniquely Vietnamese style of fiction by the eighteenth and
texts. The earliest surviving examples of prose, which date
nineteenth centuries, when prose began to acquire more im-
from the twelfth century, took the form of folding paper
portance as a literary medium.
books that included illustrated scenes from the life of the
TRADITIONAL ISLAMIC NARRATIVE LITERATURE. Unlike
Buddha and the jataka stories. Some similar manuscripts
Java and Bali, all surviving texts in Malay are written in an
were probably also used in Cambodia, Thailand, and Laos.
adaptation of the Arabic script and therefore date from after
In Myanmar 8 of the 10 greater jataka, and all 537 minor
the coming of Islam to the peninsula. There are still many
jataka, were translated by two monks during the second half
surviving manuscripts based on the stories from the two In-
of the eighteenth century.
dian epics, but they have all been modified to give them a
The first recorded prose text in Thailand is the aristo-
superficial Muslim flavor. For example, the Hikayat Seri
cratic Phya Lithai’s Trai Phum (Sermon on the Three
Rama (The Story of Seri Rama), last copied before 1590, be-
Worlds; 1345). The sermon contains many illustrative sto-
gins with references to Allah and Adam, the first prophet.
ries on Buddhist cosmology; its teachings also served to legit-
imate the role of the Buddhist king (cakkavatti). Although
There are five types of Muslim narratives in traditional
there are no remaining jataka tales to be found in island
Malay literature. Some deal with the life of the Prophet Mu-
Southeast Asia, the stories are included on the wall sculptures
hammad, from his archetypal existence (Hikayat Nur Mu-
of the great eighth-century central Javanese shrine, the Boro-
hammad), to his life and miracles (Hikayat Isra’ and Mikraj),
bodur, and were presumably common at that time.
and to his death (Hikayat Nabi Wafat). Also included in this
first category are works that deal with members of the proph-
Both mainland and island Southeast Asian countries de-
et’s own family (e.g., the Hikayat Nabi Mengajar Anaknya
veloped their own versions of the two epics. The Ra¯ma¯yan:a
Fatimah, describing the Prophet’s instructions on the duties
has its parallels in the Cambodian Ramakerti, the Lao Phra
of women, as given to his daughter Fa¯t:imah). There are fur-
Lak Phra Lam, and the Thai Ramakian. These are not trans-
ther chronicles about the other great prophets of Alla¯h, such
lations but are distinctive retellings of the story that vary in
as Joseph, Moses, Solomon, and Zachariah. (A major anthol-
significant ways from the Indian original. For example, Thai-
ogy of these stories is the Qisas al-Anbiya.) The stories of the
land’s Ramakian includes a remarkable infusion of Buddhist
“Companions” of the Prophet Muh:ammad include not only
elements.
his close disciples (Hikayat Abu Bakar and Hikayat al-
In Java the earliest surviving narrative poem is the
Mu’minin Umar), but also his son-in-law, EAl¯ı, and EAl¯ı’s
Kakawin Ra¯ma¯yan:a, which is considered by later generations
two sons who were later martyred, H:asan and H:usayn (e.g.,
to be the first and finest classical Javanese narrative poem.
Hikayat Ali Kahwin, on the marriage of Ali). This is a strong
It was probably written during the second half of the ninth
indication of the importance of Shiite influences in early Ma-
century. The whole of the Maha¯bha¯rata and the Ra¯ma¯yan:a
layan Islam. Works in the next category, chronicles of the
was rendered into Old Javanese parwa (prose texts), begin-
great warriors of Islam, present some of the great command-
ning a century later (i.e., after 1000 CE). These texts were
ers during the time of Muh:ammad (Hikayat Muh:ammad
later transferred to Bali and preserved there, following the fall
Hanifiyah), but also include Alexander the Great (Hikayat
of Majapahit, the major inland Javanese kingdom, after
Iskandar Dzulkarnain) and the Yemeni warrior Saif al-Lizan
1350.
(Hikayat Saif al-Lizan). The devout men and women whose
The stories of the Ra¯ma¯yan:a and the Maha¯bha¯rata were
lives are described are variously ascetics and mystics, kings
not only read; they were also appreciated by cultivated audi-
and judges. The Hikayat Ibrahim ibn Adham tells of a king
ences in the forms of religious architecture, as well as in
who renounces his throne to devote himself to a life of
dance and shadow-puppet theater (wayang). Scholars have
prayer; the Hikayat Raja Jumjumah tells of an evil king who
divided the repertory of the puppet theater into four cycles:
was restored to life by the Prophet Jesus and thereafter com-
(1) those with animistic themes, (2) stories of Arjuna taken
mitted himself to constant contemplation.
from the Ra¯ma¯yan:a, (3) stories based on the Ra¯ma¯yan:a, and
It is important to note that although all these narra-
(4) the majority, stories from the Maha¯bha¯rata.
tives—Hindu, Buddhist, and Muslim—may, from one per-
The earliest prose fiction from Vietnam, Linh-nam trich
spective, be considered imaginative works, they are definitely
quai, is a collection of fables written in Chinese and dating
not considered as “fictional” (in the sense of “untrue”) by
from the fifteenth century. The collection reveals a mixture
those who do, or did, believe in the sacred stories they tell.
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FICTION: SOUTHEAST ASIAN FICTION AND RELIGION
3077
THE EMERGENCE OF MODERN GENRES. Modern narrative
morality. Writers of the American era (1965–1973), like Si
fiction proposes an imagined personal description by a
Dao Ruang (Wanna Thappananon) in “Mother of Waters,
named author of contemporary society and the complexities
Thaokae Bak, and a Dog” (1977) and Sujit Wongthet in
of psychological description. Such writing was a product of
“Second Nature” (1967), criticize the commercialization of
Western influence, which began in the late sixteenth century
Buddhist festivals. Si Dao Ruang has a cycle of stories includ-
but made its real impact following the nineteenth century.
ing “Sita Puts Out the Fire” (1984), which relocates charac-
The consequent vast changes in social and economic struc-
ters from the Ra¯ma¯yan:a within the modern urban setting of
tures, and the attendant human problems and situations,
Bangkok.
were represented to readers through the spread of printing
Laos and Cambodia lag behind the other countries of
and mass literacy. Such writing often combined with other
Southeast Asia in the development of prose fiction. Both
preexisting factors, including religious literary influences and
countries were colonized in the mid-1800s by the French,
oral folktale traditions. While much “modern” writing has
who delayed the introduction of printing presses and public
a secular emphasis, religious themes are also still to be seen
education until the early 1900s. In Cambodia traditionalist
in literary works produced throughout the region. Some
monks resisted the printing of Khmer script since hand-
writings are critical of traditional practices. Others occasion-
copied manuscripts were considered sacred. Their objections
ally still use major characters from both of the traditional In-
were overcome by Venerables Chuon Nath (1883–1969)
dian epics as a device to indirectly criticize political corrup-
and Huot Tath (1891–1975), who enabled the printing of
tion, social inequity, or the loss of traditional values.
a variety of Khmer texts. In fact, most of the early fiction
THE MAINLAND BUDDHIST STATES. In Burma the first
writers were educated monks. The journal Kambuja Suriya
presses were established during the 1800s by Christian mis-
(1926) of the Buddhist Institute, established by the French,
sionaries who pioneered a translation and printing of the
was the first to publish modern novels in serialized form.
Bible. British colonial rule began in 1862 and with it the
gradual development of modern Burmese prose fiction influ-
Early prose writers, such as Rim Kin in Sophat (1938)
enced by British literature. Religious themes, sometimes crit-
and Nou Kan in Tun Jhin (1947), were naturally influenced
ical of Buddhism, occur in Myanmar’s modern fiction.
by Cambodian religion. The cultural milieu for their fiction
Thein Pe Myint’s novel Tet Hpon-gyi (Modern Monk; 1937)
includes magic, ghosts, sages, Hindu deities, Buddhist
criticized corruption in the Buddhist Sangha, causing a great
monks, and pagoda schools. In her novella Gu san mitt min
uproar among the monks. Zaw-gyi’s memorable short story
drust mitt (1947), Sou Seth, the first woman writer of mod-
“Thu maya” (His Spouse, 1960) involves a husband who de-
ern prose, develops a complex love story in which the male
cides to enter monkhood in order to avoid family responsi-
protagonist renounces secular life to become a monk. Nhok
bilities. Ne Win Myint’s short story “Thadun” (1995) is a
Them in Kulap pailin (1943) and Kim Hak in Dik Danle Sap
political satire based on one of the crucial events in the Bud-
(1941) make use of the Buddhist themes of impermanence,
dha’s growth toward Enlightenment. Despite considerable
karma, and self-determination. In Dik Danle Sap a corrupt
state censorship, Myanmar has a vibrant contemporary liter-
former monk is finally discredited when his moneymaking
ary culture.
meditation scam is discovered. Because of the lingering im-
pact of the Pol Pot era (1975–1979) in Cambodia and gov-
Modern fiction appeared in Thailand from the 1880s,
ernment control over literature in Laos, both countries are
written largely by young male aristocrats who had studied
still struggling to establish strong modern literary traditions.
abroad. One of the first published short stories was Krom
Luang Phichit Prichakon’s popular and controversial “Sanuk
Vietnam. The development of the modern novel and
nuk” (Fun Thinking; 1885). Set in a famous Bangkok tem-
short story in Vietnam began in 1862 with French colonial
ple, the story describes an imaginary conversation between
control. The influence of the Chinese-language based literati
four young Buddhist monks about their futures and the
slowly waned as the French modernized the Vietnamese lan-
pragmatic advantages and disadvantages of remaining a
guage by employing a romanized script, quoc-ngu, originally
monk. Further episodes were banned. With a growing edu-
developed by the French Jesuit Alexandre de Rhodes (1591–
cated middle class, women also became interested in the art
1660) in 1651. Quoc-ngu was popularized by Vietnamese
of prose fiction. From the 1930s socially concerned fiction
Roman Catholic writers at the end of the eighteenth century.
with its ethnographic quality became part of the literary
The most famous of these, Paulus Cua (1834–1907), is cred-
landscape that included Thai Buddhist culture. Khammaan
ited with developing modern Vietnamese prose. Some of the
Khonkhai’s popular 1978 ethnographic novel The Teachers
first publications of prose were collections of tales: Truyen
of Mad Dog Swamp reveals the village cycle of Buddhist ritu-
giai buon (Stories to Dispel Sadness; 1880) and Truyen giai
als as a backdrop to the struggles of the protagonist Piya.
buon cuon sau (More Stories to Dispel Sadness; 1885). The
Having received his university education in Bangkok while
popularity of tales continued throughout the modern period,
living in a wat (temple or monastery), Piya returns to the
for example, Nguyen Dong Chi’s Kho tang truyen co tich
countryside as a young idealistic teacher. He is spurred into
Viet-nam (Treasury of Ancient Vietnamese Stories; 1958).
action against the politicians and business elite who are ille-
Many of these tales show Chinese and Buddhist influence.
gally logging the area and have lost their sense of Buddhist
Su-tich 18 ong la-han (Story of the Eighteen Arahats), for ex-
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FICTION: SOUTHEAST ASIAN FICTION AND RELIGION
ample, tells of eighteen thieves who renounce their profes-
and a serious prolonged debate about the nature of a “Mus-
sion, commit suicide, and become arahats (enlightened
lim literature” followed. The main spokesman was Shahnon
monks). Other stories relay the deeds of various bodhisattvas
Ahmad. Shahnon highlighted the natural place of Islam at
including Kuan-yin or are reminiscent of stories in the
the heart of rural Malay life and the importance of its morali-
Dhammapada.
ty in maintaining a moral society.
With modernization, the spread of education, and a
For a long time Islam seemed marginal to modern Indo-
growing middle class, both male and female writers experi-
nesian fiction. One exception was the pre–World War II au-
menting with prose fiction emerged from all social levels.
thor Haji Abdul Malik Karim Amrullah. His first novel Di
From the early 1900s until 1975 writers split over the aes-
bawah lindungan Ka’abah (Beneath the Protection of the
thetics of literature as art for society’s sake or art for art’s sake.
Ka’abah; 1938) tells of a young man forbidden to marry his
After 1975 social realism became the officially stipulated
true love because of local custom, who flees to Mecca and
style for literature until the Doi Moi (renovation) policy im-
finds refuge there and eventually death. The later novel Tuan
plemented in 1986, which allowed for greater freedom of ex-
Direktur (The Director; 1939) contrasts the material values
pression.
of the businessman with the simple piety of the villager Pak
The most internationally well-known Buddhist fiction
Yasin. After the war Atheis (The Atheist; 1949), by Achdiat
writer and poet of this modern period is Thich Nhat Hanh,
Karta Mihardja, explores the spiritual struggles of a young
a Thien Buddhist monk who was exiled from Vietnam in
West Javanese man, raised in a repressive and superstitious
1966, having been banned from participating in antiviolence
Islam, that arise when he is confronted with the secularism,
protests. The Stone Boy and Other Stories (1996) is a collec-
rationalism, and self-centered life styles of the capital, Jakar-
tion of his short fiction that incorporates tales of monks, bo-
ta. The debate about a Muslim literature began in Indonesia
dhisattvas, compassion, and loving kindness in the Vietnam-
only in the mid-1980s and had a much greater influence on
ese Buddhist tradition. Among the many Doi Moi era
poetry than on prose. With the continuing increasing impor-
writers, two should be mentioned. Nguyen Huy Tiep, a mas-
tance of Islam in Indonesian public life, however, a new
ter of the psychological tale, is considered by some to be a
genre has arisen since 1998: Islamic youth literature. These
postmodernist writer because of his narrative approach to
stories focus on the daily lives of young Muslims and are
storytelling. In The General Retires and Other Stories (1992)
written in an unselfconscious contemporary Indonesian. A
and his other fiction themes include decadent Confucianism
major author in this field is Helvy Tiana Rose. In Segenggam
and Buddhism in a society that seems to have lost its moral
Gumam, a collection of her essays published in 2003, she ar-
compass. Duong Thu Huong lyrically explores the spiritual
gues that an Islamic literature should be written by a pious
malaise of failed political ideology in many of her novels, in-
Muslim, that it should be informed by a serious knowledge
cluding Novel without a Name (1995).
of the teachings of the faith, and that it should encourage
Malaysia and Indonesia. Despite sharing a common
readers to dedicate themselves to God and the Muslim com-
language, Indonesian/Malay, and a common religion, Islam,
munity.
the island regions between the British and the Dutch were
divided during the early nineteenth century, leading to the
Philippines. Before Spanish influence, prose narratives
development of two distinctly different modern literary tra-
in the Philippines consisted largely of origin myths, hero
ditions. Both of these owe their origins to the rise of popular
tales, fables, and legends. The native syllabary, possibly influ-
printing presses. In Malaya and Singapore the presses had
enced by an Indic script, was replaced by the Roman alpha-
strong connections to the Middle East and frequently pub-
bet introduced by the Spaniards in 1565. As the number of
lished translations of Arabic stories. In an increasingly plural
Christianized Filipinos grew, old manuscripts on perishable
society (Malay, Chinese, and Indian) being a Muslim was
material were left to disintegrate or were destroyed by mis-
seen as part of the definition of being a Malay. In the Dutch
sionaries “who believed the indigenous pagan culture was the
East Indies the presses belonged to Chinese and Eurasian set-
handicraft of the devil himself” (Lumbera and Lumbera,
tlers; after 1908 the colonial government also established its
1982, p. 3). Resistance to the colonizers or isolation from
own publishing house, Balai Pustaka, to promote a modern-
them allowed for some survival of indigenous literary forms
izing and secular literacy. Islam has, therefore, played a more
during a period when Christianity spread rapidly under the
obvious role in Indonesian literature than in Malay.
influence of the Spanish friars.
Hikayat Faridah Hanum (1925), by Syed Sheikh bin
Filipino literature during the 333 years of Spanish rule
Ahmad Al-Hadi (1867–1934), is often considered the first
was “predominantly religious and moral in character and
modern Malay novel, even though it is entirely set in the
tone” (San Juan, 1974, p. 4). Ladino writers began to com-
Middle East. A love story, the novel promotes female eman-
pose in mixed Tagalog and Spanish. The power of the Cath-
cipation and Islamic reformism in general and criticizes more
olic Church grew to such an extent that all literature had to
traditional Muslim figures wherever possible. Following the
be approved for publication. In 1856 the Permanent Com-
consolidation of prose in the 1950s, Malay literature was
mission of Censors was established, which included four reli-
caught up into the Islamic revival movement of the 1970s
gious members out of a total of nine.
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FICTION: AUSTRALIAN FICTION AND RELIGION
3079
During the late 1800s the Ilustrados of the Propaganda
Duranf, M. Maurice, and Nguyen Tran Huan. An Introduction
movement emerged in response to this repression. One of
to Vietnamese Literature. Translated by D. M. Hawke. New
them, the great novelist José Rizal (1861–1896), whose liter-
York, 1985.
ary brilliance would continue to inspire writers throughout
Francia, Luis H., ed. Brown River, White Ocean: An Anthology of
the modern period, exposed the sexual misdeeds and the po-
Twentieth-Century Philippine Literature in English. New
litical intrigues of the powerful Catholic friars in his Noli Me
Brunswick, N.J., 1993.
Tangere (1887) and its sequel El Filibusterismo (1891). Real-
Khonkhai, Khammaan. The Teachers of Mad Dog Swamp. Trans-
izing that their campaign for reform was failing, these re-
lated by Gehan Wijeyewardene. St. Lucia, Australia, 1982.
formist writers shifted from Spanish to Tagalog in the hope
Harun Mat Piah et al. Traditional Malay Literature. Translated by
of reaching a wider audience. Their nationalistic attempts,
Harry Aveling. Kuala Lumpur, 2002.
which did establish the beginning of a self-conscious Filipino
Herbert, Patricia, and Anthony Milner, eds. South-east Asia Lan-
literature, would be further frustrated by the American colo-
guages and Literatures: A Select Guide. Honolulu, 1989.
nization of the area from 1898 to 1945, an age when the
short-story genre would fully develop and women would also
Lumbera, Bienvenido, and Cynthia Nograles Lumbera, eds. Phil-
become accomplished writers.
ippine Literature: A History and Anthology. Manila, 1982.
Nguyen Huy Thiep. The General Retires and Other Stories. Trans-
The cultural landscape of Catholic influence, with its
lated by Greg Lockart. Singapore, 1992.
resonant church bells and solemn rituals, forms part of the
Reynolds, Frank E., and Mani B. Reynolds, trans. Three Worlds
aesthetic setting for many romantic or socially critical stories
According to King Ruang: A Thai Buddhist Cosmology. Berke-
and novels during the modern and contemporary periods,
ley, Calif., 1982.
from Paz Marquez Benitez’s (1894–1983) “Dead Stars”
Rizal, José. Noli Me Tangere. Edited by Raul L. Locsin. Translated
(1925) to Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo’s (1944–) “The Paint-
by Ma. Soledad Lacson-Locsin. Manila, 1995.
ing” (1993). The appetites of the friars who abetted Spanish
colonial oppression are a theme taken up by the next genera-
Thich Nhat Hanh, Vo-Dinh Mai, and Mobi Warren. The Stone
tion of socially critical authors now writing in Tagalog.
Boy and Other Stories. Berkeley, Calif., 1996.
These include Gabriel Beato Francisco (1850–1935), in his
San Juan, E., Jr., ed. Introduction to Modern Pilipino Literature.
trilogy Fulgencia Galbillo (1907), Capitan Bensio (1907), and
New York, 1974.
Alfaro (1909), and Iñigo Ed. Regalado (1888–1976), with
Yamada, Teri Shaffer, ed. Virtual Lotus: Modern Fiction of South-
his anticlerical and anticolonial discourse in Madaling-Araw
east Asia. Ann Arbor, Mich., 2002.
(1909). In contrast, Faustino Aguilar (1882–1955) focuses
HARRY AVELING (2005)
on the subjective blindness of Filipino religious belief in his
TERI SHAFFER YAMADA (2005)
novel Pinaglahuan (1907). The popular novelist Lazaro M.
Francisco (1898–1980) in his last two novels, Maganda Pa
Ang Daigdig (1956) and its sequel Daluyong (1962), portrays
a progressive priest whose humanity illustrates the positive
FICTION: AUSTRALIAN FICTION AND
role religion can play in society. The theme of “priest as so-
RELIGION
cial reformist” is also expressed in Paulino Lim’s political
Evidence of indigenous habitation of Australia dates back
novel Requiem for a Rebel Priest (1996).
some forty or fifty thousand years before European settle-
ment. As Mudrooroo (previously Colin Johnson, b. 1939)
SEE ALSO Burmese Religion; Lao Religion; Maha¯bha¯rata;
noted in The Indigenous Literature of Australia, Aboriginal
Ra¯ma¯yan:a; Southeast Asian Religions, article on Mainland
oral literature contains accounts of the wanderings of the cre-
Cultures; Thai Religion; Vietnamese Religion.
ative ancestors who shaped the land and people, but the most
sacred aspects of these stories were reserved for initiates. As
BIBLIOGRAPHY
the white Australian governments of the nineteenth and
Achdiat Karta Mihardja. Atheis. Translated by R. J. Maguire. St.
twentieth centuries discouraged Aboriginal communities
Lucia, Australia, 1972.
from following their cultural and religious practices, many
sacred secret stories were lost. Other, more public, stories
Amilah Ab. Rahman and Nor Azmah Shehidan, eds. People on the
often suffered in translation from Aboriginal languages, their
Bridge: An Anthology of ASEAN Short Stories. Kuala Lumpur,
2001.
mythological dimensions reduced to the status of fairy tales
or simplistic creation stories for children.
Aveling, H. Shahnon Ahmad: Islam, Power, and Gender. Bangi,
I
Philippines, 2000.
NDIGENOUS FICTION AND RELIGION. Aboriginal people
were introduced to the Roman alphabet by the British fol-
A. Wahab Ali. The Emergence of the Novel in Modern Indonesian
lowing their landing at Sydney Cove in 1788. Christian mis-
and Malaysian Literature: A Comparative Study. Kuala Lum-
sionaries were zealous educators, and their influence has been
pur, 1991.
seen in the “strong current of Christianity” that runs through
Duong Thu Huong. Novel without a Name. Translated by Phan
Aboriginal writing (Mudrooroo, 1997, p. 10). The first ac-
Huy Duong and Nina McPherson. New York, 1995.
knowledged Aboriginal writer, David Unaipon (1873–
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3080
FICTION: AUSTRALIAN FICTION AND RELIGION
1967), was raised on a Christian mission and wove biblical
law, the unity of nature and spirit, and the possibility of hope
values and classical allusions into traditional Ngarrindjeri
are affirmed.
stories in his booklet Native Legends (c. 1929). European
POSTSETTLEMENT RELIGION AND FICTION. Since the arrival
Australians, including Ronald and Catherine Berndt and T.
of the Europeans, Christianity has been the dominant reli-
G. H. Strehlow, compiled major collections of oral Aborigi-
gious influence in Australia, although the number of Austra-
nal literature.
lians claiming to be Christian declined throughout the twen-
White children were introduced to indigenous charac-
tieth century. In the 2001 census 68 percent of the
ters and mythology by white writers, most notably novelist
population claimed Christian affiliation, but church surveys
Patricia Wrightson (b. 1921) in The Rocks of Honey (1960)
suggest that only around 20 percent of these people attend
and the Wirrun Trilogy (1977–1981). Although Wrightson
religious services. The fastest-growing religions in Australia
tried to dispel the white blindness that denied Aboriginals
between 1996 and 2001, according to the census, were Bud-
their human dignity, and although she was scrupulous in her
dhism, Hinduism, and Islam, but they accounted for only
research, indicating where she had invented material, this as-
3.9 percent of the population. Much of their growth has
pect of her work has since polarized opinion: did it hasten
been the result of immigration from Southeast Asia and the
white appreciation of Aboriginal spirituality, or did it ob-
Middle East.
scure the nature of that spirituality?
The Australian attitude to Christianity is ambivalent,
stemming from the origins of the colony as a penal settle-
In 1964, against a background of increasing demands
ment where the church was expected to enforce good order
for justice and Aboriginal land rights, Kath Walker (later
among the inhabitants. The brutality of the penal system was
Oodgeroo Noonuccal, 1920–1993) published a book of po-
graphically illustrated in the novel For the Term of His Natu-
etry, We Are Going, now credited as the beginning of a new
ral Life (1874) by Marcus Clarke (1846–1881). Early writers
phase of Aboriginal writing, one which spoke directly to
such as Clarke, Joseph Furphy (1843–1912) and Henry
white Australians. Much contemporary Aboriginal writing is
Lawson (1869–1922) had no sympathy for institutionalized
concerned with retrieving and reclaiming the past and with
Christianity in their fiction, praising instead Christlike be-
establishing individual and communal identity, as demon-
havior among the convicts, settlers, and bushmen who were
strated by the popularity of the autobiographical and bio-
battling to survive. The concept of mutual support among
graphical forms. The first indigenous novel to be published,
men became enshrined as a quasi-religious nationalist creed
Karobran (1978) by Monica Clare (1924–1973), was based
known as mateship, which has been cited as evidence of
on the author’s experiences growing up in welfare institu-
widespread Australian adherence to Christ’s teaching of love
tions and white foster homes.
for one’s neighbor. Attempts by some theologians in the late
The disintegration of Aboriginal community life be-
1970s and the mid-1980s to use mateship as the foundation
cause of (and despite) white intervention, the physical and
of a specifically Australian Christianity failed, however, be-
emotional illnesses caused by disregard of sacred rituals, the
cause the concept is fundamentally secular and is vulnerable
saving power of the old ways, and the critical importance of
to misuse by sexist, racist, and anti-intellectual interests.
the land to the health of the community and the individual
Historically, the Christian churches did little to win the
are all played out in Kim Scott’s novel, True Country (1993).
minds of Australians. In 1977 Richard Campbell com-
In his story of Billy, a part-Aboriginal schoolteacher who is
plained of the lack of “a substantial and continuous intellec-
posted to a remote settlement in the far north of Australia,
tual tradition” in Australian religion, noting the absence of
Scott (b. 1957) casts an unflinching eye over the corrupt be-
great theological colleges, the reliance on imported theolo-
havior of both whites and Aborigines who ignore the pres-
gians, and the emphasis on vocational training, rather than
ence of the sacred and refuse to honor their obligations.
“intellectual critique of the church’s language about God”
There is a suggestion that, for Aboriginals and whites alike,
(p. 179). In the late 1970s, theologians, tired of making do
Christianity might survive if the concept of God were to
with a derivative European religion, turned to literature and
change, if God were to be thought of “as a great spirit, a cre-
the arts to find ways to address God in the vernacular. Two
ator spirit, an artist. A creative force behind the world, living
of the pioneering commentators, Dorothy Green (1915–
in the world, and giving ceremony and the land.” “Maybe,”
1991) and Veronica Brady (b. 1929), were practicing literary
Scott’s sympathetic white Catholic priest says, “they, we, will
critics.
end up with a new God here, some sort of major spirit from
the Dreaming or whatever, who named everything and
Although a body of novels addresses the experience of
us—or should I say the Aborigines?—and created this special
growing up within a restrictive religious tradition—Catholic,
relationship. People, creation, the land” (Scott, 1993,
Greek Orthodox, fundamentalist, Jewish—these works have
p. 221). Billy’s own moment of understanding, his accep-
been overlooked in discussions about Australian theology.
tance into the Aboriginal spirit community and the true
Also overlooked have been books by internationally oriented
country, comes as he nearly drowns, swallowed by the snake-
novelists such as Morris West (1916–1999), whose Vatican
like river, the Rainbow Serpent, the Aboriginal figure of di-
trilogy was published 1959 and 1990, and Colleen McCul-
vinity. In this spiritual rebirth the abiding presence of the
lough (b. 1937), author of The Thorn Birds (1977), and
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3081
works of Holocaust and refugee literature, including
they will forfeit their right to be considered intellectuals”
Schindler’s Ark (1982) by Thomas Keneally (b. 1935).
(Marr, 1994, p. 363).
Of most interest have been “literary” writers and works
While the academy has been unable to deny the intellec-
set in Australia that have been seen to comment on the na-
tual scope of White’s writing, some of its members mistrust
ture of God and the individual’s relationship with God, the
religious readings of his works. Ambiguity is one of White’s
individual’s behavior towards others, and the role of nature
strengths and also a reminder that any article on religious
as an agent of redemption and as a sign of God’s presence.
themes in literature is entirely subjective. This can be illus-
At the heart of these works has been the wish to demonstrate
trated by a key scene from White’s The Tree of Man in which
the continuing relevance of Christianity, or, at least, to find
the old man, Stan Parker, cornered by a young evangelist
a way of expressing the sacred within the context of a (post-)
who is pressing him as to whether he believes in God, points
Christian culture.
to a gob of his own spittle “glittering intensely and personally
on the ground”: “‘That is God,’ he said” (p. 476). The scene
RELATING TO GOD. In 1976 Dorothy Green detected the
has been read both as proof that Stan has moved to agnostic
presence of religion and religious feeling in the work of most
secularism and as verification that he has achieved illu-
important Australian novelists in the nineteenth and twenti-
mination.
eth centuries, even “amongst those who would describe
themselves as atheist, agnostic or indifferent” (p. 9). She was
The most thorough exploration of religious elements in
able to come to such a generous assessment because she was
White’s novels The Tree of Man (1955), Voss (1957), Riders
looking for evidence of adherence to the second Great Com-
in the Chariot (1961), and The Solid Mandala (1966) can be
mandment, that is, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy-
found in Peter Beatson’s The Eye in the Mandala (1977).
self” (Matt. 12:31).
Beatson argues that to make sense of White’s work, it is nec-
essary to accept the presence of a Hidden God behind the
Had she concentrated exclusively on a literary preoccu-
material world. White’s characters, through “their emotional
pation with the nature of God, or even on works that bore
responses and the assumptions of their cultures,” try to com-
witness to the first Great Commandment, “Thou shalt love
prehend the nature of the Hidden God. But although they
the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul and
always fall short of the truth, this is not to say that God is
with all thy mind . . .” (Matt. 12:30), the result would have
completely remote from his creation: on the contrary, “every
been different, for few Australian writers have been prepared
encounter in the human and natural worlds is potentially a
to engage directly with God across a body of work. Green
moment of dialogue between the individual and God. . . .
argued for Martin Boyd (1893–1972) as the author who
Union with the Hidden God is not achieved in White’s nov-
most completely represented the fusion of the two com-
els by withdrawal from the things of the senses, but by acqui-
mandments, an author who believed that “the Christian
escence to all the conditions of the fallen world in which man
story corresponds with man’s experience on earth” (p. 25).
finds himself” (pp. 9–10).
Boyd, however, spent most of his adult life in Europe, and
although his novels comprising the Langton tetralogy (pub-
RELATING TO OTHER PEOPLE. Christ-figures are generally
lished between 1952 and 1962) used Australian material, his
absent in Australian literature, despite the remarkable pres-
ongoing influence on Australian theological thinking has
ence of Mordecai ben Moshe Himmelfarb, Patrick White’s
been negligible compared with that of Patrick White.
Orthodox Jewish post-Holocaust refugee in Riders in the
Chariot. Blamed for Christ’s crucifixion, he is himself “cruci-
It is Patrick White (1912–1990) whom Christian com-
fied” by his Australian workmates; he dies on Good Friday
mentators most often regard as Australia’s preeminent reli-
and is given a Christian burial: White’s point is that all men
gious author, although White wrote (in a letter dated August
are the same and all faiths are one.
15, 1985) that he could not see himself as a “true Christian.
Himmelfarb, like other characters who might evince
My faith is put together out of bits and pieces. I am a believer,
Christlike attributes, is not complete in himself: he cannot
but not the kind most ‘Christians’ would accept” (Marr,
be redeemed until he learns to accept and give love. In Aus-
1994, p. 604). White did not write novels for the benefit of
tralian literature the way to God is usually not through exces-
theologians. Claims, for example, that his novel Voss, about
sive penance and self-purification, but through loyalty, com-
an ill-fated desert expedition by a German explorer, repre-
passion, and loving kindness. This is seen clearly, for
sents the archetypal Australian Christian parable of suffering
instance, in the fiction of Thea Astley (b. 1925).
and redemption are at odds with White’s own description
of Voss as a “megalomaniac explorer” with “delusions of di-
Astley is usually depicted as a social satirist, but she was
vinity” (September 11, 1956, Marr, 1994, p. 107). White
raised a Catholic and has been a consistent critic of the insti-
does not comfort his readers but challenges them, as he wrote
tutional church, most often Catholic, but of any denomina-
on May 10, 1970: “I suppose what I am increasingly intent
tion that demands mindless adherence from its followers. In
on trying to do in my books is to give professed unbelievers
her early books she criticized the church hierarchy for its
glimpses of their own unprofessed faith. I believe most peo-
pomposity and insincerity, implying, as she did in her first
ple have a religious faith, but are afraid that by admitting it
novel, Girl with a Monkey (1958), that true spiritual experi-
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FICTION: AUSTRALIAN FICTION AND RELIGION
ence was to be had not at a mass rally with an unctuous bish-
the Inner Sea [1992]), but until Tim Winton (b. 1960) start-
op but with a small group gathered with a Franciscan priest
ed writing novels set in riverside Perth and coastal Western
in a community dance hall amidst tropical undergrowth,
Australia, little attention was paid to spiritual readings of the
where humanity and nature come together to partake of the
moist or settled areas.
eternal mystery, the transcendent made immanent in the
It was Winton’s overwhelmingly popular saga, Cloud-
mass. Her later books, including Vanishing Points (1992), at-
street (1991), set between the 1940s and 1960s, that caused
tack the patriarchal restrictions of church leadership.
theologians to look seriously at the playing out of religious
The most sympathetic characters in her novella “Invent-
values among suburban families. Commentators such as Mi-
ing the Weather” (in Vanishing Points) are three elderly nuns
chael Goonan have picked up on the way in which Winton
who, against the wishes of the church, are living with and
likens the house on Cloud Street, the home of two battling
working for a remote Aboriginal community. Above the
families, the Pickles and the Lambs, to the Australian conti-
kitchen sink is a wall plaque that reads: “Where there is no
nent, a “vast indoors,” a “big emptiness” that almost para-
love, put love and there you will find love” (p. 182). In Ast-
lyses them “with spaces and surfaces that yield nothing to
ley’s fiction love is the paramount virtue. Love is not neces-
them” (Winton, p. 41). As Goonan notes, a crucial question
sarily found in the church (the pettiness and legalism of the
underlies the text of Cloudstreet: whether it is possible for
church crushes the vocations of the most humane religious
non-Aboriginal Australians to belong to the land. For Goo-
in The Slow Natives [1965] and A Boat Load of Home Folk
nan, resolution comes when the key characters follow the ad-
[1968]) but is more likely seen in transactions between falli-
vice of the enigmatic Aboriginal man who appears at crucial
ble human beings in acts of kindness. Astley is critical of
moments in the story, most often urging them to return to
those who seek individual salvation, removing themselves
the house at Cloudstreet, not to sell it, impressing upon the
from the responsibilities of daily life: in her books the divine
Lambs and the Pickles the importance of family. It is as
is found through community.
though Winton is opening up the possibility for spiritual
healing of white Australians, should they be prepared to ac-
Despite Astley’s use of Catholic imagery, her critique of
knowledge key aspects of Aboriginal culture and spirituality,
religion, and her passionate commitment to issues of social
the centrality of land and community.
justice, her work has been ignored in discussions about devel-
In his tribute to the Western Australian coastline, Land’s
oping an Australian theology. She is not alone in this, howev-
Edge, Winton has written that “everything that lives is holy
er, as the writings of other women, including Elizabeth Jolley
and somehow integrated” (p. 50). Other writers might be less
(b. 1923), Helen Garner (b. 1942), and Marion Halligan (b.
forthright in speaking of their beliefs, but, nevertheless, their
1940), who also value the practice of caritas over individual
work can refresh the religious imagination and realize the
salvation, are similarly ignored, except by exponents of femi-
hope of reconciliation.
nist theology. It would seem that because their work fails to
reproduce certain “sacred” stereotypes, they are thought to
B
have nothing to contribute to religion in Australia.
IBLIOGRAPHY
Astley, Thea. Vanishing Points. Port Melbourne, Australia, 1992.
NATURE AND THE SACRED. The first European settlers found
Beatson, Peter. The Eye in the Mandala. Patrick White: A Vision
themselves in an alien landscape that could not be captured
of Man and God. Sydney, 1977. An enlightening study of
in conventional language and imagery. European expressions
White’s novels up to and including The Eye of the Storm
of Christianity were similarly inadequate in a place where na-
(1973), revealing the somewhat unorthodox Christianity
ture seemed superior—and indifferent—to human beings.
that underlies White’s artistic universe. Beatson respects the
The gradual shift over time, in both theology and literature,
texts and refrains from twisting them to fit his own theories.
from depicting the country as hostile wilderness to sacred site
Brady, Veronica. A Crucible of Prophets: Australians and the Ques-
is a measure of people’s increasing spiritual at-homeness.
tion of God. Sydney, 1981. A groundbreaking study of the
way nineteenth- and twentieth-century Australian male nov-
Veronica Brady, in her treatment of Clarke’s For the
elists address questions about God in their work.
Term of His Natural Life, notes how the novel, “like many
Brown, Cavan. Pilgrim through This Barren Land. Sutherland,
substantial works of Australian fiction, echoes the psalms and
New South Wales, 1991. Uses the journals of the early Euro-
the prophets of the Old Testament” in its awareness of the
pean explorers and nineteenth- and twentieth-century litera-
sheer power of nature (1981, p. 5). And there is a thread in
ture to flesh out a desert-based Australian spirituality.
Australian theology that posits the wilderness, most often fig-
Campbell, Richard. “The Character of Australian Religion.”
ured as the desert, as a place representing humanity’s fall
Meanjin 36, no. 2 (July 1977): 178–188.
from grace, a place of suffering that may purify the individual
Clare, Monica. Karobran: The Story of an Aboriginal Girl. Chip-
pilgrim. More recently, and perhaps under the influence of
pendale, New South Wales, 1978.
Aboriginal spirituality, the desert is seen as a repository of the
Goonan, Michael. A Community of Exiles: Exploring Australian
sacred, a site where, freed from the distractions of the every-
Spirituality. Homebush, New South Wales, 1996. Discusses
day, one might encounter God. Reverence has been afforded
Tim Winton’s Cloudstreet and Tom Keneally’s Woman of the
novels that use a desert setting (White’s Voss, Randolph
Inner Sea in relation to the Jewish experience of exile in the
Stow’s To the Islands [1958], Thomas Keneally’s Woman of
stories of Tobit and Esther.
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FICTION: OCEANIC FICTION AND RELIGION
3083
Green, Dorothy. “Sheep or Goats? Some Religious Ideas in Aus-
Nor is it known how Aboriginal religious practices derive
tralian Literature.” St Mark’s Review (June 1976): 3–29.
from the migrants. Yet it is correct to speak of Aboriginal re-
Heiss, Anita M. Dhuuluu-Yala (to talk straight): Publishing Indige-
ligions, not religion. It was the arrival of the European cul-
nous Literature. Canberra, 2003.
ture that changed the perception of the indigenous popula-
Lindsay, Elaine. Rewriting God: Spirituality in Contemporary Aus-
tion and made its beliefs and cultures appear more
tralian Women’s Fiction. Amsterdam and Atlanta, Ga., 2000.
homogeneous than they likely were. The first narratives on
Critiques desert spirituality and develops an alternative
the continent take the form of song cycles, which are not well
women’s spirituality with reference to the fictions of Thea
translated by either the term fiction or poetry.
Astley, Elizabeth Jolley, and Barbara Hanrahan.
With the exception of Easter Island, which was reached
Marr, David, ed. Patrick White Letters. Milsons Point, New South
from South America, the Pacific Islands were settled by
Wales, 1994.
Asians. Between two and three thousands years ago, migrants
Mudrooroo. The Indigenous Literature of Australia—Milli Milli
used Melanesia as a base and branched out from there to Fiji
Wangka. South Melbourne, Australia, 1997.
and Tahiti. The Hawaiian islands appear to have been settled
Murray, John. “Inheriting the Land? Some Literary and Ethical
by Polynesians, who set out from Tahiti about 1,600 years
Issues in the Use of Indigenous Material by an Australian
ago. In New Zealand migrants started to arrive some 1,500
Children’s Writer, 1960–1990.” In Religion Literature and
years ago from Melanesia, and by 1300 CE a significant Poly-
the Arts Conference Proceedings 1994, edited by Michael Grif-
nesian settlement appears to have been in place. Hawai’i and
fith and Ross Keating, pp. 279–288. Sydney, 1995.
New Zealand share legends of gods and goddesses that origi-
Rossiter, Richard, and Lyn Jacobs, eds. Reading Tim Winton.
nated in Tahiti. Stories of Maui, who fished for islands, and
Pymble, New South Wales, 1993. Includes an article by
Tawhaki, who visited the heavens, can be found on many is-
Yvonne Miels, “Singing the Great Creator: The Spiritual in
lands. The notions of mana and tabu—on which so much
Tim Winton’s Novels,” pp. 29–44.
twentieth-century speculation about religion depends—
Scott, Kim. True Country. South Fremantle, Western Australia,
derive from Polynesia and influence the stories told about the
1993.
spirit world. Unlike the polytheistic islanders, the Aborigines
Thompson, Roger C. Religion in Australia: A History. South Mel-
follow totemic religious practices. Yet, on neither side of the
bourne, Australia, 1994.
Tasman Sea is it possible to recover a pristine sense of beliefs
Webby, Elizabeth, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Australian
before European colonization. With the European settlers
Literature. Cambridge, U.K., 2000.
came Christianity. The first Anglican service in Australia was
White, Patrick. The Tree of Man. London, 1955; reprint, Har-
held in 1788. Not until 1814 did Samuel Marsden (1764–
mondsworth, Victoria, 1967.
1838) establish a mission in New Zealand, whereas missiona-
ries arrived in Hawai’i in 1820, following a royal decree for
Wilde, William H, Joy Hooton, and Barry Andrews, eds. The Ox-
ford Companion to Australian Literature. Oxford, 1985; re-
the natives to give up paganism. Throughout Oceania, narra-
print, 1986.
tive fiction followed only on Christian settlement.
Winton, Tim. Cloudstreet. Melbourne, 1991; reprint, Ringwood,
RELIGIOUS NARRATIVE FICTION. A narrative fiction oriented
Victoria, 1998.
to religious themes began in Australia in 1838 with John
Winton, Tim. Land’s Edge. Sydney, 1993; reprint, 1998.
Curtis’s Shipwreck of the Stirling Castle. It turns on the tale
of Elisa Fraser, shipwrecked on K’gari (now Fraser Island)
ELAINE LINDSAY (2005)
in 1836. Mrs. Fraser’s faith—like that of the Children of Is-
rael (and like Jesus in the wilderness)—is put to the test. Her
story is retold by Patrick White in A Fringe of Leaves (1976)
FICTION: OCEANIC FICTION AND RELIGION
but with the female character, Ellen Roxburgh, who has lost
Oceania names the lands of the South Central Pacific. It is
her faith in the Christian God and is supported solely by a
an area bounded to the west by the east coast of Australia,
faith in life itself.
to the north by Hawai’i, to the east by Easter Island (Ra-
Aboriginal religion appears briefly in James Tucker’s
panui), and to the south by New Zealand (Aotearoa). Span-
Ralph Rashleigh (1845?) but is quickly dismissed as infantile,
ish explorers had charted Pacific Islands in the early seven-
a matter of warriors’ ghosts. Tucker’s character Rashleigh is
teenth century, and James Cook discovered parts of New
aware that the Aborigines regard certain sites as sacred but
Zealand in 1769 and both Hawai’i and the east coast of Aus-
interprets their awe simply as fear of supernatural beings.
tralia in 1788. However, oral narrative began in Oceania
About the same time, Charles Rowcraft’s novel The Bush-
long before there was any contact with European culture.
ranger of Van Dieman’s Land (1846) at least admits—albeit
In Australia two migrant groups existed—one arriving
somewhat patronizingly—that the black people have souls.
some 70,000 years ago, almost certainly from Indonesia, and
Not until White’s The Tree of Man (1955) and Voss (1957)
the other about 50,000 years ago, most likely from southern
is there an authentic sense that Aborigines discern a true spir-
China. Modern Aborigines are the descendents of these
it in the land. Randolph Stow, especially in To the Islands
groups, although precise lines of descent cannot be drawn.
(1958), casts Aboriginal spirituality as superior to imported
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Christian beliefs. The character Stephen Heriot, a sixty-
folding of the notion of pilgrimage in her Mr. Scobie’s Riddle
seven-year-old missionary, loses his faith and with the help
(1983); and a discernment of vocation in David Malouf’s Re-
of an Aboriginal guide gains a visionary understanding of the
membering Babylon (1995).
Kimberlies. His spirit eventually merges with that of the
D
land.
ENOMINATIONAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES. Of the
Christian denominations, the Catholics have spent most
Returning to the nineteenth century, Christian moral-
time exploring the institutional dimension of religion in Aus-
ism is strongly felt in the stories of Mary Vidal collected in
tralia. Thomas Keneally’s Three Cheers for the Paraclete
Tales for the Bush (1845). As with Curtis’s Elisa Fraser, the
(1968) is set in a seminary and casts a comic eye on ecclesial
perspective is female. However, now decency rather than sur-
politics and theological niceties. In New Zealand, Elizabeth
vival is the pressing concern. Christianity reveals itself mainly
Smither also attends to post-Vatican II perplexities in her
in the need to keep the working people honest and the Sab-
story “Sister Felicity and Sister Perpetua” (1994). A novelist
bath holy. A stronger evangelical current is felt in Caroline
of ideas, the Australian Morris West has gone the furthest
Leakey’s The Broad Arrow (1859), which, like Ralph
in Church politics in his “Vatican series”: The Shoes of the
Rashleigh, is set in Tasmania. The heroine is sentenced to life
Fisherman (1963), The Clowns of God (1981) and Lazarus
imprisonment there, becomes a “fallen woman,” and then fi-
(1990). Gerard Windsor examines an Australian salesman in
nally repents. In the mid-twentieth century there is still in-
Ireland hawking religious accessories in his novella That
terest in the Hobart of convict times, although it is character-
Fierce Virgin (1988) and hints at mystical depths older than
istic of the times that Hal Porter’s novel The Tilted Cross
Christianity. The theme of Catholic childhood, often guilt-
(1961) appeals to Christianity for its symbolism rather than
ridden, has received ample treatment in twentieth-century
for its spiritual discipline. Throughout the nineteenth centu-
Australian fiction. Gerald Murnane’s Tamarisk Row (1974)
ry and well after, Australia is represented as a dangerous place
and A Lifetime on Clouds (1976) represent the strain at its
for inexperienced Europeans, and more often than not, the
most enduring.
land punishes their innocence. Thus there are many stories
Predominantly Christian since settlement, Australia also
of children lost in the bush, the best known of which remains
has sizable—and growing—numbers of Buddhists and Mus-
Marcus Clarke’s “Pretty Dick” (1869). The poor boy dies in
lims. Yet, of the non-Christian faiths, only Judaism figures
the unforgiving landscape, but when at story’s end the reader
to any extent in Australian fiction. It does so significantly in
is informed “God had taken him home,” the narrator’s tone
White’s fiction, beginning in The Living and the Dead
is hardly comforting.
(1941), and then with more force in Riders in the Chariot
A skeptical attitude toward religion, combined with an
(1961), The Solid Mandala (1966) and The Eye of the Storm
anticlerical attitude, gain force in the late nineteenth century.
(1973). In Riders in the Chariot, Judaism and Christianity are
Both can be felt in The Bulletin in the 1890s, the magazine’s
confronted when Mordecai Himmelfarb, maker of bicycle
heyday. Only among Catholic writers are clerics at all well
lamps and a Jewish mystic, is crucified on a jacaranda tree
regarded; elsewhere, it is remembered that the established
in Sydney. Keneally’s Schindler’s Ark (1982) tells the story
Church was rarely a friend of the poor. The Victorian era
of Oskar Schindler who risks his life to help Polish Jews.
continues to attract contemporary novelists. In Oscar and
Could a new religion be formed in the New World? Nevil
Lucinda (1988), Peter Carey shows an Anglican minister of
Shute considers the possibility in Round the Bend (1951), in
that time who, like Pascal but with rather less spirit, regards
which a Malayan aircraft mechanic becomes the leader of a
the religious life as a bet on the existence of God. It is more
new religious movement. In The Fortunes of Richard Ma-
indicative of the late-twentieth than the nineteenth century,
honey (1930), Henry Handel Richardson shows a grieving
however, that when Oscar dies he begs forgiveness for his
hero succumbing to spiritualism, and Kylie Tennant casts a
part in the death of Aborigines.
wry eye on Southwell Vaughan-Quilter of the Order of
Human Brotherhood in her novel Ride on Stranger (1943).
Two geographical figures largely organize the plane of
Helen Garner’s Cosmo Cosmolino (1992) treats New Age
religious experience in Australian fiction: the island and the
spirituality in the character of Maxine who shares a house in
desert. Neither is simple. If the island can be a site of suffer-
Carlton, Melbourne, with a fundamentalist, a skeptic, and
ing (as it is for Curtis and White), it can also be a metaphor
a visiting angel. Garner is not the only Pacific writer interest-
for death transfigured by native understanding (as it is for
ed in divine messengers: New Zealander Elizabeth Knox has
Stow). It can also be a new Eden. So it is in Martin Boyd’s
an angel as a central character in her novel The Vintner’s Luck
Nuns in Jeopardy (1940) and Thea Astley’s Girl with a Mon-
(1999).
key (1958). In Voss and To the Islands, the desert is a meta-
phor for a spiritual quest, whereas for Kim Scott in True
Patrick White saw Puritanism as a flaw in the Australian
Country (1993), the Outback stands for the sacred. In the
character. More so than in Australia, though, a strong strain
middle of this plane of religious experience, a variety of fig-
of twentieth-century New Zealand fiction has been a diagno-
ures can be found: White’s Stan and Amy Parker in The Tree
sis of and rebellion against a narrow-minded and unimagina-
of Man as a new Adam and Eve; a sense of the divine in the
tive religious conservatism. It too is identified as Puritanism,
landscape in Elizabeth Jolley’s Palomino (1980), as well as a
although, as for White, the word indicates a belated Victori-
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3085
an prudery, loosely regarded as required for progress, rather
SEE ALSO Christianity, article on Christianity in Australia
than the fierce religious impulse of the early New England-
and New Zealand; Cosmology, article on Oceanic Cosmolo-
ers. Jane Mander is the first to treat the theme in her The
gies; Oceanic Religions, overview article and article on Mis-
Story of a New Zealand River (1920), and Frank Sargeson ap-
sionary Movements.
proaches it in his early short stories, “A Good Boy” (1936)
and “Good Samaritan” (1936), as well as in the novel I Saw
BIBLIOGRAPHY
in My Dream (1949). Joy Cowley’s story “God Loves You,
Charlesworth, Max. Religious Inventions: Four Essays. Cambridge,
Miss Rosewater” (1978) should also be mentioned for its
U.K., 1997. Study of Aboriginal religions in chapter 2.
amused look at puritan sexuality. However, Maurice Gee
Hogan, Michael. The Sectarian Strand: Religion in Australian His-
provides the most pointed critique of the dolorous world, be-
tory. Ringwood, Australia, 1987. History of religion in Aus-
ginning with In My Father’s Den (1972) and then in his
tralia.
“Plumb trilogy,” especially the first volume, Plumb (1978).
Lindsay, Elaine. “Not the Desert Experience: Spirituality in Aus-
RELIGIOUS THEMES. Religious themes appear from time to
tralian Women’s Fiction.” In Religion, Literature, and the
time in other works by New Zealand writers. Sargeson’s story
Arts, edited by Michael Griffith and Ross Keating,
“Tod” (1938) poignantly evokes the human need to call on
pp. 239–51. Sydney, Australia, 1994. Australian women’s
God. Allusions to Maori myths can be found in Witi Ihima-
fiction and religion.
era’s Tangi (1973), Kerri Hulme’s The Bone People (1983)
Scott, Jamie S., ed. “And the Birds Began to Sing”: Religion and Lit-
and Patricia Grace’s Potiki (1986). Note should also be made
erature in Post-Colonial Cultures. Cross-Cultures: Readings in
of Apirana Taylor’s story “Carving up the Cross” (1990),
Post/Colonial Literatures in English, vol. 22. Atlanta, Ga.,
which examines an artist’s thwarted desire to combine Maori
1996. Chapters on New Zealand and Tongan fiction.
and Christian symbols. Michael Brown examines the trans-
Strum, Terry, ed. The Oxford History of New Zealand Literature
migration of souls in his The Weaver’s Apprentice (1986),
in English. 2d ed. Auckland, New Zealand, 1998. Excellent
whereas Vincent O’Sullivan observes a French nun who
chapter by Lawrence Jones on the New Zealand novel.
works among the poor in Believers to the Bright Coast (1998).
Swain, Tony, and Garry Trompf. The Religions of Oceania. New
As in Australia, a consciousness of a spirit in the land surfaces
York, 1995. Anthropological study of Oceanic religions.
from time to time. Sargeson’s story “Gods Live in Woods”
Sumida, Stephen H. And the View from the Shore: Literary Tradi-
(1943) is an instance, whereas Roderick Finlayson’s story
tions of Hawai’i. Seattle, Wash., 1991. Study of fiction in
“Wi Gets the Gospel” (1937) sympathetically notes the loss
Hawai’i.
of mana from the land for Mauris Ihimaera’s story “The
Williams, Mark, ed. The Source of the Song: New Zealand Writers
Greenstone Patu” (1977) identifies a powerful spirit in a patu
on Catholicism. Wellington, New Zealand, 1995.
(hand club). Special mention should be made of Tales of the
KEVIN HART (2005)
Tikongs (1983), stories by the Tongan writer Epeli Hau’ofa
that examine the ways in which the Bible has saturated the
local culture.
FICTION: AFRICAN FICTION AND RELIGION
Missionary activity in Hawai’i is the focus of Ruth Elea-
nor McKee’s The Lord’s Anointed (1934), a novel that stirred
Although storytelling is a universal human activity, the term
up controversy among descendents of the original missiona-
“African fiction” refers to a European genre of storytelling—
ries. Jonathan and Constancy Williams are missionaries who
comprised of secular novels and short stories—that Africans
came to the island in 1820; they exist side by side with histor-
have adopted and adapted to represent continental African
ical characters and serve to highlight the hardships of daily
realities in the wake of nineteenth- and twentieth-century
life. Constancy relates in her diary that she feigned her con-
European colonialism and post-colonialism. The genre will
version when smitten by Jonathan. The Return of Lono
provide a unifying thread throughout the many oral and
(1956) is O. A. Bushnell’s historical novel about James
written traditions in African as well as European languages.
Cook’s last voyage to Hawai’i. John Forrest, the narrator, is
Although an ancient practice in Africa, as witnessed in
the medium in which tensions between the faith exemplified
pharaonic Egypt, writing in African languages began in Mus-
by William Bligh and enlightened reason embodied in Cook
lim and Christian missionary activity, some of which dates
are played out partly, if unknowingly, within himself. With-
back to pre-modern times, as is the case for Geez or Amharic
out the slightest trace of original sin, the natives have none-
in Ethiopia. Other African languages such as Sesuto, Xhosa,
theless fallen victim to local priestcraft, he thinks. Hawai’i
Zulu, and Yoruba, began in nineteenth- and twentieth-
is at once a horrible place, filled with cruel gods and terrible
century Euro-Christian missionary schools and feature alle-
injustices, and a paradise of graceful, generous people, an
gorical novels inspired by Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. But the
Eden that is soon to be lost by dint of the very presence of
tension between Euro-Christianity and African tradition is
the white man. A clash between ancient Hawaiian spirituali-
apparent in the Yoruba novels of Fagunwa (Nigeria), such
ty and contemporary values is explored through the character
as The Forest of a Thousand Daemons, in which references to
of Mark Hull in John Dominis Holt’s novel Waimea Sum-
a Christian God are imposed on Yoruba mythology. Modern
mer (1976).
Muslim missionary activity gave rise to Arabic script litera-
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FICTION: AFRICAN FICTION AND RELIGION
tures in languages such as Wolof, Swahili, and Hausa. Euro-
In the epic, such ontology is portrayed in an unproble-
pean-language writing in French, English, and Portuguese is
matic synthesis with Islam. For example, Sundiata’s male an-
a result of modern colonialism.
cestors trace their lineage back to Bilali Bounama, a servant
of the Prophet Muh:ammad.
African writers of fiction use the genre to enter into dia-
logue with African and European religious traditions alike.
A second religiously important structure that pervades
Drawing on oral myths, epics and tales, these writers oppose
African literature, as Mohammadou Kane has observed, is
representations of Africa found in European fiction, as well
the initiatory journey, usually presented in three stages: a
as in European governmental, missionary, and commercial
hero leaves home as a child, goes on a series of adventures
reports. In the process African writers also rewrite and re-
and returns as an adult. The epic of Sundiata is an example.
work oral traditions.
The young Sundiata, who after a long period of lameness
African oral traditions reflect hierarchies of power in
stands up to walk, must go into exile and face a series of trials,
ways parallel to European fiction. At the top of the hierarchy
which he overcomes. Then he returns home to found the
are such works as ceremonial ritual religious poems or the
empire of Mali. This outcome is never in doubt from the day
great Dogon cosmogonic myth, according to which the uni-
that Sundiata’s father sacrifices a red bull and lets its blood
verse originates from a single seed. Next are the great chanted
soak into the ground. Yet, all is seen as in the hands of the
epics such as the Malian epic of Sundiata or the Mwindo
“Almighty.” As the family griot, Gnankouman Doua, ob-
epic, which feature shamanic heroes, founders of their soci-
serves, “The Almighty has his mysteries . . . The silk-cotton
ety. The great oral praise songs for outstanding men and
tree emerges from a tiny seed” (Kane, p. 16).
women are formal lyrics that use epic materials. On a more
That such traditional African elements are portrayed in
common level are occupational poems, sung to accompany
an unproblematic synthesis with Islam is a witness to the fact
an activity such as farming, fishing, hunting or smithing.
of the gradual infiltration of Islam, which was adapted by
Even these lower forms recall religious functions of individu-
various groups of society, usually merchants first, then the
als or callings.
ruling classes, and finally the people at large. Works such as
Short narrative tales may use mythic and epic materials
Sundiata reveal ways in which ruling classes gradually com-
more informally to explain the origins of a people, the found-
bined Islamic and pre-Islamic elements to build the founda-
ing of a dynasty, or the nature of divine beings, as well as
tion of their power. A similar approach may be seen in the
phenomena such as the behavior of certain animals or the or-
European Renaissance when the French rex christianissimus
igins of geographic details. However, the genre is derivative
traced his lineage to Hector; the Catholic Hapsburg emper-
rather than authoritative, drawing on chanted epics and cere-
ors, and to Jason and the Golden Fleece.
monial ritual religious poems, praise and occupational poet-
One also finds a relatively syncretistic harmony in auto-
ry. The narrative tale has a more realistic bent. A prominent
biographical works such as the Guinean Camara Laye’s The
theme is that of the trickster-hero, who succeeds through
Dark Child or the Nigerian Wole Soyinka’s Ake. Although
cleverness rather than through morality. Recalling the Yoru-
not syncretistic, African language allegorical novels in the
ba (Nigeria) god Eshu-Elegba, the hero may be human or
tradition of Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress are pre-modern in
an animal such as the hare (source of the African American
that they assume a classic religious orthodoxy.
Br’er Rabbit), the hyena or the spider. In such tales, might
Modern and post-modern African fiction tends to por-
or cleverness makes right and the outcome is not always
tray fault lines and conflict such as in the Nigerian Fagunwa’s
moral. Shorter forms that one finds frequently used in Afri-
Yoruba novel mentioned above or the Kenyan Ngugi wa Th-
can fiction are proverbs (“the palm oil with which words are
iongo’s bitingly satirical Gikuyu, Devil on the Cross.
eaten”), epigrams and riddles.
Eschewing heroes, African fiction, like its European
Written African fiction draws on this tradition in many
models, foregrounds main characters in what Northrop Frye
ways in terms of characters, themes, motifs, and formal struc-
(Anatomy of Criticism) calls the “low mimetic” and “ironic
tures. In terms of religion, most significant is a “vitalist” on-
modes.” Frye defines these modes not according to the mo-
tology according to which being is a dynamic vital force that
rality of the main character but rather according to his or her
pervades everything much like a fluid as opposed to a collec-
“power of action” (Frye, p. 33). As opposed to a Sundiata,
tion of static, discrete entities. Hence Western distinctions
who is invincible, the “low mimetic” mode represents char-
between human, animal and divine, or the living and the
acters less powerful than other people or their environment.
dead do not necessarily apply. Because of vital force human
Characters in the “ironic mode” are inferior to the reader in
beings have totemic relationships with animals with which
either power or intelligence, and often the brunt of comedy.
they share the force of being. For example, the epic hero
Sundiata draws totemically on the power of the buffalo
The question of power is particularly pertinent to Afri-
through his mother, Sogolon, and on the power of the lion,
cans, for whom colonialism created new and problematic
which bears a totemic relationship with his male ancestors.
conflicts between the ideal, moral, and practical aspects of
In this way, departed ancestors exercise their force through
religious experience, calling into question the traditional hi-
the living.
erarchies and values implied in the oral tradition. For the
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FICTION: AFRICAN FICTION AND RELIGION
3087
most part, African fiction in which religion is a significant
nial impasse is through a Marxist-inspired collective political
theme works out issues of colonial and post-colonial
action of the working classes. In God’s Bits of Wood, it is only
(dis)empowerment, and features not only inter-religious ten-
in a railroad workers strike that dignity is regained. For ex-
sions but also conflicts between religion and secular forces
ample, learning to act collectively without hatred, the brut-
often imperfectly understood. On the one hand is a tradi-
ish, stammering Tiémoko is released to sing the epic of
tional religious mentality according to which religion ac-
Sundiata. Formerly sacred royal power is now in the hands
counts for an approach to visible and invisible reality that
of secular working people.
does not observe the Western distinction between natural
and supernatural. As Robin Horton observes in Patterns of
While French West African fiction is presented in the
Thought in Africa and the West, such traditional religion pro-
terms of concepts of universal pretensions such as Islam,
vided ways to explain, control and predict events in the visi-
Marxism and Negritude, the novels of the Nigerian Chinua
ble universe as well as establish communion with an invisible
Achebe (Things Fall Apart; Arrow of God) and the Cameroo-
being or beings. On the other hand is a purely secular men-
nian Mongo Beti (The Poor Christ of Bomba; King Lazarus)
tality according to which events unfold due to impersonal
and Ferdinand Oyono (Houseboy; Old Man and the Medal)
political, social, and psychological forces unleashed by the
are more local in scope, in that theirs is a context of forest
European conquest and occupation.
people such as the Ibo, who live in loose federations or small
chiefdoms. These novels denounce the abuses not so much
Novels leading up to African independences in the
of Christianity as the Christian mission enterprise, which is
1960s underscore such tensions, but retain a faith in a possi-
seen as a source of European violence and conquest. Behind
ble future for the continent and for the world. In the Senega-
the missionaries come the merchants and the military.
lese Cheikh Hamidou Kane’s Ambiguous Adventure the lure
Church, hospital, schools and prisons are seen as European
of European technology causes the complicity between Islam
institutions in complicity with one another. In Things Fall
and traditional political power to break down. In another
Apart, the missionary prepares the way for the colonial ad-
time the royal and spiritually gifted Samba Diallo may have
ministrator. In The Poor Christ of Bomba, the R. P. Drumont
been left to pursue a path of spiritual greatness in the hands
who cannot manage to reform the sexual mores of his con-
of his S:u¯f¯ı spiritual director Tierno or become a kind of
verts sadly realizes that his efforts result in softening up his
priest/king. His family decides instead to tear him away from
“faithful” for exploitation in the colonial labor force.
the ascetic discipline of renunciation and send him to Europe
on a kind of “initiatory journey” to learn how “better to join
In these novels Christian conversion is seen to be based
wood to wood” (Kane, p. 29), so as to bring his people into
on misunderstandings and to yield ludicrous harmful results.
the modern world. The experiment fails, however. Once in
King Lazarus converts on his deathbed only to get well and
Europe Samba Diallo decides to study philosophy, and on
have to face a diplomatic crisis, as he must now choose only
his return home is killed by his spiritual director. This death,
one among his many wives. In Old Man and the Medal,
however, brings Samba Diallo into a S:u¯f¯ı mystical commu-
Meka, who has converted to Christianity and given up his
nion with God. Even though Samba Diallo’s death marks
lands to the Catholic mission, embarks on what turns out
the failure of his initiation into the ways of secular Europe,
to be a mock initiatory journey from his community to the
this death may also be considered an extreme form of world
administrative center of the Whites. He finds himself stand-
renunciation, in which the young man’s spiritual vocation
ing in the middle of a stadium in a chalk-drawn circle under
is fulfilled.
the hot sun, in ill-fitting shoes and having a strong urge to
urinate as he waits for the French colonial administrator to
Although renunciation of this world has always been
pin a medal on him for his contributions to the community.
commonplace in mystical traditions, the split between a Eu-
In such a time of trial only the memory of the pain he en-
ropean technological material world and Islamic spirituality
dured at his circumcision gives him the courage to withstand
reflects a limited orientalist view of Islam that overlooks me-
heat and burning pain. The true meaning of this medal is
dieval Muslim scientific and technological advances and
revealed when later, Meka is brutally beaten and thrown into
prowess. It also plays into theses of Negritude that try to re-
jail by the police, who do not recognize him. Here too he
habilitate orientalist dichotomies in calling for a “universal
resorts to his totemic relations with panthers to muster up
civilization” that combines spiritual, intuitive and rhythmi-
the necessary strength.
cal “Black” culture in harmony with nature, on the one
hand, with analytic and technological “White” culture, on
In both cases, the caricatural evocation of traditional re-
the other.
ligion is tragi-comic, revealing the comical ineffectiveness of
the tradition in the new setting of colonialism. On his return
In works such as the novel God’s Bits of Wood and the
home, Meka is chastened and cynical about his Christian
short-story collection Tribal Scars, the Senegalese writer
faith and relation with the whites. But his “initiation” leaves
Ousmane Sembène eschews the sentimentality of Negritude.
him with little new knowledge except for a relief to be back
Mystical Islam is portrayed as ineffective and its clergy ac-
among the grasses and animals of his home. Here unlike the
cused of complicity with colonial rule and patriarchal exploi-
West African novels, there is no faith in an overarching
tation of women. For Sembène, the only way out of the colo-
scheme of things. There is also an unremitting satirical criti-
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3088
FICTION: AFRICAN FICTION AND RELIGION
cism implied of African traditions. The indulgent humor of
Dialogical pluralism of Kourouma and Emechetta is but
the narrator, who laughs with as well as at the characters,
an extreme example of the tendency of African fiction to call
leaves the reader with the conviction of the inherent dignity
into question constructions, not only of Christianity and
and resilience of African people.
Islam, but also of anthropological accounts of local religions.
In all of these works the narrative voice often plays
Through devices of irony and comedy the main characters
against sliding conceptions of the distinction between the
belong yet do not belong to European and African religious
secular and the sacred. In Things Fall Apart and in Houseboy,
traditions. In this respect, one should mention V. Y. Mudim-
child converts whom Christians believe that God has
be’s Entre les Eaux, in which the priest, Pierre Landu fails to
touched are in fact fleeing abusive fathers. In Achebe’s novels
bring together Christianity and Marxism. He is an example
the fact that Europeans trample sacred forests and kill sacred
of what Wim van Binsbergen calls “Central African clerical
animals with impunity is taken to be a sign of divine inter-
intellectualism,” an intellectualism of a certain category of
vention. In fiction such as this, even where there is an im-
Catholic clerics who have little to do with traditional African
plied criticism of African tradition, the overriding message
religion.
is that the abuse of European colonialism must stop, so that
Other fiction of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s continues
Africans may regroup and take charge of their own fate.
this trend toward pluralism, emphasizing intrareligious more
Post-colonial fiction is marked by a turn toward an Afri-
than interreligious difference, especially with reference to
can audience to address African problems. The multiple con-
Islam. In response to Islamic fundamentalism, postmodern
sciousness of several sides to a story is taken to new heights
fiction from Northern Africa (always a cross-roads of many
with a dialogical representation of reality from an even more
cultures and religions) reaches back to Islamic traditional
complex, pluralistic perspective. Fama, the last of the royal
means of interpretation in the h:ad¯ıth to reveal the suppressed
line of Doumbouya in the Ivorian Ahmadou Kourouma’s
voices of the religion. Novelists such as the Moroccans Driss
Suns of Independence also sets off on a tripartite journey. He
Chraïbi (La Mère du Printemps), and Fatima Mernissi (Le
leaves the capital for a funeral in Togobala, a seedy village
Harem politique), the Algerian Assia Djebar (Loin de la Mé-
that is all that remains of his family’s ancient capital, and he
dine), and the Egyptian Nawal El Sadaawi (God Dies by the
returns home only to be thrown into prison. This tripartite
Nile) question Islamic patriarchy and oppose such concepts
structure, inspired by the initiatory journey is a failure, but
as jihad (holy war, but also self-discipline) and itjiha¯d (inter-
can be seen from three equally valid perspectives. The
pretation).
Doumbouya decadence is (1) an eschatological sign of Mus-
The Somalian novelist Nuruddin Farah goes even fur-
lim last days; (2) the result of disrespect for the ancient fetish-
ther than most of the fiction writers here. In Maps he criti-
es; (3) or a secular working out of post-colonial corruption.
cizes not Islamic practices or traditions but the internal mo-
But no matter how the sequence of events is explained, there
rality of the religion itself and its nefarious effects on
is an overriding angry irony at the corruption of contempo-
Somalian society, although he falls more into the main line
rary society. Kourouma’s novel, Allah n’est pas obligé, is even
in his Close Sesame, which emphasizes the gap between ideal
angrier, as he portrays an Africa sinking deeper into crisis
Islam and the way it is played out in society.
under the eyes of an indifferent God. The latter is among
One sees a similar process in South Africa, where a novel
what Lilyan Kesteloot calls novels of chaos, novels written
such as Rayda Jacob’s Confessions of a Gambler portrays a
in despair of a spectacle of an Africa racked by such corrup-
freer, postmodern Islam in the person of the protagonist, an
tion, famine and genocide that it seems to be without a God.
emancipated Capetonian Islamic woman who gambles.
One bears in mind the Rwanda writers’ project, in which sev-
Writers such as Zoë Wicomb (You Can’t Get Lost in Cape
eral African writers such as Boubacar Boris Diop (Senegal)
Town; and David’s Story) and Zakes Mda (The Madonna of
or Véronique Tadjo (Ivory Coast) committed themselves to
Excelsior), on the other hand, criticize hypocrisy of the abu-
write about the genocide in that country. One can also con-
sive Christianity brought by the Dutch Calvinist settlers.
trast Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s Devil on the Cross, which brutally
These settlers claim South Africa as a land promised to them
satirizes Christianity, to his earlier novels such as The River
by God, and are portrayed in Afrikaner novels such as André
Between, which portrays the protagonist Waiyake (Kenyatta)
Brink’s A Dry White Season.
as a Christ figure.
A dialogical pluralism similar to Kourouma’s may be
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share common traditions of oral storytelling and episodes of
erature and Culture.” Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 7
contact with waves of colonizing Europeans. Themes that
(July 1986): 2, 476–502.
manifest themselves in this fiction include colonialism and
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postcolonialism, identity and alienation, the loss of land, re-
In his essay “The Native Voice in American Literature,”
location, memory, healing, religious freedom, the repatria-
Kiowa writer N. Scott Momaday writes that the “uncondi-
tion of sacred objects and skeletal remains, experience with
tional belief in the efficacy of language” resides “at the heart
missionaries and boarding schools, cultural continuity, and
of the American Indian oral tradition” (1997, p. 15). Creek
community building. Native authors are politically and his-
scholar Craig Womack concurs: “Native artistry is not pure
torically conscious, and, in a very real sense, their characters
aesthetics, or art for art’s sake: as often as not Indian writers
are struggling to survive in the modern world.
are trying to invoke as much as evoke. The idea behind cere-
monial chant is that language, spoken in the appropriate rit-
Native spirituality encompasses many traditions of be-
ual contexts, will actually cause a change in the physical uni-
lief, from Laguna creation stories to Ojibwa trickster tales,
verse” (1999, pp. 16–17). The same can be said for
from the Sun Dance to the Ghost Dance, from puberty cere-
contemporary American Indian writing. With the introduc-
monies to vision quests to peyote ceremonies at the Native
tion of the written word, storytelling was transformed, but
American Church. Native religions embody worldviews
orality was never abandoned. Oral tradition continues to in-
without explicit creeds and principles. Vine Deloria Jr. de-
form Native expression, whether in poetry or the European
fines tribal religions as “complexes of attitudes, beliefs, and
form of the novel.
practices fine-tuned to harmonize with the lands on which
EARLY AMERICAN INDIAN FICTION. In many ways, Native
the people live” (1994, p. 70). “Every factor of human expe-
novelists have followed the trends of Euro-American litera-
rience is seen in a religious light as part of the meaning of
ture. In the late 1800s when Anglo- and African American
life,” Deloria continues (p. 195). This further complicates
women took up the sentimental plot, often for political pur-
the analysis of religious themes in American Indian litera-
poses, Native women did the same. Three examples are S.
ture, for spirituality pervades every aspect of the work. Fur-
Alice Callahan’s Wynema: A Child of the Forest (1891), Zit-
ther, works of fiction in English by Indian authors are inher-
kala-Sa’s American Indian Stories (1921), and Mourning
ently postcontact narratives and thus also address experiences
Dove’s Co-ge-wea (1927), all of which address the “Indian
with Christianity. As Kimberly Blaeser notes, much of Na-
problem.” Other important early writers include John Jo-
tive literature compares Native beliefs to Christianity, rhetor-
seph Mathews, an Osage writer whose novels include
ically critiques Christianity, or focuses on the Christian/
Wah’kon-tah: The Osage and the White Man’s Road (1932)
Native religious conflict (1994, p. 16). For many peoples,
and Sundown (1934), and Lakota author Ella Cara Deloria,
becoming Christian did not mean giving up tribal beliefs and
whose novel Waterlily was written in 1944 (but not pub-
customs. Often, the most favorable aspects of each religion
lished until 1988). In general, early Native authors were con-
have been combined in a syncretic or hybrid manner, and
cerned with Euro-American contact, missionaries, and loss
sometimes these religious variations cause irreparable rifts in
of land and language and culture. At the same time, they
communities and families. Since the 1970s, however, there
were working against the mainstream notion that their peo-
has been a resurgence of traditional tribal practices.
ple would indeed become extinct.
THE ROOTS OF STORYTELLING. That American Indians are
The first known published work of fiction by a Native
competent storytellers is no surprise: entire histories and my-
woman is Wynema by Callahan, a mixed-blood Muscogee
thologies have long been passed on through story. Prayers,
(or Creek). Written in 1891 for a non-Native audience, the
chants, and songs performed during ceremonies are also part
book was out of print until 1997. Like much early Native
of this tradition. LaVonne Ruoff writes, “Because sacred oral
fiction, Wynema addresses the impact of colonization and
literature is so closely interwoven into the fabric of tradition-
missionization. Unfortunately, Callahan does not provide
al Indian religious life, it is difficult to distinguish between
much description of traditional Creek culture (and, in fact,
literature and religion” (1990, pp. 141–142). Oral storytell-
never mentions the word Creek in the text), a move that
ing provides not only pleasure to an audience, but it often
Susan Bernardin describes as an effort to write “a generic In-
passes on knowledge, history, culture, and rules for living.
dian story” that is “putatively pantribal” (2001, p. 4). How-
Stories teach “abstract notions of behavior, cosmology, and
ever, Womack faults Callahan for “purposefully, not acci-
ways of seeing or thinking about things” (Beck et al., 1995,
dentally, misrepresenting culture” (1999, p. 115). He calls
p. 59). In Pueblo culture, explains writer Leslie Marmon
Wynema “a document of Christian supremicism and assimi-
Silko, no distinctions are made “between types of story—
lation” (1999, p. 107). Callahan’s most detailed ethnograph-
historical, sacred, plain gossip” (1996, p. 53). There are as
ic passage describes the green corn ceremony, which is prac-
many oral traditions as there are indigenous groups. Pomo
ticed in this community even after the adoption of
author Greg Sarris points out that “it is as impossible to gen-
Christianity. There is also a funeral scene that combines
eralize about ‘oral discourse’ as it is about ‘culture’” (1993,
Creek and Christian rituals. But, for the most part, Creek
p. 47). “Storytelling is a communal act,” writes Joseph Epes
culture is completely negated by Methodism. The novel fol-
Brown (2001, p. 54). As it is the nature of oral tradition to
lows Wynema Harjo, a full-blood Muscogee woman who be-
take audience and circumstance into account for each telling,
friends Genevieve Weir, a Methodist teacher from Alabama,
the storyteller can appeal to changing pities and fears—and
the place from which the Muscogees were removed on the
incorporate contemporary elements.
Trail of Tears in 1830. Genevieve eventually marries the
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local Methodist minister, Gerald Keithly, while Wynema
naissance is marked by the 1968 publication of House Made
marries Genevieve’s brother Robin. In many ways, Gene-
of Dawn, for which N. Scott Momaday won the Pulitzer
vieve is the novel’s heroine, for it is she who must overcome
Prize in 1969. Momaday’s novel begins with Abel’s return
stereotypes and develop as a character. Although Genevieve
home to his grandfather in Walatawa, New Mexico, after
begins as a model Indian reformer, Gerald points out that
serving in the Korean War. Abel’s grandfather Francisco is
acculturation is reciprocal. Wynema’s domestic plot is in-
a tribal elder and a sacristan of the Catholic Church in this
fused with social commentary from the two young women,
Pueblo. Soon after Abel’s return, which coincides with the
who often combine suffragist concerns with Indian affairs.
Feast of Santiago, he sleeps with Mrs. Angela Grace St. John,
At the end of the novel, Callahan shifts her focus from the
a white woman who comes to Walatawa for its healing wa-
plots at hand to a wider view of current events in Indian
ters, and he murders the albino man who is to represent the
Country. The final two chapters give voice to Lakota rebels
figure of Santiago during the festivities. The novel follows
and Chikena, a sole survivor of the massacre of Wounded
Abel to Los Angeles, where seven years later he lies in a ditch
Knee in 1890. When a missionary tells one of the rebels,
with broken hands. During a vision quest of sorts, he thinks
“Place yourselves in a submissive attitude and the govern-
about his childhood and his time in the city, which includes
ment will protect you,” he replies, “peace is not the watch-
sermons by Reverend Tosamah, a Native preacher whose
word of the oppressed” (Callahan, 1997, pp. 80, 82). The
grandmother attended the last Kiowa Sun Dance. Abel once
reader is left with a vision of this very recent horrific carnage
again returns home, and his grandfather dies seven days later.
at the hands of the U. S. government and a critical voice on
After preparing Francisco’s body in the traditional way, Abel
the doctrine of Christian submission.
goes to town to inform the priest, then joins the Jemez dawn
D’Arcy McNickle’s novel The Surrounded appeared in
runners on the mesa.
1936 and was reprinted in the 1970s. Like other works of
Many critics have discussed the religious strains in
this era, The Surrounded is told in the mode of social realism.
House Made of Dawn. Kenneth Lincoln, for example, has ar-
As McNickle explains in an epigraph, the title for the book
gued that the murder of the albino is a reversal of the biblical
is taken from the name of his Montana setting, Sniél-emen,
murder of Abel. Harold S. McAllister contends that Angela
or “Mountains of the Surrounded,” referring to the proximi-
St. John represents the Virgin Mary and shows Abel “the way
ty of the settlers. The story follows the homecoming of Ar-
to salvation” (1974, p. 115). Not all critics focus on the Ca-
childe Leon, a mixed-blood whose mother Catherine is Sa-
tholicism in the novel, however. Robert Nelson focuses on
lish and father Max is Spanish. While his mother practices
the role of place in Abel’s healing process, a relationship in-
mostly traditional Salish religion, which includes public con-
herent to Pueblo spirituality. Susan Scarberry-Garcia discuss-
fession and whipping, Archilde’s father is Catholic. Enacting
es “Abel’s illness in relation to Navajo theories of disease and
modes of oral tradition, McNickle recounts three versions of
his restoration in light of both Navajo song texts and Navajo,
how the Salish compelled the Jesuit missionaries to come to
Kiowa, and Pueblo ritual patterns” (1990, p. 86). Bernard
them. Father Grepilloux, who is characterized as a good-
Hirsch describes Reverend Tosamah, a Priest of the Sun and
hearted man, tells Max Leon, “It was inevitable that a new
Coyote figure, as “a priest whose saving message, because he
age would come” (McNickle, 1994, p. 108). Archilde has
has divorced his religion from his everyday life, has an ironic
learned the Catholic traditions and plays violin at the church.
as well as a revelatory dimension” (1983, p. 319). Moma-
His nephews attend the mission school. In a crucial scene,
day’s fiction also includes The Ancient Child (1989).
Archilde recalls seeing a cross in the sky while at boarding
school (p. 103). When he notices that a bird does not recog-
Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony (1977) offers a more
nize the cross as a “sign” from God, Archilde begins to ques-
overt affirmation of Pueblo mythology over Christian
tion the authority of the Catholic Church. After having a se-
dogma. Incorporating traditions of oral culture, Silko begins
ries of dreams, Archilde’s mother renounces her baptism. In
Ceremony with a poem about Thought-Woman, who in La-
her dreaming, Catherine goes to white heaven, but there are
guna cosmology created the world. The novel traces World
no Indians there. She goes to Indian heaven, but they will
War II veteran Tayo as he returns to his home in Laguna
not accept baptized Indians. Although the novel ends with
Pueblo. Like Momaday’s Abel, Tayo is alienated and in need
uncertainty, Archilde’s own doubts about Christianity re-
of healing. He feels responsible for the death of his cousin
main constant. As Laird Christensen points out, McNickle’s
Rocky during the war. Because he cursed the rain that made
novel questions Christianity’s impact on the “cosmology,
Rocky’s injury worse, Tayo is certain to have caused the
values, and economy” of this Salish community. In particu-
drought that plagues Laguna. Suffering from postwar trau-
lar, the “Christian concept of eternal judgment [acts] as a
ma, Tayo participates in a healing ceremony arranged by his
wedge that forces the Salish out of traditional patterns of re-
grandmother. When Ku’oosh, the local shaman, cannot heal
lating to family, society, and ultimately the more-than-
him, Tayo is taken to Gallup to see Betonie, a Navajo who
human world” (1999, pp. 2–3). McNickle’s second novel,
uses a hybrid method of healing. In the mountains, Tayo en-
Wind from an Enemy Sky, was published in 1978.
counters Ts’eh, a seemingly mythical woman reminiscent of
THE NATIVE AMERICAN RENAISSANCE. The beginning of
Yellow Woman, who helps Tayo recover his uncle’s lost
what Kenneth Lincoln has called the Native American Re-
cattle.
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Silko’s novel focuses on the necessity of achieving bal-
Leopolda is in fact Pauline Puyat, Marie’s own mother,
ance in the world, of remembering the stories and knowing
which is revealed in Tracks. Traditional Ojibwa religion does
one’s place in them, and of recognizing the relationships be-
not go unscathed, however. The love medicine of the title,
tween all things, as Robert Nelson proposes. Much Ceremony
which Lipsha Morrissey creates to reunite Marie and Nector
scholarship focuses on aspects of Native spirituality—healing
Kashpaw, ends up choking Nector to death. When Nector
rituals, medicine wheels, witchery, star maps, and the func-
Kashpaw had once yelled his prayers at Mass, Lipsha agreed
tion Ts’eh (see Lincoln, 1983, and Mitchell, 1979). Some
that “God’s being going deaf” for years, or that maybe Chip-
critics have focused on the religious syncretism or hybridity
pewas “just don’t speak its language” (pp. 235–236). Critic
in the novel (see Gianferrari, 1999). Jace Weaver points to
Dennis Walsh discusses this “spiritual failure of Catholicism”
the importance of community as religious practice in the
in the novel (2001, p. 125). Two later chapters also carry
novel—and that “Tayo is able to achieve wholeness only in
enormous religious significance. In “Crown of Thorns,” al-
re-membering himself in the collective” (1997, p. 134). That
coholism is just that for Gordie Kashpaw. In “Resurrection,”
sense of community, of working toward communal values,
Marie reclaims her Ojibwa spirituality by speaking the lan-
is an outward manifestation of traditional beliefs. One of
guage and preparing to pass down Nector’s ceremonial pipe
Silko’s short stories, “The Man to Send Rainclouds” (1981),
to Lipsha. In Love Medicine, Erdrich enacts what Patricia
also takes up the conflict between Christianity and Laguna
Riley calls “mythological synergy,” a move beyond religious
spirituality. Silko’s other novels include Almanac of the Dead
syncretism that offers a counternarrative to the story of the
(1991) and Gardens in the Dunes (1999).
vanishing Indian and ensures the survival of her mixed-blood
Other novels published in the 1970s include James
characters (2000, p. 14). Erdrich certainly questions the be-
Welch’s Winter in the Blood (1974) and The Death of Jim
neficence of Catholicism throughout her work. In a 2001 in-
Loney (1979), and Gerald Vizenor’s Darkness in Saint Louis
terview, Erdrich explains, “Missionary work is essentially
Bearheart (1978).
tragic. Those who enter the field from the religious side often
do so out of love, and out of love they destroy the essence
THE 1980S AND BEYOND. The 1980s saw a proliferation of
of the people they love.”
American Indian novelists, Louise Erdrich included. Er-
drich’s first novel Love Medicine (1984, revised in 1993)—
Like many contemporary Native novels, Greg Sarris’s
and later The Beet Queen (1986), Tracks (1988), Tales of
Grand Avenue: A Novel in Stories (1994) takes place off the
Burning Love (1990), The Bingo Palace (1994), The Antelope
reservation, which for Sarris is Santa Rosa, California, where
Wife (1998), The Last Report of the Miracles at Little No Horse
families of Pomo descent have relocated. The Pomos have
(2001), and The Master Butcher’s Singing Club (2002)—
created an “in-town reservation” (Sarris, 1994, p. 198). By
follow certain Ojibwa, German, and mixed-blood families in
transporting traditional ceremonies and familial ties to the
North Dakota from historical times to the present. Through-
city, Sarris offers a different type of narrative. He highlights
out these novels, Erdrich also chronicles the relationship be-
the traditional as a reclaiming of what has been lost to mis-
tween the Ojibwa and the missionary Jesuits near the fiction-
sionizing and time. Sarris’s focus on community and the
al town of Argus. Love Medicine is told through the voices
need for healing in a displaced locale makes Grand Avenue
of multiple narrators and spans fifty years, 1934 to 1984.
what Jace Weaver calls a “communitist” text. The character
The novel begins “the morning before Easter Sunday” when
Nellie Copaz (based on Mabel McKay, a renowned Pomo
June Morrissey decides to walk home from Williston, North
basketweaver and medicine woman who helped raise Sarris)
Dakota (1993, p. 1). A blizzard unexpectedly begins, and
demonstrates the delicate balance between surviving in the
June dies in the snow: “June walked over it like water and
city and preserving tradition. Nellie is the firmest believer in
came home” (p. 7).
communal values and is sought in times of illness. The two
strongest cultural practices in this novel are traditional bas-
Louis Owens has called June “the feminine Christ-
ketmaking and healing, which are both performed by Nellie.
figure resurrected as trickster” (1992, p. 196). Kimberly
Blaeser agrees: “By intermingling the symbolism from both
In the chapter “Waiting for the Green Frog” Nellie re-
religions in June’s story, Erdrich seems to challenge not only
calls hearing the singing frog near her shed on ancestral land.
the exclusiveness of religious myths, but also the exclusive na-
The frog is not specific to tribal lands, for he follows Nellie
ture of religious ideas themselves” (1994, p. 28). During the
wherever she moves, including Santa Rosa. Mary Mackie ar-
remainder of the novel, the community works on coming to
gues that “the green frogs serve as predictors of change, fore-
terms with June’s death. Among the numerous plot lines is
tellers of a new healer, and the continuance of Pomo culture”
Marie Lazarre’s experience with Sister Leopolda at the Sacred
(2001, p. 216). Nellie’s medical instruments are a combina-
Heart Convent in 1934. Marie’s back is scalded and her
tion of the traditional and the modern: “the old canoe bas-
hand stabbed by Sister Leopolda, who is trying to save young
ket, the flint piece, a tobacco pipe from a mail order catalog,
Marie from the “Dark One.” “Christ has marked me,” Marie
and a cocoon rattle” (Sarris, 1994, p. 78). When Nellie
says ironically (p. 60). Marie describes the sisters as windigos,
teaches young Alice Goode how to make baskets, she is per-
half-starved creatures from Chippewa lore, again in a combi-
forming an act of healing. Nellie also tells Alice how and
nation of religious imagery (see Jaskoski, 2000). Sister
where to collect the materials, making connections to geo-
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FICTION: NATIVE AMERICAN FICTION AND RELIGION
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graphical and ancestral space. Although Alice is often quiet
Christensen, Laird. “‘Not Exactly Like Heaven’: Theological Im-
during these lessons, Nellie tells stories. In the last scene,
perialism in The Surrounded.” Studies in American Indian Lit-
Alice is visited by the green frog, signaling her future as a
eratures 11, no. 1 (1999): 2–16.
healer. Even in the direst of circumstances, Sarris imagines
Deloria, Vine, Jr. God Is Red: A Native View of Religion. Golden,
the continuity of Pomo traditions. Sarris’s second novel, Wa-
Colo., 1994.
termelon Nights, which follows many of the same families,
Erdrich, Louise. Love Medicine. New York, 1984; rev. ed., 1993.
was published in 1998.
Gianferrari, Maria Christina. “Hybrid Voices/Hybrid Texts: A
American Indian fiction has grown dramatically in re-
Study of Syncretism in the Works of Samson Occom, Hand-
cent decades. Novels published in the 1980s include Paula
some Lake, Leslie Marmon Silko, and Louise Erdrich.”
Gunn Allen’s The Woman Who Owned the Shadows (1983),
Ph.D. diss., State University of New York, Stony Brook,
1999.
Janet Campbell Hale’s The Jailing of Cecilia Capture (1985),
James Welch’s Fools Crow (1986), Michael Dorris’s A Yellow
Jaskoski, Helen. “From the Time Immemorial: Native American
Raft in Blue Water (1987), and Anna Lee Walters’s Ghost
Traditions in Contemporary Short Fiction.” In Louise Er-
drich’s Love Medicine: A Casebook, edited by Hertha D.
Singer (1988). Novels of the 1990s include James Welch’s
Sweet Wong, pp. 27–34. New York, 2000.
The Indian Lawyer (1990); Linda Hogan’s Mean Spirit
Jaskoski, Helen, ed. Early Native American Writing: New Critical
(1990), Solar Storms (1995), and Power (1998); Gerald Vi-
Essays. New York, 1996.
zenor’s Dead Voices (1992); Louis Owens’s The Sharpest Sight
(1992) and Bone Game (1994); Ray Young Bear’s Black Eagle
Lincoln, Kenneth. Native American Renaissance. Berkeley, 1983.
Child (1992) and Remnants of the First Earth (1996); Betty
Mackie, Mary Margaret. “The Art That Will Not Die: The Story-
Louise Bell’s Faces in the Moon (1994); Susan Power’s Grass
Telling of Greg Sarris and Thomas King.” Ph.D. diss., Uni-
Dancer (1994); Adrian C. Louis’s Skins (1995); Sherman Al-
versity of Oklahoma, 2001.
exie’s Reservation Blues (1995) and Indian Killer (1996); and
McAllister, Harold S. “Incarnate Grace and the Paths of Salvation
Diane Glancy’s Pushing the Bear (1996). Novels of the first
in House Made of Dawn.” South Dakota Review 12, no. 4
(1974): 115–125.
decade of the twenty-first century include James Welch’s The
Heartsong of Charging Elk (2000), LeAnne Howe’s Shell
McNickle, D’Arcy. The Surrounded. New York, 1936; reprint, Al-
Shaker (2001), and Adrian C. Louis’s Bone and Juice (2001).
buquerque, 1994.
Short story collections include Anna Lee Walters’s Sun Is Not
Mitchell, Carol. “Ceremony as Ritual.” American Indian Quarterly
Merciful (1985); Adrian Louis’s Wild Indians and Other
5 (1979): 27–35.
Creatures (1992); Sherman Alexie’s Lone Ranger and Tonto
Momaday, N. Scott. House Made of Dawn. New York, 1968; re-
Fistfight in Heaven (1993), The Toughest Indian in the World
print, 1999.
(2000), and Ten Little Indians (2003); N. Scott Momaday’s
Momaday, N. Scott. Man Made of Words. New York, 1997.
In the Bear’s House (1999); and Susan Power’s Roofwalker
Nelson, Robert M. Place and Vision: The Function of Landscape in
(2003).
Native American Fiction. New York, 1993.
Owens, Louis. “The Red Road to Nowhere: D’Arcy McNickle’s
SEE ALSO North American Indian Religions, article on
The Surrounded and ‘The Hungry Generations.’” American
Mythic Themes; Poetry, article on Native American Poetry
Indian Quarterly 13, no. 3 (1989): 239–248.
and Religion.
Owens, Louis. Other Destinies: Understanding the American Indian
B
Novel. Norman, Okla., 1992.
IBLIOGRAPHY
Bacon, Katie. “An Emissary of the Between-World.” Interview
Purdy, John Lloyd. Word Ways: The Novels of D’Arcy McNickle.
with Louise Erdrich. Atlantic (January 17, 2001). Available
Tucson, Ariz., 1990.
from: www.theatlantic.com/unbound/interviews/int2001-
Purdy, John Lloyd, ed. The Legacy of D’Arcy McNickle: Writer,
01-17.htm.
Historian, Activist. Norman, Okla., 1996.
Beck, Peggy V., Anna Lee Walters, and Nia Francisco. The Sacred:
Riley, Patricia. “There Is No Limit to this Dust: The Refusal of
Ways of Knowledge, Sources of Life. Tsaile, Ariz., 1977; re-
Sacrifice in Louise Erdrich’s Love Medicine.” Studies in Amer-
print, 1995.
ican Indian Literatures 12, no. 2 (2000): 13–23.
Bernardin, Susan. “On the Meeting Grounds of Sentiment: S.
Ruoff, A. LaVonne Brown. American Indian Literatures: An Intro-
Alice Callahan’s Wynema: A Child of the Forest.” American
duction, Bibliographic Review, and Selected Bibliography. New
Transcendental Quarterly 15, no. 3 (2001): 209–224.
York, 1990.
Blaeser, Kimberly M. “Pagans Rewriting the Bible: Heterodoxy
Sarris, Greg. Keeping Slug Woman Alive: A Holistic Approach to
and the Representation of Spirituality in Native American
American Indian Texts. Berkeley, 1993.
Literature.” Ariel 25, no. 1 (1994): 12–32.
Sarris, Greg. Grand Avenue: A Novel in Stories. New York, 1994.
Brown, Joseph Epes. Teaching Spirits: Understanding Native Amer-
ican Religious Traditions. New York, 2001.
Scarberry-Garcia, Susan. Landmarks of Healing: A Study of House
Callahan, S. Alice. Wynema: A Child of the Forest (1891). Lincoln,
Made of Dawn. Albuquerque, 1990.
Neb., 1997.
Silko, Leslie Marmon. Ceremony. New York, 1977; reprint, 1986.
Chavkin, Allan, ed. Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony: A Casebook.
Silko, Leslie Marmon. Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit.
New York, 2002.
New York, 1996.
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FIDES
Velie, Alan R. Four American Indian Literary Masters: N. Scott Mo-
hand is also attested in Umbria in connection with the god
maday, James Welch, Leslie Marmon Silko, and Gerald Vizen-
Fisu Sakio, who closely resembles Dius Fidius. At Rome, too,
or. Norman, Okla., 1982.
it was the fidius aspect of Jupiter that was honored in this
Walsh, Dennis. “Catholicism in Louise Erdrich’s Love Medicine
way in the person of Fides.
and Tracks.” American Indian Culture and Research Journal
The temple of Fides stood on the area Capitolina (the
25, no. 2 (2001): 107–127.
level top of the Capitoline Hill), probably right against its
Weaver, Jace. That the People Might Live: Native American Litera-
southern edge. Its importance was considerable, because the
tures and Native American Community. New York, 1997.
goddess was patroness of all agreements entered into with a
Womack, Craig S. Red on Red: Native American Literary Separat-
gesture of the right hand. From her commanding position,
ism. Minneapolis, 1999.
visible from many points in Rome, she also stood as guaran-
tor of political accords and economic contracts; she encour-
Wong, Hertha D. Sweet, ed. Louise Erdrich’s Love Medicine: A
Casebook. New York, 2000.
aged the trustworthiness of citizens toward one another as
well as that of the Roman people toward other nations. Her
LAURA FURLAN SZANTO (2005)
religious function was to procure confidence, credit, and
hence often, albeit indirectly, wealth for her trustworthy dis-
ciples. (Her temple stood immediately next to that of Ops,
FIDES.
a goddess of fertility and plenty.)
The Roman goddess Fides is the personification
of an idea that in itself is secular: the idea of “confidence”
The cult of the goddess Fides, suspended during a good
(fides) and, especially (in a more derivative sense of fides), the
part of the first century BCE, was probably restored by the
“good faith” or “trustworthiness” that inspires confidence.
emperor Augustus. Treaties and military documents were
Fides made her appearance in the Roman pantheon in the
posted on the wall of her temple at least until the end of the
third century
first century CE. The many representations of Fides on coins
CE, about 250, when a temple was dedicated
to her by A. Atilius Calatinus. This temple stood on the Cap-
minted after that date show that her influence extended well
itol, directly next to the temple of Jupiter. But there must
beyond the first century of the common era.
have been an earlier sanctuary of Fides (tradition says the cult
was established by Numa, the second king of Rome), and the
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Dumézil, Georges. “Credo et fides.” In his Idées romaines, pp. 48–
temple built by Calatinus was probably erected on the same
59. Paris, 1969.
site.
Freyburger, Gérard. “Vénus et Fides.” In Hommages à Robert
The site of the temple of Fides, next to that of Jupiter,
Schilling, edited by Hubert Zehnacker and Gustave Hentz,
is indicative of her origin, for everything points to her having
pp. 101–108. Paris, 1983.
emerged from the supreme deity by a process of hypostatiza-
Lombardi, Luigi. Dalla “fides” alla “bona fides.” Milan, 1961. See
tion. In this light, it is easy to understand why Jupiter is guar-
especially pages 147–162.
antor, not only with Fides but also with Dius Fidius, of the
Piccaluga, Giulia. “Fides nella religione romana di età imperiale.”
observance of oaths and compacts (federa). In fact, Dius Fidi-
In Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt, vol. 2.17.2,
us, as “patron of good faith,” is a first, archaic hypostatization
pp. 703–735. Berlin and New York, 1981.
of Jupiter. He is the god of oaths taken sub divo, that is, “in
New Sources
the open air.” His temple, open to the sky, was located on
Carcaterra, Antonio. “Dea fides e fides. Storia di una laicizzaz-
the Quirinal, where it was situated on the Capitolium vetus
ione.” Studia et Documenta Historiae Iuris 50 (1984): 199–
(“old Capitol,” or place of headship), next to the sacellum
234.
Iovis, Iunonis, Minervae (“chapel of Jupiter, Juno, Minerva”).
Freyburger, Gérard. Fides. Étude sémantique et religieuse depuis les
Fides, for her part, appears in the wake of Jupiter Capi-
origines jusqu’à l’époque augustéenne. Paris, 1986.
tolinus. Her powers are broader and more flexible than those
Freyburger, Gérard. “La fides civique.” In Antiquité et Citoyenneté.
of Dius Fidius and include in particular the guaranteeing
Actes du Colloque International tenu à Besançon les 3, 4 et 5
novembre 1999, edited by Stéphane Ratti, pp. 341–347.
both of secrets and of the virtue (the interior disposition) of
Paris, 2002.
trustworthiness.
Ramelli, Ilaria. Studi su Fides. Premessa alle traduzioni di Eduard
The goddess was honored by a special ritual: Each year
Fraenkel, Richard Heinze, Pierre Boyancé. Madrid, 2002.
some flamines (priests) journeyed to her temple in solemn
Reusser, Christoph. Der Fidestempel auf dem Kapitol in Rom und
fashion, riding in a covered cart. The sacrificing priest—the
seine Ausstattung. Rome, 1993.
flamen of Jupiter—celebrated the cult with his right hand
GÉRARD FREYBURGER (1987)
wrapped in a piece of white material. The right hand was
Translated from French by Matthew J. O’Connell
shielded in this way because it was considered as consecrated
Revised Bibliography
when used to swear fidelity. For this reason it was liable to
the wrath of heaven if the fidelity was violated. Mucius
Scaevola, who lost his right hand after swearing a false oath,
FILARET OF MOSCOW (1782–1867) was a metro-
is a mythical illustration of this belief. The rite of the veiled
politan of Moscow and Russian Orthodox church leader.
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FILLMORE, CHARLES AND MYRTLE
3095
Filaret was born into the clerical “caste.” He became a monk
BIBLIOGRAPHY
in 1808 and was ordained a priest in the following year. By
A rich Russian-language bibliography is provided in Georgii V.
1812 he was rector of the Saint Petersburg Theological Acad-
Florovskii’s Puti russkogo bogosloviia (Paris, 1937). Among
emy. He became archbishop of Moscow (1821), then metro-
Filaret’s variously collected works should be mentioned his
politan of Moscow (1826); he served in the latter office until
sermons: Slova i rechi, 7th ed., 5 vols. (Moscow, 1873–
1885). Some of these appeared in English translation as Select
he died. Meanwhile Filaret had become a member of the
Sermons by the Late Metropolitan of Moscow, Philaret (Lon-
Holy Synod (1819), the governing body of the Russian Or-
don, 1873). Others appeared in French, notably those trans-
thodox church. Whether active participant or (from 1842)
lated by A. Serpinet as Choix de sermons et discours de son Em-
estranged consultant, he was to dominate its work for almost
inence Mgr Philarète, 3 vols. (Paris, 1866). Less revealing is
half a century. In the process he was able to demonstrate that
Filaret’s Longer Catechism, translated by R. W. Blackmore in
the church need not be as subservient to the state as succes-
The Doctrine of the Russian Church (1845; Willits, Calif.,
sive lay procurators-general of the synod expected it to be.
1973). No full-length study of Filaret has appeared in En-
glish aside from R. L. Nichol’s dissertation on him, “Metro-
Filaret was barred from participation in the delibera-
politan Filaret of Moscow and the Awakening of Ortho-
tions of the synod after 1842 largely because of the ban im-
doxy” (University of Washington, 1972).
posed on a privately circulated translation of the Old Testa-
SERGEI HACKEL (1987)
ment. This translation was held suspect for two reasons: It
was made from the Hebrew, rather than the Septuagint (con-
sidered normative by the Orthodox church), and it was made
into modern Russian. Filaret had early been a proponent of
FILLMORE, CHARLES AND MYRTLE. Myrtle
exactly such a translation, and he had participated in the
(Mary Caroline) Page Fillmore (1845–1931) and Charles
Russian Bible Society’s work on the New Testament and
Sherlock Fillmore (1854–1948), a married couple, were the
Psalms (published 1818–1823). This work, discouraged after
founders of Unity, the largest and most distinctly Christian
1824, was not resumed until 1858. The publication of a
movement in the New Thought tradition. They are the most
complete (and, until the late twentieth century, standard)
notable students of New Thought’s founder, Emma Curtis
Russian translation of the Bible was begun in the year after
Hopkins (1849–1925). From its inception, Charles Fillmore
Filaret’s death. But it was associated with his name.
was the leader of the movement and the primary force in the
development of Unity’s theological system and institutional
Filaret also supported the pioneer translation into Rus-
structures. Although less visible than her husband, Myrtle
sian of patristic literature. This translation had an impact far
Fillmore was equally important to the emergence and early
beyond the boundaries of those academic centers in which
expansion of the movement, with the healing of her tubercu-
it was undertaken. The freshly uncovered wisdom of the Fa-
losis in 1888 precipitating the movement’s founding.
thers was to inform and transmute the thought, even the
Myrtle was born in Pagetown, Ohio, the eighth of nine
piety, of the Russian church and to rescue it from its previous
children. Her parents were prominent members of the local
“Babylonian captivity” to Western theological patterns. Fila-
Methodist Episcopal Church. Unity biographical literature
ret himself was prominent among the beneficiaries of this
describes her as “not robust” and at times “seriously ill,” but
rescue operation.
also “active and enthusiastic.” Before entering college, she
Filaret gave much thought to the reform of theological
worked briefly as a newspaper writer. In 1868, after a year
of study at Oberlin College, she was licensed as a teacher and
schooling and stressed that Russian Orthodox scholarship
began a career as a teacher in Clinton, Missouri. In an effort
should “develop its own models in the true spirit of the apos-
to maintain her fragile health, a result of suffering from both
tolic church.” He produced a standard text, Longer Catechism
tuberculosis and malaria, in 1874 she relocated to Denison,
(1823, revised 1839), to help the clergy with its work. Of
Texas, where she established a private school.
more lasting importance were his carefully considered ser-
mons, which mark him as an exceptionally subtle theologian,
Charles was born on a Chippewa reservation near Saint
always willing to have his personal and profound experience
Cloud, Minnesota, the oldest of two sons. He had little con-
tempered by Orthodox tradition.
tact with his father, who separated from the family when he
was seven. Charles remained close to his mother until her
Filaret’s posthumous publications include a vast range
death in 1931. Although his mother was a devout Episcopa-
of memoranda, opinions, and correspondence. They show
lian, she and her sons seldom attended church services. At
him to have been a statesman as well as a hierarch of the
the age of ten, Charles suffered a severe hip injury, which dis-
church. They also demonstrate his curious mixture of deter-
abled him for two years and resulted in permanent damage
mined liberalism with cautious conservatism. He was ill at
to his right leg. As a result of his physical challenges and the
ease with “democratic principles.” But whatever his limita-
necessity of finding employment to support the household,
tions in the secular sphere, he reinvigorated the Russian
Charles’s formal education ended when he was fourteen, al-
church at every level of its life and, in the fullest sense, reori-
though he did receive tutoring throughout his teens from
ented it.
Caroline Taylor, a graduate of Oberlin College. His studies
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3096
FILLMORE, CHARLES AND MYRTLE
with Taylor included readings in philosophy and theology.
of Unity. Her impact is evident in the Fillmores’ teachings
In 1874 Charles left Saint Cloud for the frontier town of
(especially Charles’s idealistic theology) and the organiza-
Caddo in what is now Oklahoma. Shortly after his arrival he
tional strategies they used in the early years of the Unity
moved to Denison and took a job with the Missouri, Kansas,
movement.
and Texas Railroad.
In 1889 (the year Unity recognizes as its founding), the
Myrtle and Charles met in Denison in 1876 and were
Fillmores embarked on their first organizational endeavor,
married in Clinton, Missouri, in 1881. From 1881 to 1884,
the publication of Modern Thought, a periodical “devoted to
the Fillmores resided in Pueblo, Colorado, where Charles
the spiritualization of humanity from an independent stand-
Fillmore was a real-estate partner with Charles Small, the
point.” The following year, Myrtle’s healing talents led to the
husband of Alethea Brooks Small (1848–1906), who later
formation of a prayer ministry, the Society of Silent Help
played an important role in the founding of Divine Science.
(later renamed Silent Unity). The success of Modern Thought
Following opportunities in the West’s volatile real-estate
(later absorbed into Unity magazine) and the Society of Si-
market, the Fillmores moved to Omaha, Nebraska, and after
lent Help served as the impetus for the emergence of Unity
a brief residency there they moved to Kansas City, Missouri.
as a denomination.
It was there that they founded Unity in 1889.
Unity histories report that the couple did not desire to
Before beginning their religious work, the couple had
establish a religion, but in 1903 they formed a religious orga-
pursued livelihoods common to persons living in the nine-
nization, the Unity Society of Practical Christianity, and
teenth-century Midwest. Myrtle had been a teacher, and
they were members of the first group of ordained Unity min-
prior to his real estate career, Charles had held jobs as a print-
isters in 1906 (W. G. Haseltine, the president of the board
er’s assistant, railroad freight inspector, mule-team driver, in-
of the Unity Society, performed the ordination). In 1914,
surance salesperson, and assayer. They were active in the
they incorporated Unity School of Christianity, which con-
temperance movement, attended Methodist and Episcopal
tinues to the present as the movement’s most representative
churches, and were exposed to Spiritualism and perhaps
institution.
Theosophy. They had three sons—Lowell (1882–1975),
Myrtle’s role in the leadership of Unity began to decline
Rickert (1884–1965), and Royal (1889–1923), each of
as the movement became more institutionalized. She left the
whom was active in the Unity movement, with Lowell
office of editor of Unity’s children’s magazine, Wee Wisdom,
succeeding his father as president of Unity School of
in 1907, and in 1916 she relinquished her post as director
Christianity.
of Silent Unity. In her later years her primary activities con-
In 1886, at the same time the Kansas City real-estate
sisted of correspondence with Unity followers and assistance
market was beginning to decline, Myrtle experienced a flare-
to Charles. Myrtle died in 1931, the year of the couple’s fifti-
up of her tuberculosis. Seeking relief, she and Charles attend-
eth wedding anniversary.
ed a lecture by E. B. Weeks, a mental healer from Chicago.
In 1933 Charles married Cora Dedrick, who had been
Charles was not impressed with the lecture, but Myrtle was,
his secretary. He gradually relinquished control of the move-
specifically by Weeks’s statement, “I am a child of God and
ment to his sons, especially Lowell, who succeeded him as
therefore I do not inherit sickness.” Using the statement as
president of Unity School. Charles and Cora traveled exten-
a healing affirmation and applying other mental healing
sively, and he spent considerable time in California. He con-
techniques, Myrtle recovered, pronouncing herself healed in
tinued to lecture and write until the last few years of his life.
1888. During this time, she also began to pray with others,
His thirteen books are still printed and distributed by Unity
who reported healings as a result. Myrtle’s healing and her
School.
assistance in the healings of others awakened Charles’s inter-
est, and he began to practice mental healing rituals himself.
SEE ALSO Hopkins, Emma Curtis; New Thought Move-
ment; Unity.
His health improved and denominational histories report
that his hip became stronger and his right leg began to
B
lengthen.
IBLIOGRAPHY
Bach, Marcus. The Unity Way. Unity Village, Mo., 1982.
As a result of their healings, the Fillmores became inter-
D’Andrade, Hugh. Charles Fillmore: Herald of the New Age. New
ested in the emerging mental healing movement, which was
York, 1974.
then identified as “Christian Science” (used in a generic
deChant, Dell. “Myrtle Fillmore and Her Daughters: An Obser-
sense) but would, by the turn of the century, be called New
vation and Analysis of the Role of Women in Unity.” In
Thought, to distinguish it from the religion of Mary Baker
Women’s Leadership in Marginal Religions: Explorations Out-
Eddy (1821–1910). Their interest brought them into con-
side the Mainstream, edited by Catherine Wessinger,
tact with Emma Curtis Hopkins, with whom they studied
pp. 102–124. Urbana, Ill., 1993.
in Chicago and through correspondence from Kansas City.
Freeman, James Dillet. The Story of Unity. Unity Village, Mo.,
The Fillmores were ordained by Hopkins as ministers in
1954.
1891. Hopkins was the single most important influence on
Teener, James W. “Unity School of Christianity.” Ph.D. diss.
the Fillmores’ religious development prior to their founding
University of Chicago, 1942.
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FILM AND RELIGION
3097
Vahle, Neal. Torch-Bearer to Light the Way: The Life of Myrtle Fill-
gion in conflict. The most common conflicts arise when
more. Mill Valley, Calif., 1996.
older religious values are challenged by the social, political,
Witherspoon, Thomas E. Myrtle Fillmore: Mother of Unity. Unity
economic, and religious realities of modern life, especially in
Village, Mo., 1977.
a postcolonial environment. There is conflict when, due to
modern life and the aftereffects of colonialism, religious peo-
DELL DECHANT (2005)
ple from differing traditions are placed side by side and
GAIL M. HARLEY (2005)
forced to get along (or not). And conflict arises when individ-
ual gender, sexual, and ethnic identities meet socioreligious
identities. This list is in no way comprehensive, but is in-
FILM AND RELIGION. While the academic study
tended to display the number of directions that the study of
of “film and religion” as a subfield within religious studies
film and religion can go in without treading across the same
has only come of age since the late 1980s, the connection be-
territory of previous studies. There is little or no critical liter-
tween film and religion is as old as film itself. As film theorist
ature from a religious studies standpoint in English on the
André Bazin once put it, “The cinema has always been inter-
films mentioned in this entry, and these films are mentioned
ested in God” (Bazin, 1997, p. 61). Indeed, if one accepts
precisely for this reason, to show the breadth of possible sub-
the now-standard origin of cinema to begin with the Lu-
ject matter for religious studies scholars interested in film.
mière brothers’ first public screening for a paying audience
East Asian cinema has seen the development of several
in December 1895, then the first decade of cinema saw at
movements since the 1970s, as filmmakers have experiment-
least a half dozen filmed versions of the life and passion of
ed with new styles and modes of production. In the wake of
Jesus Christ, including those made by the inventors of film
Akira Kurosawa and Yasujiro Ozu, Japan has continued to
themselves, Thomas Edison and Louis Lumière. The figure
be a prominent producer of films dealing with key religious
of Jesus Christ has continued to be a popular topic for film
themes. Toshihiro Tenma’s Kyosono Tanjo (Many happy re-
and a touchstone for cinematic controversy throughout the
turns, 1993) explores new religious movements in Japan;
twentieth century, with such directors as Sidney Olcott, D.
Hirokazu Koreeda’s Maborosi (1995) utilizes a “Zen aesthet-
W. Griffith, Cecil B. DeMille, George Stevens, Pier Paolo
ic”; and two films produced in 1989 examine the life of the
Pasolini, Norman Jewison, Martin Scorsese, and Mel Gibson
Zen Buddhist tea master Rikyu: Kei Kumai’s Sen no Rikyu
offering various theological perspectives. Jesus is not the only
and Hiroshi Teshigahara’s Rikyu. Also vibrant in Japan is the
religious figure to appear on screen, however, and religious
work of anime writers and directors, including Hayao Miya-
issues, practices, characters, and conflicts are presented on a
zaki’s Princess Mononoke (1997) and Spirited Away (2001),
frequent basis in films around the world. The first half of this
Hideaki Anno’s two Neon Genesis Evangelion films (1997),
entry will thus offer a global survey of examples of films since
and Katsuhiro Ôtomo’s Akira (1988). Ôtomo also wrote the
the mid-1980s that deal with matters of interest to religious
screenplay for Metropolis (2001), directed by Taro Rin. A
studies.
number of Korean directors have infused Buddhism into
It is not only the content of film that connects film and
their films, including Bae Yong-gyun in Why Has the Bodhid-
religion, for as a number of critics have observed, one can
harma Left for the East? (1989), Im Kwon-Taek in Sopyonje
find religious interests and implications in the formal style
(1993) and Come Come Come Upward (1989), and Chang
of film, as well as in the cinematic experience of viewing film.
Sonu in Passage to Buddha (1993).
As another early film critic and director, Jean Epstein, once
said, “I would even go so far as to say that the cinema is poly-
China’s New Cinema movement has had a huge impact
theistic and theogonic” (Abel, 1988, p. 317). Film, and the
on the international film scene since the mid-1980s, occa-
experience of viewing film, may be religious in and of itself,
sionally incorporating Daoist and Confucian elements. Dao-
creating its own gods, goddesses, and myths, and film does
ist issues arise in Chinese director Chen Kaige’s King of the
not merely represent or reflect an already established religion.
Children (1987), while critiques of Confucian ethics are seen
So, while not mutually exclusive categories, film studies and
in Zhang Yimou’s Ju Dou (1990). In Bangladesh, Tareque
religion studies can be usefully divided into three key ap-
Masud’s Matir Moina (The clay bird, 2002) tells the story
proaches, and the second half of this entry will examine the
of the emergence of the nation of Bangladesh, offering a sym-
various scholarly responses to the connections between film
pathetic yet critical look at Islam in the midst of the move
and religion: religion in film, religion as film, and the cine-
toward political independence.
matic experience and ritual.
Notable films with religious interests from New Zea-
RELIGIONS AND CINEMAS AROUND THE WORLD. While an
land include the work of Jane Campion: Angel at My Table
all-inclusive list would be impossible to include here, there
(1990), The Piano (1993), and Holy Smoke (1999). Cross-
are a number of international filmmakers since 1985 (ap-
cultural conflicts between Maoris, whites, and others get
proximately since the entry on film was written for the first
taken up in Lee Tamahori’s Once Were Warriors (1994) and
edition of The Encyclopedia of Religion) who have dealt with
Gregor Nicholas’s Broken English (1996). In Australia, films
religious issues in myriad ways. Many films in world cinema
such as Nicholas Parsons’s Dead Heart (1996) and Tracey
that touch on religious themes often do so by presenting reli-
Moffatt’s Nice Coloured Girls (1987) deal with Christian-
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FILM AND RELIGION
Aboriginal cultural conflicts. From another standpoint,
Field [1998]). In Palestine, Elia Suleiman’s Divine Interven-
David MacDougall’s ethnographic films of Aboriginal cul-
tion (2001) portrays conflicts through the mixing of theology
ture, such as Transfer of Power (1986), offer intriguing exam-
and politics.
inations of cultural differences, and MacDougall has been
The continent of Africa has experienced a strong in-
prolifically thinking through the issues of visual representa-
crease in film production since the 1970s, with films con-
tion in his films and writings.
fronting postcolonial situations that pit the traditional
South Asian cinema, because of its enormity (Mumbai’s
against the modern; in sub-Saharan Africa this often includes
yearly production dwarfs Hollywood’s) and because mytho-
the conflict between Christianity and indigenous beliefs and
logical themes are so intertwined in Indian cultures, is almost
practice. Egypt is the “Hollywood of the Arab World” and
impossible to classify. Indian film history is steeped in
has garnered the attention of the international film world,
mythological themes and stories of Hindu saints, and today’s
especially since Youssef Chahine’s Destiny, a film set in
masala films often incorporate many of these narratives,
twelfth-century Islamic Andalusia, was nominated for the
weaving them into song and dance routines, domestic
Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997. Other
drama, and action-adventure sequences. Some films with
Egyptian standouts dealing with religious-political conflicts
themes of interest to the religious studies scholar might in-
include Daoud Abdel Sayed’s Land of Fear (1999) and Atef
clude the Maha¯bha¯rata retelling in Arjun Sagnani’s Agni
Hetata’s Closed Doors (1999).
Varsha (2002), the postcolonial religion/cricket epic Lagaan
Elsewhere in Africa, examples of the modern-traditional
(2001) by Ashutosh Gowariker, and the Muslim-Hindu reli-
debate with reference to Islamic, Christian, and indigenous
gious conflicts dealt with in Kamal Haasan’s Hey Ram
religions include Drissa Toure’s Haramuya (1995) and Dani
(2000), Khalid Mohamed’s Fiza (2000), and Deepa Mehta’s
Kouyaté’s Keita: Heritage of the Griot (1994), both from
Earth (1998). Films about the Indian diaspora and conse-
Burkina Faso; Amadou Thior’s Almodou (2000) from Sene-
quent cross-cultural challenges figure prominently in newer
gal; Nouri Bouzid’s Bezness (1992) from Tunisia; and Saddiq
Indian films; important among these are the story of a wed-
Balewa’s Kasarmu Ce (The land is ours, 1994) from Nigeria.
ding in Sooraj R. Barjatya’s Hum Aapke Hain Koun (Who
Perhaps the best-known and most prolific filmmaker in Afri-
am I to you? 1994) and Subhash Ghai’s coming of age story,
ca is Ousmane Sembene from Senegal, whose many films in-
Pardes (Abroad, 1997). And apart from Western filmmakers
clude Guelwaar (1992), which offers a critique of interreli-
looking at Tibetan Buddhism, including Jean-Jacques An-
gious conflict. Like Sembene, director Med Hondo of
naud’s Seven Years in Tibet (1997) and Martin Scorsese’s
Mauritania self-consciously makes films that offer an alterna-
Kundun (1997), former Tibetan monk Khyentse Norbu
tive aesthetic to that of Western filmmaking; one example
made The Cup (1999), a prime film for teaching religious
is Sarraounia (1986), about a warrior-queen who leads her
studies, as it deconstructs an exoticizing gaze.
people in the challenges posed by the colonizing French. In
The most productive site in western Asia for film pro-
western Africa, there has been a boom in film production
duction is Iran, where the films of Abbas Kiarostami (e.g.,
through new, inexpensive video technologies that are used
A Taste of Cherry [1997], The Wind Will Carry Us [1999]);
to produce “videofilms” that have a mass appeal, many of
Mohsen Makhmalbaf (e.g., A Moment of Innocence [1996],
which are produced by Pentecostal religious groups. The Af-
The Gabbeh [1996], The Silence [1998]); Majid Majidi (e.g.,
rican diaspora is the topic of many films produced in and out
Children of Heaven [1997], The Color of Paradise [1999]);
of Africa, and can be seen, for example, in such films as Julie
and Jafar Panahi (e.g., The Mirror [1997], The Circle
Dash’s Daughters of the Dust (1991), Felix de Rooy’s Desiree
[2000]), among others, all reflect everyday life in postrevolu-
(1984), and Haile Gerima’s many films, especially Sankofa
tionary Iran. Faced with heavy censorship, Iranian film-
(1993), as well as a number of Latin American films dis-
makers have continued to produce some of the most critical-
cussed below.
ly acclaimed films in the world. While the religious studies
In southeastern Europe, in the midst of decades of polit-
scholar may wish to see more explicit images of Islam, there
ical upheaval, film production has been strong. Of particular
are a number of ways to read these highly allegorical films
note is Milcho Manchevski’s Before the Rain (1994), which
that point toward a Persian-Islamic worldview. And while
tells of Orthodox Christian and Muslim communities and
Islam may not always be present, these films are peopled with
their conflicts in the former Yugoslavia. Romany/Gypsy cul-
Muslims, and it is crucial, as always, not to confuse an essen-
tures are seen in a number of productions, including the
tialist term like Islam for the people who actually practice the
great Bosnian director Emir Kusturica’s Time of the Gypsies
religion.
(1989) and Tony Gatlif’s Latcho Drom (1993) and Gadja
Dilo (1997), the former created without any dialogue, only
Toward the Mediterranean, films from Israel have
music and movement.
shown the conflicts between gender and religion (as in Amos
Gitai’s Kadosh [1999]), sexuality and religion (as in Sandi
The works of western European directors have been
Simcha Dubowski’s Trembling Before G-d [2001]), and be-
well-traversed by religion scholars, and are only mentioned
tween the orthodox and the secular, with a good dose of
in passing here. In many ways inspired by former country-
Qabbalah (as in Yossi Somer’s The Dybbuk of the Holy Apple
men Carl Theodor Dreyer and So⁄ren Kierkegaard, Danish
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FILM AND RELIGION
3099
filmmaking has consistently returned to existentially reli-
of religious interests among young filmmakers, and religious
gious themes. Such films include Thomas Vinterberg’s Cele-
matters have been taken up, for example, in Sarah Rogacki’s
bration (1998), Roy Andersson’s Songs from the Second Floor
debut, Rhythm of the Saints (2002); Jonathan Kesselman’s
(2000), and the works of Lars von Trier, especially The King-
comedy, The Hebrew Hammer (2002); Larry Fessenden’s
dom (1994, 1997), Breaking the Waves (1996), and Dancer
mythic Wendigo (2001); and Greg Watkins’s relationship
in the Dark (2000). In Poland, the late Krzysztof Kieslowski’s
comedy, A Sign from God (2000). Intriguing insights into the
religiously inspired films include the Three Colors trilogy
spirituality of rave culture can be seen in Greg Harrison’s
(1993–1994), Decalogue (1988), and the posthumous proj-
Groove (2000) and Jon Reiss’s documentary, Better Living
ect eventually directed by Thomas Tykwer, Heaven (2002).
through Circuitry (1999).
In Spain, Julio Medem shies away from depicting religion
In Canada, Egyptian-born director Atom Egoyan,
explicitly, yet his style evokes a mystical aura in ways akin
whose films include Calendar (1993), Exotica (1994), The
to the magic seen through early film theory, especially in
Sweet Hereafter (1997), and Ararat (2002), continually plays
Tierra (1996), Lovers of the Arctic Circle (1998), and Sex and
with the ambiguous relation between historical time and
Lucia (2001). And Pedro Almodóvar, as a descendant of Luis
memory—specifically in reference to loss, tragedy, and the
Buñuel’s surrealism and Roman Catholic satire, continues to
possibilities of redemption—in ways inherent to the medium
utilize critical, yet not unsympathetic, portrayals of nuns and
of film. The mature works of David Cronenberg, including
the institution of the church in such films as Matador (1986),
Crash (1996), eXistenZ (1999), and Spider (2002), deal with
Live Flesh (1997), and All about My Mother (1999). A num-
issues of identity and relationships in ways that probe the
ber of French films through the 1990s updated the existen-
depths of what it is to be human, developing existential ques-
tialist quest for meaning in life, notably Benoît Jacquot’s
tions in a postmodern age.
School of Flesh (1998) and Danièle Dubroux’s Diary of a Se-
SCHOLARLY APPROACHES TO FILM AND RELIGION. There
ducer (1996), while the cross-cultural clashes of suburban
are three key scholarly approaches to the relationship be-
Paris are seen in Mathieu Kassovitz’s Hate (1995).
tween film and religion. The first might be called “religion
Themes of religion in Central and South America have
in film,” a way of analyzing the religious dimensions of film
tended be critical of Roman Catholicism, or have delved into
by focusing primarily on its narrative content. “Film as reli-
the hybrid religions of Afro-Catholic mixings. Cuba has been
gion” is the second key approach, and is based on formal par-
a fertile site for film production since the 1959 revolution,
allels between the aesthetic styles of film and religious prac-
with Santerian practices showing up, for example, in Gloria
tices. Finally, there is an interest in “cinematic experience
Rolando’s Oggún (1991), Tomás Gutiérrez Alea’s Guanta-
and ritual,” where a focus on spectatorship and its relation
mamera (1994), and Humberto Solás’s Honey for Oshun
to ritual takes precedence. These categories often overlap in
(2001). Films from Mexico include critiques of Roman Ca-
individual studies, and are charted here for heuristic reasons.
tholicism in Carlos Carrera’s Crime of Father Amaro (2002)
The key question that divides these approaches seems to re-
and Nicolás Echevarría’s Cabeza de Vaca (1991). In Brazil,
volve around the location of meaning: Is religious meaning
Tania Cypriano’s documentary Odô yá! Life with AIDS
found in the subject matter of the film, in the aesthetic form
(1997) portrays the importance of Candomblé in education
of the film, or in the experience of viewing the film?
about AIDS, and her short, Ex-Voto (1990), is a devotional
Religion in film. Whether a film plot is based on a mes-
expression to the patron saint of Brazil. One of the masters
siah, a saint, a bodhisattva, a pilgrimage, a reenactment of
of Brazilian Cinema Novo is filmmaker Nelson Pereira dos
a sacred text, or whether religious performances are displayed
Santos, whose many films include Jubiata (1987), which
in documentary film, religion shows up in film on a regular
deals with interracial, interclass issues with a strong dose of
basis. This way of thinking about the relation between film
Afro-Brazilian religious practice. Vodoun is probably the
and religion seems to be the most apparent to the textual and
most slighted religion in the history of film, but can be seen
narrative bias of most religious studies, and it has therefore
in a somewhat objective light in Maya Deren’s posthumously
become the most prominent method of examining the rela-
produced documentary Divine Horsemen (1985) and Alberto
tionship. As with so much of the study of religion itself, a
Venzago’s documentary Mounted by the Gods (2000).
vast majority of these studies have been based in Christian
theology and display a Euro-American outlook.
Independent filmmakers in the United States continue
to weave religious themes into their works, often improvising
P. Adams Sitney’s contribution to the 1987 Encyclope-
on ancient myths and mythic structures, and examining the
dia of Religion (“Cinema and Religion”) came along at the
ways narratives construct the communal and personal identi-
end of what might be called the first wave of religion-in-film
ties of Americans. Of note in this regard are the films of Jim
criticism, a loose canon of publications roughly extending
Jarmusch (e.g., Dead Man [1995], Ghost Dog [1999]); Hal
from the 1960s to the late 1980s. Book-length studies during
Hartley (e.g., Henry Fool [1997], The Book of Life [1998], No
this period typically offered broad approaches, and they
Such Thing [2001]); and John Sayles (e.g., City of Hope
often worked from the standpoint of existential theology:
[1991], Lone Star [1996], Limbo [1999]). The annual Sun-
film could be religiously instructive because it taught about
dance Film Festival gives evidence to the continued presence
the human condition, providing stories and images that
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FILM AND RELIGION
struggled for meaning. John R. May should be credited as
in these works, they can be seen collectively through their ex-
the key person in the development of the interdisciplinary
amination of popular film, by their chiefly Christian theolog-
field—especially for amassing and publishing the work of
ical orientation, and ultimately by the ways they see religion
other scholars interested in the topic—as a legitimate focus
in film, paying scant attention to the specificities of the me-
of study within religious studies.
dium or the role of spectatorship.
As most of the publications in this first wave made clear,
Since the mid-1990s there have been several attempts
the connection between film and religion was primarily to
at historicizing, categorizing, and hence legitimizing the sub-
be found in European cinema, particularly in the work of di-
field. One of the more influential and useful schemas for the
rectors such as Pier Paolo Passolini, Carl Theodor Dreyer,
approach to religion in film is found in Joel W. Martin and
Robert Bresson, and Ingmar Bergman (Japanese directors
Conrad E. Ostwalt’s edited volume Screening the Sacred
Yasujiro Ozu and Akira Kurosawa were the two key non-
(1995). In the introduction, Martin lays out three ways of
Westerners). Relevant U.S. productions included work by
viewing film from a religious studies standpoint: theological
D. W. Griffith and Cecil B. DeMille in the early years of cin-
criticism, mythological criticism, and ideological criticism.
ema, with Alfred Hitchcock adding a few flourishes mid-
Not meant to be exclusive categories, Martin points toward
century, and George Lucas, Stanley Kubrick, and Martin
a “future” synthesis of these modes, implying that such a syn-
Scorsese providing a religious flavor to film in the 1960s to
thesis has not yet occurred. A wide variety of films can be
1990s. During this period, religion-in-film scholars tended
included under the three categories, yet the actual studies
to shy away from popular films, choosing instead to focus
within the book itself all primarily function from the under-
on what would later be called “art house” films. This proba-
standing that religious meaning is found within the film
bly does not reflect an elitist attitude on the part of this first
story or characters. Following on these categories, in Film as
wave of scholars so much as it reflects the struggle they faced
Religion (2003) John Lyden rightly notes that most film and
in getting others in the academy take their work seriously.
religion studies are either too theological or too ideological:
After all, who could argue against the seriousness with which
the former remains bound by presuppositions as to what
Bergman or Kurosawa portrayed religious matters?
constitutes “religion” (i.e., Christianity), and the latter tends
The study of film and religion became solidified
to be so focused on critiquing the power structures that it
through the decade of the 1990s, as evidenced by the upsurge
neglects some of the more positive understandings of reli-
of publications in the field, the establishment of a program
gion. Lyden goes on to develop a more nuanced approach
unit on film and religion within the American Academy of
that draws heavily on the myth and ritual theories of Clifford
Religion, and the launch of the online Journal of Religion and
Geertz, supplemented by the theories of Wendy Doniger and
Film. In many ways reacting to the earlier paradigm that
Jonathan Z. Smith. By investigating “religion as film,”
found film and religion only in “serious” art house films, the
Lyden’s work crosses over into the second category of film
1990s witnessed the next wave of film and religion criticism,
and religion approaches.
which self-consciously took popular Hollywood film as its
Religion as film. Early film theorists, chiefly because
primary focus. Biblical scholars and theologians began to
of the visual prominence of silent film, emphatically stressed
take a second look at popular culture, and found a wealth
formalist understandings of cinema. They argued about the
of resources in film, particularly in popular film. Christian
psychological and social effects that the medium of film has
theologians reworked Reinhold Niebuhr’s and Paul Tillich’s
on its audience due to its rearranging of “normal” space and
thoughts on the relation between Christianity and culture,
time through cinematography, mise-en-scène, and editing.
and decided that there must be an engagement with culture,
In the 1920s in France, film theorists (in particular, Louis
with film being one of the cultural expressions par excellence
Delluc, Jean Epstein, and Léon Moussinac) developed the
in modern life. The prevalence of the ideas of Tillich and
idea of photogenie, the cinematic transformation of reality
Niebuhr in film and religion studies, a half-century after
through the technological properties inherent in the form of
their writing, attest to these theologians’ keen insights in re-
film itself. Because of its emphasis on the formal properties
lating religion and culture, though it probably also attests to
of filmmaking, much of this early film theory did not depend
the need for new theories of culture, since the culture of the
on narrative film, and indeed often triumphed nonlinear,
first half of the twentieth century looks less and less like that
nonnarrative films. Thus, through the camera’s ability to
of the twenty-first.
slow down or speed up “real time,” or to juxtapose images
This second wave is also marked by a number of explic-
in ways that display new relations, or to zoom in on particu-
itly Christian theological studies, in contrast to the tendency
lar segments of visual reality, the world itself is reconfigured
to use existentially universal language evident in many of the
and viewers are given a brand new outlook, a new “world-
first-wave publications. Studies through the 1990s include
view.” Representation became a means for knowledge, “re-
the relation of film to Christian, and occasionally Jewish, un-
vealing” the truth of the world in an altogether new form.
derstandings of the Bible; the relation of film to doctrines
And even though debates eventually emerged between the re-
of Christian theology; and a plethora of works on Christ fig-
alists and antirealists in film theory, both arguments have im-
ures in film. While there are a variety of interests indicated
plications for a religious view of film form.
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From a religious studies perspective, what is interesting
to a particular film in varying locations, times, and cultures,
about film’s capacity to rearrange the “world-as-it-is” is the
thereby reorienting the location of the meaning of film to
frequent use of religious language to justify the theory. Ep-
the cinematic event.
stein has already been quoted as seeing the theogonic proper-
ties of cinema, and others spoke of cinema as “revelation,”
The religious implications of film reception are most
as “magic,” and as a “miracle.” Recapping many of these
obvious when the experience is understood and analyzed in
ideas in her book Savage Theory (2000), Rachel Moore argues
terms of ritual; this is not to say that every screening of every
that early film theorists and filmmakers (especially Walter
film is a ritual, for that would make both terms meaningless,
Benjamin, Sergei Eisenstein, Vachel Lindsay, Siegfried Krac-
but that the cinematic experience can become a ritual. We
auer, and Bazin) saw in film a potential re-enchantment of
can see this when viewers perform pu¯ja (devotional offerings)
a modern world that had lost language’s expressive ability
before screenings of mythological films in South Asian the-
(explicated in Ferdinand de Saussure’s account of the arbi-
aters; when young people in the United States, wearing spe-
trariness of the sign) and that experienced a general mode of
cific clothes, line up for a “midnight mass” on Saturday night
alienation due to industrialized, modern life. In the early
to watch The Rocky Horror Picture Show again and again; or
1960s, avant-garde filmmaker Stan Brakhage would contin-
when films are televised, and family and friends in North
ue this language, expressing the religious possibilities of film
America gather in living rooms to watch the annual broad-
form in his quasi-manifesto “Metaphors on Vision” (1963).
cast of It’s a Wonderful Life at Christmas, King of Kings at Eas-
For Brakhage, film artists are “essentially preoccupied by and
ter, or The Wizard of Oz in July. In these ritualized perfor-
deal imagistically with—birth, sex, death, and the search for
mances, the religious content of the film is beside the point.
God” (Mast, Cohen, and Braudy, 1992, p. 72).
Rather, what is crucial is the way these activities occur at spe-
cial “set apart” times (often in seasonal cycles) and in special
Later, director and screenwriter Paul Schrader’s 1972
places (whether the living room of the family home or in the
Transcendental Style in Film examined the “aesthetics of
film theater) in which there is an emphasis on a communal
sparseness” in the films of Ozu, Bresson, and Dreyer. Even
experience and on the aesthetics of seeing and listening (and
though these directors had differing religious backgrounds,
usually eating as well), and on interacting with other viewers
Schrader sees them each using a filmic style that emerges
and with the film. Whatever else a ritual is, it certainly aims
through pared-down filmmaking techniques, including aus-
to be an activity that promotes attentiveness and sensual
tere cinematography, unexpressive acting, and light-handed
focus, and film form enables just that.
editing. Thus, the properties specific to filmmaking itself
allow access to the transcendental; a long take of a close-up
In this approach to the relation of film and religion, so-
of an expressionless face, no matter whose face it is, can evoke
cial-scientific approaches become prominent, and such
an experience of transcendence.
newer fields as media studies and cultural studies offer useful
methodologies. Nonetheless, communications and media
From another angle, the religious dimension to film
studies, even when discussing the ritual dimensions of audio-
form and style can also be seen in relation to the contempla-
visual media, usually neglect film and spend most of their
tive emphasis of various religious traditions, and here film
time evaluating audience reception of television shows and
becomes a new medium in a long list of visual media, from
news media. The work of Stewart Hoover, Lynn Schofield
icons to yantras to thangka paintings, designed to facilitate
Clark, and Eric Rothenbuhler, among others, has offered in-
meditation. Francisca Cho, for example, discusses the rela-
teresting studies on the ritualized reception of media (mostly
tion of Korean Buddhist films to a “cultic mode” of viewing
television and news media), analyzing many of the parallels
heavily dependent on the aesthetic choices made in the mak-
between ritual and media, and the methods of these scholars
ing of film (see Cho in Plate and Jasper, 1999). And as with
can be useful to film and religion studies. Perhaps the most
each of the examples given here regarding “film as religion,”
vital new field that provides a “third term” in linking film
Cho’s cultic mode of viewing film implicitly suggests that
and religion is that of visual-culture studies, which combines
meaning cannot simply be found in the film form, for there
the formalist interests typical of the humanities with the re-
must also be an audience that views the edited juxtapositions,
ception interests typical of the social sciences. Inherent is also
the austere lighting, or the slow movement of actors.
an interest in the cross-cultural dimensions to visuality, to
see the cinematic experience located within particular cul-
The cinematic experience and ritual. Apart from the
tures, at particular times, paying attention also to the gen-
formal style, the plot, and the characters of film, there is also
dered, ethnic, sexual, and religious differences of the activity
the cinematic experience—the reception of film—which is
of seeing. Thus, visual culture offers a way to think through
a critical point of interrogation for the scholar of religion.
all three of the approaches to film and religion listed here.
While theorists of film and religion continually mention the
importance of audience reception, very little work has been
CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURES. The subfield of film and reli-
done in this area. Scholars often theorize about the effect of
gion has gradually gained acceptance in religious studies, and
editing, for example, but seldom do they do any ethnograph-
prominent theorists of religion now regularly incorporate
ic work to find out how audiences actually do react. More
discussion of films into their analyses of myth, ritual, and
complicated still would be a study that gauged the responses
other aspects of religion. Alongside this development are
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newer modes of religious inquiry that utilize material and vi-
sion”: “Suppose the Vision of the saint and the artist to be
sual artifacts as primary evidence, rather than “illustration,”
an increased ability to see—vision” (Mast, Cohen, Braudy,
of religious belief and practice. As part of a broader move-
1992, p. 71).
ment within religious studies that is increasingly paying at-
tention to visual- and material-culture studies (and concomi-
SEE ALSO Art and Religion; Media and Religion; Niebuhr,
tantly emphasizing religious practice rather than merely
Reinhold; Popular Culture; Tillich, Paul Johannes; Visual
belief), film and religion studies can continue to play a vital
Culture and Religion.
role in the shaping of religious studies and not merely be an
appendage to the discipline. Along these lines there are two
BIBLIOGRAPHY
key directions that the field is beginning to take (and will
Early film theorists considered issues of religion on a regular basis.
likely keep elaborating on). First, film and religion studies
For a good critical study of early film theory and the quasi-
is moving beyond the Christian-Hollywood matrix and dis-
religious language that the theorists used see Rachel O.
playing the varieties of global religious experiences and tradi-
Moore, Savage Theory: Cinema as Modern Magic (Durham,
tions as mediated through film. Second, religious approaches
N.C., 2000). Useful anthologies on film theory include
to film are helping to point out the constructed nature of vi-
Richard Abel, ed., French Film Theory and Criticism: A Histo-
sion by making links between visual representation and the
ry/Anthology, 1907–1939, 2 vols. (Princeton, 1988) and,
creation of socioreligious, worlds with all their attendant
more broadly, Gerald Mast, Marshall Cohen, and Leo Brau-
dy, eds., Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings,
myths, ideologies, and practices.
4th ed. (New York and Oxford, 1992) and Bill Nichols’s
Because postmodern, postcolonial life consists of mul-
Movies and Methods, 2 vols. (Berkeley, 1976–1985). See also
ticultural and interreligious encounters on a regular basis,
André Bazin’s article “Cinema and Theology” in Bazin at
Work: Major Essays & Reviews from the Forties & Fifties, ed-
there is an obvious need to branch out beyond the Holly-
ited by Bert Cardullo and translated by Cardullo and Alain
wood centrism evident in a majority of film-and-religion
Piette (New York, 1997), pp. 61–72.
studies in the past. Films made outside of Hollywood do not
conform to the same aesthetic standards that capitalist, in-
There have been few studies of religion and film outside Chris-
dustrial film relies upon, and by looking at films made in
tianity and outside European and North American produc-
South America, Africa, and Asia, for example, and through
tions. Occasional articles in edited collections, such as John
May’s New Image of Religious Film (Kansas City, Mo., 1997)
attention to film form and reception, the student of film and
and several of the chapters in S. Brent Plate and David Jas-
religion begins to see the ways other worlds are visually con-
per’s Imag(in)ing Otherness: Filmic Visions of Living Together
structed, not excluding religious worlds.
(Atlanta and Oxford, 1999), as well as Plate’s Representing
Religion in World Cinema: Filmmaking, Mythmaking, and
In so doing, the religious studies scholar may begin to
Culture Making (New York, 2003), deal with non-Christian,
develop what might be called an “ethics of vision” that is at-
non-Hollywood films. The Journal of Religion and Film,
tentive to the differences in cultures, races, classes, genders,
available from http://cid.unomaha.edu/~wwwjrf, has also
sexualities, and a host of other identity factors. Seeing is an
published a number of articles dealing with world cinema.
activity that humans learn how to do; it is not an innate abili-
ty. Among other factors, this sensual activity is shaped by vi-
Significant among the first wave of “religion in film” studies deal-
ing with broad, existentially religious themes are Neil Hur-
sual technologies such as film, television, video games, and
ley’s Theology through Film (New York, 1970), Ernest Ferlita
the Internet, as well as ever more powerful telescopes and mi-
and John May’s Film Odyssey: The Art of Film as Search for
croscopes. Thus, by moving beyond the search for religious
Meaning (New York, 1976), and Ronald Holloway’s Beyond
characters in film, scholars can look at the larger religious
the Image: Approaches to the Religious Dimension in the Cine-
questions involved in the social construction of reality
ma (Geneva, 1977). Some of the second wave of studies that
through visual terms.
turned toward popular film yet retained a broad understand-
ing of religion can be seen in Joel Martin and Conrad Ostw-
Finally, as Sitney ended his 1987 Encyclopedia of Reli-
alt’s edited Screening the Sacred: Religion, Myth, and Ideology
gion entry with a nod to avant-garde film, so will this entry.
in Popular American Film (Boulder, Colo., 1995) and Mar-
There remains much promise for religious studies in the
garet Miles’s Seeing and Believing: Religion and Values in the
avant-garde films of Stan Brakhage, Maya Deren, Kenneth
Movies (Boston, 1996). The second wave also includes many
Anger, and Hollis Frampton, among others, and it should
works dealing explicitly with Christian theology, including
not be too easily overlooked. While there is often a strong
Clive Marsh and Gaye Ortiz’s edited Explorations in Theology
religious content, albeit obscure, in avant-garde works, there
and Film: Movies and Meaning (Malden, Mass., 1998), and
is a religious dimension to the formal style of these films that
an overabundance of books dealing specifically with images
of Jesus and “Christ figures” on screen, including Roy Kin-
is perhaps more important. Sitney’s own study of the avant-
nard and Tim Davis’s Divine Images: A History of Jesus on the
garde, Visionary Film (2002), is now in its third edition, and
Screen (New York, 1992), Lloyd Baugh’s Imaging the Divine:
his analysis highlights many engaging relations between film
Jesus and Christ-Figures in Film (Kansas City, Mo., 1997),
and religion. While avant-garde films remain difficult to
and Christopher Deacy’s Screen Christologies: Redemption and
watch, they nonetheless help to point out the constructed na-
the Medium of Film (Cardiff, UK, 2001). There are also
ture of vision itself. As Brakhage put it in “Metaphors on Vi-
many works dealing with relations of the Bible to film, such
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3103
as Robert Jewett’s Saint Paul at the Movies: The Apostle’s Dia-
only partly under permafrost, the north is crucial in the reli-
logue with American Culture (Louisville, Ky., 1993), Bernard
gions of the Sami (ca. 8,000 in Finland) and Finns, the two
Brandon Scott’s Hollywood Dreams and Biblical Stories (Min-
indigenous peoples of Northern Europe. The Latin word
neapolis, 1994), George Aichele and Richard Walsh’s edited
fenni, first found in Tacitus’s Germania (98 CE), comes from
Screening Scripture: Intertextual Connections between Scripture
Germanic speakers who defined their northern and eastern
and Film (Harrisburg, Pa., 2002), and Erin Runions’s How
neighbors as Finns. Tacitus describes barbarian people some-
Hysterical: Identification and Resistance in the Bible and Film
(New York, 2003). For an updated theory (beyond Tillich
where in the northeastern Baltic region, living “in unparal-
and Niebuhr) of the relations of Christianity to culture, see
leled squalor and poverty.” As the nomadic fenni lifestyle dif-
Kathryn Tanner’s Theories of Culture: A New Agenda for The-
fered from that of the Germanic peoples, who lived a more
ology (Minneapolis, 1997).
settled existence, the term Finn might have referred to the
For overviews of some of the studies dealing with religion in film,
way of life these people followed. Thus, the word fenni may
see chapter 1 of John C. Lyden’s Film as Religion: Myths,
have encompassed the ancestors of both Finnish and Sami
Morals, and Rituals (New York, 2003) and Steve Nolan’s
speakers, who shared a common “Lapp” nomadic way of life.
“The Books of the Films” in Literature and Theology 12, no.
Old Norse sagas and chronicles by Saxo Grammaticus and
1 (1998): 1–15.
Adam von Bremen make a distinction between two types of
Studies focusing on “religion as film” come from a variety of per-
Finns, those who were settled down and the nomads known
spectives, including Lyden’s religious studies orientation in
as Scridfinni.
Film as Religion. For a film studies perspective see Paul
Schrader’s Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer
The word Finn (Finnish, suomalainen) means citizen of
(Berkeley, 1972) and P. Adams Sitney’s Visionary Film: The
Finland, an independent country since 1917. Despite join-
American Avant-Garde, 1943–2000, 3d ed. (Oxford, 2002).
ing the European Union in 1995, increased international ac-
Many of the early film theorists took this approach as well;
see the sources listed above.
tivity, and a trend toward multiculturalism, Finland today
is more monocultural than a century ago; the 2004 census
Scholarly work relating the “cinematic experience” to religion and
ritual is still in its early stages, but see, for example, the work
reveals a population that is over 90 percent Finnish (suomi),
coming out of the social sciences, such as Patrick Kinkade
around 6 percent Swedish, and 0.5 percent Russian. Finland
and Michael Katovich’s essay “Toward a Sociology of Cult
has older immigrant populations, such as Rom, Tatar Mos-
Films: Reading Rocky Horror” in Sociological Quarterly 33,
lems, and Jews, and since the 1990s approximately 100,000
no. 2 (1992): 191–209. Paul Nathanson’s Over the Rainbow:
immigrants speaking more than 100 languages have arrived.
The Wizard of Oz as a Secular Myth of America (Albany, N.Y.,
1991) and several of the articles in Plate’s Representing Reli-
Recent development have brought new diversity to the
gion in World Cinema deal with the religious reception of
religious life of Finland, which now has a population of
films. Film and religion are usefully brought together by the
around 20,000 Muslims, but the general picture has re-
use of such third terms as cultural studies, media studies, or
mained as monotonous as in other Nordic countries, with
visual culture. From a media studies perspective, see Eric Ro-
Evangelical Lutheranism serving as the state church and “et-
thenbuhler’s Ritual Communication: From Everyday Conver-
hnoreligion.” Loyalty to the established church is characteris-
sation to Mediated Ceremony (Thousand Oaks, Calif., 1998)
and Stewart Hoover and Lynn Schofield Clark’s edited Prac-
tic of Finnish civil religion; the five main revivalist move-
ticing Religion in the Age of Media: Explorations in Media, Re-
ments have remained within the Lutheran Church. Despite
ligion, and Culture (New York, 2002). David Morgan, while
a certain loosening of the situation following the freedom of
not dealing with moving images, nonetheless develops useful
religion law of 2002, the position of the Evangelical Luther-
methods for seeing the relations between religion and visual
an Church, to which around 85 percent of Finns belong, is
culture, particularly in his Visual Piety: A History and Theory
strong. The position of the Orthodox Church of Finland,
of Popular Religious Images (Berkeley, 1998).
which is an independent national church with four bishops,
S. BRENT PLATE (2005)
is stronger than its 1.2 percent membership would suggest,
due to Finland’s long history of Karelian roots.
FINNISH RELIGIONS.
Historically, the concept of Finland is newer and less
The scope of what is covered
complicated than that of the Finn. From the Middle Ages,
by the phrase Finnish religion(s) varies according to the dif-
Finland (proper) was one of the three to seven provinces of
ferent meanings of Finn, Finnish, and Finland geographical-
the Kingdom of Sweden. It became a state in 1809 when,
ly, linguistically, and historically.
as a Grand Duchy of the Russian Empire, it was granted au-
Finland is, with Iceland, the world’s most northerly
tonomy, with Helsinki as the new capital. This autonomy
country. Its location on the Gulf Stream allows for the eco-
favored nation-building ambitions that had been impossible
nomic diversity that supports its population, which has been
during Finland’s long history of Swedish control. The resul-
quite small throughout history and totaled around 5.2 mil-
tant nineteenth-century nation-building process was fed by
lion in 2004.
Finland’s notion of the uniqueness of its history, by the cele-
Despite the fact that Finland is less Arctic than parallel
bration of the epics in the Kalevala, and by nationalist identi-
territories in Russia, Canada, and the United States, being
fication with the Finnish (suomi) language.
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FINNISH RELIGIONS
A new Finnish self-esteem expressed by the historian
has shown that this theory is false; there is indeed a Sami style
Yrjö Koskinen (1830–1903) was based on the notion of lan-
of epic shamanic juoiggat.
guage as the property shared by Finnish-related peoples in
The profound changes in the interpretation of the Kal-
Russia; Finland, Koskinen wrote, stepped “into the light of
evala are related to Romantic nationalist ambitions, which
history quite late because of the country’s extremely periph-
got the upper hand in Lönnrot’s work. Lönnrot himself
eral location beside the sea of the Russian peoples.” Identifi-
played an active role in the process of transforming the Kal-
cation with national roots was strengthened by research.
evala into a nationalist symbol. For the new Finnish political
Matthias Alexander Castrén’s fieldwork among the Finno-
establishment, the Kalevala became the symbol of a Finnish
Ugric peoples during the 1840s became the cornerstone of
national religion, expressed in paintings, music, solemn na-
Finno-Ugristics. At the same time, a scientific study of the
tional holidays, and so on.
paradigmatic forms of Finnish religion was initiated.
The discipline of folklore was established under the
Castrén’s fieldwork stressed Finnish nationalism over
sway of this nationalistic spirit, and did not achieve true aca-
Finno-Ugric identity. Castrén returned from his second ex-
demic acceptance until the 1960s. Uno Harva (formerly
pedition in 1849, after Lönnrot published his longer version
Holmberg), Martti Haavio, and Lauri Honko are the three
of the Kalevala, the (New) Kalevala, which became recog-
Finnish scholars who did the most to establish comparative
nized as the only proper version of the Finnish epic. It soon
religion as a serious field of study in Finnish universities.
replaced the (Old) Kalevala of 1835, which in 1841 had been
Harva and Haavio both had broad expertise on Finnish folk
translated into Swedish by Castrén. The influence of Ro-
belief and traditional oral genres. As Honko wrote in
manticism and a surge of nationalism inspired by the French
Haavio’s 1973 obituary: “Folkloristics and comparative reli-
Revolution of 1848 led to a completely new interpretation
gion were always intertwined in Martti Haavio’s scholarly
of the Kalevala.
work” (Temenos 9, p. 148). Harva, Haavio, Honko, and oth-
The Old Kalevala had been compiled by Lönnrot as a
ers emphasize the power of words in Finnish religion, at first
compendium of Finnish myths and was intended to replace
recognized by Domenico Comparetti, an Italian scholar of
and expand upon the Mythologia Fennica (1789) of Christ-
the Kalevala. The general perspective of the Finnish phe-
fried Ganander. The New Kalevala was declared to be the sa-
nomenology of religion school is regionally Finnish—or
cred history of the Finns, in a foreshadowing of the later Fin-
Finno-Ugric. Broad phenomenological comparisons over
nicized National Romanticism. A new historical
space and time are made between Finnish words and Finno-
interpretation of the Kalevala projected on to it a linear con-
Ugric myths; at the same time, parallels are drawn with ele-
ception of time tied to the development of Christianity. In
ments of other religious systems, placing Finnish myths into
this rereading, Kalevala’s history began with biblical creation
the framework of global religious traditions.
and ended with the voluntary death of its hero, Väinäm-
Finnish cosmology includes elements typical of the sym-
öinen, after he had been humiliated by the son of Marjatta,
bolic structures shared by northern cultures in general. The
the Virgin Mary—the son being none other than Jesus
region inhabited by humans was regarded as an island sur-
Christ, who now replaced the old hero. Thus, the pre-
rounded by a stream. Above earth stood the mighty vault of
Christian Finnish worldview was displaced by the faith of the
the heavens, the celestial sphere around the Polar Star as its
new era. In spite of the consequent linear structure of the
cosmic column, surrounded by Orion, the Great Bear, and
epic, the shamanic, cyclic worldview of the rune singers, with
Perseus. The cosmic mountain is located in the center of the
its circulation of life and death, is found in the single runes
universe, and is its pillar. The cosmos was divided into three
of the Kalevala and in the oral poetry that inspired it.
zones: the upper world, the human middle world, and the
In the new conceptualization of the Kalevala, the fright-
underworld. This tripartite structure of the universe is one
ening land of Pohjola, the Northern Land, became the Un-
of the oldest north Eurasian folk beliefs. The role of the sha-
derworld. In the preface of the New Kalevala by Lönnrot, its
man is to act as a mediator between the three levels of the
plot was explained as the war between “us,” the Finns and
universe. The kingdom of the dead (Finnish, Tuonela) is
the Karelians, and “them” in the North, the Lapps in Poh-
sometimes thought of as being in the Northern (Pohjola) vil-
jola. This war of two related peoples filled the social need for
lage, with its iron gate and powerful female figures, such as
a narrative of the heroic Finnish past, following the model
Louhi, mistress of Pohjola. Another conception is that of the
of the Viking Age war epic. The war culminated in the rob-
nether world, with its underworld inhabitants (manalaise),
bery of the Sampo from Pohjola, from out of the hands of
or vainajat, the spirits of the ancestors.
the evil Lapps. The singing competition of two shamans,
SOURCE MATERIALS. The first evidence concerning Finnish
Väinämöinen and Joukahainen, was reinterpreted as the bat-
religions is archaeological, such as the graves indicating an-
tle between “our” noita who, of course, was mightier than
cestor worship and the approximately one hundred picto-
that of the Lapps. The theory was even advanced that the
graph fields dating from between 4500 and 500 BCE. A new
Sami (Lapps) had no epic poetry, and that Anders Fjellner’s
interpretation of these pictographs is provided by Juha Penti-
narrative The Son of the Sun’s Courting Journey to the Land
käinen and Timo Miettinen in their Pyhän merkkejä kivessä
of the Giants (1849) was inauthentic. Research in the 1990s
(2002); the joint study of an archaeologist and a scholar of
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FINNO-UGRIC RELIGIONS: AN OVERVIEW
3105
religion, this book deciphers the hidden messages painted or
FINNO-UGRIC RELIGIONS
carved on rocks, and analyzes them in relation to shamanic
This entry consists of the following articles:
systems of thought and oral poetry.
AN OVERVIEW
HISTORY OF STUDY
Mythologia Fennica, published in 1785 by Christfried
Ganander, Vicar of Rantsila (1741–1790), was the pioneer-
ing study of comparative mythology in Finland. It consisted
FINNO-UGRIC RELIGIONS: AN OVERVIEW
of a dictionary of Finnish and Lapp sacred and historical vo-
The Finno-Ugric peoples constitute a family of scattered na-
cabulary, accompanied by oral poetry transcriptions and my-
tions and populations in northern Eurasia in an area that
thology texts. Typically enough, it was concerned with the
reaches from northernmost Scandinavia and Finland to west-
mythology of both the Finns and the Lapps.
ern Siberia and from the Volga-Kama Basin to Hungary.
Fragments of Lappish Mythology, published by Lars Levi
They speak approximately thirty cognate languages, which,
Laestadius (1800–1861), is a reconstruction of folk beliefs.
with four Samoyed languages, form the Uralic family of lan-
An important distinction is made between the religious and
guages. It is mainly the linguistic affinity that links these peo-
cultural knowledge of the average person (today defined as
ples and cultures; the cultural and religious affinities between
collective tradition) and the esoteric secret wisdom of the ex-
them are more difficult to ascertain, spanning as they do con-
perts, called noaidis (“shamans”) in Sami. Laestadius strongly
siderable geographical distance from each other and over
criticizes the nature mythology of Carl Axel Gottlund, a con-
5,000 years of only partly shared history through which each
temporary scholar who did his fieldwork among the Forest
of them had contacts with different peoples. An “original”
Finns throughout Scandinavia.
Finno-Ugric religion postulated by various scholars thus re-
mains hypothetical, but the religious beliefs and practices of
SEE ALSO Castrén, Matthias Alexander; Donner, Kai;
the Finno-Ugric peoples have provided an interesting case
Finno-Ugric Religions; Haavio, Martti; Harva, Uno;
for comparative methodology in the history of religions, or
Honko, Lauri; Laestadius, Lars Levi; Reguly, Antal; Sha-
rather regional phenomenology of religion masterly covered
manism; Tuonela.
by experts on Finno-Ugric religions.
G
B
ENEALOGY OF LANGUAGES, PEOPLES, AND CULTURES.
IBLIOGRAPHY
Alho, Olli, et al., eds. Finland: A Cultural Encyclopedia. Finnish
Theories of linguistic descent are usually based on the con-
Literature Society editions no. 684. Helsinki, 1987.
cept of a protolanguage and its subsequent differentiation.
The real development, however, probably consisted of com-
Haavio, Martti. Väinämöinen, Eternal Sage. Translated by Helen
Goldthwait-Väänänen. Helsinki, 1952.
plex processes of multiple integration into and differentia-
tion from cognate languages, with the interpenetration of
Haavio, Martti. Essais folkloriques. Edited by Lauri Honko. Studia
noncognate languages in a given region also playing a role.
Fennica no. 8. Helsinki, 1959.
According to the generally accepted chronology, the Uralic
Haavio, Martti. Suomalainen mytologia. Porvoo, Finland, 1967.
protofamily of languages began to split up into Finno-Ugric
Haavio, Martti. Mitologia fi’nska. Preface by Jerzy Litwiniuk.
and Samoyed protolanguages around 4000 BCE. In the twen-
Warsaw, 1979.
ty-first century the Samoyed languages are spoken by some
Kuusi, Matti, Keith Bosley, and Michael Branch, eds. Finnish Folk
thirty-five thousand people living on the shores of the Arctic
Poetry: Epic: An Anthology in Finnish and English. Helsinki,
Ocean and along the banks of rivers flowing into it between
1977.
the Taymyr and Kanin Peninsulas. The early Uralic and
Laestadius, L. L. Fragments of Lappish Mythology. Edited by Juha
Finno-Ugric settlements were presumably located in the
Pentikäinen. Beaverton, Ontario, 2002.
south, somewhere between the Ural Mountains and the mid-
Oinas, Felix J. Studies in Finnic Folklore: Homage to the Kalevala.
dle reaches of the Volga River. After the differentiation of
Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seuran toimituksia no. 387.
the Ugric branch around 3000 BCE, and its subsequent divi-
Mänttä, Finland, 1985.
sion into the Ob-Ugric (Khanty and Mansi in the north) and
Pentikäinen, Juha. Oral Repertoire and World View: An Anthropo-
into a more southerly ethnos that later became the Hungari-
logical Study of Marina Takalo’s Life History. Folklore Fel-
an branch, the rest of the Finno-Ugrians either stayed near
lows’ Communications no. 219. Helsinki, 1987.
the Volga and developed into the Mari (Cheremis) and
Pentikäinen, Juha. Kalevala Mythology. Translated and edited by
Mordvin peoples of today or moved to the north or the
Ritva Poom. Folklore Studies in Translation series. Bloom-
northwest. The northern group, the Permian settlement,
ington and Indianapolis, 1989.
persisted over two millennia and became divided only a little
Pentikäinen, Juha. “Northern Ethnography: On the Foundations
over one thousand years ago into the Komi (Zyrians), living
of a New Paradigm.” In Styles and Positions, edited by Heikki
in the region between the upper reaches of the western
Pesonen, et al. Comparative Religion no. 8. Helsinki, 2002.
Dvina, the Kama, and the Pechora Rivers; and the Udmurts
Vilkuna, Asko. Das Verhalten der Finnen in “heiligen” (pyhä) Situa-
(Votiaks), living between the Kama and Vyatka Rivers. The
tionen. Folklore Fellows’ Communications no. 164. Helsin-
northwestern group reached the eastern shores of the Baltic
ki, 1956.
Sea, became intermingled with the former inhabitants in
JUHA PENTIKÄINEN (2005)
contemporarary Finland and Scandinavia, and linguistically
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FINNO-UGRIC RELIGIONS: AN OVERVIEW
developed into what we now know as Sami (Lapps), Finns,
METHODS OF COMPARISON. The development of and varia-
Karelians, Ingrians, Votes, Veps, Estonians, and Livonians.
tion in the religions of the Finno-Ugrians must be seen as
The development was far from unilinear and regular, as is
an interplay of phenomenological, ecological, and historical
shown by contemporary linguistic groups within the Ugric
aspects. At the phenomenological level the question asked by
branch range from fourteen million Hungarians to small
Lauri Honko, for example, is: Are there any typically Finno-
populations of Mansi (Voguls) and Khanty (Ostiaks) in the
Ugric contributions to the phenomenology of religious uni-
northern Ural Mountains and along the Ob River. Similarly,
versals? The answer is: The wide natural-geographical and
among five million Finns and one million Estonians traces
cultural-historical scale, ranging from mobile hunting and
of almost extinct Votes and Livonians have been found. The
fishing communities in the Arctic north to stable farming
most recent censuses and maps on the numbers and distribu-
and cattle-breeding societies in the south and from remote
tion of the Finno-Ugric peoples indicate radical changes that
pockets of religious tradition to the crossroads of Byzantine
have taken place in the former Soviet Union and Russia,
and Roman influence, permits one to examine the relative
where most Finno-Ugric people are at least bilingual, as well
importance of linguistic continuity in cultural variation. To
as among the five almost extinct Sami languages out of nine
reconstruct a true proto-Finno-Ugric religion may be impos-
to ten altogether.
sible, as the religious systems have changed so many times,
Finno-Ugrians once inhabited most of northeast Eu-
but some structural or systematic elements may be discerned,
rope. It was relatively late that the Slavic expansion changed
irrespective of whether they belong to a vertical tradition.
the picture from the medieval era, and in Siberia from the
There are similarities in cosmological belief, in the system of
sixteenth century onward. Another impact was made by the
spirits, and in ancestor worship that may not occur as fre-
Turco-Tatar tribes and by the Bulgar empire in the Middle
quently among non-Finno-Ugrians. From the phenomeno-
Ages, which particularly affected the culture of the southeast-
logical point of view, however, dissimilarities may turn out
ern Mari and Udmurts. Western influence was strongest in
to be as important as similarities, and in the area of language
the Baltic sphere, where early loanwords were adopted from
we must remember the existence of the superstrate and sub-
the Baltic- and Germanic-speaking people from the third
strate area of traditions; that is, the language of a population
to the first millennium BCE. Some remote groups of Finno-
may change while the traditional content is retained. Under
Ugrians were able to preserve their autochthonous religious
Slavic linguistic form we may find substrata of Finno-Ugric
traditions fairly late, even until the nineteenth and early
tradition, especially in the north of Russia.
twentieth centuries, because the discipline of Eastern Chris-
Ecological comparisons may help to explain similarities
tianity was rather ineffective or permissive and more tolerant
that are not based on historical contact and interaction be-
toward folk belief than in western Finland, for instance,
tween cultures. Ecological comparison often turns out to be
where Western Christianity, such as Roman Catholicism
from the medieval era onward and, later, Lutheranism, abol-
regional: Similar trends become discernible among all or
ished sacred groves (Finnish hiisi) and several other archaic
most cultures in a given zone, regardless of linguistic affini-
expressions of religious phenomena that had survived in the
ties. There are different “ecologies” to be observed: those that
Russian Orthodox east (eastern Finland, Karelia, and Ingria)
are based on the natural environment, those that are depen-
the southeastern Finno-Ugrians the traditions of their Islam-
dent on the sociocultural development or stage of develop-
ic neighbors left marks on the folk religion.
ment in the societies to be compared, and those that refer
to the morphology of the religious tradition itself. Finno-
Since the history of Christian missions and crusades is
Ugric material provides interesting points of departure for at-
fairly long—the first signs and words from Eastern Chris-
tempts to understand the extent to which physical environ-
tianity in Finland are from around 800 CE and Catholic cru-
ment, the stage of societal development, and the morphology
sades began in the twelfth century among the western Finns
of the tradition may interact with each other or with linguis-
and in the fourteenth century among the Komi, for exam-
tic or regional factors.
ple—and trade relations with Christianized cultures existed
much earlier, it must be assumed that the survival of early
The third and most common level of comparison has
folk belief, myth, and ritual among the Finno-Ugrians is
been the historical one. Most recent findings on rock art, pic-
partly an example of the coexistence of great and little tradi-
tographs, and petroglyphs in Russia, Karelia, the Kola Penin-
tions; that is, Eastern and Western Christianity or Islam ver-
sula, and Finland have revealed new materials found from
sus ethnic religions. The same people who were devout
the territories occupied by the Finno-Ugric populations or
Christians could also perform ancient rites and hold beliefs
their genetic or maybe even linguistic ancestors. This means
that did not necessarily contradict Christian doctrine because
that early historical sources and archaeological findings in the
they were so skillfully adapted and integrated into each other.
field of Finno-Ugric religion are more abundant and illumi-
Indigenous religion began to adopt Christian elements be-
nating than suggested by Honko in the first edition of this
fore formal missionizing took place, and long after it had es-
entry. Although the testimonial value of these sources may
tablished its position as the official religion, the Christian re-
be rather scanty and problematic, they should be carefully
ligion found itself in a symbiosis with pagan belief and
studied in the long chain starting from the archaeology of
custom, at least at the level of folk religiosity.
the petrified language on rock, painted by red clay or carved
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FINNO-UGRIC RELIGIONS: AN OVERVIEW
3107
with hammer by a Neoloithic man, regardless of the lan-
materials demonstrate a special sensitivity to and knowledge
guage he spoke. Comparison may be made of the shamanic
of nature. In the world of the hunter, who generally works
paraphernalia (e.g., sejd and other anthro- and zoomorphic
alone, animals, plants, and rocks possess a character of their
stones, drums, dress, and so on) found in the shamans’
own and must be addressed properly. The hunter sees him-
graves, such as in Karelia (Elk Island on Lake Onega) and
self as an interloper on someone else’s territory; the animals
northern Finland (Kuusamo).
and features of the forest communicate promises, warnings,
and threats. It is not enough for the hunter to know about
Tradition-historical analysis shows how the historical
the best fishing and hunting places and seasons. He must also
assumptions may be based on the evidence of relatively late
know about the being who rules over the forest and its inhab-
documents of oral tradition. The assumption usually is uni-
itants, the forest master or mistress; he must understand the
directional: One people has borrowed beliefs or rituals from
ways of the “lord of the animals,” who determines the move-
another. Interaction in cultural contact or dissimilar func-
tions of similar traits (or similar functions of dissimilar traits)
ment and fate of all the living creatures in the forest, and of
in different tradition systems are rarely discussed. In spite of
the special guardian spirits that watch over particular animal
this, interesting evidence of early historically connected strata
species. The territorial aspect is also important, in that differ-
in Finno-Ugric religious tradition has been dectected, as for
ent formations of nature possess their own local spirits. No
instance in the case of bear killing and the bear feast of the
less important is the annual cycle, especially the beginning
Ob-Ugrians, Karelians, and Sami. There are also phenomena
and the end of a season, which later on came to be marked
that can only be explained historically, such as the revival of
by Christian saints’ days. The Lapp way of life meant an an-
dirge ceremonies in Russian and Karelian areas because of the
nual cycle: The Sami were called the People of the Eight Sea-
sufferings caused by World War II.
sons (after Ernst Manker’s 1975 book) because they pat-
terned their lives after their knowledge of the resources of the
MORPHOLOGY. One way to organize the Finno-Ugric reli-
environment on the annual migration of the wild deer and
gious traditions is by the occupations of hunting and fishing,
elk; the spawning and mating cycles of the salmon, trout, and
cattle breeding and nomadism, and agriculture and subordi-
other fish, ptarmigan, swan, goose and other birds; the har-
nate handicraft industries. These forms of subsistence do not
vest season for berry picking; and so on.
normally occur alone, however, but in various combinations.
It is the skillful combination of many different sources of
The most venerated animal in their Arctic and sub-
livelihood and the calendar cycle based on these that charac-
Arctic territories was the bear, seen by the Sami and Ob-
terizes most Finno-Ugric groups and their religious tradition.
Ugrians as their totemic ancestor and as the son of the sky
Three calendar systems basically contribute to the formation
god Num torem. Several myths that recount either the mar-
of the cycle: the calendars of nature, of human work, and of
riage between the first bear and a human girl or the heavenly
the church (saints’ days and so on). The cycle requires new
origin of the bear and its descent to earth and relate how it
roles of the individual and the re-creating of different social
was slain and returned home to the celestial father after spe-
worlds of the community; specialists exist, but the division
cial ceremonies seem to be of common Finno-Ugric origin.
of labor rarely allows specialists of one domain only. The ca-
These myths were recited in bear ceremonies, during both
lendrical cycle expressed by calendar rites is crucial for the
the killing and the feast itself, events that abound in dramatic
cohesion of society and its communal economic activity.
and verbal elements. The Ob-Ugrian Khanty and Mansi still
perform the complex bear ceremony lasting seven days—
Another important organizing factor of ritual life is the
with each day pertaining to one of the seven stars in the
human life cycle from birth to death and the accompanying
Great Bear constellation—which has been developed into ac-
rites of passage. Through these it is possible to express and
tual theater performances; hundreds of ritual and semipro-
legitimize changes of social status and reinforce the prevail-
fane plays and dances are performed during the feast. The
ing social structure. The early Finno-Ugric communities do
totemic element is apparent in the Ob-Ugric moiety system,
not seem to have developed elaborate ceremonies of initia-
which consists of the mós (the heavenly people, who are
tion—even the shamanic initiation did not involve large au-
hunters and eaters of raw meat) and the por (the under-
diences—but the idea of initiation can be seen in small ritu-
ground people, who are wizards and eaters of cooked meat);
als such as the wrapping of a newborn child in his or her
these phratries observe different norms concerning bear
father’s sweaty shirt, bringing “tooth money” to the new
hunting. Although the bear is the object of rites and venera-
child (Karelia), dressing the bride, guiding the deceased to
tion among most of the northern peoples of Asia and Ameri-
their relatives in the otherworld, and so on. Weddings and
ca, there are few ritual dramas comparable to the bear cere-
funerals, along with feasts of the agricultural year, comprise
monies of the Ob-Ugrians, Finns, and Sami. Even during the
the most developed ritual dramas.
course of the more normal hunting of game, the verbal com-
Religion of hunters and fishermen. True hunting
ponent—prayers, spells, and songs—is well developed
communities have survived longest in the Arctic and sub-
among the Finno-Ugrians. The spirits are usually designated
Arctic zones, but traces of their mythology and religious rites
by compounds such as “forest-man,” “forest-father,” or “for-
continue to survive in various combined economies where
est-master.” The system of “fathers” and/or “mothers” of ter-
hunting or fishing has played a subsidiary role. Finno-Ugric
ritories, places, buildings, and so on was common.
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FINNO-UGRIC RELIGIONS: AN OVERVIEW
Religion of cattle breeders and nomads. Cattle breed-
Religion of farmers. The society and religion of hunt-
ing is an important subsidiary means of livelihood especially
ers and cattle breeders is competitive; among the latter, espe-
among the Finno-Ugrians of the north, where agriculture is
cially, the rites are directed against fellows and neighbors.
constantly threatened by the climate. The religious profile of
Even if the principle of “limited good” (one’s success means
cattle breeders is not as clear-cut as that of the hunters and
another’s loss and vice versa, because the sum of good is cons-
farmers; it also appears in symbiosis with the beliefs of those
tant) is valid in agriculture, the atmosphere is clearly more
who practice agriculture. As a means of subsistence, nomad-
social and collective than in cattle husbandry. This social at-
ism is also subsidiary, not only to agriculture, but also to
mosphere is clearly expressed in the great rural ritual feasts
hunting. When the flocks of wild reindeer grew thin, the
of the southern Finno-Ugric peoples: the Mordvins, the
Arctic hunters of both Fennoscandia and the Kanin Peninsu-
Mari, and the Udmurts. The traditions of the last two groups
la developed reindeer herding, which in some places, such
derive to a large extent from their Turco-Tatar neighbors,
as Sweden, led to full domestication and a dairy economy.
whereas the Mordvins have adopted more from the Russians;
Only the reindeer was capable of finding its food even under
regardless, all three have used Finno-Ugric and other tradi-
the snow, and it soon became an indispensable draft and
tions of their particular region in creating their agricultural
slaughter animal. Another area for wide-scale herding was
cycles. A broad social approach, in which success is sought
the Hungarian plains, where the swampy land was unsuitable
not only for the individual or his family, but also for the
for farming but provided excellent pasture.
whole village or a larger population, especially the poor and
disabled, prevails in the long prayer recitations performed in
The yearly cycle of the cattle breeder is roughly divided
connection with animal and food offerings to dozens of gods
into two halves: the indoor period and the outdoor period;
and spirits. A Mari prayer from the Kazan area lists what is
only in Hungary is there some outdoor herding all year
valued in the following order: family, cattle, corn, bees,
round. In the winter horses and cows are under the rule of
money, long life, and great happiness. Another value often
the owner/cattle breeder and his or her supranormal counter-
stressed in prayer is “harmony”; that is, avoidance of quarrels
part, the stable or cowhouse spirit. In the summer the herds-
and disruptive feelings, which is seen as a condition to be met
man, often an employee, takes over and the supranormal
before addressing the gods.
guardianship is transferred to the forest spirit or other spirits
in the landscape. The cattle owner and herdsman observe
The central mythologems of the farmer are the earth
many rituals, which tend to accumulate at the beginning and
and the sky. These parts of the cosmos or their personifica-
the end of a season; minor prayers and offerings that relate
tions alternately are manifest in the prayers and rites. Earth
to such events as imminent danger or bad weather are also
is above all the female progenitor, Mother Earth; as such, she
performed during the season.
is sometimes represented as the generic Corn Mother, and
sometimes as the mother or guardian of a particular kind of
In the Balto-Finnic areas Saint George’s Day (April 23)
grain or field. The sky god is closely associated with rain,
marks the sending of the cattle to pasture; the ritual has to
wind, and other types of storms. Thought of as male, he be-
be performed even if it was too cold for outdoor herding.
gets the earth. The myth of Hieros gamos, the matrimony of
The animals were encircled by people who walk around the
heaven and earth, has been preserved in epic poetry and in
flock carrying an icon of Saint George, an ax, burning coal,
connection with rainmaking rituals of the Balto-Finnic area.
gunpowder, churchyard dirt, quicksilver, a hymnal, and a
Importance is also attached to the patron saints of agricul-
bear’s tooth, among other items. Magic signs were drawn on
ture, among whom Elijah and the Saints Peter and Nicholas
the animals, doorposts, or the cattle’s intended route. Food
are the most central. Various feasts may be observed during
offerings were brought to the forest spirit, and an egg was
midsummer, the period of growth, when the working rou-
thrown over the flock. The cattle owner asked the herdsman,
tines are laid still and the crops are at the mercy of the weath-
the victorious dragon-slayer Saint George, and the forest
er, insects, forest animals, and other natural factors. The
mistress to join forces to protect the cattle against bears,
Finno-Ugric farmer’s worldview is oriented toward peace
wolves, and other dangers.
and harmony, every kind of growth and fertility, personal
health, social good, and avoidance of misfortune. The farmer
In October the cattle were taken indoors; the autumnal
enumerates all the gods to avoid offending any of them and
season was brought to an end by slaughtering a sheep or cow
bows to them all; a Mari or Udmurt bows “upward,” sacrific-
around Michaelmas (September 29) or All Saints’ Day (No-
ing a white animal to the sky, and “downward,” sacrificing
vember 1). This was the first “New Year” festival, during
a black animal to the ancestors, thus placing himself in the
which dead relatives visited one’s home, and, in northern Ka-
middle of a three-storied universe.
relia, the myth of the slaying of the Great Ox was sung.
Many southern Finno-Ugric peoples combine their cattle
Cosmology. Two well-known myths of the origin of
breeding cult with summer feasts and offerings organized
the world are found among Finno-Ugric peoples, those of
primarily as part of the agricultural cycle. In long prayers
the earth diver and of the world egg. In the diver myth, God
presented on these occasions cow luck, horse luck, and so on
orders the Devil (originally a water bird) to bring earth from
is asked from many gods of the sky and the earth.
the botton of the primeval sea; on the third attempt, he suc-
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FINNO-UGRIC RELIGIONS: AN OVERVIEW
3109
ceeds but tries to hide some of the earth in his mouth. When
peoples. Juha Pentikäinen’s field research in North Eurasia
God scatters sand and the earth begins to grow, the deceit
(1989-2003) includes several examples on shamanic prac-
is unmasked; from the earth found in the cheek of the Devil
tices of the mobile Ob-Ugric hunters who still carry their
the mountains and hills are formed. The myth is known
spirit effigies in a special sleigh when migrating.
from the Ob River to Finland and to the Mordvins in the
Another Udmurt sanctuary is the lud—a fenced-off area
Volga area. The eastern Finnish variant contains an interest-
in an isolated place in the woods. In the middle is a table for
ing introduction: God stands on a golden statue in the sea
offerings that are made by the family to dispel diseases, to
and orders his reflection in the water to rise; this reflection
mark calendric observances, and so on. In addition, there are
becomes the Devil. The global distribution of the world-egg
fenced-off sanctuaries for the offerings of the village; these
myth is equatorial, but its northernmost occurrence is found
sanctuaries are sometimes situated near the cornfields. Some-
in Finland and Estonia. A water bird or an eagle makes a nest
what similar arrangements are found among the Volga Finns
on the knee of the creator (Väinämöinen), who is floating
(the keremet of the ancestors) and in the Balto-Finnic area
in the sea. It lays an egg, which rolls into the water, and
where, when slash-and-burn agriculture spread into virgin
pieces of it become the earth, the sky, the moon, and the
land and distances grew between pioneering families, village
stars. Myths concerning the creation of humans are found
groves were replaced by sacrificial stones (with gouged cups
in various forms among the Mansi, Volga Finns, and Kare-
on the surface) and sacred family trees near the dwellings.
lians; the Karelian version typifies the basic scenario: A hum-
mock rises from the sea, a tree stump on it splits open, and
Among the nomadic, reindeer-breeding and fishing
the first human couple steps forth.
Sami, the seita was a place for sacrifices; it was a cave, a tree
stump, or a stone, often clearly visible because of its peculiar
Cosmogonic myths function as powerful protomyths:
(natural) shape, usually chosen near difficult places along a
The origin of any phenomenon must be linked to the central
reindeer trail or at some good fishing spot. Offerings were
cosmographic symbols, and various etiological continuations
made to enhance the safety of reindeer, good fishing, and so
to these basic myths are therefore abundant. According to
on. Many a sanctuary was only temporary, used for one or
the cosmography of the Finno-Ugrians, a stream encircles
two offerings only, and founded mainly to mark a good
the world, which is covered by the canopy of the heavens,
hunting or fishing ground and to guarantee future luck by
the central point of which is the North Star (the “nail of the
giving the first piece of game to the gods.
sky” on which the sky rotates); this star is sometimes associat-
ed with the world pole that supports the sky. A world tree—
SHAMANS AND OTHER MEDIATORS. Religious professional-
often the tree of life—and a world mountain rise at the
ism manifested as priesthood is rare among the Finno-
center of the universe; there is a world omphalos deep in the
Ugrians. The cults and rites discussed earlier were conducted
center of the earth and a corresponding abyss of the sea that
by those in occupational roles, in some instances as head of
swallows ships. On the backs of three fish rest the founda-
a family or working team. Ancestor worship as the predomi-
tions of the earth; the movements of these fish cause floods
nant cultic form tends to support this kind of arrangement
and earthquakes. Another possible cause of the destruction
as well. A division of labor took place so that washing and
of the world is that the world pole collapses and the heav-
dressing the body as well as lamenting throughout mortuary
ens—sometimes described as being seven- or nine-storied—
ceremonies is female work, but shamanic visits to lift up bo-
tumble down.
dies from graves, for example, usually belong to the male rit-
ual repertoire of the shamanic society. Religious performance
Much of this symbolism is well known in other parts
then becomes part and parcel of working routines and role
of the world, but some details may be exclusively Finno-
performance in general.
Ugric. An example is the belief that the sun, moon, and stars
There is, however, one important exception: the noita
are found on the branches of the world tree, usually a great
(shaman or sage). Since noita is spoken only in Finnish,
oak. Cosmographic symbols also occur frequently in contexts
Sami, and Mansi, the word is hardly Finno-Ugric. According
outside the rituals, in folk poetry.
to scholarly opinions, expressed by Vilmos Diószegi, Honko,
SANCTUARIES AND OFFERINGS. The home sanctuary of the
Mihály Hoppál, and so on, the early stratum of Finno-Ugric
Udmurts is called the kuala. It is a small log cabin in the cor-
religion must have contained shamanism, although pure sha-
ner of a square building formation that constitutes the house.
manism has been documented only in the far north among
In the back corner of the kuala is a shelf, on which are
the Sami and Samoyeds. Indirect evidence supporting this
branches of deciduous trees and conifers, and above them is
hypothesis is based on the form of similar oral traditions and
a vorsud, an empty box with a lid. This is a family shrine for
officiants (from the Finnish tietäjä to the Hungarian taltós),
weekly offerings, but if the master of the house is the head
who experience a kind of “verbal ecstasy” and display compa-
of a large family, children may come from afar on certain
rable shamanic symbols in their outfits. Although scholars
days to worship here. A new kuala can only be founded with
argue that the Finno-Ugric shamans were many things, in-
earth and ashes from the father’s kuala. It is believed that in
cluding diviners, healers, priests, and experts in various tech-
former times the vorsud was not empty but contained effigies
nical skills, it may not be proper to deal with all divine or
of spirits. This tradition still continues among Finno-Ugric
priestry roles as expressions of shamanim. Rather, there were
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3110
FINNO-UGRIC RELIGIONS: HISTORY OF STUDY
different types of experts among different Finno-Ugric peo-
by Jes Peter Asmussen and Jo⁄rgen Laesso⁄e, vol. 1,
ples who held the highest authority on crisis rites and defend-
pp. 173–224 (Göttingen, Germany, 1971). Honko, with
ed the society against malevolent forces by exercising count-
Senni Timonen, Keith Bosley, and Michael Branch, pub-
er-magic and performing rites of propitiation. Their
lished an assemby of Finno-Ugric ritual texts in their original
interpretation became the guideline in times of uncertainty.
languages and in translation, with commentaries, in The
Great Bear: Folk Poetry in the Finno-Ugrian Languages (Hel-
Cult priests like the Udmurt tuno or the Mari kart have
sinki, 1993). Komi Mythology by Nikolay Konakov and oth-
accordingly been dealt with as representations of relatively
ers is the first volume in the Encyclopaedia of Uralic Mytholo-
late specialization under the impact of foreign culture,
gy, edited by Siikala, Napolskih, and Hoppal, and will
whereas the designation for shaman that is found from Fin-
include compendia on various Finno-Ugric religions dating
land (Finnish noita; northern Sami noaidi) to the Ob River
the classical series “Suomen suvun uskonnot” (Religions of
(Mansi najt) speaks for a more original stratum (the term has
the Finno-Ugrian Peoples) by Kaarle Krohn, Holmberg
many interesting parallels in these languages). Ancient Finn-
(Harva), and K. F. Karjalainen. For further reading on Esto-
nian fok religion, see Ivar Paulson’s The Old Estonian Folk
ish folk poetry, Hungarian fairy tales, and other such materi-
Religion (Bloomington, Ind., 1971). Additional references to
al have been interpreted as carriers of shamanic motifs, and
basic Finno-Ugric sources can be found in respective entries
even if some assumptions prove faulty, the general picture
of this dictionary, as well as in the bibliographies of the
has been regared as likely to persist. Although the old Scandi-
above-cited works and the Wörterbuch der Mythologie series
navian saga and Edda traditions also include a similar stra-
(Stuttgart, 1965).
tum, other European parallels should be considered. Sami
LAURI HONKO (1987)
drum and jojk singing is a clear parallel to Siberian and Ob-
JUHA PENTIKÄINEN (2005)
Ugrian shamanhood. Even though no drums have been
found from the Finns, the fact remains that until the late
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the Finnish and Ka-
relian tietäjä still fulfilled many functions and used many
FINNO-UGRIC RELIGIONS: HISTORY OF
techniques and expressions in his charms and vocabulary
STUDY
reminiscent of shamanic practiuces and folklore in Siberia.
The ways of life and customs of peoples inhabiting the north-
To balance the picture, Honko introduces the female
ern regions of Europe concerned even the earliest historiog-
counterpart of the tietäjä, the lamenter (Finnish itkijä), who
raphers, such as Herodotos (c. 484–between 430 and 420
with her ecstatic performance was able to set the entire audi-
BCE) and Tacitus (c. 55–120 CE). Nevertheless, the first gen-
ence at a funeral or a memorial feast in the socially proper
uinely valid data regarding peoples of the Finno-Ugric lan-
mood and prepared a catharsis from uncertainty and grief for
guage family can be found only much later, in the works of
her community. Lamenting was customary in the rites of de-
writers living from the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries:
parture (conscription, weddings, and funerals) and the la-
Mathias de Miechow, Sigismundus Herberstein, Olaus Mag-
menter became a kind of psychopomp who with her inten-
nus (1490–1557), Michael Agricola (1508–1557), Alessan-
sive empathy and metaphorical language guided the helpless
dro Guagnino, Nicolaes Witsen (1641–1717), Johannes
object of the rite. This tradition lived with the indirect sup-
Schefferus (1621–1679), Nicolaie Spataru (1663–1708),
port of the Russian Orthodox Church much longer than
and Adam Olearius (1603–1671), among others. The infor-
most traditions discussed earlier and is still practiced in cer-
mation conveyed by these writers in their religious, geo-
tain parts of Soviet Karelia.
graphical, ethnographical, or historical texts has proved to be
a valuable contribution not only to social history and ethnog-
SEE ALSO Castrén, Matthias Alexander; Dömötör, Tekla;
raphy, but to the history of their religion(s) as well.
Finnish Religions; Haavio, Martti; Harva, Uno; Honko,
FOUNDATIONS OF EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY STUDY. The
Lauri; Hungarian Religion; Khanty and Mansi Religion;
eighteenth century was a time of great journeys and discover-
Mari and Mordvin Religion; Sami Religion; Samoyed Reli-
ies as well as the publication of travel literature based on eye-
gion.
witness accounts on respective areas. At this time the peoples
of northern Eurasia and Siberia among others became objects
BIBLIOGRAPHY
of genuine scientific interest. Several authors of travel ac-
A comprehensive presentation of Finno-Ugric mythology by Uno
counts, namely Y. E. Ides, D. G. Messerschmidt, P. J.
Holmberg (later, Harva) can be found in The Mythology of
Strahlenberg, Johann Georg Gmelin (1709–1755), and J. G.
All Races, vol. 4 (1927; reprint, New York, 1964). Many
Georgi, made interesting observations not only about the
monographs on the religion of the Finno-Ugric peoples have
languages of northern Eurasian peoples, but also about their
been published in the series Folklore Fellows’ Communications
customs and religious cults. These writings also established
(Helsinki, 1910–). More recent works are Ivar Paulson’s
“Die Religionen der finnischen Völker,” in Die Religionen
the basis for the eventual recognition of Finno-Ugric as a lan-
Nordeurasiens und der amerikanischen Arktis, edited by Paul-
guage family. Two German scholars, Johann Eberhard Fi-
son, A˚ke Hultkrantz, and Karl Jettmar, pp. 145–303 (Stutt-
scher (1697–1771), who was a member of the Russian tsar’s
gart, 1962), and “Religionen der finnisch-ugrischen Völker,”
academy, and August Ludwig von Schlözer (1735–1809)
in Handbuch der Religionsgeschichte, witten by Honko, edited
played especially important roles in this discovery by summa-
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FINNO-UGRIC RELIGIONS: HISTORY OF STUDY
3111
rizing in their scholarly works the available information con-
Hungarian mythology was introduced in Europe by
cerning Finno-Ugric peoples: Fischer in Sibirische Geschichte
Daniel Cornides (1732–1787), who lectured on ancient
(1768) and von Schlözer in Allgemeine Nordische Geschichte
Hungarian religion at the University of Göttingen in 1785.
(1771). In Hungary Finno-Ugric comparative linguistic re-
Basing his arguments on medieval chronicles, he compared
search was initiated by the study Demonstratio: Idioma Unga-
the remains of ancient pagan Hungarian religion with ele-
rorum et Lapponum idem esse (Proof that the languages of the
ments of the ancient Jewish, Greek, and Scythian religions.
Hungarians and the Lapps are the same; 1770), by Janos Saj-
Later on, in his short study Commentatio de religione veterum
novics (1733–1785), and the study Affinitas linguae Hun-
Hungarorum (Comments on the ancient religion of the Hun-
garicae cum linguis fennicae originis (Relationship of the Hun-
garias; 1791), he compared ancient Hungarian religion to
garian language to languages of Finnic origin; 1779), by
Persian religion.
Samuel Gyarmathi (1751–1830).
NINETEENTH-CENTURY NATIONAL MYTHOLOGIES. During
The first Finno-Ugric studies were thus written simulta-
the first decades of the nineteenth century there was a ro-
neously with, and not independently of, respective studies in
mantic interest in folk tradition many parts of Europe, espe-
Indo-European comparative linguistics. Progress in Finno-
cially in Germany. Under stimuli of Indo-European compar-
Ugric studies was slower than that of Indo-European studies
ative linguistics and mythological research, the collection of
because of the more remote distance between peoples them-
folk poetry and the exploration of narrative folk traditions
selves as well as scholars studying them. In the same way as
began. Two seminal works of the period were published in
the three Finno-Ugric peoples of Europe—Finns, Estonians,
1835. The first was Deutsche Mythologie by Jacob Grimm
and Hungarians, who later on became the only ones to be
(1785–1863), which subsequently served as a model for re-
able to found the national states where Finno-Ugric lan-
constructing mythologies of several peoples, among them the
guages are in majority—lived far from one another, so their
Finns, the Estonians, the Sami, and the Hungarians. The
scholars also lived in scientific isolation without knowing too
other, the Kalevala by Lönnrot, contributed to the study of
much about each other’s scientific works and results.
Finnish mythology by compiling folk poetry on the basis of
epical songs. In accordance with its initial names, this (Old)
Nevertheless, both the Finns and the Hungarians were
Kalevala with thirty-two songs was the mythology of the
able to complete their first mythologies in the last decades
Finns on the basis of the epical poems. Its second, enlarged
of the eighteenth century. In Finland, Henrik Gabriel Por-
edition published in 1849 contained almost a double
than (1739–1804), learned professor of rhetorics at Turku
amount of verses, 50 songs with 22,759 lines in all. After
Academy, was familiar with theories on Finno-Ugric peoples
Grimm’s speech in 1845 at the Academy of Berlin, the
in Germany. He advocated the publication of Erik Christian
(New) Kalevala was now offered by Lönnrot as the national
Lencquist’s doctoral dissertation, De superstitione veterum
epic of the Finns, not as their mythology any more, but as
Fennorum theoretica et practica (Superstition in belief and
the sacred history of the new nation. The European readers
practice among the ancient Finns; 1782), which was based
at large only became acquainted with the (New) Kalevala
on data collected from people. Another Finnish scholar, Chr-
through its German translation published in 1852.
istfried Ganander (1741–1790), a Lutheran pastor in Rant-
The discovery that the Finns, a people small in number,
sila, northern Ostrobotnia, created a network of over one
had produced heroic epic poetry comparable with the Ho-
hundred ministers and officials around Finland while gather-
meric epics profoundly impressed the scholars of other
ing data for his huge Finnish-Swedish dictionary—until
Finno-Ugric nations as well. Encouraged by Lönnrot as early
1997 available in three facsimile volumes only—and Finnish
as the 1840s, Reinhold Kreutzwald (1803–1882) began col-
mythology (Mythologia Fennica, 1789). The latter is a kind
lecting Estonian narratives and epic songs about Kalevi-poeg,
of Finnish-Lappish comparative mythology since it provides
a gigantic folk hero of exceptional strength. While the first
an alphabetical listing of Finnish and Lappish (Sami) mytho-
prototext of about twelve thousand lines was completed by
logical terms and concepts with historical and other informa-
1853, the reconstructed epic itself, Kalevi poeg: Üks enne-
tion related to entries. The work is a valuable source of the
muistene Eesti jut: Kaheskümnes laulus (Kalevi-poeg: An an-
original runic poems of the eighteenth century and the foun-
cient Estonian legend in twenty songs), was published con-
dation of the comparative mythology school in Finland.
siderably later (in 1862), in Estonian, even though it
Since it worked as Elias Lönnrot’s (1802–1884) model for
appeared in Finland. Meanwhile, Kreutzwald worked on re-
his further collecting of poems in the field, it was the primary
constructing Estonian national mythology and published the
basis for the whole creation of the idea of the Finnish epics.
study “Über den Charakter der estnischen Mythologie” in
Typically enough, the first editions of the Finnish-Karelian
the journal Verhandlungen der Gelehrten Estnischen Gesell-
epics compiled by Lönnrot carried the title The Mythology of
schaft zu Dorpat (1850).
the Finnish People edited by Old Poems before the book was
finally named as the Kalevala in 1835, with a geographical
The romantic quest for Pan-Finnish identity, to find re-
reference to a mythical dwelling place of Kaleva’s gigantic
lated peoples and an ancient, common land of origin (where
sons—in Lönnrot’s thinking, Kaleva was the king of
the forebears of related peoples had lived together), prompt-
Finland.
ed scholars of the mid-nineteenth century to undertake long
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3112
FINNO-UGRIC RELIGIONS: HISTORY OF STUDY
journeys of exploration. For example, Matthias Alexander
költési Gyüjtemény (Vogul folklore collection; 1892–1902).
Castrén (1813–1852) collected valuable material during his
He also published studies on comparative mythology in
repeated Siberian travels and described his research in Rei-
Hungarian and German.
seerinnerungen aus den Jahren 1838–1844: Nordische Reisen
While there are early and finely detailed descriptions
und Forschungen (Travel recollections, 1838–1844: Nordic
concerning the ancient religion of the Sami, for example,
travel and research; 1833). Castrén’s lectures on Altaic (i.e.,
Ioannus Schefferus’s Lapponica . . . de origine, superstitione,
Finnic) mythology, given during the last years of his life,
sacris magicis (1673), the first real reconstruction and de-
were published in translation from Swedish under the title
scription of Sami mythology (Lappisk Mythologi, Eventyr og
Vorlesungen über die finnische Mythologie (1853).
Folkesagn) was published in Christiania (later Oslo) as late
Meanwhile, Castrén’s Hungarian contemporary Antal
as 1871 by Jens Andreas Friis (1821–1896). Lars Levi La-
Reguly (1819–1859) went on a research trip among the Ob-
estadius’s Fragments on Lappish Mythology were written earli-
Ugrians and presented the results of his research in Ethno-
er in 1840–1845, but remained unpublished until the 1990s.
graphisch-geographische Karte des nördlichen Ural-gebietes
As the national self-awareness of the ethnic minorities
(Ethno-geographical map of the northern Ural region;
of tsarist Russia began to increase during the last decades of
1846). Only some two decades later did Pál Hunfalvy
the nineteenth century, collecting texts of folklore also start-
(1810–1891), one of the founders of Finno-Ugric compara-
ed among them. One should mention Serafim Patkanov
tive linguistics, publish Reguly’s collection, which contained
(1856–1888), who did research among the southern groups
valuable folk literature—primarily texts of Mansi (Vogul)
of Khanty (Ostyaks), and Ivan Nikolaevich Smirnov (1856–
heroic epics—in A vogul föld és nép (The Vogul land and its
1904), a professor of the University of Kazan, Russia, who
people; 1864).
collected valuable materials among the Finno-Ugric peoples
For the sake of proper chronology, one must mention
of Perm and along the Volga. Smirnov published several
here the first comprehensive collection of Hungarian my-
books on his findings concerning the Cheremis (Mari),
thology, Magyar Mythologia (1854), published during the ro-
Votyak (Udmurt), and Komi Permyak: Cheremisy (1889),
mantic era of reform after the Hungarian revolt against Aus-
Votiaki (1890), and Permiaki (1891), respectively. Several
tria (1848–1849). Its author, Arnold Ipolyi (1823–1886), a
chapters in these volumes are devoted to the gods and reli-
learned Roman Catholic bishop, collected folk tales, legends,
gious customs of the Finno-Ugric peoples living by the
and folk beliefs of the region. At the same time he was inti-
Volga, and they serve as useful source material for compara-
mately familiar with the contemporary scholarly literature
tive research.
dealing with comparative mythology. As he pointed out, his
EARLY TWENTIETH-CENTURY COMPARATIVE RESEARCH.
work was greatly influenced by the mythological studies of
Around the turn of the twentieth century, Finno-Ugric
Jakob Grimm, Georg Friedrich Creuzer (1771–1858), and
studies became strengthened by scientifically planned field-
Joseph von Görres (1776–1848), but he also quoted the
work. For the most part it was carried out by well-trained
Finnish studies by Lencquist, Ganander, and Castrén.
linguists, who in the process of their fieldwork also recorded
Ipolyi’s study, more than five hundred pages long, is a genu-
materials valuable for folklorists and students of mythology.
ine comparative-mythological survey, though its assertions
In this context one should mention the Hungarian József
should today be looked on from a critical distance. A few
Pápay (1873–1931) as well as the Finns Heikki Paasonen
years later, Ferenc Kállay (1790–1861) compiled another
(1869–1919), Yrjö Wichmann (1868–1932), Kai Donner
work, though more modest, about the religion of the pre-
(1888–1935), and Artturi Kannisto (1874–1943). Their au-
Christian Hungarians (A pogány magyarok vallása, 1861), in
thentic text collections made it possible to reconstruct the be-
which he described the major figures of ancient Hungarian
lief systems of certain Finno-Ugric peoples and consequently
mythology.
to prepare comprehensive comparative studies. Since, unlike
research on Indo-European mythology, Finno-Ugric com-
For the one-thousandth anniversary of the Magyar con-
parative mythological research is based almost entirely on
quest of Hungary, Kabos Kandra (1843–1905) prepared the
folkloric material, it was logical to study it in this context and
third edition of Magyar Mythologia (1897). Although Kandra
to describe the mythology of particular peoples as accurately
was in a position to build on the findings of contemporary
as the circumstances would allow.
Finno-Ugric linguistics, his work is basically the last roman-
tic attempt at reconstructing the system of Hungarian my-
In 1908 Kaarle Krohn (1863–1933), the first professor
thology. While the most important text among the materials
of folklore at the University of Helsinki, and Aladár Bán
used for purposes of comparison is the Kalevala, the
(1871–1960), a Hungarian scholar, jointly published A fin-
Mythologia also depends on quotations from the studies and
nugor népek pogány istentisztelete (Pre-Christian god worship
text collections of Bernát Munkácsi (1860–1937). Munkác-
of the Finno-Ugric peoples) in Hungarian; with Bán’s sup-
si’s fieldwork among the Udmurt (Votyaks) and Mansi
plement, this work essentially became the first Finno-Ugric
(Voguls) took place in the second half of the 1880s. He pub-
study of comparative religion. The book is based on Suomen
lished his own and Antal Reguly’s findings in four thick vol-
suvun pakanallinen jumalanpalvelus (The heathen worship of
umes, with copious notes on mythology, titled Vogul Nép-
Finnish tribe; 1894), which included posthumously pub-
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FINNO-UGRIC RELIGIONS: HISTORY OF STUDY
3113
lished lectures of Julius Krohn (1835–1888), Kaarle Krohn’s
As far as the position of the Finno-Ugric peoples and
father, who was a docent at the University of Helsinki in
the research on their cultures and religions in particular are
1884. In the first chapter, the history of research, the sources,
concerned, World War II meant radical changes to the peri-
and the scholarly literature are reviewed, and in subsequent
od between the two world wars. Estonia was annexed (for-
chapters sacred places of sacrifice, sacred images, activities of
mally as a republic) to the Soviet Union until 1991, and
shamans, and actual sacrificial rituals are discussed. What
Hungary, although still independent, was occupied by Soviet
renders this volume valuable even today is its rich use of con-
troops as a part of the Eastern block, which divided Europe
temporary Russian scientific literature that is now not readily
during the Cold War. Throughout the Cold War, several
available.
prominent scholars escaped from Eastern Europe to conduct
their research on Finno-Ugric themes in western Europe and
The second major summary of the religious beliefs of
in the United States. Gradually, the Finno-Ugric territories
the Finno-Ugric peoples, Die Religion der Jugra-Völker (The
inside the Soviet Union became targets for fieldwork orga-
religion of the Ob-Ugrians; 1922–1927), a three-volume
nized by Estonian and Hungarian universities and academic
study, was written by Kustaa Fredrik Karjalainen (1871–
research institutes.
1919). This monumental work based on the complete litera-
ture available at the time was combined with the author’s
Encyclopedic handbooks began to be published else-
original field research at the turn of the twentieth century.
where, and summaries of research appeared every ten years
It remains the most detailed overview of the religious beliefs
or so. Of these, the overview written by Ivar Paulson (1922–
of the Finno-Ugric peoples to date. At the end of the 1920s,
1966), an Estonian emigrant scholar of religion in Sweden,
Uno Holmberg (later Harva, 1882–1949) published yet an-
should be mentioned. It provides a phenomenological syn-
other summary, “Finno-Ugric Mythology,” in the fourth
thesis of the religions of northern Eurasian hunting nations
volume of The Mythology of All Races (1927). Here, Holm-
and uses the new ethnographic and archaeological data. Paul-
berg methodically reviews beliefs in the soul, the cult of the
son’s study was published in the third volume of Die Religion
dead, hunting magic, and veneration of nature spirits (spirits
der Menschheit (1962). A second modern overview, written
of stones, water, forest, and fire), of home spirits, of the lord
by Lauri Honko, was published in the first volume of Das
of the sky, and of heroes revered as gods. He devotes a sepa-
Handbuch der Religionsgeschichte (1971). In its shortened En-
rate chapter to the description of sacrifices and the examina-
glish version titled “Finno-Ugric Religion,” written for the
tion of questions concerning shamanism he found to be
Encyclopaedia Britannica (1974), Honko made this kind of
characteristic of the Finno-Ugric peoples.
observation: “Today there is general agreement that a hypo-
thetical reconstruction representing the ‘original religion’ of
STUDY ON FINNO-UGRIC RELIGIONS DURING THE SOVIET
a single language family is virtually impossible.”
ERA. During the two generations of researchers from World
War I and the October 1917 Revolution until the brief peri-
The second volume of the encyclopedic undertaking of
od of openness in the spirit of glasnost and perestroika under
Soviet researchers on myths of the peoples of the world (Mify
Mikhail Gorbachov’s era at the end of the 1980s, most
narodov mira, 1982) includes an entry by V. Ia. Petrukhin
Finno-Ugric territories inside the borders of the Soviet
and E. A. Helimski, who do not even attempt to provide a
Union remained closed from scholars living in Finland.
comprehensive picture, but instead discuss the mythologies
Studies on Finno-Ugric languages and religions, however,
of different peoples separately. This is in accordance with the
continued; the rich archival materials gathered by the schol-
notion that Finno-Ugric languages are distantly related, as
ars on the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were now
are their folklore and religions. Despite the difficulties on ed-
carefully analyzed and published as linguistically transcribed
iting folkloric texts constituting the basic sources, a few ex-
collections in the Memoirs and Journals of the Finno-Ugric
ceptional monographs have been produced that, though not
Society in Finland (founded in 1883) by experts on respec-
aiming at a reconstruction of the whole system, nevertheless
tive Finno-Ugric languages.
enable us to engage in comparative studies of certain topics.
These topics include, for example, lower-order spirits, totem-
The topic of religion, labelled the opium of the people
ism, and the cult of idols (Haekel, 1946), hunting rituals and
by Karl Marx (1818–1883), was taboo in the Communist
the bear cult (Edsman, 1957), and concepts of the soul of
empire of the Soviet Union. In spite of this, research on reli-
the northern Eurasian peoples (Paulson, 1958).
gion to a certain extent went on under the umbrella of Soviet
ethnography. In 1931 there appeared in the Soviet Union,
LATE TWENTIETH-CENTURY RUSSIAN RESEARCH TRENDS.
where most Finno-Ugric peoples lived, a collection of texts
In the latter part of the twentieth century, some new results
about the religious beliefs of the Soviet peoples (Religioznye
were gained in certain areas, especially in the Soviet Union
verovaniia narodov SSSR). The sole value of this two-volume
as a result of an effort to involve other sciences in compara-
collection is that it quotes passages from older Russian publi-
tive mythological research and thus to revive its methodolog-
cations. In the 1930s particularly, and for many decades fol-
ical tools. Soviet researchers turned to archaeology, which is
lowing its publication, the monopoly of Marxist critiques of
“materialistic,” and to the cataloging of decorative art ob-
religion practically halted all religio-scientific and mythologi-
jects, which were seen as products of the mythological con-
cal research in the Soviet Union.
sciousness of ancient peoples. A characteristic monograph of
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3114
FINNO-UGRIC RELIGIONS: HISTORY OF STUDY
these times is S. V. Ivanov’s work about the folk arts of the
Propp (1895–1970), and Mikhail Bakhtin (1895–1975).
peoples of Siberia. This book reviews museum collections as-
Their most important contention was that mythology is ex-
sembled around the turn of the twentieth century (Materialy
plicable as a system of signs and that it is one of the texts or
po izobrazitel’nomu iskusstvu narodov Sibiri XIX-nachalo XX.
codes of a culture (Ivanov and Toporov, 1973; Meletinsky,
V., 1954). This study, which contains both Finno-Ugric and
1973). In his description of the Finno-Ugric mythological
other material, becomes especially interesting when read with
system, Mihály Hoppál employs this method. The hierarchy
the study by Dmitrii K. Zelenin (1878–1954) of Siberian
of the gods is described with the aid of dual oppositions func-
idol cults and beliefs in spirits (Le culte des idoles en Siberie,
tioning as distinctive features (Hoppál, 1976), and conse-
1952).
quently mythological structures clarified through semantic
characteristics are compared more accurately than before
Russian archaeologists have been able to contribute
(Toporov, 1974).
most significantly to the reconstruction of ancient beliefs,
and thus of Finno-Ugric mythology, by interpreting the
Another current trend is related to comparative mythol-
highly diverse physical evidence. A few of the valuable works
ogy emphasized by such Finnish scholars of phenomenology
containing such analyses are Vanda Moshinskai’s Drevniaia
of religion and folk belief in the Finno-Ugric context as
skulptura Urala i Zapadnoi Sibiri (Ancient sculptures of the
Martti Haavio, Lauri Honko, and Juha Pentikäinen. The re-
Ural and western Siberia; 1976); Leonilla A. Golubeva’s Zoo-
search is related to the fact that in studying certain topics,
morfnye ukrasheniia finno-ugrov (Finno-Ugric zoomorphic
scholars have moved outside the narrow Finno-Ugric con-
decorative art; 1979); and Liubov S. Gribova’s The Animal
fines and are analyzing particular topics within a wider Urali-
Style as One of the Components of Social-Ideological System of
an or even Eurasian context, as in, for example, the investiga-
Totemism and Stage in the Development of Fine Arts (1980).
tion of the question of a supposed ancient Eurasian mother
cult, bear and other expressions of animal ceremonialism, as
Soviet archaeologists can be credited with the discovery
well as shamanism in a Finno-Ugric, Arctic, and comparative
of another important source group: petroglyphs, or rock art.
context. Pentikäinen’s Kalevala Mythology (1999) emphasizes
During the last decades, remains of rock art have been exten-
the significance of shamanic poetry as the basis of the epical
sively uncovered (mostly in the form of engravings) in north-
singing. Instead of shamanism, a concept of shamanhood
ern Eurasia. In this discovery Aleksandr P. Okladnikov
(Russian samanstvo) has been introduced by him since he be-
(1908–1981) had a particularly outstanding role; with his
lieves that shamanism is not a dogmatic religion, but rather
coworkers he has published a series of monographs that con-
a way of life.
tain more than ten thousand Siberian rock drawings and in-
clude valuable notes on the history of religions. His major
The examination of shamanism has an especially old
contribution to Finno-Ugric research, written with A. I.
tradition among Hungarian scholars. Géza Róheim (1891–
Martinov, is Sokrovishcha tomskikh pisamits (Treasures of
1953), the founder of psychoanalytic anthropology, devoted
petroglyphs around Tomsk; 1972).
an interesting chapter to the question of Ob-Ugrian shaman-
Aleksandr Zolotarev (1907–1943) began his research in
ism in Hungarian and Vogul Mythology (1954). Another
the 1930s, under the influence of Marxist conceptions of an-
study of this subject was written by Vilmos Diószegi (1923–
cient history and society, but his study of the mythology of
1972), who explored the residues of shamanism in Hungari-
ancient society, Rodovoi stroi i pervobytnaia mifologiia (Tribal
an folklore in A sámánhit emlékei a magyar népi müveltségben
system and ancient mythology; 1964), could be published
(1958). Two further studies on the question of Siberian sha-
only after his death. In this study, Zolotarev bases his argu-
manism have been published: The Rite Technique of the Sibe-
ments on a large body of source materials and shows that the
rian Shaman (1978), by Anna-Leena Siikala, and Obriad i
dualistic cosmological myths and the dualistic societies of Si-
fol’klor v sibirskom shamanizme (Ritual and folklore in Siberi-
berian peoples reflected one another; basically, this recogni-
an shamanism; 1984), by Elena S. Novik, who analyzes the
tion resembles Georges Dumézil’s position. Zolotarev ar-
syntagmatic structure of shamanic ritual and of narrative
ranged his materials within a firm theoretical framework.
folklore.
Because of his recognition of the system of dual oppositions,
In summary one could say that, because Finno-Ugric
he can be considered a forerunner of structuralism, though
peoples are generally not numerous, and because most of
his work remains unknown to the West.
them have constituted ethnic minorities within the Soviet
COMPARATIVE FINNO-UGRIC MYTHOLOGY AND SHAMAN-
Union and Russia, their search for common roots and my-
HOOD RESEARCH TRADITIONS. The introduction by Soviet
thology, expressed in the language of folklore, has been one
scholars of structuralist and semiotic methods to mythologi-
way of establishing their own identity and of buttressing
cal analyses at the beginning of the 1970s proved to be a
their national self-consciousness. Finno-Ugric mythology
methodological turning point. These scholars were indepen-
and folklore will remain as areas of interest for many years
dent of the West European (primarily French) structuralists
to come. Apart from sociopolitical considerations, naturally,
in that they formed their own theories, basing them on their
the strictly scientific-philological aspects are no less compel-
structuralist predecessors—for example, Roman Jakobson
ling, a fact that renders the prospect of comparative Finno-
(1896–1982), Ol’ga Freidenberg (1910–1954), Vladimir
Ugric mythological research in the future exceptionally inter-
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FINNO-UGRIC RELIGIONS: HISTORY OF STUDY
3115
esting in terms of methodology as well, precisely because of
history of Uralic languages and the folklore, mythology, and
the still insufficiently clarified relations among Finno-Ugric
folk poetry of the Uralic peoples.
peoples, because of their divergent lines of cultural progress
Harva, Uno. Die Wassergottheiten der finnisch-ugrischen Völker.
and because of their varied relations with neighboring
Helsinki, 1913.
peoples.
Harva, Uno. Über die Jagdriten der Nördlichen Völker Asiens und
Europas. Helsinki, 1925.
SEE ALSO Castrén, Matthias Alexander; Donner, Kai;
Harva, Uno. Die Religion der Tscheremissen. Edited by Arno
Haavio, Martti; Honko, Lauri; Indo-European Religions, ar-
Bussenius. Helsinki, 1926.
ticle on History of Study; Laestadius, Lars Levi; Lönnrot,
Harva, Uno. “Finno-Ugric Mythology.” In Mythology of All Races.
Elias; Sami Religion; Study of Religion, article on the Aca-
Vol. 4. Boston, 1927. To date the most detailed summary
demic Study of Religion in Eastern Europe and Russia.
of the ancient religious beliefs of the Finno-Ugric peoples.
Harva, Uno. Die religiösen Vorstellungen der Mordwinen. Helsinki,
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1952.
Chernetsov, V. N. “Concepts of the Soul among the Ob Ugrians.”
Honko, Lauri, Senni Timonen, and Michael Branch, eds. The
In Studies in Siberian Shamanism, edited by Henry N. Mi-
Great Bear: A Thematic Anthology of Oral Poetry in the Finno-
chael, pp. 3–45. Toronto, 1963. One of the basic studies by
Ugrian Languages. Helsinki, 1993. A large collection of text,
the father of Finno-Ugric archaeology that is based on his
both original and translated, that deals with, for example,
own collection.
cosmology, hunting, the soul, healing, and death. It provides
Corradi, Carla. Le divinita femminili nella mitologia ugro-finnica.
a good introduction to every field.
Parma, Italy, 1982. A modern summary on female divinity.
Hoppál, Mihály. “Folk Beliefs and Shamanism among the Uralic
Diószegi, Vilmos. A pogány magyarok hitvilága. Budapest, 1967.
Peoples.” In Ancient Cultures of the Uralian Peoples, edited by
A reconstruction of the old Hungarian pagan mythological
Peter Hajdú and translated by György Déry, pp. 215–242.
worldview in terms of shamanism.
Budapest, 1976. An outline and a semiotic description of be-
Diószegi, Vilmos. Tracing Shamans in Siberia: The Story of an Eth-
liefs and mythological worldview of the Finno-Ugric peoples,
nographic Research Expedition. Oosterhout, Netherlands,
with special references to the main features of shamanism.
1968.
Hoppál, Mihály, ed. Shamanism in Eurasia. 2 vols. Göttingen,
Diószegi, Vilmos, and Mihály Hoppál, eds. Shamanism in Siberia.
Germany, 1984. Based on a symposium on various aspects
Budapest, 1978. A collection of studies on different aspects
of Eurasian shamanism.
of shamanism.
Ivanov, V. V., and V. N. Toporov. “Towards the Description of
Dömötör, Tekla. Hungarian Folk Beliefs. Bloomington, Ind.,
Ket Semiotic Systems.” Semiotica 9 (1973).
1982. The most up-to-date outline of the Hungarian folk be-
Kannisto, Artturi. Materialen zur Mythologie der Wogulen: Gesam-
lief system.
melt von Artturi Kannisto. Helsinki, 1958. One of the best
Edsman, Carl-Martin. Bärenfest. Tübingen, Germany, 1957.
and most credible mythological text collections of the Ob-
Ugrians.
Ferdinandy, Michael de. “Die Mythologie der Ungarn.” In
Karsten, Rafael. The Religion of the Samek: Ancient Beliefs and
Wörterbuch der Mythologie, edited by H. W. Haussig, vol. 1,
Cults of the Scandinavian and Finnish Lapps. Leiden, 1955.
pp. 211–259. Stuttgart, 1965. Since this study lists historical
An overview of the gods of Sami mythology, shamanism, re-
legends from medieval chronicles as its mythological sources,
ligious sacrifices, and cult of the dead. Even though it is
it is somewhat romantic in its outlook. Regardless, it con-
based on the emphasis of animism theory, it is a thorough
tains rich material.
work.
Glavatskaia, Elena. “Religious and Ethnic Identity among the
Kuusi, Matti, Keith Bosley, and Michael Branch, eds. Finnish Folk
Khanty: Processes of Change.” In Identity and Gender in
Poetry—Epic: An Anthology in Finnish and English. Helsinki,
Hunting and Gathering Societies. Senri Ethnological Studies
1977. The volume contains the authentic texts of the original
56. Osaka, Japan, 2001.
folksingers’ versions of the Kalevala, with numerous and
Goldthwait-Väänänen. Helsinki, 1952. In this book, an orpheic
thorough notes.
figure is introduced as a shaman on the basis of rich shamanic
Laestadius, Lars Levi. Fragments in Lappish Mythology. Edited by
epical poetry in folklore behind the Kalevala.
Juha Pentikäinen. Helsinki, 2000.
Haavio, Martti. Essais folkloriques: Par Martti Haavio. Edited by
Lehtinen, Ildikó, ed. Traces of Central Asian Culture in the North.
Lauri Honko et al. Helsinki, 1959. Haavio’s essays in both
Translated by Elayne Antalffy, Márta Cserháti, and Péter Si-
German and English cover such topics as haunting soul be-
moncsics. Helsinki, 1986.
ings and cultic places in Finnish folk religion.
Loorits, Oskar. Grundzüge des Estnischen Volksglaubens. Vols. 1–3.
Haavio, Martti. Suomalainen mytologia. Porvoo, Finland, 1967.
Lund, Sweden, 1949–1957. The most complete overview of
The most detailed account of Finnish mythology to date that
Estonian folk superstitions to date with abundant original
lists the gods and provides much material for comparative
texts and details.
purposes, but one should read it with critical distance.
Meletinsky, E. M. “Typological Analysis of the Paleo-Asiatic
Haekel, J. “Idolkult und Dualsystem bei den Ugriern.” Archiv für
Raven Myths.” Acta Ethnographica 22 (1973): 107–155.
Völkerkunde 1 (1946): 95–163.
Paulson, Ivar. Die primitiven Seelenvorstellungender nordeurasisc-
Hajdú, Peter, ed. Ancient Cultures of the Uralian Peoples. Translat-
hen Völker: Eine religionsethnographische und religionsphäno-
ed by György Déry. Budapest, 1976. This study discusses the
menologische Untersuchung. Stockholm, 1958.
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3116
FIQH
Paulson, Ivar. The Old Estonian Folk Religion. Translated by Juta
fires regenerated the sun and their new fires rekindled the
Ko˜vamees Kitching and H. Ko˜vamees. Bloomington, Ind.,
new year. In modern Scandinavia some farmers of the old
1971. A system reconstructed on the basis of Estonian folk
school still drilled new fire by hand to cure sick cows. Many
beliefs, published after Paulson’s death, and probably unfin-
religious traditions, ancient and contemporary, foresee a ce-
ished.
lestial or cosmic fire that will destroy the world, as it has in
Pentikäinen, Juha. Shamanism and Culture. 3d ed. Helsinki,
the past.
1998.
Fire has been adopted as a metaphor—for some, the
Pentikäinen, Juha. Kalevala Mythology. Translated and edited by
Ritva Poom. Bloomington, Ind., 1999.
only metaphor—of sublime, ineffable, transformative experi-
ences in the spiritual quests of specialists of the sacred, and
Siikala, Anna-Leena, ed. Myth and Mentality: Studies in Folklore
in works by mystics, philosophers, and writers as disparate
and Popular Thought. Helsinki, 2002.
as Richard of Saint-Victor, Dante Alighieri, and Blaise Pas-
Toporov, V. N. “On the Typological Similarity of Mythological
cal. Understanding across times and cultures responds to an
Structures among the Ket and Neighbouring Peoples.” Semi-
early fourteenth-century voice, that of Richard Rolle de
otica 10 (1974): 19–42.
Hampole: “when settled in devotion . . . my soul is set on
Vilkuna, Asko. Das Verhalten der Finnen in “heiligen” (pyhä) Situa-
fire.” Western ascetics and saints gained renown as living
tionen. Helsinki, 1956.
flames, like legendary salamanders with miraculous immuni-
MIHÁLY HOPPÁL (1987)
ty to fire, while different traditions of Asia produced similar
JUHA PENTIKÄINEN (2005)
handlers of fire, and walkers on fire, who demonstrated su-
Translated from Hungarian by Timea Szell
perhuman status in kinship and seeming unity with the pow-
erful element.
FIQH
The cultic dimensions of fire are varied and countless.
SEE US:U
¯ L AL-FIQH
Some societies chose to center tradition on domestic hearths
and community fire altars, with extensive links to sacred oral
or written texts, while others held fire in supporting mythic
FIRE. In early stages of civilization, humans learned to
and ritual roles. The discussion that follows must of necessity
create fire by striking flint, drilling wood, and focusing solar
be selective and illustrative, not comprehensive.
rays. Myths attributed this wondrous, crucial acquisition to
ANCIENT INDIA AND IRAN AND SUBSEQUENT TRADITIONS.
the daring of a culture hero, theft from a primordial bird or
The oldest and most coherent body of myths, rituals, and
animal, burglary of heaven and obstinate gods who withheld
symbols of fire is found in the Vedas of ancient India and
it, emanation from the vagina of an old woman, or some-
the remnant Avestan and Pahlavi texts of ancient Iran. There
times the outright gift of a divine being. Recognized as am-
are parallels in both domestic and community cults of fire,
biguously creative and destructive, life-giving and life-taking,
and between Indic soma and Iranian haoma (Indo-Iranian
fire appeared in multiple mysteries of transmutation: of envi-
*sauma), both essential offerings to deities poured into sacri-
rons from cold, dark, and dangerous to warm, light, and se-
ficial fires. These, along with other key names and rituals, in-
cure; of food from raw to cooked; of substance from putrid
dicate an Indo-Iranian tradition of fire maintained by no-
to pure; of fields from sterile brush to fertile earth; of earth
madic pastoralists in West Asia several centuries before and
from ore to metal; of human bodies from disease to health;
after 2000 BCE. Oral mythologies and ritual references col-
of spirits from profane to sacred; and of speech from babble
lected in the R:gveda and Atharvaveda from around 1400 to
to wisdom. Fire was identified in animals, plants, earth, air,
1000 BCE include some 200 hymns addressed to the god of
and water. The human body contained its own fires of diges-
fire, Agni. The opening verse of the R:gveda addresses him as
tion, sexuality, and wrath, with fires in the blood, breath,
Purohita, a hearth deity who is domestic priest within every
semen, mind, heart, and spleen.
household as well as priest for all the gods. In other Vedic
Sam:hita¯s such as the Yajurveda, there appeared elaborate rit-
As the alchemist liberated secret interior fires from cer-
ual schedules based on the identity of fire and the household-
tain minerals, so with fire the smith accelerated nature’s pro-
er-sacrificer. Subsequent Bra¯hman:a texts explored the nature
cess by cooking and molding minerals into precious goods.
and function of this fire cult, which remained a focus for
Fire was appropriated by the shaman in the sweat lodge, by
both household and expanded cooperative ritual programs.
the yogin meditating as a fifth fire between four others, by
The tenth book of the S´atapatha Bra¯hman:a is Agni Rahasya,
the Australian aboriginal novice symbolically roasted and pu-
the “mystery of the fire altar,” an esoteric text that set a prece-
rified over a pit-fire, by the hero whose fury incinerated
dent for philosophical speculations in the Upanis:ads.
enemy warriors. In ancient India the hearth was said to be
a womb and a householder was not born until he and his wife
In turn, by around 700 BCE these Upanis:ads generated
established sacrificial fires. Chinese esoteric alchemists
a new worldview for Vedic Hinduism. Each of the two earli-
spurned the smelting fire of the exoteric alchemist because
est contains the same teaching on sam:sa¯ra (transmigration).
a quest for immortality demanded the superior fire in the
After death, one not released from rebirths returns from the
mind. Certain Native American tribes believed their ritual
moon and passes through five sacrificial fires, the fourth
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FIRE
3117
being a man who offers his semen into a woman; the fruit
priests or householders themselves reciting either Vedic man-
of this fifth sacrifice is a new embryo. In the same period
tras or Sanskrit verses. As a complement to household wor-
compendia of manuals known as su¯tras systematized sched-
ship, which is usually focused on images or symbols of favor-
ules of cooperative (S´rauta) and then domestic (Gr:hya) fire
ite goddesses and gods assembled close to the kitchen hearth,
sacrifices that have lasted to the present time. Also in this piv-
Hindus may go to neighborhood temples and shrines for
otal era various techniques of asceticism grew into promi-
devapu¯ja¯, public worship. Inside temples housing a form of
nence, including the production of inner heat (tapas) by
Dev¯ı, Vis:n:u, S´iva, or another deity, priests conduct on be-
means of various austerities. Cosmic-human bodily corre-
half of the visitor a schedule of worship, invariably including
spondences were explored in yet another way with these new
a¯rati, the waving of a lighted lamp or burning incense before
expressions of fire and heat.
the sacred image.
As the god Agni himself is a cosmic triad, so there
There are numerous fire festivals with bonfires, lamps,
should be three fires set in every household, and still in India
and fireworks in Hinduism. D¯ıva¯l¯ı (D¯ıpa¯val¯ı) is a popular
today there are a¯hita¯gnis, secluded maintainers of Agni in
occasion for setting out multitudes of burning lights (d¯ıpas)
their houses as a¯havan¯ıya (offering fire), ga¯rhapatya (prepara-
in October–November. In honor of pitr:s (ancestors), tiny
tory fire), and daks:ina¯gni (protective southern fire). The
bamboo boats carry hundreds of burning lamps down the
agnihotra, morning and evening offerings of hot milk, com-
nearest river. Torches are carried in rural communities in cir-
prise the basic domestic sacrifice. These now-rare three-fire
cumambulation around the entire village for certain festivals,
sacrificers are eligible, as in ancient Vedic practice, to ad-
and passage of all residents under arches of burning straw
vance to the sacrifice of soma and then selected other ´srauta
may be practiced at harvest time. A favorite vow in villages
rituals. The yajama¯na (sacrificer) carries a terra-cotta bowl of
and towns of South India and Sri Lanka is firewalking, at
fire in identification with Agni and with another Vedic god,
times featuring hundreds of people crossing in single file a
Praja¯pati, as world-creator. Solemn rituals include the forty-
thirty-foot-long pit of glowing embers to the sounds of thun-
day paun:d:ar¯ıka, employing seventeen priests with both ani-
derous drums and shrill flutes. At other times a single person,
mal and soma offerings in a type of agnicayana fire sacrifice
possessed by a deity or the deified dead, may walk on coals,
reintegrating time and space in a cosmic construction of
“play” with fire, dance with burning skewers, swallow burn-
Agni. Five layers of thousands of bricks shape a gigantic eagle
ing charcoal, or hold burning camphor on the palm of the
with the a¯tman, the Self, at the center, indicating that the
hand, all as demonstrations of divine power and grace. Devo-
sacrificer and fire are one. A striking feature of these contem-
tion to a fierce goddess such as Pattini, Draupad¯ı,
porary survivals of ancient practice is the generation of Agni
Ma¯r¯ıamma, Poleramma, or some other manifestation of
by friction from aran:is (male and female wooden drilling
Amma (Mother) is thereby tested, and the unscathed devotee
sticks). These have a capacity to absorb all three fires into
gains the goddess’s protection against epidemic diseases and
themselves for transport if the a¯hita¯gni and patn¯ı (wife) must
other misfortunes. Firewalking is performed by Fiji Island
travel away from the house and constant tending of fires.
migrant Hindus in the South Pacific, by Buddhist as well as
Confirmation of a belief in the identity of householder
Hindu devotees of the popular god Kataragama (Skanda) in
and fire is found both in the Vedic cremation ritual, in which
Sri Lanka, and by Sh¯ıE¯ı Muslims in South Asia, particularly
the sacrificer or his wife is burned with the three sacrificial
during the annual festival of Muh:arram.
fires, literally absorbed by them in antyes:t:i, a “final sacrifice,”
This sketch of South Asia over four millennia may be
and, in another direction, in the vow to become a sam:nya¯sin,
paralleled in greater Iran, where spiritual identifications of
a renunciant ascetic. Sam:nya¯sa calls for the interiorization of
humans with fire occur on similar levels: individual, family-
fires, ritual deposition of fires in the self, and therefore an
household, village, and in the case of kingship rituals, state.
end to the external sacrifices that have previously structured
However, by comparison with India’s still enduring oral tra-
life. Since the sam:nya¯sin’s breaths are the five cosmic fires,
ditions and Vedic-Hindu historical continuity in ritual, evi-
his agnihotra becomes the constant offering of pra¯n:a
dence for ancient Iranian cults of fire is limited first by a
(breath).
break in oral traditions and loss of much of the early written
Great Vedic fire sacrifices such as the agnicayana,
record, then by dispersal of Zoroastrians themselves during
a´svamedha (royal horse sacrifice), or ra¯jasu¯ya (consecration
the medieval advance of Islam. What survives, however, indi-
of a king) have not been a prominent feature of Hinduism
cates the centrality of the household hearth (a¯tash da¯dga¯h),
since the late medieval period, and the god Agni himself has
along with extended community (a¯tash a¯dara¯n) and royal or
been reduced to minor status since the emergence of the San-
primary fires (a¯tash bahra¯m) and sacrifices similar to the pat-
skrit epics and Pura¯n:as. But the role of fire in Hinduism has
tern of Vedic Indo-Aryans to the east. A cosmic five-fire wor-
never diminished. Life-cycle rites (sam:ska¯ras) are an array of
ldview, again as in India, complemented this basic triad, all
ceremonies from conception and birth to cremation, the last
based on a system of correspondences between natural fire
still defined by the final offering of the body to Agni
and ritual fire. Among several major differences, however,
Kravya¯d, consumer of the deceased, on the funeral pyre.
was the emergence in Iran of permanent temples, “houses of
Sam:ska¯ras depend on ritually kindled fires with domestic
a fire” enthroned on raised pedestals, perhaps under the in-
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FIRE
fluence of surrounding temple-building cultures of urban
ued this model with the pralaya principle, based on an end-
West Asia. Although fireplaces have been excavated in Bac-
less repetition of dissolutions and re-creations of the cosmos,
tria and Margiana (northern Afghanistan and southern
destructions being total incineration by one or another form
Turkmenistan), in sites in the path of Indo-Iranian migra-
of Agni. Zoroastrianism, on the other hand, introduced a
tions from around 2500 to 1500 BCE, other than traces of
sense of final time and divine judgment, with eschatological
ephedra (possibly haoma) there is little evidence regarding
fire expected on the last day in a one-time cataclysm. In his-
the beliefs and rituals of those who used them. It was not
toric time, judgment occurs routinely, as in ordeals by fire
until the fourth century BCE that Achaemenid rulers of great-
to test veracity and loyalty, but the day of final judgment
er Iran erected temples of perpetual fire. Barely surviving two
awaits the future after resolution of the conflict of asha and
millennia of political and religious warfare, temples with fire
druj, the light of truth and darkness of the lie, in favor of
in metal containers still serve today as spiritual centers for
Ahura Mazda¯ and his eternal flame.
remnant Zoroastrians in Iran and for Parsis in western India
T
who maintain eight bahra¯m fires.
HE ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN. A fire altar (bomos) in a sa-
cred precinct (temenos) was an essential feature of ancient re-
Fire emerged as the basic symbol of Zoroastrianism, the
ligious practice for Greeks. The cult depended, as in India
religion that developed in the first half of the first millenni-
and Iran, on sacrifice to deities with commensal sharing of
um BCE, probably from the teachings of Zarathushtra in the
victims. Hesiod and Homer speak of the fat-wrapped thigh-
Ga¯tha¯s. The ancient Indo-Iranian deities were submerged
bones of an ox, cuts of meat, and wine offered on the altar
into a cult of one “Wise Lord,” Ahura Mazda¯, although they
fire. Open fire pits opposite a temple entrance were standard,
resurfaced as his entities or qualities in a set of six Amesha
although some older temples had interior hearths. Hestia
Spentas (Beneficent immortals). Most prominent among
burned perpetually in her temple at Delphi, as a flame and
them is Asha, the equivalent of Vedic r:ta (cosmic order).
with no image necessary to represent her. And in every home
Asha, a quality of Ahura Mazda¯—at one point recognized as
the hearth was the sacred center, a site of offerings, and a
an independent deity, Asha Vahishta—symbolizes truth and
space where none could be violated.
justice, and was represented by fire. The sun and light are
In Hesiod’s Theogony, Prometheus deceives and angers
visible forms of Ahura Mazda¯, but above all he is fire. An eth-
Zeus during a sacrifice of ox bones by stealing an ember from
ical dualism presented a clear opposition in which the sym-
the altar and kindling the first fire to burn on earth. The Ho-
bols of asha—fire, light, purity, and goodness—are on the
meric Hymn to Demeter preserves an archaic legend of Eleu-
side of Ahura Mazda¯ against druj (the lie), associated with
sinian mysteries, the goddess Demeter’s attempt to deify the
darkness, impurity, and evil. In meditation, personal piety,
boy Demophoon by secretly holding him in the hearth fire
and sacrifice (yasna, Avestan parallel to Vedic yajña) a wor-
at night. That ritual, interrupted by the terrified mother,
shiper relates to fire and participates in this cosmic, but also
Metaneira, fails and the boy remains mortal. Again, as in
immediately human conflict. The offering into fires of sacri-
India and Iran, cosmic correspondences exist between fire,
ficial animals, particularly their fat, and of pressed haoma
breath (pneuma, Latin spiritus), and mind. The worldview of
juice was suppressed by Zarathushtra, but these age-old ritu-
Heraclitus of Ephesus (c. 540–480
als resurfaced in a later period. Among Parsis today only
BCE) began with fire, an
uncreated, eternal substance, essence of the universe, and
haoma is sacrificed. A symbolic libation of fat occurs only in
medium of creation, associated with logos, mind, reason, and
funerals.
wisdom. The Pythagoreans, Parmenides of Elea, and Em-
Aside from permanent fire temples, other features dis-
pedocles were other philosophers placing elemental fire in
tinguish the Iranian fire cult from its Vedic-Hindu counter-
prominence.
part. The sovereign Vedic god Varun:a governs r:ta (cosmic
order), while in the case of Varun:a’s Avestan complement,
The bare patch of ground on the Palatine Hill may not
Ahura Mazda¯, asha is itself the representation of fire. In Iran,
be “the hearth of Romulus,” as claimed by today’s tour
disposal of the dead was not by cremation, as in India, but
guides, but ancient Rome did have its dual fire cults of do-
rather by exposure, as seen with the famous stone towers still
mestic hearth, which received part of the meal before the
used today by Parsis in India. Fire burns nearby, but birds
family dined, and public altar (ara or altaria) with its own
and beasts of prey are allowed to clean flesh from bone, thus
adjoining hearth. Vesta, Roman parallel to Hestia, was in a
protecting sacred fire from the pollution of death. Even
uniquely round temple without an image, her eternal flame
human breath is polluting, and mouth-veils are worn by sac-
being sufficient representation on what was essentially the
rificing, fire-tending priests, the only persons who may ap-
hearth of the city, tended—like any domestic hearth—by fe-
proach the altars.
males, six appointed Vestal Virgins tasked with kindling a
new fire by friction every New Year’s Day, March 1. On
Regarding fire, yet another distinction from Indo-Aryan
April 21, Pales, goddess of herders and their animals, was
tradition pertains to time. Vedic sacrifices reveal a cyclic pat-
honored through the staging of Parilia, a festival including
tern, as in the Ra¯jasu¯ya sacrifice used to consecrate kings, in
the racing of men and animals through burning straw, simi-
which one performance, when completed, is immediately
lar to one occurring in India today. The temple of Volcanus
followed by preparations for another. The Pura¯n:as contin-
stood outside the city walls, a reminder of other fires: the
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3119
dangerously destructive one sleeping in the heights of Vesu-
of gold (Dan. 3:1–30). “A chariot of fire and horses of fire”
vius and Aetna, and the summer fires of cropfields and grana-
took Elijah “up by a whirlwind into heaven” (2 Kings 2:11).
ries.
“My heart grew hot within me,” says David in Psalm 39.3,
“as I meditated, the fire burned; then I spoke with my
Two centuries after Heraclitus, Stoic philosophers, in-
tongue.”
cluding Zeno, Cleanthes, and others, elaborated Heraclitus’s
belief in fire as a basic element associated with logos as uni-
In the New Testament the sound of a mighty wind ac-
versal reason and regulative principle. The doctrine of semi-
companied the arrival of the Holy Spirit that appeared to the
nal logos (logos spermatikos) led to belief in individual beings
apostles of Jesus as “tongues of fire, distributed and resting
as immortal sparks from a divine fiery unity, a view adopted
on each one of them” (Acts 2:1–4). Peter’s second letter in-
with modifications by Jewish, Christian, Gnostic, and other
structs that heaven and earth will be burned up on the day
philosophical traditions. In the new Hellenistic culture ac-
of the Lord (3:10), and Revelation, the Apocalypse of John,
quainted with the wider world of Asia, several elements de-
warns sinners of an end “in the lake that burns with fire and
rived from early Upanis:ads (c. 700 BCE) are evident, includ-
brimstone, which is the second death” (21.8). Early Chris-
ing the notion of the individual soul, destined eventually to
tian desert saints of Egypt such as Abba Joseph of Panephy-
rejoin that original fiery unity, departing this earth for the
sis, continuing the imagery of the Holy Spirit, were wit-
moon.
nessed as flaming fires. The third-century church “father,”
ANCIENT ISRAEL, JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY, AND ISLAM. To
Origen, foresaw a purification on the last day: Jesus will
a limited extent scriptures of the two biblical traditions and
stand in a fiery river to baptize by fire all who enter paradise.
Islam consciously separated the supreme being from the nat-
ural phenomenon of fire. And yet all three employed numer-
Fire and light play prominent roles in the extra-
ous symbols, beliefs, and folklore concerning the element of
canonical literature of Judaism and Christianity, and in
fire and associated phenomena of light. Only ancient Israel
Gnostic texts, particularly in various apocalypses. Develop-
had a cult of fire maintained for animal sacrifices on a temple
ing traditions of Jewish mysticism and collections of Jewish
or open-air altar in the pattern of West Asia and, to a lesser
legend (Haggadah) were significant in this regard. In a Hag-
extent, Egypt. With the destruction of the Second Temple
gadah account of creation it is said that the preexistent Torah
in Jerusalem in 70
was written with black fire on white fire, as she (the Torah)
CE, sacrificial fire—along with the Temple
and the altar—became eschatological symbols. Early Chris-
was lying in the lap of God. The Gospel of Thomas quotes
tian churches with wooden tables as altars for the symbolic
Jesus as saying, “He who is near me is near the fire” (82),
sacrifice known as Eucharist, and Islamic mosques as houses
but also “I have come to cast upon earth fire, sword and war”
of prayer, like synagogues, had place for discreet lamps but
(16), and the Apocalypse of Peter reveals the day of God with
not open fire. The Shabbat lamp and the altar candle still
cataracts of fire, “a fierce fire that shall not be put out and
serve as fire in miniature.
it flows for the judgment of wrath” (4). Given the influence
of Iranian traditions, it is not surprising to find parallels to
To a degree, all three religions were influenced by Zoro-
cosmic conflict in the Qumran scroll “The War of the Sons
astrianism, as is particularly evident in postexilic Judaism and
of Light with the Sons of Darkness” and in the Gnostic
in a widespread belief in opposing angels and demons. Most
“Paraphrase of Shem,” with its visions of chaotic fires.
important were apocalyptic and other eschatological im-
prints in the notions of a fiery last day of judgment, of hell
Elijah’s chariot of fire, reminiscent of both Vedic and
as a place of flaming torment, and of a God who pursues the
ancient Iranian chariots of fire-sacrificers, and Daniel’s vision
unrighteous with punishing fire. On the other hand, all three
of “a throne of fiery flames with wheels of burning fire” (7:9)
faiths produced mystics of independent and solitary vision
became foundational images of the divine throne-chariot
and experience, some associated with sublime expressions of
(merkabah) for many centuries of mystical texts and schools.
fire, heat, and love.
Enoch’s vision, similar to Daniel’s, records a heavenly throne
of fire in a blazing mansion, with the Lord speaking to him
When Solomon prayed before the bronze altar “fire
from streams of fire. He is also given a tour of Hell with its
came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering
rivers of fire (I Enoch). The thirteenth-century Zohar, the
and the sacrifice and the glory of the Lord filled the temple”
seminal text for Qabbalah, identifies the ten sefirot, primor-
(2 Chron. 7:1). In a striking theophany Moses saw the angel
dial numbers and emanations of light and power from the
of the Lord in the midst of a burning bush that was not con-
divine unity, a process later believed by qabbalists to include
sumed (Exod. 3:2), and in the flight from Egypt through the
dissemination of sparks from that one source.
wilderness the Lord led the people of Israel in a pillar of
cloud by day, a pillar of fire by night (Exod. 13:21–22). Be-
Inspirational to generations of H:asidim are stories of
lievers are protected from destructive fire: “When you walk
charismatic rebbes such as BaEal Shem Tov (c. 1700–1760),
through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not
known as the BeSHT. Once an overnight guest in his house,
consume you. For I am the Lord your God” (Isa. 43:2).
awakened at midnight in terror by a great flame rising from
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were not harmed when
the hearth, fainted upon realizing it was the BeSHT. Another
thrown into a fiery furnace for refusing to worship an image
Hasidic rebbe, the Maggid of Mezeritch (1704–1772), sent
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FIRE
his followers fleeing in panic by appearing suddenly as a
every crucible in the fire of jealousy.” And Ru¯m¯ı, ecstatic
being of fire.
poet of Persian odes and originator of the Mevlevi
(Mawlaw¯ıyah) whirling dervish dance, sang to his divine be-
The mystics of European Christianity often spoke and
loved, Shams al-D¯ın: “Face like fire, wine like fire, love afire
wrote of being consumed in ecstasy by incendium amoris,
. . . soul . . . lamenting ‘Whither shall I flee?’” (136.6).
“the fire of love.” Saints Augustine of Hippo (354–430),
Gregory I (the Great) (c. 540–604), John of the Cross (Juan
SEE ALSO Light and Darkness.
de la Cruz, 1542–1591), Catherine of Genoa (1447–1510),
and Teresa of Ávila (d. 1582), the hermit Richard Rolle de
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Hampole (c. 1290–1349), and the philosopher Jakob Boeh-
On fire in general, see four works by Mircea Eliade: A History of
me (1575–1624) all used a language of fire and heat to con-
Religious Ideas, 3 vols., translated by Willard R. Trask et al.
vey the impact of mystical transformations or unitive states.
(Chicago, 1978–1985), The Forge and the Crucible, translat-
Rolle speaks for many: “[T]he heart that truly receives the
ed by Stephen Corrin (New York, 1962), Shamanism: Archa-
fire of the Holy Ghost is burned wholly and turns as it were
ic Techniques of Ecstasy, translated by Willard R. Trask (New
York, 1964), and Mephistopheles and the Androgyne, translat-
into fire; and it leads it into that form that is likest to God”
ed by J. M. Cohen (New York, 1965); also see Gaston
(Incendium amoris, ch. 17).
Bachelard, The Psychoanalysis of Fire, translated by Alan C.
In some Greek villages today, devotees of Saint Con-
M. Ross (Boston, 1964); Carl-Martin Edsman, Ignis Divinus
stantine (the Great) and his mother Saint Helena believe
(Lund, Sweden, 1949); and David M. Knipe, In the Image
of Fire: Vedic Experiences of Heat (Delhi, 1975).
they are protected by the pair when performing a firewalk
after sacrificing a bull and sharing the feast of Anestanaria.
On fire in Indo-European cosmogony and eschatology, see Bruce
Brought to the United States by immigrants, this ritual was
Lincoln, Myth, Cosmos, and Society: Indo-European Themes of
soon swept into the 1970s New Age practice of firewalking,
Creation and Destruction (Cambridge, Mass., 1986). On
Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, and Eurasian steppe back-
with its goals of self-realization and experimentation rather
grounds to historic India and Iran, see Asko Parpola, “Pre-
than ritual or worship. Today the American firewalking
Proto-Iranians of Afghanistan as Initiators of Sa¯kta Tan-
movement holds workshops in scores of states and some uni-
trism,” Iranica Antiqua 37 (2002): 233–324, and his “From
versities offer courses on firewalking.
the Dialects of Old Indo-Aryan to Proto-Indo-Aryan and
Proto-Iranian,” in Indo-Iranian Languages and Peoples, edited
Several times the QurDa¯n recounts Moses’ theophany of
by Nicholas Sims-Williams, pp.43–102 (Oxford, 2002).
fire, but most references are warnings to those who reject the
Also useful are J. P. Mallory, In Search of the Indo-Europeans
truth and deserve horrendous flame and molten brass on the
(London, 1989) and Richard B. Onians, The Origins of Euro-
day of judgment. Anecdotes of the Prophet preserved in pop-
pean Thought about the Body, the Mind, the Soul, the World,
ular bazaar tracts include such miracles as the moment when
Time, and Fate, 2d ed. (Cambridge, U.K., 1954).
Muh:ammad halted the sun in its course. A rich hagiographi-
On the Vedic fire cult, see Frits Staal, Agni: The Vedic Ritual of
cal literature, particularly in association with the S:u¯f¯ıs, de-
the Fire Altar, 2 vols. (Berkeley, Calif., 1983); Musashi
tails the experiences of awliya¯ E (friends) of Alla¯h, saints, and
Tachikawa, Shrikant Bahulkar, and Madhavi Kolhatkar, In-
mystics included in collections from the eleventh and follow-
dian Fire Ritual (Delhi, 2001); H. W. Bodewitz, The Daily
ing centuries. Examples of S:u¯f¯ıs handling fire or using a lan-
Evening and Morning Offering (Agnihotra) (Leiden, Nether-
guage of fire bring to mind the mystics of Christianity.
lands, 1976); and David M. Knipe, In the Image of Fire
H:asan al-Bas:r¯ı (642–728) caused a “fire-worshiping” Zoro-
(Delhi, 1975).
astrian to convert to Islam by thrusting his own hand into
On Hinduism, see Wendy Doniger [O’Flaherty], Asceticism and
a fire and leaving it there unburned. Ra¯biEah al-DAdaw¯ıyah
Eroticism in the Mythology of S´iva (London, 1973) and David
(d. 810), Abu¯ Yaz¯ıd al-Bist:a¯m¯ı (d. 874), Jala¯l al-D¯ın Ru¯m¯ı
G. White, The Alchemical Body: Siddha Traditions in Medi-
(d. 1273), and Najm Da¯ya¯ Ra¯z¯ı (thirteenth century) all
eval India (Chicago, 1996).
broke restraints of law, theology and proper behavior to
On ancient Iran and Zoroastrianism, compare two books by Mary
identify Alla¯h and fire, and at times themselves with both.
Boyce, A History of Zoroastrianism, 3 vols. (Leiden, 1975–91;
Union with fire readily lent itself to the contested notion of
vol. 3 by Mary Boyce and Frantz Grenet) and Zoroastrians:
fa¯na D, mystical annihilation. One S:u¯f¯ı complained that he
Their Beliefs and Practices (London, 1979), with two by
could not sleep because of his fear of hell-fire. Ra¯biEah was
Jacques Duchesne-Guillemin, Symbols and Values in Zoroas-
trianism: Their Survival and Renewal (New York, 1966) and
said to have carried a torch and a pail of water, explaining
Religion of Ancient Iran, translated by K. M. Jamasp Asa
that she intended to burn Paradise and douse Hell in order
(Bombay, 1973). Other standard works include Stig Wi-
to eliminate both hindrances to a pure vision of Alla¯h. One
kander, Feuerpriester in Kleinasien und Iran (Lund, Sweden,
dark night in Basra she had several visitors. Having no lan-
1946) and Klaus Schippmann, Die iranischen Feuerheilig-
tern, she blew upon her finger, which then lighted the room
tumer (Berlin and New York, 1971). Still authoritative is
until sun-up. In the famous account of his “ascension” ac-
Jivanji Jamshedji Modi, The Religious Ceremonies and Cus-
cording to the Tadhkirat al-Auliya’, Abu¯ Yaz¯ıd, founder of
toms of the Parsees, 2d ed. (Bombay, 1937).
the “drunken” school of mystics, spoke from his dark night
On fire cults in Java, Bali, Tibet, China, and Japan, see essays by
of the soul: “In my intoxication . . . I melted my body in
C. Hooykaas, Tadeusz Skorupski, and Michel Strickmann in
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FIRTH, RAYMOND
3121
Agni: The Vedic Ritual of the Fire Altar, vol. 2, edited by Frits
On Native Americans, see Claude Lévi-Strauss, The Raw and the
Staal, pp. 382–455.
Cooked, translated by John and Doreen Weightman (New
York, 1969); Lawrence E. Sullivan, Icanchu’s Drum: An Ori-
On the yin-yang school of ancient China, see Fung Yu-lan, A His-
entation to Meaning in South American Religions (New York,
tory of Chinese Philosophy, 2d ed., vol. 1, translated by Derk
1988); A˚ke Hultkrantz, The Religions of the American Indi-
Bodde (Princeton, N.J., 1952) and Joseph Needham, Science
ans, translated by Monica Setterwall (Berkeley, Calif., 1967);
and Civilization in China, vol. 2: History of Scientific Thought
and Reinhilde Freise, Studie zum Feuer in Vorstellungswelt
(Cambridge, U.K., 1956).
und Praktiken der Indianer des südwestlichen Nordamerika
On ancient Greece, compare Walter Burkert, Greek Religion,
(Tübingen, Germany, 1969).
translated by John Raffan (Cambridge, Mass., 1985) with Le
For a penetrating structural study of a fire ritual among the
sacrifice dans l’antiquité, edited by Jean-Pierre Vernant and
Ndembu of Zambia, see Victor Turner, The Ritual Process:
Olivier Reverdin (Geneva, 1981); Marie Delcourt, Pyrrhos et
Structure and Anti-Structure (Chicago, 1969).
Pyrrha: Recherches sur les valeurs du feu dans les légendes hel-
léniques (Paris: 1965); Carl-Martin Edsman, Ignis Divinus
On Australian aboriginals, see Ronald M. Berndt and Catherine
(Lund, Sweden, 1949); and William D. Furley, Studies in the
H. Berndt, The World of the First Australians: An Introduction
Use of Fire in Ancient Greek Religion (New York, 1981). On
to the Traditional Life of the Australian Aborigines (Chicago,
firewalking in modern Greece and the United States, see Lor-
1964).
ing M. Danforth, Firewalking and Religious Healing: The An-
DAVID M. KNIPE (2005)
astenaria of Greece and the American Firewalking Movement
(Princeton, N.J., 1989), Anna Gault-Antoniades, The An-
astenaria: Thracian Fire-walking Festival (Athens, 1954), and
William D. Furley, Studies in the Use of Fire in Ancient Greek
FIRTH, RAYMOND. Raymond Firth (1901–2002)
Religion (New York, 1981).
was born in New Zealand and grew up in a rural area on the
On ancient Rome, see Georges Dumézil, Archaic Roman Religion,
edge of Auckland. He attended Auckland Grammar School,
translated by Philip Krapp, 2 vols. (Chicago, 1970) and Rob-
where, at the age of fourteen, he found a copy of F. E. Man-
ert Schilling, Rites, cultes, dieux de Rome (Paris, 1979).
ing’s Old New Zealand, which, he said, laid a foundation for
On ancient Israel and Judaism, see Menahem Haran, Temples and
his interest in the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zea-
Temple-Service in Ancient Israel (Oxford, 1978); two works
land, the Maori. As a schoolboy he also discovered the Jour-
written by Gershom G. Scholem, Major Trends in Jewish
nal of the Polynesian Society in the Auckland Public Library,
Mysticism, 3d rev. ed. (New York, 1954) and On the Kab-
became a reader, and later a contributor. In 1925 he pub-
balah and Its Symbolism, translated by Ralph Manheim (New
lished an article in the journal on a Maori pa site, and seven-
York, 1965), and one edited by him, The Zohar: The Book
ty-six years later, at the age of one hundred, an article by him
of Splendor (New York, 1949); Ithamar Gruenwald, Apoca-
on Tikopia dreams was published in the same journal.
lyptic and Merkavah Mysticism (Leiden, 1980); Willis Barn-
stone, ed., The Other Bible (San Francisco, 1984); and Elie
Growing up in New Zealand, Firth had Maori friends
Wiesel, Souls on Fire: Portraits and Legends of Hasidic Masters,
and learned their language, which helped him acquire fluen-
translated by Marion Wiesel (New York, 1972).
cy in the cognate language of Tikopia, where he later carried
On Christianity, see Carl-Martin Edsman, Le Baptême de feu
out anthropological fieldwork. His interest in Maori ritual
(Uppsala, Sweden, 1940); Richard Rolle de Hampole, The
and belief laid a foundation for his later work on religion in
Fire of Love, translated by Richard Misyn and edited by F.
Tikopia.
M. M. Comper, 2d ed. (London, 1920); E. Allison Peers,
The Complete Works of Saint John of the Cross, 3 vols. (Lon-
In 1921 Firth graduated in economics from what was
don, 1934–1935); The Letters of Saint Teresa, translated by
then Auckland University College, and in 1924 he wrote a
the Benedictines of Stanbrook Abbey, 4 vols. (London,
masters thesis on the kauri gum industry. He arrived at the
1921–1926); Jakob Boehme, Aurora, translated by John
London School of Economics in 1924 to work towards a
Sparrow (London, 1960); Evelyn Underhill, Mysticism
doctorate in economics, intending to focus his work on the
(1911; reprint, New York, 1955); and a book edited by Wal-
frozen meat industry in New Zealand. However, he came
ter H. Capps and Wendy M. Wright, Silent Fire: An Invita-
under the influence of the then professor of social anthropol-
tion to Western Mysticism (San Francisco, 1978.)
ogy Bronislaw Malinowski and changed the direction of his
On Islamic saints and mystics, see Far¯ıd al-D¯ın EAt:t:a¯r, Muslim
work. His thesis, Primitive Economics of the New Zealand
Saints and Mystics: Episodes from the Tadhkirat al-Auliya E
Maori, was published in 1929.
(“Memorial of the Saints”), translated by A. J. Arberry (Chica-
go, 1966); Mystical Poems of Ru¯m¯ı, translated by A. J. Arber-
In 1928 Firth set out for Tikopia, a small Polynesian
ry (Chicago, 1968); Annemarie Schimmel, Mystical Dimen-
outlier in the Solomon Islands, where he would carry out his
sions of Islam (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1975); and R. C. Zaehner,
first truly anthropological fieldwork. He would return to the
Hindu and Muslim Mysticism (New York, 1960).
island several times. His publications about Tikopia provide
On shamanism, in addition to Eliade, Shamanism (New York,
a corpus of work about a small preliterate society that is prob-
1964), see Jean-Paul Roux, “Fonctions chamaniques et
ably unrivaled, comprising nine books and some one hun-
valeurs du feu chez lex peuples altaiques,” Revue de l’histoire
dred articles. His ethnography of the island, We, the Tikopia
des religions 189 (1976): 67–101.
(1936), has been reprinted many times. It introduces Firth’s
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3122
FISH
analysis of traditional Polynesian religion, which he devel-
Malaya and in London, as well as writing more generally on
oped in later publications, including The Work of the Gods
topics of theoretical and anthropological interest. He re-
in Tikopia (1940), History and Traditions of Tikopia (1960),
ceived many honors during his long and distinguished ca-
Tikopia Ritual and Belief (1967), and Rank and Religion in
reer: he was knighted in 1973 and appointed Companion,
Tikopia (1970).
New Zealand Order of Merit, in 2001. In 2002 the British
Academy announced it was awarding him the first Leverhul-
Firth has provided a unique record of traditional Poly-
me medal to be given to scholars of exceptional distinction
nesian religious thought and practice. In general, missioniza-
in recognition of his “outstanding and internationally ac-
tion of the Pacific had been successfully carried out on the
knowledged contributions to 20th century anthropology.”
majority of island groups, beginning in the early 1800s.
Raymond Firth died in February 2002.
Therefore, a record of traditional beliefs often remained only
in the journals of early missionaries, who regarded as be-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
nighted or inferior the religions they were replacing with
Firth, Raymond. We, the Tikopia: A Sociological Study of Kinship
Christianity. Tikopia escaped the earliest onslaught of mis-
in Primitive Polynesia. London, 1936.
sionaries because of its isolation. The Tikopia themselves
Firth, Raymond. The Work of the Gods in Tikopia. London, 1940;
were also extremely resistant to outside intrusion and suc-
2d ed., 1967.
cessfully kept both missionaries and colonial government at
Firth, Raymond. The Fate of the Soul: An Interpretation of Some
bay until the early 1900s.
Primitive Concepts. Cambridge, UK, 1956.
The first missionary to settle on the island in the 1920s
Firth, Raymond. Social Change in Tikopia: Re-study of a Polynesian
was not European; he was a man from the Banks Islands
Community after a Generation. London, 1958.
working for the Melanesian Mission (Church of England).
Firth, Raymond. History and Traditions of Tikopia. Wellington,
This man, Pa Pangisi, later married a Tikopia woman, and
New Zealand, 1960.
his more sympathetic view of traditional beliefs probably
Firth, Raymond. “The Spirits Depart.” New Society 11 (1966):
contributed to the fact that by the time Firth carried out his
683–685.
first fieldwork in Tikopia, fewer than half the inhabitants of
Firth, Raymond. Tikopia Ritual and Belief. London, 1967.
the island had converted to Christianity, and only one of the
Firth, Raymond. Rank and Religion in Tikopia: A Study in Polyne-
four chiefs had done so. Firth, therefore, had the opportunity
sian Paganism and Conversion to Christianity. London, 1970.
to record ritual practices firsthand, and his excellent knowl-
JUDITH MACDONALD (2005)
edge of the language allowed him to translate the allusive and
complex words of the various rituals.
Firth himself had been brought up a Methodist and
FISH. Inherent in fish symbolism is the sacred power of
taught Sunday school as a young man, but at the London
the abyss, the reciprocities of life and death. Paleolithic fish
School of Economics his opinions changed to a humanistic
figurines have been found with the spiral of creativity carved
rationalism and he regretted the proselytization of Tikopia.
on one side and the labyrinth of death on the other, evincing
In We, the Tikopia he wrote, “what justification can be found
the spiritual world of early humankind in which fish repre-
for this steady pressure to break down the customs of a peo-
sented propagating and perishing, killing and consuming,
ple against whom the main charge is that their gods are dif-
life renewed and sustained.
ferent from ours?” (1936, p. 50). His sympathy and respect
In the ancient Near East and the Mediterranean world,
for the customs of Tikopia persuaded the chiefs of the island
fish were associated with the great goddesses, archetypal im-
to share their ritual knowledge with him, and they later re-
ages of femininity, love, and fertility. Astarte was worshiped
called Firth’s distaste for the missionary habit of referring to
in the form of a fish; Atargatis named her son Ichthys, Sacred
traditional beliefs and paraphernalia as “things of darkness.”
Fish. In ancient Greece, Rome, and Scandinavia, the god-
desses Aphrodite, Venus, and Frigg were assimilated to fish,
On return visits to the island in 1952 and 1966, Firth
and on Friday, the day sacred to them, fish were eaten as a
was able to record Tikopia’s final conversion to Christianity.
way of participating in their fecundity. In many parts of the
Social Change in Tikopia (1958) records the pragmatic deci-
world—India, Greenland, Samoa, and Brazil—virgins were
sions taken by the remaining three pagan chiefs, which led
thought to be made pregnant by the gift of a fish, while a
to all non-Christian Tikopia (with the exception of one old
“fishing dance” was a common fertility rite in the women’s
woman) converting to Melanesian Mission practice.
societies of Africa. The dual nature of the symbol was mani-
After Firth’s initial period of fieldwork, he served as act-
fested, and fish were regarded as unclean, wherever the god-
ing professor at Sydney University from 1930 to 1932, after
dess was characterized as libidinous and devouring. Fish gods
which he returned to the London School of Economics,
were venerated as creators and vivifiers among Sumero-
where he became a lecturer (1932–1935), reader (1935), and
Semitic peoples and represented phallic power. An Assyrian
professor (in 1944). He remained there, with brief interrup-
seal of about 700 BCE depicts “Fish Gods Fertilizing the Tree
tions, until his retirement in 1968. While Tikopia remained
of Life.” Babylonian seals bear the image of a great fish with
central to his publications, he also carried out fieldwork in
a vase from which fish stream.
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FISH
3123
A ubiquitous food in much of the world, fish are a uni-
garb is depicted on early Christian lamps. In Christian mor-
versal motif of plenty. They are an emblem of abundance
tuary painting, on pagan sarcophagi, and in representations
and good augury on Buddhist altars and are cited as one of
of Chinese feasts of the dead, fish relate to resurrection and
the five boons in the Tantric text Va¯ma¯ca¯ris.
regeneration.
At ritual meals in the temples of Babylon, fish was the
The experience of entering the belly of a whale or big
sacred food of the priests. In Judaism, fish was regarded as
fish, as in the Jonah story, is equated to a religious idea that
the food of the blessed in paradise and was eaten at the Sab-
informed the initiatory mysteries and rituals of death and of
bath meal. The old Jewish Passover was in the month of
rebirth through newfound wisdom. Variants of this transi-
Adar, the Fish, and the traditional symbol of the national res-
tion symbol are found worldwide, from the initiation rites
toration that is to come with the advent of the Messiah is
of Oceania, West Africa, Lapland, and Finland to the North
the great fish on which the righteous will feast. Sabbath uten-
American Indian tale of Hiawatha, who was swallowed by
sils and the chalice of benediction are often decorated with
the King of Fishes.
images of fish.
Fishing symbolizes both looking for souls and looking
Sacred fish occur in Syrian and Iranian myths.
into the soul, that is, drawing the treasure of wisdom from
Throughout the dynastic period in Egypt, they were regard-
the sea of the unknown. The Babylonians considered the sea
ed as the manifestation or abode of a god. Hapi, father of
the source of wisdom, and a mystic fisherman called “War-
the gods, was “Lord of the Fishes,” and a fish denoted the
den of the Fish” is represented on a seal of the second millen-
phallus of the dismembered god Osiris. An attribute of the
nium BCE. The mythical hero Ea-Oannes, half man, half fish,
sea god Poseidon (or Neptune), fish were associated with
rose from the waters to bring culture and wisdom to man-
lunar power, and when represented with an ax, as in Crete,
kind. The figure evolved into a fish god, Lord of the Deeps,
designated both lunar and solar power. Pisces, the twelfth
whose priests wore fish skins and a fish headdress and whose
sign of the Zodiac, is a pair of parallel fishes pointing in op-
image was ultimately transmuted into the miter of Christian
posite directions, symbolizing spiritual and temporal power,
bishops. The name Orpheus derives from a term for “fish,”
the upper and lower worlds, past and future, involution and
and one of the figures on an Orphic sacramental bowl of the
evolution, the ending of one cycle and the beginning of an-
third or fourth century BCE shows Orpheus as a fisher of
other. A pair of fishes on Chinese Bronze Age vessels signifies
men, with a fish and pole at his feet. The Celtic god Nodon
creative power. The Japanese believed that the world was
was a fisher-god, and the Welsh god Bran the Blessed was
supported by a mighty fish. Among the primitive societies
called “Fisher of Men.” His counterpart is the Grail King
of Oceania, Africa, and North and South America, fish were
whom Parsifal found fishing as he waited for his deliverer.
sacred totemic figures, emblematic of the power of the clan.
According to Augustine, Christ’s exhortation “Follow me,
Peruvian Indians believed that the original fish had engen-
and I will make you fishers of men” implied that the world
dered all others; they worshiped the species that was caught
is a sea of fish to be converted. For the tenth-century S:u¯f¯ı
in the greatest numbers. Sea gods riding on a fish signified
mystic Niffari, the sea of spiritual experience through which
freedom; shown on the footprint of the Buddha, a fish meant
the mystic passes on his journey to God is full of strange and
emancipation from attachment and desire.
frightening fish.
Many forms of sea life embody specific religious sym-
A corollary of the fish as blessing is its assimilation to
bols. The dolphin was regarded as a divine intermediary be-
a savior. The alchemical sign for Salvator mundi is a fish. The
tween the upper and lower worlds; as a guide to departed
Hindu god Vis:n:u, transformed into a fish by Brahma, recov-
souls, he was depicted on Greek vases bearing warriors to the
ered the Vedas from the flood, saved humankind, and started
Isles of the Blest. The dolphin as psychopomp, or guide of
a new race. Christ was symbolized by the fish, as seen in
the souls of the dead, is also represented in Christian art. The
carved inscriptions in the catacombs of Rome; in Greek, the
octupus was a favorite motif in the ceramic arts of ancient
initial letters of “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior” form the
Crete, allied to the spiritual in symbolizing the mystic center
Greek word ichthus (“fish”). The depiction of Jesus standing
and the unfolding of creation. In the Celtic legend of Finn,
in water confirms the metaphor of a fish drawn from the
the hero eats the Salmon of Wisdom, which endows him
deep to bring salvation to humanity. The feeding of the mul-
with the foreknowledge of the gods. The European Stella
titude by the miraculous multiplication of the loaves and
Maris, or starfish, is a symbol of the Virgin Mary and the
fishes is the prototype of the Eucharist; the fish, like the
Holy Spirit.
bread, symbolizes the body of the Lord. The concept of
Christ as both sacrificed and sacrificer is inherent in the
B
Mass. Three fish with one head, or three intertwined fish—
IBLIOGRAPHY
Baum, Julius. “Symbolic Representations of the Eucharist.” In
found in the iconography of ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt,
The Mysteries, vol. 2 of Papers from the Eranos Yearbooks, ed-
India, and Persia, and even down to modern times—is a uni-
ited by Joseph Campbell. New York, 1956. A close analysis
versal symbol for unity in trinity, and came to represent
of the symbolic acts of Christ represented in the rite of the
Christian baptism. Christ’s disciples and the newly baptized
Eucharist, based on fish iconography on sarcophagi and arti-
were denoted by the sign of a fish, and a neophyte in fish
facts in sacramental chapels.
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

3124
FLACIUS, MATTHIAS
Campbell, Joseph. The Masks of God, vol. 4, Creative Mythology,
Among his major contributions are his pioneering work
New York, 1968. A survey of the mystic fisherman symbol-
in Protestant biblical hermeneutics, which climaxed in Clavis
ism in Orphic, Babylonian, and Christian artifacts, correlat-
scripturae sacrae (1567), and in Protestant historiography,
ing the symbols of the mystagogue, Orpheus the Fisherman,
which culminated in his own Catalogus testium veritatis
and the Fisher King of the Grail legend.
(1556) and in the Magdeburg Centuries, composed by mem-
Lengyel, Lancelot. Le secret des Celtes. Paris, 1969. The fish as sym-
bers of a research team that he helped organize and manage.
bol of wisdom in the Celtic legend of the hero Finn and his
acquisition of supernatural knowledge by consuming the
According to his modern biographer, Oliver K. Olson,
Salmon of Wisdom.
Flacius’s theology can be described negatively as a program
Neumann, Erich. The Origins and History of Consciousness. New
of “de-hellenization,” that is, a turning away from Platonism
York, 1954. Includes an account of the predominance of fe-
and Aristotle, and positively as an insistent prophetic witness
male deities in early fish cults and of culture heroes that rise
to correct biblical teaching (pura doctrina). That witness led
from the waters, half fish, half man, to bring revelation and
him to fight for the independence of the church from the
wisdom to humankind.
state and to reject many aspects of medieval ecclesiastical cus-
Zimmer, Heinrich. Philosophies of India (1951). Edited by Joseph
tom and polity. Above all, it led him to defend Luther’s doc-
Campbell. Reprint, Princeton, 1969. In his summary of the
trine of salvation by God’s grace through faith in Christ in
sastra of the Science of Wealth, the author examines the Indi-
controversies with other Protestant theologians, especially his
an doctrine of Matsya-nya¯ya, or the law of the fishes, in
formidable antagonist Philipp Melanchthon. These contro-
which fish symbolize the breeding force of the sea—life
versies concerned, most importantly, the role of good works
abundant, self-sustaining, and self-consuming.
in salvation and the role of the human will in conversion.
New Sources
In the controversy over human will Flacius defined original
Baird, Merrily. “Land and Sea Animals.” In Symbols of Japan: The-
sin as the formal substance of the fallen sinner, who, he ar-
matic Motifs in Art and Design. New York, 2001.
gued, is the image of Satan. This position was misinterpreted
Lawrence, Raymond J., Jr. “The Fish: A Lost Symbol of Sexual
even by some fellow Gnesio-Lutherans and contributed to
Liberation?” Journal of Religion and Health 30 (Winter
his alienation from most of his contemporaries at the end of
1991): 311–319.
his life, when agents of leading Lutheran princes prevented
Slater, Candace. Dance of the Dolphin: Transformation and Disen-
him from finding a permanent home.
chantment in the Amazonian Imagination. Chicago, 1994.
Flacius’s ardent polemics in defense of Luther’s message
ANN DUNNIGAN (1987)
at a time when it was seriously menaced by political and
Revised Bibliography
ideological forces contributed much to its preservation, and
his intellectual contributions in liturgics, hermeneutics,
church history, and dogmatics greatly enriched Protestant
FLACIUS, MATTHIAS (1520–1575), known as
orthodoxy.
Matthias Flacius Illyricus, was an Italo-Croatian scholar and
polemicist; a creative, fiery theological leader of the late Lu-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
theran Reformation. Born in Albona, Istria, Flacius was
Oliver K. Olson provides a superb overview of Flacius’s thought
trained in the humanist schools of Venice under the influ-
and life and a sketch of his two-volume biography, as well
ence of his uncle, the Franciscan provincial Baldo Luperino,
as an extensive bibliography, in his essay “Matthias Flacius
who was sympathetic to Lutheranism. Flacius studied at Tü-
Illyricus, 1520–1575,” in Shapers of Religious Traditions in
bingen before moving to Wittenberg, where Luther’s inter-
Germany, Switzerland, and Poland, 1560–1600, edited by Jill
Raitt (New Haven, Conn., 1981), pp. 1–17. The classic
vention in a personal religious crisis confirmed Flacius as his
treatment of the subject to date is Wilhelm Preger’s Matthias
passionately committed disciple. The defeat of Lutheran
Flacius Illyricus und seine Zeit, 2 vols. in 1 (Erlangen, 1859–
princes in the Smalcald War ended Flacius’s career as a He-
1861). In addition to Olson’s articles and dissertation, con-
brew instructor at Wittenberg and propelled him into the
temporary studies of Flacius include Günter Moldaenke’s
leadership of the Gnesio-Lutheran party, formed by Luther’s
Schriftverständnis und Schriftdeutung im Zeitalter der Refor-
more radical disciples in opposition to the imposition of the
mation, vol. 1, Matthias Flacius Illyricus (Stuttgart, 1936),
Augsburg Interim (1548) and the compromise settlement
and Lauri Haikola’s Gesetz und Evangelium bei Matthias Fla-
worked out by other Lutheran leaders, the Leipzig Interim
cius Illyricus (Lund, 1952).
(1548). Flacius’s historical and liturgical research, as well as
ROBERT KOLB (1987)
his biblical, lay-oriented argumentation, led him to criticize
both settlements, attacking the Leipzig Interim as a betrayal
of Luther’s Reformation. As a private scholar at the center
of resistance to both interims, Magdeburg (1548–1557); as
FLAMEN. The city of Rome presented itself as a commu-
a professor and counselor at Jena (1557–1561); and later as
nity of people and gods, and the institution of the priesthood
a consultant and private scholar in Regensburg, Antwerp,
was necessary to mediate between those two spaces, to inter-
and Strassburg, Flacius provided theological leadership and
pret the will of the gods and to ensure accuracy in the perfor-
inspired controversy.
mance of rites. The flamines—etymologically, the “dispens-
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FLAMEN
3125
ers of the sacred” (Isidorus, Etymologiae 7.12.17)—were the
Of the three flamines maiores, we know especially well
sacerdotes of a particular deity (Cicero, De legibus 2.20). They
the duties of the flamen Dialis thanks to the taboos (caeri-
stood in contrast to the pontiffs, who were learned men and
moniae, castus) to which he was subject. These were cataloged
men of law, and to other colleges of priests that acted in the
in the pontifical books at the end of the third century or the
name of the community.
first half of the second century BCE, and collected by the poet
Aulus Gellius in the second century CE (Noctes Atticae,
The etymology of the word flamen is not clear. Based
10.15). One text from the Augustan antiquarian Verrius
on the common etymology of the words flamen and brahman
Flaccus, transmitted by Festus (198–200 L) in the second
established by Georges Dumézil, Henri Le Bourdellès (1970)
century CE places the priest of Jupiter at the head of the
pointed out that the term—also recorded in the Messapic
Roman priestly hierarchy, below the rex sacrorum and above
and Persian languages—designated the priest as invocator or
the priests of Mars and Quirinus, who also outranked the
minister of the word. But the functional duties of the Latin
pontifex maximus. The positions of rex (who is potentissimus)
flamen and those of the Sanskrit brahman are far from simi-
and flamen Dialis (said to be the priest of the entire world:
lar, and the explanation that the Romans themselves offered
“universi mundi sacerdos”) represent the two types of sover-
for the term, relating it to the band of wool (filum) that
eignty—warring and priestly—characteristic of Rome’s
wrapped around the flamen’s cap (Varro, De lingua Latina
“magical-religious” horizon. In the republican era, the more
5.84), has been defended by Jens H. Vanggaard (1988).
“political” figures of the magistrate and the pontiff replaced
that pair (Marco Simón, 1996).
The literature speaks of fifteen flamines: three major
ones (maiores) and twelve minor ones (minores). Several au-
The cultic functions of the priest of Jupiter are well
thors, such as Vanggaard (1988, pp. 105ff) and Domenico
known: participating in the confarreatio marriage ceremonies
Fasciano and Pierre Séguin (1993, pp. 22–23), have chal-
(offering the couple the spelt bread that it would share), sac-
lenged the traditional thesis that the flamines were the specif-
rificing a lamb to Jupiter on the day of the full moon (Idus),
ic priests of a certain deity. Fasciano and Séguin point out
introducing the yearly wine harvest (Vinalia), and participat-
that the term flamen was applied to the flamen of the Arvals
ing in the feast of Lupercalia on February 15. Together with
(flamen Arvalium) and to the priests of the thirty curiae into
the other two flamines maiores (the flamen Martialis and the
which archaic Rome was divided (flamines curiales), suggest-
flamen Quirinalis), he partook in the sacrifice to the goddess
ing that the twelve flamines minores represented, in some
Fides. The flamen Martialis supposedly partook of the holi-
way, certain sectors of the population, while the three
day of the October Horse, and the flamen Quirinalis in sever-
flamines maiores represented the people as a whole, as the
al rituals—Quirinalia, Robigalia, Consualia, and Larentalia.
common sacrifices to the goddess Fides (a symbol of Rome’s
The restrictions imposed on the flamen (caerimoniae,
“faith”), mentioned by Livy (1.21.4), would illustrate. Such
castus) defined his position. For the flamen Dialis—as for the
a thesis would also be supported by the common invocation
virgins consecrated to Vesta—every day was holy (cotidie
in the conclusion of a treaty by the college of the fetiales (Pol.
feriatus) because he symbolized the “stability” of the city it-
3.25.6) and in the formula of the devotio, the oath taken by
self. Four types of prescriptions insured that stability (Marco
a Roman general vowing his life to the gods of the under-
Simón, 1996): (1) restrictions that ensured his basic free-
world (Livy 8.9).
doms, including the prohibition to swear oaths or to wear
symbolic constrictions such as rings or knots on his clothes;
The differences between the flamines maiores (instituted
(2) restrictions aimed at ensuring his constant presence in
by King Numa) and the flamines minores would be due, ac-
Rome (adsiduitas), such as the prohibition from leaving his
cording to the traditional interpretation (after Georg Wis-
bed, which had to be in contact with the soil of the city, for
sowa), to the various levels of importance of the gods each
more than three consecutive nights; (3) rules that established
flamen served. Thus, the flamines maiores were in the service
the symbolic role of the flamen Dialis in his double relation-
of Jupiter, Mars, and Quirinus, the archaic triad that, ac-
ship with Jupiter (of whom he was a living image) and with
cording to Dumézil, represented the trifunctional Indo-
society as a whole; and (4) restrictions that, because of the
European ideology of sovereignty, war, and production (with
third category of rules, aimed at preventing contamination
parallels to a similar triad among the Umbrian peoples: Jovi-
(pollutio) of the flamen Dialis by animals or any elements as-
us, Mars, and Vofionus). But such an explanation was chal-
sociated with the underworld or the world of the dead.
lenged by Vanggaard (1988, pp. 46ff), for whom this distinc-
tion should be understood in terms of social differences
The wife of the flamen Dialis (flaminica Dialis) formed
along patrician-plebeian lines. He also rejects the possibility
with him a sacred union that was an example to all Romans;
that the flamines minores could be patricians. Vanggaard has
it was unbreakable except by death, and she was under the
pointed at the relationship between the flamines and certain
same restrictions as her husband, according to Aulus Gellius
family groups (gentes), showing the predominance of the
(10.15.26), since she was the symbol for the fertility of
gens Cornelia and, in a secondary way, of the Postumius
Rome. She could not wash or comb her hair on certain dates
Albinus and the Valerius Flaccus families (Vanggaard, 1988,
that were associated with the Salian and Argean rites and
pp. 70ff).
with the cleaning of the Vestal temple.
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3126
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS
One consequence of the taboos applied to the Jupiter
provinces, Sardinia, and the Danubian region (Fishwick,
priesthood (which prevented the priest from leaving Rome)
1987–2002).
was that the flaminate had little political appeal in compari-
son to other priesthoods, such as the augurate or the pontifi-
SEE ALSO Roman Religion, article on the Early Period.
cate, which later served as stepping stones for political gain
achieved through war. This led to a relaxation of the rules
BIBLIOGRAPHY
for the other two flamines, to whom, originally, the same re-
Dumézil, Georges. Archaic Roman Religión. 2 vols. Translated by
Philip Krapp. Chicago, 1970.
strictions had applied. This explains why the flaminate of Ju-
piter was vacant for seventy-five years after the suicide of
Fasciano, Domenico, and Pierre Séguin. Les flamines et leurs dieux.
Cornelius Merula in 87
Montreal, 1993.
BCE (Appian, Bellum civile 1.74; Vel-
leius Paterculus, Historiae Romanae 2.22.2). Young G. Julius
Fishwick, Duncan. The Imperial Cult in the Latin West: Studies in
Caesar apparently was nominated for the post in 86
the Ruler Cult of the Western Provinces of the Roman Empire.
BCE, but
he was never installed to it.
3 vols. Leiden, 1987–2002.
Le Bourdellès, Henri. “Le flamine et le brahmane: Nature de la
Only ten of the names of the twelve flamines minores are
fonction; étymologie.” Révue des Études Latines 57 (1970):
known. The first four were named after the most prominent
69–84.
gods: the flamen Carmentalis (Carmenta is a goddess associat-
Liou-Gille, Bernadette. “César: ‘Flamen Dialis destinatus.’” Révue
ed with water and the human birthing process, destiny, and
des Études Anciennes 101, nos. 3–4 (1999): 433–499.
prophecy); the flamen Volcanalis (Volcanus is the god of ce-
Marco Simón, Francisco. Flamen Dialis: El sacerdote de Júpiter en
lestial fire); the flamen Portunalis (Portunus is god of harbors
la religión romana. Madrid, 1996.
and entrance ways), and the flamen Cerialis (Ceres is the god-
Porte, Danielle. Les donneurs de sacré: Le prêtre à Rome. Paris,
dess of growth and agriculture). The names of the last six
1989.
flamines are known thanks to Ennius (in Varro, De lingua
Vanggaard, Jens H. The Flamen: A Study in the History and Sociol-
Latina 5.84); they served less eminent deities, associated es-
ogy of Roman Religion. Copenhagen, 1988.
pecially with agriculture. They included the flamen Voltur-
nalis (Volturnus is a deity associated with rivers and the
Wissowa, Georg. Religion und Kultus der Römer. 2d ed. Munich,
wind); the flamen Palatualis (Palatua is probably the goddess
1912. See especially pages 504–507.
of the Palatine and is identified with Pales); the flamen Furri-
FRANCISCO MARCO SIMÓN (2005)
nalis (Furrina is a goddess of wells and underground water),
Translated from Spanish by Fernando Feliu-Moggi
and the flamen Floralis (Flora is the goddess of the blossom-
ing of wheat and orchards). The flamen Falacer was the only
one bearing the same name as his god, not the adjective epi-
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS SEE JOSEPHUS FLAVIUS
thet. Finally, there was the flamen Pomonalis (Pomona is a
goddess that protects orchards). Fasciano and Séguin (1993,
pp. 141–146) suggest that the names of the two missing
flamines minores were the flamen Neptunalis (Neptunus is the
FLIGHT. The image of a human being escaping the
god of fresh water and humidity) and the flamen Fontinalis
bonds of earthly life to float and soar about the skies unen-
(Fons, or Fontanus, was the god of springs), whose deities
cumbered and free appears in religious myths, mystical
were assimilated into Poseidon and the nymphs during the
tracts, ritual dramas, and imaginative expressions around the
Hellenization of Roman religion.
world, from the most archaic to the most contemporary of
In imperial times, the flamines were in charge of main-
cultures. While of course their specific historical circum-
taining the cult of the emperor. The law that defined provin-
stances and motivations vary, one still feels that in some ways
cial priesthood in the Narbonensis province suggests that the
the imagination of the Paleolithic cave dweller who painted
statutes and prerogatives of the flamines were drafted follow-
the figure of a man with a bird’s head on the walls of the
ing the model of the flamen Dialis (CIL XII 6038). These
caves at Lascaux is not so different from the imagination that
Augustal, municipal, and provincial flamines played an im-
created the ancient Greek story of Icarus yearning to fly to
portant role, since the imperial cult was a first-rate symbolic
the sun or that of the poets of Vedic India who sang praises
element in maintaining the political unity and cohesion of
of the long-haired ascetic who “flies through the air, looking
the vast and heterogeneous Roman Empire. The priests of
on all shapes below, the friend to all the gods” (R:gveda
the imperial cult received the title of flamines in the Hispanic
10.136.4). Perhaps, too, this imagination is not so different
provinces (Hispania Citerior, Lusitania, and Betica), in Gal-
in the end from that which helped lift the Wright brothers
lia Narbonensis, the Maritime and Cottian Alps, Numidia,
into the air above Kitty Hawk.
and the two Mauritanias (Caesarean and Tingitana), while
Accounts of human flight are at times quite dramatic,
the title sacerdotes (which is characteristic of the Flavian era,)
as in the neo-Hebraic text the Apocalypse of Moses, which tells
prevails in the inscriptions of the altar of the Temple of the
of Moses’ ascension into the various heavens, each one in-
Three Gauls in Lugdunum (Lyons), and in the African
habited by frightening and dreadful angels who breathe fire
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3127
and lightning and whose sweat flows into a mighty burning
motivation common to all religious experience and expres-
river. Other tales of flight convey a mood of peacefulness,
sion. Whether or not this means, however, that themes of
as in the nineteenth-century accounts of Sister Mary of Jesus
magical flight in religious myths and rituals derive from spe-
Crucified, a Carmelite nun who floated about the yard of her
cific modes of power (such as royal prestige, prophetic influ-
nunnery for hours at a time, sometimes perching softly in
ence, personal gratification, or existential autonomy) will re-
the treetops like a bird. Some accounts are quite charming,
main open to debate. The issue is complicated by the fact
like the medieval Sanskrit text that tells neophyte yogins that
that many types of persons—sovereigns, saints, visionaries,
a person trying to master the art of levitation may have some
magicians, priests, ascetics, mystics, lovers, philosophers—
difficulty at first and so will bounce across the ground like
have been said to undergo such uplifting experiences. Since
a jumping frog, but after increased practice will fly about
the 1950s Mircea Eliade has argued that it would be a mis-
with ease (see Yogatattva Upanis:ad 53–55).
take to conclude that the mythic theme of magical flight de-
Rituals as well as myths also frequently include refer-
rives from only one source, or that it reflects only one stage
ences to or enactment of aerial travel. Alchemists and Daoist
in human cultural or personal development. According to
priests in ancient China, for example, clothed themselves
Eliade, magical flight and its related symbolism (learning the
with feathered wings while performing various religious cere-
language of birds, the cultivation of ecstasy, rapturous mysti-
monies so that they might fly about the skies with the im-
cal images, and so on) reflect an experience of abolishing ev-
mortals. Similarly, at one point in the Vedic Vajapeya rite
eryday ways of knowing the world, the desire for which is
the priest and the ritual’s patron are instructed to climb the
expressed in images of transcendence and freedom. Eliade
sacrificial pillar, at the top of which they spread their arms
further maintains that this desire is, in fact, constitutive of
as if flapping their wings and proclaim, “We have come to
humanity itself. If this interpretation is correct, then symbols
the heavens, to the gods we have come! We have become im-
of magical flight not only derive from a moment in human
mortal” (Taitt¯ıriya Sam:hita¯ 1.7.9). The Vedic ritual system
history but also reveal a structure of human consciousness,
as a whole is often described in ornithological terms. The
an existential dimension to the human imagination that
performance of the Agnicayana (fire ritual), for example, re-
“must be ranked among the specific marks of man” (Eliade,
volves around the construction of an altar in the shape of a
1960, p. 106).
bird, suggesting that the ritual transports its oblations to the
The point is well taken. Studies in the history of reli-
heavens the way a bird soars through the skies.
gions have repeatedly emphasized that Homo sapiens is homo
DIMENSIONS OF MAGICAL FLIGHT. Scholars have offered a
symbolicus, defined in part by the ability to make and be
variety of theories regarding the origin and meaning of hu-
moved by symbols, especially symbols of various extraordi-
manity’s fascination with magical flight. Some, such as Ar-
nary modes of being. At the start of the twentieth century
thur Maurice Hocart, an anthropologist, have seen in this
James G. Frazer and Julius von Negelein, among others,
theme remnants of an archaic solar worship and reverence
noted that religions from around the world have used the
for the king (who was felt to be the sun, or the son of the
image of the bird to signify the human soul, suggesting that
sun), who was always carried about on the shoulders of his
celestial and aerial symbols often represent sublime emotions
subjects and thus “flew” everywhere he went. Others, such
and spiritual ideals. One might recognize such themes in Au-
as Geo Widengren, a scholar of Near Eastern religions, have
gustine’s account in his Confessions of his experience at Ostia
seen in myths and rituals involving flight distinct elements
when he and his mother, both radiant with spiritual love,
of religious ideologies based on divine kingship; the protago-
soar up to the heavens from where the celestial bodies shine
nist exemplifying such ideologies (originally the king, but
onto the earth. One finds similar themes in traditional Islam-
later also a prophet or savior) is said to ascend to the realm
ic accounts of Muh:ammad’s Mi Era¯j, in which the Prophet
of the high god in order to receive the sanction to rule the
ascends through the seven heavens of the vertical cosmos to
earthly community below. Some theorists feel that the theme
learn sacred lessons from his predecessors in the prophetic
represents elements of initiation and rites of passage: The
lineage who now live in each heaven and draw near to the
flight typifies the state of being in which the initiate stands
throne of Allah. This ascension has become a mythic and po-
between the old and the new modes of existence. Some psy-
etic paradigm for the practices and ideals of S:u¯f¯ı mysticism.
chologists, especially those influenced by the theories of Sig-
Tales of a person’s flight through the skies frequently include
mund Freud, have argued that the desire to fly is really a sub-
an emotional tone of longing to be free of the bonds that tie
liminal desire for sexual power, and that the feelings
humanity to the ways of the world. A similar longing perhaps
accompanying such an experience are repressed aspects of
enlivened the imagination of the Hebrew psalmist who sang,
sexual arousal. Students of other disciplines in the social sci-
“Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then I would fly away
ences maintain that magical flight expresses a person’s search
and be at rest” (Ps. 55:6).
for a legitimation of authority over other people, or a wish
Protagonists who fly through the air do so for more than
to be free of personal limitations.
emotional and mystical reasons. They may assert their ability
There is no doubt that to fly is to have power, and some
to rise above the laws of the physical world and thus to gain
theorists have held that the search for power is the central
control over what may be experienced as an oppressive uni-
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3128
FLIGHT
verse. This may be inferred from the South Asian use of such
up off the ground without visible assistance and without in-
Sanskrit terms as kaivalya (“autonomy”) to describe one of
jury. Sometimes these experiences are intentional and desir-
the goals of yogic practice, which is marked by such autono-
able, as is implied in a lesson from the Yogatattva Upanis:ad
mous acts as flying through the air (see Patañjali’s Yoga Su¯tra,
(117): “Thrusting the tongue into the back of the throat and
chap. 4 and its commentaries). Similarly, the Therava¯da
focusing one’s eyes on the spot between the eyebrows, one
Buddhist tradition teaches that an adept monk can fly cross-
sits in the posture in which one gains the power to float up
legged through the atmosphere “like a bird in flight” (see
into the air.” At other times, these experiences seem to catch
Majjhima Nika¯ya 1.33, etc.).
the community by surprise, as in a story about Alfonso Lig-
uori, who, while giving a sermon one day, offered himself
At other times, the world is understood to reflect the
to an image of the Virgin and, stretching out his arms (like
beauty and wisdom of the divine plan; to fly about it, then,
a bird?), floated several feet off the platform, whereupon the
is to see more of it than is normally possible. This may be
two thousand people listening were amazed and filled with
part of what the Persian S:u¯f¯ı Far¯ıd al-D¯ın EAt:t:ar longed to
admiration. While most traditional hagiographies express
do when, in his epic poem The Conference of Birds, he ex-
wonder at such events, many also include implicit or explicit
presses a wish to fly through the air to all regions of the earth
criticism of people who willingly drift about in the air in
in order “to enjoy all beauties.”
front of others, since such behavior is either physically dan-
At other times, people may want to fly in order to see
gerous or distracting to the normal person’s religious concen-
into the future (movement through vertical space is often as-
tration or constitutes an arrogant display of spiritual authori-
sociated with movement through time); to escort dead peo-
ty. The S:u¯f¯ı tradition, for example, criticizes those who
ple to their new lives in the unknown world; to obtain valu-
undertake a magical levitation in order to enact a miracle or
able medicinal or cultic knowledge from various spiritual
gain a vision, for to do so is comparable to making the pil-
beings; or to locate souls that have become lost in the differ-
grimage to Mecca merely for the sake of business or pleasure.
ent layers of the universe. While the religious specialist most
The Bollandists’ Acta Sanctorum uses such descriptive
adept at such divination is the shaman of north-central Asia,
terms as a terra levabatur (“raised above the surface of the
the ecstatic experience characterized by such flights appears
earth”), corporalite elevatus est (“he or she was elevated bodi-
throughout the world.
ly”), and raptus (“taken up”) to describe those events in
The ability to fly through the air therefore often in-
Roman Catholic history in which a person is reported to
cludes an ethical or normative dimension, for the protagonist
have floated up off the ground while deep in prayer, during
who can travel to the future, as well as to other worlds, can
moments of deep emotion, or while performing devotions.
see what kinds of lives people on earth can expect to have
Since the classical period in India, Sanskrit texts have used
in other realms after they die. Subsequent to such a flight,
such technical terms as laghuman (“lightness”), utkraman:a
the aerial traveler can return to earth to tell people how to
(“stepping upward”), and gauravah¯ınata¯ (“gravity destroy-
act so that they may live in the more comfortable or presti-
ing”) to describe the power a yogin gains while learning to
gious afterworlds. Such is the case, for example, in the Zoro-
meditate properly. Islam distinguishes two types of mystics,
astrian tale told in the Arda¯ Wira¯z Na¯mag, in which the
those who are passively “drawn upward” (majdhu¯b) and
priest Vira¯f falls into an ecstatic sleep after drinking a cup
those who actively stride (sa¯lik) upward through the spheres
of mang and travels through the heavens and hells that are
by their own arduous reflection and effort. But such techni-
the respective postmortal homes of the pious and the infidel
cal terms, among any number of others from the literatures
members of the priestly community. Having gained this
of the world’s religions, seem too specialized for comparative
knowledge, he then returns to his colleagues on earth and
use. The English and French word levitation has been used
tells them what he has learned so that they can adjust their
since the nineteenth century by European hagiographers to
religious practices accordingly.
describe such events in their respective traditions. While the
term seems somewhat clumsy, it might suit the comparativist
TYPES OF MAGICAL FLIGHT. The various scenarios in the
who has recognized such themes in other religions as well.
world’s myths and rituals involving extraordinary aerial flight
are so numerous that one could distinguish any number of
Levitations may be intentional or unintentional, repeat-
forms and interpret their individual meanings in an equal
ed or unique, momentary or long-lasting. They may take the
number of ways. To arrive at a universal typology of flight,
person over an extensive geography or they may involve ris-
then, is to generalize in a way that might make even thor-
ing just an inch or two above the ground. In any case, the
oughgoing structuralists somewhat wary. The following
adept remains independent of external assistance and, while
schema is intended to be comprehensive, but does not pre-
he or she may be said to alter the physical laws of the world,
tend to include all variations.
never leaves the physical structure of the cosmos.
Autonomous this-worldly flight (levitation). Hagio-
Although levitations are often depicted as strange and
graphies from religious traditions around the world often in-
astounding events that arrest people’s attention and thrill the
clude depictions of various saints, mediators, devotees, and
storytellers, they are of themselves rarely if ever soteriologi-
other exemplary figures who are able at certain times to float
cally transformative and do not constitute an ultimately valu-
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3129
able experience. Rather, tales of levitation mark the esteem
to another. This transformation is typically depicted as being
that the particular tradition holds for the central figure, or
of ultimate value and is considered soteriologically effica-
they serve as a means by which the tradition recognizes those
cious. Such experiences reward specific people for their com-
specific practices and attitudes (spiritual integrity, strength
mitment to religious practices, their transformative state of
of will, loving purity and devotion, self-discipline, obedience
mind, or their embodiment of respected personality traits.
to the divine, etc.) that it holds to be most valuable.
The central axis of these aerial journeys tends to be a vertical
one, although there are instances of horizontal travels to
Dependent this-worldly flight. To the category of de-
other worlds as well. Whereas stories of the magische Flucht
pendent magical flights belong those instances in which a
type of this-worldly flight evoke emotions of release, free-
person is lifted up off the ground by a flying animal, spirit,
dom, safety, or personal power, narratives of ascent evoke
or divine creature of some sort and is escorted through the
emotions arising from the transcendence of this world and
skies over a wide area of the earth and sometimes at great
a concurrent disjunction with normal reality and personal
height. These flights are similar to autonomous levitations
existential situations. If this-worldly flight gets one out of the
in that the protagonists never leave the realm of the atmo-
grasp of something horrible or above the heads of everybody
sphere and thus remain within the worldly cosmos, the realm
else in the world, ascension gets one out of the world alto-
of human activity and community. They differ from levita-
gether.
tions in that the protagonists are dependent on another being
or outside agent to bring them into the skies.
Myths of vertical travel to the heavens above the skies
are often associated with the protagonist’s previous or subse-
Sometimes these flights allow a hero to escape in a hori-
quent descent along the same axis to the hells or otherworlds
zontal direction and at great speed from a situation of great
below. Therefore, ascensions, like other religious forms of
anxiety or terror, often from death personified. Accordingly,
magical flight, often include divinatory and ethical elements.
the emotional tone of such stories is fervent and fearful. Folk-
However, unlike levitations and this-worldly flights (which
lorists have used the German term magische Flucht to de-
involve travel across the geographies of the terrestrial world),
scribe such a flight from a frightening predicament and have
an ascension takes one beyond the dimensions of human
found the theme in cultures all over the world. Eliade has
space and history, since vertical movement is often synony-
noted that “it is important to distinguish one essential ele-
mous with movement through, or the abolition of, time. As-
ment [in such horizontal high-speed flights]: the desperate
censions are typologically different from levitations and this-
effort to be rid of a monstrous presence, to free oneself”
worldly flights in that ascensions often include apocalyptic
(Eliade, 1960, p. 104).
or eschatological themes. Thus, although they appear in
At other times, this-worldly flights escorted by a super-
other traditions as well, it is in Zoroastrianism, apocalyptic
natural being reflect less frightening feelings and signify less
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam that myths of ascension are
anxious situations. Sometimes they bring the central charac-
most prevalent, for it is in these traditions that the end of
ter to a new and highly desirable land or a more satisfying
history is most consistently associated with the ascension of
life in a distant earthly paradise. Sometimes they free him or
a savior into the vertical heavens above the terrestrial realm.
her from the drudgery of daily chores long enough to add
Figures from the world’s religions who ascend to other
new wonder to their understanding of the world. Sometimes
worlds—prophets, visionaries, saints, founders, perfected be-
they show the character the superiority of his or her religious
ings, and so on—sometimes return to earth with new power
tradition over another, for to fly over the heads of the follow-
or knowledge that is of soteriological benefit to the commu-
ers of another tradition is to be better than they are.
nity as a whole. Such an ascending and returning mediator
In general, tales of escorted this-worldly flights either
might well function, then, as a shaman. In other instances,
express a notion that escape or existential change is possible
he or she remains in the sacred world above, never to return.
no matter how bleak things look, or help the members of the
Such a person might then serve as a model for others in their
religious community reaffirm the worthiness of their tradi-
religious practices and attitudes, or as an example of a new
tion and encourage people from other traditions to become
and transformed being.
part of their own. As such, many tales of an escorted this-
worldly flight serve conversion as well as self-affirming func-
SEE ALSO Ascension; Birds; Shamanism.
tions.
B
Otherworldly flights (ascensions). A third general cat-
IBLIOGRAPHY
egory of magical flights involves a protagonist’s journey to
The best place to begin further reading on flight and flight sym-
bolism is with three works by Mircea Eliade: Myths, Dreams
dimensions or levels of the sacred cosmos other than the
and Mysteries (New York, 1960), pp. 99–122; Patterns in
earthly one. These journeys may be solitary and autonomous
Comparative Religion (New York, 1958), pp. 102–108; and
or they may be guided by supernatural beings. In either case,
Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy, 2d ed., rev. & enl.
otherworldly flights, or ascensions, necessarily involve a radi-
(New York, 1964), pp. 190–198, 477–507, and elsewhere.
cal transformation of one’s being, a change in ontological sta-
As always, Eliade’s works are useful for their extensive bibli-
tus so powerful that one moves from one mode of existence
ographies as well as their typological insights.
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3130
FLOOD, THE
Students interested in the varieties of magical flight (more specifi-
world will disappear in the Nun, the divine water where the
cally, varieties of the magische Flucht of this essay’s typology)
first god was formed (The Book of Going Forth by Day 175).
in the world’s folktales should look to Stith Thompson’s
For the Aztec and the Maya, the universe goes through sever-
Motif-Index of Folk Literature, 2d ed., rev. & enl., 6 vols.
al eras, separated from each other by the invasion of waves.
(Bloomington, Ind., and Helsinki, 1955–1958). Sample mo-
India has successive creations, in which everything is abol-
tifs include the following: D670, Magic Flight; E372, Soul
ished by a vast expanse of water; this water then constitutes
in Form of Bird; F61, Person Wafted to Sky; F62, Bird Car-
ries Person to or from Upper World; F1021, Extraordinary
the ocean from which the next creation will arise
Flights through the Air. Folklorists would also want to see
(Maha¯bha¯rata 3.188.80, 3.189.42).
Antti Aarne’s Verzeichnis der Märchentypen, translated and
Several tales associate humans with this universal drama.
enlarged by Stith Thompson as The Types of the Folk-Tale
The god Faro of the Bambara holds back the waters that will
(1928; reprint, New York, 1971), entries 313–314, “The
one day submerge the earth, to make way for the future
Magic Flight,” or Aarne’s Die magische Flucht (Helsinki,
1930).
world; warned of this occurrence, people must arm them-
selves with objects that will ensure their salvation. Iranian
Those who wish to find traditional accounts of levitations, magical
flights, and ascensions in the lives of Christian saints have no
texts evoke the snows and floods that will cover the world
better place to turn than the Acta Sanctorum, a mammoth
at the end of a cosmic millennium; in anticipation of this cri-
collection (64 volumes) of hagiographies edited by the Bol-
sis, Yima brings together a number of men in a hidden do-
landists in a project that was begun in the seventeenth centu-
main; they will survive and ensure the rebirth of humanity
ry by Johannes Bollandus and was carried on by Godefridus
in the next millennium (Vendidad 2.22–41). A famous tale
Henschenius and subsequent editors from the Society of
from the Maha¯bha¯rata makes Manu, the very symbol of
Jesus in Belgium (Brussels, 1643–1931). A less imposing col-
man, the sole survivor of the flood; it is he who, through his
lection, and one centering exclusively on aerial events in the
spiritual austerities, will become the author of the new cre-
lives of the saints, is Olivier LeRoy’s pedantic yet still some-
ation (S´athapatha Bra¯hman:a 1.8.1–6; Maha¯bha¯rata
what amused Levitation: An Examination of the Evidence and
3.190.2–56; Bha¯gavata Pura¯n:a 8.24).
Explanations (London, 1928). For accounts of celestial travel,
usually by the soul after death, in antiquity, see Josef Kroll’s
The most numerous narratives, however, deal with an-
Die Himmelfarht der Seele in der Antike (Cologne, 1931). A
other sort of flood. They are more limited and find the full
recent work that in a way complements LeRoy and Kroll is
sense of their meaning in the history of mankind. They con-
Ioan P. Culianu’s “Le vol magique dans l’antiquité tardive,”
stitute one of its major expressions; for mankind, there is an
Revue de l’histoire des religions 198 (January–March 1981):
antediluvian and a postdiluvian world.
57–66; a short study of instances in late antiquity when peo-
ple who are supposed to be able to fly fail to do so.
THE ANTECEDENTS OF THE FLOOD; ITS CAUSES. Blunders
For views of the soul as a bird, see James G. Frazer’s The Golden
sometimes characterize the beginning of a cosmogony, for
Bough, part 2, Taboo and the Perils of the Soul, 3d ed., rev.
example, the first union and first births of the Japanese dei-
& enl. (London, 1911), or Julius von Negelein’s “Seele als
ties Izanagi and Izanami, in the Kojiki. In an Indonesian
Vogel,” Globus 74 (1901): 357–361, 381–384. Arthur Mau-
myth, divine patriarchs came down one day from the heav-
rice Hocart’s notion that magical flight derives from an an-
ens to the earth that was emerging from the waters. The first
cient solar worship appears in his “Flying through the Air,”
of them perched himself on the southern extremity and un-
Indian Quarterly (1923): 28–31 (also in Indian Antiquary 52
balanced it, so that it was inundated by the waves. The sec-
[1923]: 80–82). Readers will find Geo Widengren’s ideas on
ond placed himself at the other extremity as a counterbal-
divine kingship and the aerial motif in his The Ascension of
ance, but it folded up; the northern part plunged into the
the Apostle and the Heavenly Book (King and Savior III) (Upp-
waves while the middle rose up. It was not until the last two
sala, 1950) and Muh:ammed, the Apostle of God, and His As-
cension (Uppsala, 1955).
patriarchs settled down in the central region that the earth
recovered its flatness and stability.
For a study of Zoroastrian notions of ascension, see Martin Haug’s
Über das Ardâi Virâf nameh (Munich, 1879). For a collection
In an equally awkward way, the gods began several times
and discussion of Jewish, Christian, Gnostic, Greek, Roman,
to create humanity on several occasions; floods are one of the
and Persian apocalyptic tales of ascension, see Apocalypse: The
means that they used to destroy the unfortunate results of
Morphology of a Genre, edited by John J. Collins, special issue
their initial endeavors. After creating the heavens and the
of Semeia 14 (1975).
earth in darkness, say the Quechua peoples of South Ameri-
New Sources
ca, the god Viracocha made human beings too big; he turned
Luck-Huyse, Karin. Der Traum von Fliegen in der Anticke: mit 12
some into statues and destroyed the rest with a flood. In the
Aildungen. Stuttgart, 1997.
Popul Vuh, the sacred book of the Maya, formative or pro-
WILLIAM K. MAHONY (1987)
genitor spirits create the first animated mannequins. These
Revised Bibliography
lived and procreated, but “this was only a trial, an attempt
at humanity.” They disappeared in the course of a complex
series of events, in a vast inundation (Popol Vuh 3–4). Instead
FLOOD, THE. Many peoples relate that floods accom-
of annihilating an imperfect humanity, sometimes the cre-
pany the end of a world. According to one Egyptian text, the
ator god tries to improve it; he eliminates the defective hu-
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FLOOD, THE
3131
mans by use of a flood. When everything seemed to be com-
one; in other cases, the survivors themselves must ensure the
plete, say the Desána of South America, a number of plagues
survival of the human race.
overcame the world, and evil beings ravaged humankind.
This is not always a matter of course. When only one
Seeing the suffering of those he had created, Sun brought on
person escapes death, a miracle is needed to provide that per-
a flood that drowned all the living, and then a fire that
son with offspring. In a Jivaroan myth, the solitary man
burned everything. There were survivors, however, and the
plants a part of his own flesh in the earth; from this a woman
god had them brought up.
is born, with whom he couples. Other South American Indi-
In most of the myths, the flood occurs after a more com-
ans relate that the woman came from bamboo. After the de-
plex series of events in which human behavior plays a decisive
struction of the world in Hindu myth, Manu feels the desire
role, although humans are not necessarily at fault. In one
for posterity. He gives himself over to ascetic practices and
Philippine story, the god of the sky causes a flood to destroy
offers a sacrifice. In the year that follows, a woman is born,
humanity because it was becoming too numerous. In a Mes-
approaches him, and says, “I am your daughter.” He begets
opotamian myth, the growth of humanity is accompanied by
upon her the race of his descendants by practicing more spir-
a perturbation that tires out the gods; to destroy it, they un-
itual austerities.
leash several catastrophes, the last of which is a flood (Lam-
bert and Millard, 1969). Usually, however, humans commit
Things are less unusual when either a couple or numer-
some characteristic error. They refuse to give a god what he
ous individuals escape death; in this case the conditions of
asks of them, show almost no compassion for the unfortu-
natural procreation are fulfilled. However, it may be ob-
nate, take to evil, or disobey religious and moral laws. In
served that the salvation of the survivors is in itself a marvel;
Genesis, it is because of the evil in humans that God wished
in many cases, they owe their survival to divine intervention.
to wipe them out (Gn. 6:1–7, 6:17).
In Australian Aboriginal myth, only the ancestors survive the
flood: By eliminating their evil descendants, the inundation
THE SURVIVORS. In myths where the flood is supposed to
permits a return to origins, from which humankind will be
destroy the original, defective humankind, sometimes the
able to start anew. Many myths attribute qualities to the sur-
latter disappears completely. In other cases, there are one or
vivors that set them apart: Their descendants will be the
more survivors.
products of a process of selection. In short, even when the
The existing tales do not state what all the qualities are
present humanity issues from antediluvian mankind, it con-
that earned the survivors this privilege. The more explicit
stitutes a second race.
stories, however, attribute particular traits to them. The
Thus, in the history of humankind, just as it sometimes
Greek Deukalion was a son of the god Prometheus (Lucian,
happens in the history of the cosmos, a destructive flood pre-
De dea Syria 12ff.). A close relationship joins Atrahasis or
cedes a sort of new creation. The story of Genesis is a good
Utanapishtim to the Mesopotamian god of waters, the sage
example; Yahveh repeats to Noah’s family the words he had
Enki-Ea (Epic of Gilgamesh, tablet 11; Lambert and Millard,
spoken to Adam and Eve: “Be fecund, multiply on the earth
1969). Furthermore, they themselves seem to possess an emi-
and rule it” (Gn. 9:1ff.; cf. 1:28). But this new beginning is
nent wisdom. The merits of the survivors are more evident
unique; when on the scale of humanity, there no longer cycli-
elsewhere. Alone among humans, they give the gods what
cal time. This is evident in the biblical concept: The flood
they ask. In Hindu myth, Manu is a great r:s:i. A lengthy prac-
takes place within a linear history that goes from an absolute
tice of asceticism raises him above his fellow mortals; he is
beginning to a definitive end.
able to recognize and save the divine being who, in the form
of a fish, requests his protection. The biblical Noah by con-
THE POSITION OF POSTDILUVIAN HUMANITY. When the
trast is the only just man in an evil humanity.
flood is supposed to correct the effects of an initial blunder,
THE POSTDILUVIAN WORLD. It has been seen that when the
it fulfills a positive function and is part of progress. In this
flood destroys a world and all of humanity, it sometimes pre-
case, however, it must be noted that the second race is imper-
cedes the creation of a new universe. It appears to separate
fect; it commits errors and undergoes many vicissitudes. In
two successive eras within a cyclical time. On this point,
Quechua myth, the new men ignore Viracocha and do not
however, matters are not always clear. Although the Egyptian
venerate him. This is why the god causes a fire to fall from
Nun, into which the world will disappear, is identical to the
the heavens, which burns the earth; only those who beg for
primordial waters, it is not clear that another world will ever
mercy are spared. The position such myths ascribe to pres-
emerge from it. A Carib myth says that humans will one day
ent-day humanity is similar to that found in the other types
disappear with the entire universe, which does not seem to
of stories.
leave any hope of a new beginning; a flood that has already
The flood sometimes appears to be a part of a more gen-
taken place to punish human evil simply warns them of the
eral degradation. On the original earth, say the Guaraní of
final catastrophe, for which humankind will also be to blame.
Paraguay, people lived close to the gods. Then incest un-
What happens when floods are linked more specifically
leashed a series of events, after which the flood wiped out hu-
to the fate of mortals? In some cases, the gods, after com-
manity. A new earth was then created, the land of evil re-
pletely destroying the original human species, create another
served for humans. This pessimistic viewpoint is not
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3132
FLOOD, THE
common. More typically the flood follows a period of degra-
from the gods and did not have to work at all. Separated
dation and puts an end to it.
from the gods, they must now toil in order to live, but they
have learned the arts that will let them provide for their own
In all types of the myth, the new humanity exhibits
needs.
traits that distinguish it from the old. Not only is it civilized,
but many tales associate the flood with the origins of civiliza-
The separation that accompanies the flood is not abso-
tion itself. Viracocha teaches the rudiments of civilization to
lute, however. At the end of the inundation, there is a new
the second Quechua race he has just created, and the Popul
sort of relation flourishing between humans and gods. Those
Vuh relates how Maya civilization developed during the sec-
who beg mercy of Viracocha while he burns them acknowl-
ond humanity. In a myth of the Desána of Colombia, the
edge his divinity, whereas before they had neglected him.
sun god sends his daughter among the survivors of the flood
The procedures of the cult of the dema deities are defined
to teach them the rules of living. Similarly, after a flood and
after their separation, at the end of the Australian floods.
other catastrophes, in a myth of the Fali of Chad and Sudan,
Furthermore, the aurora borealis then becomes a sign for hu-
the high god makes an ark descend from the heavens with
mankind of the demas’ disposition. The daughter whose
the rain. This ark contains the symbol of all plant species,
birth is brought about by Manu’s spiritual austerities bears
of wild and domesticated animals, and of the metals and
the name of a ritual offering and also symbolizes it. By com-
tools of the smithy. Even in the pessimistic Guaraní myth,
mitting the act that unleashes the entire process of separation
the man who survives the flood makes manioc, maize, and
between humans and gods—the unequal allotment of a bo-
sweet potatoes appear.
vine—Prometheus makes a gesture to which the ritual of the
great Greek sacrifices will refer: By bringing fire to mortals
In other narratives, the culture hero and the being who
he gives them the instrument necessary for the burning of
saves humanity from the flood are one and the same. This
victims. At the end of the flood, his surviving son, Deuka-
dual role appearsin stories told among African peoples and
lion, celebrates the first sacrifice, and several traditions see
among American Indians. In Greek myth, Prometheus is not
in him the founder of cults. When the Mesopotamian flood
only the hero who gives fire to humans and teaches them the
has ended, Utanapishtim makes a sacrifice whose ritual is de-
arts of civilization; it is also he who teaches Deukalion how
scribed in detail by the myth. Similarly, “Noah built an altar
to escape the flood.
to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every
Several peoples undoubtedly knew of the existence of an
clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar” (Gn.
antediluvian civilization. The Mesopotamians list the kings
8:20). In addition, Yahveh makes an agreement with him
prior to the cataclysm, while the Hebrews tell the story of
that encompasses all of humankind to come, and of which
those who, compelled to work, have succeeded each other on
the rainbow will remain a sign visible to the eyes of humans.
the earth up to Noah. But in these cases too, the flood is asso-
THE FORMS OF THE FLOOD AND THE FUNCTION OF THE
ciated with the history of civilization. Ea, the god who saves
DILUVIAL WATERS. The flood is not the only catastrophe
Utanapishtim, had been the protector of the wise men of old,
with which the gods threaten to wipe out humanity. As the
to whom Utanapishtim himself could be related; Gilgamesh,
Egyptian wise men supposedly told Solon, “Men were de-
who met him, transmitted an antediluvian wisdom to hu-
stroyed and will be destroyed again in many ways; fire and
manity. The survivor of the Sumerian flood, Atrahasis, takes
water were the instruments of the most serious destructions”
“the master craftsmen” with him in his ark. Noah is “the far-
(Plato, Timaeus 22c). In some tales the flood itself is associat-
mer.” After the flood, his family receives moral laws: This is
ed with other scourges, especially the burning of the earth.
when homicide is clearly prohibited, when meat as well as
In the epic of Atrahasis it follows a plague and terrible
plants are offered as food to humankind, and when the rules
droughts. Nevertheless, the myths return to the image of de-
of slaughter are prescribed.
struction by water, with particular frequency.
In addition, humanity finds itself in a new position vis-
The diluvial waters are not just any water. As has been
à-vis the gods. According to the Guaraní myth, before the
seen, the water into which the world disappears at the end
flood people lived with the gods on earth; on the second
of its existence coincides with the primordial water. The
earth, they are alone. For many Australian peoples, the flood
earth that the Indonesian patriarch unbalanced is an insular
coincides with the withdrawal of the “dema deity,” who
earth, located in the original ocean whose waves invade it.
abandons earth for a celestial dwelling. In the biblical tale it-
If the flood takes the form of rain, as is often the case,
self, the flood is the culmination of events that begin with
this rain comes from the heavenly waters and can be accom-
the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise; it follows the
panied by a brutal ascent of underground waters as well.
murder by Cain and other occurrences. In mentioning these
“Nergal tears the beams from the heaven, Ninurta makes it
misfortunes Yahveh repents for having created humanity.
unlock its dams . . . the foundations of the earth are broken
The Greek myths make a correlation between this rup-
like a shattered jar,” reads a passage in the Epic of Gilgamesh.
ture and the origin of civilization. The events that include
Genesis continues: “All the fountains of the great deep burst
the flood give rise to both of them. Prior to them, humans
forth and the windows of the heavens were opened” (Gn.
received everything that was necessary for their subsistence
7:11). The Greek poet Nonnus (early fifth century CE) ex-
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FLORENSKII, PAVEL
3133
presses the same notion. The world is thus submerged by the
Keeler, Clyde E. Secrets of the Cuna Earthmother: A Comparative
waters that surround it on all sides. According to some
Study of Ancient Religion. New York, 1960. See pages 59–82.
myths, these cosmic waters are the very same primordial wa-
Lambert, W. G., and A. R. Millard. Atra-Hasis: The Babylonian
ters that were thrown back to the periphery of the universe
Story of the Flood. Oxford, 1969.
at the creation.
Müller, Werner. “Die ältesten amerikanschen Sintfluterzählun-
gen.” Ph.D. diss., Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Univer-
The diluvial waves thus possess the virtues of water in
sität Bonn, 1930.
all their original vigor. It is not only that they can be destruc-
Osborne, Harold. South American Mythology. Feltham, England,
tive, as when at the end of the world they reduce everything
1968. See pages 100–105.
to a state of original indifferentiation. They are also capable
Pratt, Jane Abbott. Consciousness and Sacrifice: An Interpretation
of fulfilling an amniotic function, when a new creation suc-
of Two Episodes in the Indian Myth of Manu. New York,
ceeds this annihilation. Perhaps their cathartic nature can be
1967. See pages 3–33.
seen in their elimination of the bad elements of the human
Robinson, Roland, et al. Aboriginal Myths and Legends. Mel-
race. Their generative strength is manifested in the marvel-
bourne, 1966.
ous rebirth and proliferation of a purified humanity. They
Usener, Hermann. Die Sintflutsagen. Bonn, 1899.
can, finally, play a role in the immortalization of heroes who
Villas Boas, Orlando, and Claudio Villas Boas. Xingu: The Indi-
have lived through the flood and survived. The brother and
ans, Their Myths. Edited by Kenneth S. Breecher. New York,
sister whose incestuous union provoked the flood of the
1970.
Guaraní myth went into the water, in animal form, and were
New Sources
deified. The Mesopotamian survivors, Utanapishtim and his
Huggett, Richard J. Cataclysms and Earth History: The Develop-
wife, also became immortal.
ment of Diluvialism. Oxford; New York, 1989.
CONCLUSION. The influence peoples have exercised over
Pleins, J. David. When the Great Abyss Opened: Classic and Con-
each other in the course of history is not enough to explain
temporary Readings of Noah’s Flood. Oxford; New York,
why myths of the flood are present on every continent. In
2003.
order to account for this, some authors have supposed that
JEAN RUDHARDT (1987)
everywhere people preserve the memory of distant prehistor-
Translated from French by Erica Meltzer
ic catastrophes that destroyed the universe or vast regions of
Revised Bibliography
the earth. Such an explanation strikes this writer as misguid-
ed. For it to be pertinent, one would have to be able to ex-
plain in similar fashion the other mythic scourges that have
FLORENSKII, PAVEL (1882–1943/1950s?), was a
imperiled humanity: the burning of the earth, for example,
Russian Orthodox priest and theologian. Florenskii was born
or the rage of a goddess in the form of a lion, as in an Egyp-
in Evlakh, Azerbaijan, in Transcaucasian Russia. His engi-
tian myth about the destruction of humankind.
neer father was Russian, perhaps half-Georgian; his mother
By resorting to this type of explanation, one also ne-
was Armenian. Religion did not play more than a cultural
glects the very thing that makes the flood so significant: the
role in the Florenskii family. Young Florenskii was a child
return of the world to its original state, in the case of cosmic
prodigy during his elementary school years in Tiflis (present-
destructions, and, in the case of destructions that have a spe-
day Tbilisi), Georgia. He was sent to study mathematics at
cial impact on humankind, the idea of an original intimacy
Moscow University, where he also became intensely interest-
between humans and gods, the idea of their separation, and,
ed in philosophy. At the university he studied with the fa-
finally, the belief that a relationship unites them despite this
mous Sergei Trubetskoi and L. M. Lopatin, falling under
separation. Mythic thought uses the narrative to express
their religious influence. At this time, with his friends V. F.
these basic intuitions and elaborate on them. Commonplace
Ern and A. V. Elchaninov, who was to become a famous émi-
occurrences, such as epidemics, ravishing fires, droughts or
gré Russian Orthodox priest in Western Europe after the
floods, the fear of wild animals, furnish it with vehicles for
Russian Revolution, Florenskii founded the utopian Chris-
this purpose. Among such vehicles, the symbolic richness of
tian Brotherhood of Battle, an organization that worked for
water confers a special status to the image of the flood.
social reforms in Russia and a new church-state policy that
would give freedom to the church along the lines of the theo-
SEE ALSO Water.
cratic philosophy of the sophiologist Vladimir SolovDev.
Upon graduation from the university, Florenskii gave up a
BIBLIOGRAPHY
research fellowship in mathematics to enter the Moscow
Eliade, Mircea. “The Waters and Water Symbolism.” In his Pat-
Theological Academy on the advice of his spiritual guide,
terns in Comparative Religion, pp. 188–215. New York,
Bishop Antonii Florensov. After completing his studies at the
1958.
academy in 1908, Florenskii was elected to the academy’s
Gerland, Georg. Der Mythus der Sintflut. Bonn, 1912.
faculty of the history of philosophy. He married Anna
Ginzberg, Louis. The Legends of the Jews, vol. 1 (1909). Translated
Mikhailovna Giatsintova on August 17, 1910, and was or-
by Henrietta Szold et al. Reprint, Philadelphia, 1937. See
dained a priest of the Russian Orthodox church on April 24,
pages 145–167.
1911.
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3134
FLORENSKII, PAVEL
As a priest, Florenskii never held a formal pastorate, al-
Florenskii was granted his doctoral degree after its presenta-
though he served in one of the chapels at the Saint Sergius
tion. However, careful analyses of the finished and published
Trinity Monastery (at present-day Sergiyev Posad), where
product, accomplished almost exclusively outside of Russia
the Moscow Theological Academy was located, and he was
after the Revolution, have questioned the work on virtually
always eager for pastoral work. His good friend Sergei Bul-
every point. Classical Orthodox theologians and scholars
gakov, who returned to Christianity through Florenskii’s
such as Vladimir Lossky and Georges Florovsky have rejected
ministry and became a famous Russian Orthodox archpriest
it as an expression of church dogmatics, and philosophers
and theologian, testified in his memoirs to the pastoral zeal
such as Nikolai Berdiaev have faulted its philosophical argu-
of his spiritual guide. So also did the renowned, although
mentation. So also have philosophical interpreters such as
very different, philosophers N. O. Lossky and Vasilii Ro-
Vasilii Zenkovskii and N. O. Lossky, the latter of whom, as
zanov, who also recovered their religious faith through his
has been seen, was greatly influenced in his return to Chris-
ministry, both the latter, however, would come to express se-
tianity by Florenskii. In all cases, however, the brilliance of
rious doubts about their mentor’s philosophical vision.
the gifted thinker, the fundamental correctness of his guiding
Florenskii wrote only one book of theology, the highly
intuition, and his rejection of a rationalist approach to reli-
debated and generally considered epoch-making collection
gious and specifically Christian thinking, indeed, to any truly
of twelve essays on theodicy titled Stolp i utverzhdenie istiny
metaphysical reflections on the ultimate nature of things,
(The pillar and bulwark of the truth). Published in 1914 in
have been applauded by all who have had the courage to
a special typeface selected especially by the author, the book
labor through his prodigious creation.
consists of more than eight hundred pages, with more than
After the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 Florenskii was
four hundred footnotes and commentaries touching upon
inducted by the regime into scientific service, often embar-
virtually every area of human study: theology, philosophy,
rassing the new rulers by appearing at scientific conferences
philology, history, mathematics, medicine, art, the various
and classes in his priestly cassock, wearing the cross. He
sciences, and even the occult. It is written in the form of inti-
worked for the Highest State Technical-Artistic Studios and
mate letters to a friend which Nikolai Berdiaev, among oth-
the Commission for the Electrification of Soviet Russia. A
ers, criticized for its pretentious aesthetical and lyrical styliza-
member of the Academy of Sciences and editor of the Soviet
tion. The chapters, each introduced by a literary vignette,
Technical Encyclopedia, he was honored for several important
bear such titles as “Doubt,” “Friendship,” “Triunity,” “So-
phia,” “The Comforter,” “Light of Truth,” “Contradiction,”
scientific discoveries, one of which had to do with the refin-
“Sin,” and “Gehenna.”
ing of oil. He also wrote standard textbooks for Soviet
schools. At the same time, he preached against the excesses
Stolp i utverzhdenie istiny is not a systematic work. Its
of the regime whose fundamental worldview was contrary to
controlling intuition is expressed in its opening sentence:
his own. It is believed that Florenskii was imprisoned perma-
“Living religious experience [is] the sole legitimate method
nently during the Stalinist terror in 1933. According to Sovi-
for understanding [religious, and certainly Christian]
et records, he died in 1943, but other sources indicate that
dogma.” The author’s fundamental claim is that ultimate
he may have survived into the 1950s. In 1956 the Soviet gov-
truth, which is religious, comes from the liturgical, spiritual,
ernment formally rehabilitated the memory of the man who
and ecclesial experience of the whole person within the com-
was called by many critics of his work the “Russian Leonardo
munity of faith and worship of the Orthodox church; this
da Vinci.”
experience fundamentally is the gracious realization by crea-
tures of the indwelling divine life of the trinitarian godhead:
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Following such thinkers as
BIBLIOGRAPHY
SolovDev, Aleksei Khomiakov, and Ivan Kireevskii, and inter-
Pavel Florenskii’s major work, Stolp i utverzhdenie istiny, was origi-
preting the theology of the Eastern Christian church fathers
nally published in Moscow in 1914. A limited reprint was
and the liturgical hymnography and iconography of the Or-
made in Berlin in 1929. Translations into French (Lausanne,
thodox tradition in their light, Florenskii forges a magnifi-
1975) and Italian (Milan, 1974) also exist. An English ver-
cent, and extremely complex, worldview. At the heart of
sion of the fifth letter on the Holy Spirit, titled “The Com-
forter,” appears in Alexander Schmemann’s Ultimate Ques-
Florenskii’s worldview lies the experience of free and joyous
tions: An Anthology of Modern Russian Religious Thought
communion in truth, love, and beauty. This communion is
(New York, 1965). Essays on the life and work of Florenskii
perfected by all creatures made in the image of the uncreated
may be found in N. O. Lossky’s History of Russian Philosophy
Trinity of divine persons. The eternal being and life of the
(New York, 1951) and Vasilii V. Zenkovskii’s A History of
Trinity provides the archetypal structure for human exis-
Russian Philosophy, translated by George L. Kline (New York,
tence and fulfillment.
1953). The only book in English on Florenskii, which con-
tains complete bibliographical information in all languages,
The work that formed the basis for Stolp i utverzhdenie
is Robert Slesinski’s Pavel Florensky: A Metaphysics of Love
istiny was accepted by the Moscow Theological Academy as
(Crestwood, N. Y., 1984).
an orthodox expression of the faith of the Russian church,
albeit in highly individualistic and idiosyncratic form, and
THOMAS HOPKO (1987)
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FLOWERS
3135
FLOWERS. The blossom, or reproductive part, of trees,
Flora, the Roman goddess of springtime and flowers, brings
shrubs, and other flora is known as the flower. This part of
beauty and fragrance to blossoms, sweetness to honey, and
a growing plant takes on very special and often sacred mean-
aroma to wine. The Aztec god Xochipilli Cinteotl was one
ings in every culture and religion of the world. The symbol-
of thirteen day lords. He was the prince of flowers—the god
ism of flowers is often determined by a flower’s natural prop-
of beauty, love, happiness, and youth. His female twin
erties: its color and smell, where it grows, and the length of
Xochiquetzal (“flower feather”) was also the goddess of love.
its blooming period. While each kind of flower may be as-
The Hindu love god, Ka¯ma, is represented riding a parrot
signed a special meaning, flowers in general symbolize beauty
with a bow and arrow made of flowers. Ko-no-hana-sa-kura-
and the transitory nature of life. Flowers are often used to
hime (“the lady who causes trees to bloom”) is a supernatural
represent the cycle of life and are an important part of rituals
being of Japan, a fairy represented by the cherry blossom.
and ceremonies that celebrate birth, marriage, death, and the
The Japanese tennyo (like the Indian devata¯s) are female dei-
promise of regeneration. Flowers also serve as offerings or as
ties of the sky. They play music and scatter flowers and the
a means of communicating with a deity or other sacred
aroma of celestial perfume. The tennyo surround pious Bud-
being. They are frequently sacred gifts bestowed as signs of
dhists like angels, they appear as decorations in Buddhist
welcome or in celebration of victory. Flowers represent cer-
temples, and some have their own shrines. The tennyo may
tain deities and are associated with cultural beliefs regarding
be identified with Shinto¯ goddesses. In Zoroastrianism, thir-
heaven or the afterlife.
ty different species of flowers are associated with the thirty
yazatas, or deities, that preside over the thirty days of the
It is not just the bloom of a plant that holds these special
month.
meanings. Several different plants may be combined to create
a “flower” for sacred purposes. In some societies other parts
Flowers may be created through the actions of gods. Al-
of a living plant may be referred to as a “flower.” In Japan,
most every culture credits the presence of all forms of life,
maple leaves are considered to be flowers even though they
including flowers, to the sacred realm. The ancient Greek
are not the bloom of the maple tree. And even sea coral was
and Roman religions include several tales of creation. Jupiter,
treated as a flower in nineteenth-century Christianity in the
wishing to render Hercules immortal, placed him at the
United States and was believed to represent heavenly love.
breast of the sleeping Juno. Some drops of her milk fell to
Palms and evergreens are often included in the general cate-
the earth from which sprang the white lily.
gory of flowers and are used in sacred contexts.
The Muslims consider the rose a sacred plant that had
Flowers are used to teach general religious principles.
sprung from the drops of perspiration that fell from the
The Japanese myth Mr. Butterfly and His Flowers teaches that
Prophet during his heavenly journey. Among the Indian cul-
all creatures are destined to become Buddhas. In this story
tures of Latin America the geranium is believed to have
a hermit is visited by a number of women who are actually
grown from drops of Christ’s blood that fell as he ran from
the spirits of the flowers from his garden, which he had left
Satan. And the lily of the valley is called “Our Lady’s Tears,”
behind in his search for enlightenment. These flowers, as
because this plant grew from the tears the Virgin Mary shed
spirits of women, had come to share his Buddhist attainment
at the cross of Christ.
because flowers too are on the path to enlightenment.
Flowers are also associated with the birth or creation of
The art of flower arrangement in Japan is called ikebana
deities. Ancient Egyptian religion described the fixed stars in
(“living flowers”) and has spiritual significance. The word for
the heavens as gods or souls, and also as fields of heavenly
flower is hana and includes blossoms, branches, foliage of
flowers and plants, believed to be the dwelling place of the
trees, as well as individual flowers and grasses. The art of ar-
blessed dead. It was from these fields of flowers and souls that
ranging these “flowers” expresses the Buddhist ideals of con-
the gods were created. Ancient Egyptians also believed that
tent, calm, and piety. Religious spirit, restraint, serene dispo-
the sun was born every day from a blue lotus in the celestial
sition, and respect for humankind are qualities the flower
ocean. In Asia the lotus is the flower on which Brahma¯
arranger must possess as he or she strives to portray the
alighted when he sprang from the navel of Vis:n:u. From this
growth cycle of the plant from bud to maturity. The Daoist
beginning Brahma¯ ordered the existence of all worlds.
concepts of in (Chin., yin: female, passive, earth, moon,
Flowers and deities together may protect human birth.
darkness, coolness, silence) and yo (Chin., yang: male, heav-
In China the bodhisattva Guanyin is known as “the lady who
en, sun, action, power) must also be combined in the flower
brings children.” Sitting on a lotus flower and holding a child
arrangement.
in her arms, she is a goddess of fertility and aids in the treat-
The lotus is used in many cultures to stand for the ideal
ment of all sickness. Her image is found in most homes.
of purity and perfection. The plant grows in muddy water
Kishimojin (Hariti) is a female divinity of Japan who was
and yet remains pure. The flower itself is most frequently be-
converted by the Buddha. She is the protector of children
lieved to symbolize the oneness of Buddhist instruction and
and women in childbirth. This goddess is portrayed standing
enlightenment.
with a baby at her breast and holding the flower of happiness.
FLOWERS AND DEITIES. Flowers are connected to the sacred
Important symbolism is attached to flowers through
realm through their association with gods and goddesses.
their appearance with a sacred being. Many times this con-
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3136
FLOWERS
nection arises because of particular characteristics of the
and their graves with flowers. The souls of dying Buddhists
flower or the season of the year in which the bloom appears
in Japan are carried upward on a lotus, and the gravestones
and the relation of this blossoming to the religious calendar
in cemeteries may rest on carved lotuses. Lotus leaves are also
of the culture. Artists have depicted the angel Gabriel coming
constructed out of gold or silver paper and are carried at Jap-
to Mary with a spray of lilies in his hand to announce that
anese funerals. Tahitians leave bouquets wrapped in ferns by
she will be the mother of Christ. Many flowers are connected
the body after death and then pour floral perfume over the
to Mary. These flowers all stand for virginity and purity: the
corpse to ease its passage into the sacred afterlife.
annunciation lily, the flowering almond, the madonna lily,
In Zorastrianism, the “rite of flowers” is performed by
the gillyflower, the snow drop, and the rose. The thorns of
two priests; it invokes the blessings of the sacred and includes
the rose allude to the suffering of Mary as the mother of
vows to the deceased. The priests conduct a complicated ex-
Christ. Christ’s crown of thorns is believed to have been
change of flowers accompanied by prayers and gestures.
formed from the acanthus, bramble, or rose-briar. The haw-
These flower exchanges symbolize the exchange of life be-
thorn is also believed to be a symbol of Jesus, because it
tween this world and the world after death. The ritual is also
blooms at Christmastime. Because the Easter lily blooms at
concerned with good and evil and the importance of good
Eastertide, it is a symbol of Christ’s resurrection.
thoughts, words, and deeds.
FLOWERS AND RITUALS. Flowers as a link between human-
kind and the deities are presented as offerings to the sacred
Flowers are used in marriage rituals as an expression of
world, as food for the gods, or even as a reward from the
fertility, virginity, purity, and to represent the sacred union
gods. Deities may be appeased and worshiped through the
of the bride and groom. Christian weddings in the United
singing of hymns, the anointing of images, the use of lights
States include flowers for the altar, a bridal bouquet that rep-
and incense, and through the offering of foods and flowers.
resents the bride’s fertility and the children that will result
In India flowers are said to have dropped from heaven to ex-
from the marriage, and flowers for virtually all the ritual par-
press the joy of the gods.
ticipants. A Roman Catholic bride often lays her bridal bou-
quet at the foot of a statue of the Virgin Mary at the conclu-
The religions of Latin America are a mixture of six-
sion of the wedding ceremony as a dedication of her virginity
teenth-century Catholicism and native Indian religions. In
to the mother of Christ.
many areas the seven most important saint’s days are cele-
brated in festivals lasting three days. The first day of the festi-
The marriage ceremony of Java is a syncretism of Hin-
val is spent renewing flower decorations and offerings for
duism, Islam, and folk religion. This ceremony is completed
house and church altars. The flowers used on this day, and
only when the bride and groom exchange the kembang ma-
throughout the year, are important offerings to the saints and
jang (“blossoming flowers”) that represent their virginity.
to God. The last day of the festival falls on the saint’s day
These “flowers” are large composite plants. The stems are
as declared in the Roman Catholic calendar.
from a banana tree trunk, the “blossom” consists of leaves,
and the entire “flower” is wrapped in coconut branches.
Among the Sherpas of Nepal, the high gods have
achieved salvation and bliss and are utterly fulfilled and self-
Flowers and the afterlife or paradise. Not only are
contained. Following traditional Buddhist beliefs, these gods
flowers used to express cultural beliefs about the changes in
have obtained enlightenment partly through conquering the
the life cycle, but they are also connected to ideas of life after
delights of the senses. The high gods are unconcerned with
death and paradise. Chinese Buddhists believe that at the
humans and must be drawn down to aid humankind
hour of death the Buddha will appear to them, and their
through a complex ritual involving sacred offerings. The god
souls will be placed in a lotus. The souls will remain there
is “trapped” or seduced by the various offerings, each de-
until they are cleansed of all impurities, and then they will
signed to appeal to one of the senses. The flower used in this
go to the Land of Extreme Felicity in the West, a paradise
ritual tempts the god to use his sense of smell.
of all delights where showers of blossoms fall to the ground.
The Aztec paradise was located above the ninth heaven and
Rites of passage. A rite of passage is a vehicle for trans-
was called Xochitlicacan, the “place of flowers.” The Huichol
forming an individual, or a group of individuals, from one
Indians of northwest Mexico call their paradise Wirikúta, a
way of being to another through a series of culturally recog-
land of many flowers and much water. It is there that the an-
nized stages. In most cultures, these transitions are marked
cient ones dwell, the ancestors and deities of the Huichol.
or given meaning through the ritual use of flowers.
These ancestor deities are called neyeteurixa, from yeteurixa,
The earliest evidence for the use of flowers in a rite of
a thistle plant that flowers and then becomes the dry burrs
passage is connected with a Neanderthal burial in the Shani-
found in the everyday world. Through the ingestion of peyo-
dar Cave in Iraq. This burial site dates from sixty thousand
te, or the five-petaled “flower,” these Indians are able to jour-
years ago and reveals that the Neanderthals covered the body
ney to Wirikúta and to meet and join their ancestors amid
of the deceased with at least eight species of flowers.
the flowers of paradise.
The association of flowers with rituals of death occurs
SUPERNATURAL POWERS OF FLOWERS. Flowers are believed
all over the world. The Greeks and Romans covered the dead
to possess powers that arise from their connection to the sa-
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FLOWERS
3137
cred realm. Greek and Roman religion held the amaranth as
nition of flower for most societies. There is power in all life,
a sacred flower and associated it with immortality. In Swit-
especially in this form of nature that almost universally
zerland it is believed that if this flower is worn on Ascension
stands for beauty, purity, and the transitory nature of life.
Day, it will render the wearer invisible. The peony is valued
for medicinal properties and is named in celebration of Apol-
SEE ALSO Gardens; Incense; Lotus; Paradise; Rites of Pas-
lo, who as Paeon healed the wounds received by the gods in
sage.
the Trojan War.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Maya Indians of Zinacantan perform an illness-
One of the best examples of the nineteenth-century use of flowers
curing ceremony called “he enters in the flowers.” This ritual
by Christians is Andrew Joseph Ambauen’s The Floral Apos-
includes visits to the ancestor/deity mountain shrines that
tles, or, What the Flowers Say to Thinking Man (Milwaukee,
surround the city of Zinacantan, as well as a ceremonial cir-
Wis., 1900). The use and meaning of flowers in religious
practices, especially the historical development of their role
cuit of the sacred Roman Catholic churches within the town
in ritual, is well described by Jacques Duchesne-Guillemin
itself. This ceremonial circuit is called “great vision,” refer-
in Symbols and Values in Zoroastrianism: Their Survival and
ring to the number of gods visited during the ceremony, or
Renewal (New York, 1966). For an excellent description of
“big flower,” named for the large number of flowers neces-
the Nyingmawa (Rñin˙-ma-pa) sect of Tibetan Buddhist be-
sary for the success of the procession. These flowers include
liefs and practices, see Sherry Ortner’s Sherpas through Their
not only the blooms of plants but also the sacred tips of ever-
Rituals (New York, 1978). This book is primarily concerned
green trees. These tips are considered to be natural crosses,
with the underlying beliefs of hospitality that shape the lives
and two are erected alongside a permanent wooden cross to
of the Sherpas of Nepal and includes a consideration of flow-
form the calvario, or calvary. This re-creation of the three
ers and their religious significance. The use of flowers as of-
crosses present at Christ’s crucifixion is necessary for many
ferings to Mayan gods and Catholic saints is explored by
Evon Z. Vogt in Zinacantan: A Maya Community in the
rituals, including curing ceremonies.
Highlands of Chiapas (Cambridge, Mass., 1969). This is an
PERFUME, THE ESSENCE OF FLOWERS. Flowers may also be
extensive study of the Tzotzil-speaking Indians of Guatemala
present at sacred times in the form of incense or perfume.
and includes a thorough description of the importance of
The aroma of the blooms is believed to reach into the sacred
flowers in ritual. Clifford Geertz’s seminal work The Religion
sphere.
of Java (New York, 1960) describes the syncretism of Hindu,
Islamic, and folk beliefs that constitute Javanese religion. He
The people of Mayotte in the Comoro Islands have two
includes in this work an excellent consideration of flowers as
religious systems that exist side by side. The public and male
part of the life-cycle rituals and in other religious celebra-
religion is Islam, while the religion of the private domestic
tions. Michael Lambek presents a fascinating account of the
sphere of women is a complex system of possession by spirits.
importance of flowers and perfume among the people of Ma-
yotte in the Comoro Islands in his Human Spirits: A Cultural
Flowers, and especially the perfume made from them, are
Account of Trance in Mayotte (New York, 1981). Flowers and
used to celebrate the sacred in both realms. The flowers are
the perfume made from flower petals are essential ingredients
selected for their fragrance, not for their color or form. The
for the two religious belief systems among the Mayotte: Islam
cologne made from these flowers is used to mark and give
and a native folk religion that centers around trance and pos-
meaning to several occasions: the onset of puberty in women,
session by spirits. Barbara G. Myerhoff describes two differ-
rituals of curing, and the anointing of the bride and groom
ent types of “flowers” in her consideration of Huichol Indian
during and after their wedding, as well as of the other major
culture. In her book Peyote Hunt: The Sacred Journey of the
participants in the marriage ceremony. Every household
Huichol Indians (Ithaca, N.Y., 1974), flowers represent the
keeps a supply of cologne and generously sprinkles the fra-
Huichol ancestor/deities in paradise and refer to the peyote,
grance on body and clothing on all major holidays and Fri-
the five-petaled flower that enables the contemporary
Huichol to journey to this paradise.
days at the weekly mosque service. Cologne is also offered
to the mullahs at family rituals, especially during mawlid cel-
New Sources
ebrations of the month of the Prophet’s birth. Perfume con-
Coffey, Timothy. The History and Folklore of North American
tacts and pleases the sacred and enables prayers to travel more
Wildflowers. Boston, 1994.
quickly.
Hielmeyer, Marine. The Language of Flowers: Symbols and Myths.
New York, 2001.
The Zoroastrian Dhup-sarvi (“ceremony of the per-
Innes, Miranda, and Clay Perry. Medieval Flowers. London, 1997.
fumes”) involves the use of fragrant flowers, flower water,
Laufer, Geraldine Adamich. Tussie-Mussies: The Language of Flow-
and other perfumes. These are passed out to the people, who
ers. New York, 2000.
are assembled to honor the dead, and they symbolize the fra-
Ward, Bobby. A Contemplation upon Flowers: Garden Plants in
grance and joyful nature of the path that righteous souls take
Myth and Literature. Portland, Ore., 1999.
to the afterworld.
Wells, Diana. 100 Flowers and How They Got Their Names. New
The meanings attached to flowers, indeed the definition
York, 1997.
of flower itself, vary from culture to culture. The religious sig-
PAMELA R. FRESE (1987)
nificance of these blooms is a very important part of the defi-
Revised Bibliography
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3138
FLOW EXPERIENCE
FLOW EXPERIENCE. All major world religions, as
sence of doubt and critical reflection about one’s current
well as most sects and tribal cults, are said to produce on oc-
activity;
casion, among their faithful, states of ecstasy or altered states
(4) awareness of clear goals and unambiguous feedback; so
of consciousness. Such experiences constitute for many be-
that one knows one’s standing with reference to the
lievers one of the main attractions of religion, if not a proof
goals;
of its ability to mediate the supernatural. In cults and sects
such experiences are often induced by chemical substances
(5) lack of concern regarding one’s ability to control the sit-
ingested in ritual contexts; by fasting; by various hypnotic
uation;
trances, or by what Émile Durkheim called “collective effer-
(6) loss of self-consciousness, which in turn may lead to a
vescence,” a condition engineered by rhythmic music, dance,
sense of transcendence of ego boundaries and of union
and ritual movements.
with a larger, transpersonal system.
Remnants of such direct sensory means for inducing al-
When these conditions are present in consciousness, the ex-
tered experiential states can still be found in the major reli-
perience is usually interpreted by the individual as being en-
gions. The use of music, chanting, lighting, and scent in lit-
joyable and autotelic (worth seeking for its own sake). Activi-
urgy and of fasting and ritual feasting clearly derive from
ties available in everyday life form a continuum in terms of
earlier methods for producing ecstasy. But the great religious
their capacity to induce flow. At the lowest level are “micro-
traditions have become gradually less dependent on sensory
flow” activities such as doodling, pacing, or smoking, which
means, while at the same time they have developed the ability
provide fleeting experiences of ordered existence. At the
to induce ecstasy through cognitive disciplines. Prayer, medi-
other extreme are “deep flow” activities that provide relative-
tation, satori, sama¯dhi, despite the tremendous variety of cul-
ly lasting and totally absorbing experiences, as in creative en-
tural differences represented in their settings, are all mecha-
deavors, complex symbolic or religious thought, or the
nisms for providing a sense of mystic union with a sacred,
heights of physical performance.
transcendent force.
Whether an activity is capable of providing flow de-
Is the ecstasy reported in religious practices and rituals
pends in large part on the kind and degree of challenges (op-
unique to religion, or is it a species of a broader genus of ex-
portunities of action) that it makes available, and on the
periential states? At least since the writings of William James,
actor’s skill (capacity to relate to them). When these two are
psychologists have supported the latter hypothesis. It is as-
in balance, flow occurs. If challenges overshadow skills, anxi-
sumed that there is no qualitative difference between the un-
ety ensues; if skills are greater than the opportunities for
usual states of consciousness occasionally experienced in reli-
using them, boredom follows. The complexity of a flow ex-
gious contexts and analogous states reported in a variety of
perience—or its ability to provide deep flow—is a function
secular contexts. The task for the scholar is to describe the
of the extent of challenges the activity presents and of the
experiential state precisely, and to explain why it occurs in
actor’s skills. Games, spectacles, and rituals are structured so
the context of religious practice.
as to provide the maximum of flow experience.
Perhaps the state of consciousness that most closely re-
Religious action-systems present a wide variety of op-
sembles accounts of religious ecstasy is the “flow experience,”
portunities for action, ranging from microflow-like repetitive
so named because many people have used the word flow in
physical rituals (e.g., the spinning of Tibetan prayer wheels)
describing it. This subjective state has been reportedly expe-
to the purely cognitive sequences of doctrinal exegesis. Reli-
rienced by creative artists when working, by athletes at the
gions occasionally are able to transform a person’s entire life
height of competition, by surgeons while performing diffi-
activity into a unified action-system with clear and congru-
cult operations, and by ordinary people in the midst of their
ent goals. It might be argued, for instance, that the religion
most satisfying activities. In other words, states of optimal
of the early Puritans was an all-embracing flow activity that
experience in a wide variety of context, including meditation,
focused the consciousness of believers on the necessity of at-
prayer, and mystical union, are described in terms of very
taining salvation and prescribed a productive vocation as a
similar subjective parameters. The subsequent experience is
means for attaining certitudo salutis. In this process Puritan-
“ecstatic” in that it is characterized by a sense of clarity and
ism had to exclude many pleasurable experiences from the
enjoyment that stands out from the blurred background of
consciousness of the faithful, but within the limitations of
everyday routine.
its goals and rules it provided an all-embracing and enjoyable
The flow experience is characterized by the following
field of action.
phenomenological dimensions:
In general, however, flow experiences—religious ones
(1) a narrowing of the focus of consciousness on a clearly
included—are liminal in terms of the dominant patterns of
delimited stimulus field;
consciousness required by social existence. Prayer, ritual,
(2) exclusion from one’s awareness of irrelevant immediate
meditation, or the reading of sacred texts establishes inter-
stimuli, memories of past events, and contemplation of
ludes of flow in a stream of consciousness that otherwise
the future; hence a focusing on the unfolding present;
tends to be structured either too loosely or too rigidly. These
(3) merging of action and awareness, also described as ab-
activities are occasionally able to provide concrete experi-
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FOGUANGSHAN
3139
ences of a mode of existence more conducive to the expres-
of renunciation at age twelve in Qixia Temple, Nanjing. Ten
sion of individual potentials than the socially restricted his-
years later he accompanied the Nationalist army as it retreat-
torical reality is capable of doing.
ed to Taiwan. Unlike most monks who had come from the
mainland, Master Xingyun did not remain in Taipei (the
SEE ALSO Consciousness, States of; Ecstasy; Religious Expe-
province’s capital), but instead took charge of a small temple
rience.
in a more rural location and eventually established Foguang-
B
shan in Kaohsiung county. For his followers, the master sym-
IBLIOGRAPHY
Crook, John H. The Evolution of Human Consciousness. London
bolizes the transmission of a revitalized version of traditional
and New York, 1980.
Chinese culture from the mainland to Taiwan. He has kept
tenuous ties with the mainland through the years, returning
Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. Beyond Boredom and Anxiety: The Expe-
to his ancestral temple in 1989 and again in 2000.
rience of Play in Work and Games. San Francisco, 1975.
Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. “Toward a Psychology of Optimal Ex-
Foguangshan is regarded as a leading exponent of Hu-
perience.” In Review of Personality and Social Psychology, vol.
manistic Buddhism (renjian fojiao), by which is meant a re-
3, edited by Ladd Wheeler, pp. 13–36. Beverly Hills, Calif.,
focusing of daily practice to more directly deal with the chal-
1982.
lenges of contemporary life. The this-worldly pragmatism
James, William. The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902). New
that serves as the focal point of Humanistic Buddhism signif-
York, 1963.
icantly affects Master Xingyun’s interpretations of Chan
Laski, Marghanita. Ecstasy: A Study of Some Secular and Religious
(Jap., Zen) and Pure Land practice. Although a forty-eighth
Experiences (1962). Reprint, Westport, Conn., 1968.
generation holder of the Linji dharma scroll, only in recent
Turner, Victor. “Liminal to Liminoid, in Play, Flow, and Ritual:
years has the master encouraged devotees to make formal
An Essay in Comparative Symbology.” Rice University
meditation an important part of their cultivation. Up
Studies 60 (Summer 1974): 53–92. Reprinted in Turner’s
through the 1980s, he considered Pure Land recitation a
collection of essays entitled From Ritual to Theatre: The
more suitable expedient means (Chin., fangbian; Skt., upa¯ya)
Human Seriousness of Play (New York, 1982), pp. 20–60.
to attract lay followers, given their busy lives, low education
New Sources
level, and scant understanding of the dharma. Clerics were
Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experi-
similarly dissuaded from spending too much time in the
ence. New York, 1990.
Chan hall, for to do so was regarded as contrary to the bodhi-
Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of
sattva spirit of serving all beings, not just attending to one’s
Discovery and Invention. New York, 1996.
own liberation. Only in the early 1990s, when many lay
Buddhists (and even non-Buddhists) were turning to medita-
Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engage-
ment in Everyday Life. The Masterminds Series. New York,
tion as a means to relieve stress, did Master Xingyun more
1997.
actively discuss the value of such practice, backing up his
rhetoric by constructing Foguangshan’s beautiful Chan hall.
Hume, Lynne. “Accessing the Eternal: Dreaming ‘The Dreaming’
and Ceremonial Performance.” Zygon: Journal of Religion and
The form of meditation that Master Xingyun considers
Science 39 (March 2004): 237–258.
to be most compatible with Humanistic Buddhism is “active
Inghilleri, Paolo. From Subjective Experience to Cultural Change.
Chan” (dongzhong chan). Master Baizhang’s maxim “A day
New York, 1999.
without work is a day without food” has been broadened rad-
MIHALY CSIKSZENTMIHALYI (1987)
ically so that, rather than only justifying farm work as suit-
Revised Bibliography
able for monastic life, at Foguangshan it has become a paean
exalting industriousness as an essential part of religious prac-
tice. “Work is nutrition,” exclaims the master, while “the
FOGUANGSHAN. Founded in 1967, Foguangshan
most miserable person in this world is one who does not have
(Buddha’s Light Mountain) had by the beginning of the
any work; the greatest privation in life is the loneliness of
twenty-first century developed into one of the most influen-
boredom.” Foguang laity are therefore exhorted to maximize
tial Buddhist organizations in Taiwan (the Republic of
productivity in their occupation as a means to serve society
China, ROC) and had opened more than 150 temples in
and, through generously contributing the resulting wealth,
nearly thirty countries around the world. Approximately
to support Buddhism. For Foguang clergy, active Chan oc-
1,300 clerics were within the Foguang ranks in 2004, and
curs through vigorously attending to the multitudinous proj-
the order’s lay society, known as the Buddha’s Light Interna-
ects initiated by monastery leadership to promote the dhar-
tional Association (BLIA), had a membership in the hun-
ma. In the view of Foguang monastics, it is they—and not
dreds of thousands. Activities sponsored by Foguangshan
those clerics who sit in absolute silence for hours on end in
and BLIA draw more than three million participants an-
some isolated monastery—who practice in such a way as to
nually.
attain the most profound level of Chan realization.
The order’s founder, Master Xingyun, was born in 1927
The Humanistic Buddhist perspective has led Master
in Jiangsu province of mainland China. He took his vows
Xingyun to regard the teachings of the Pure Land school in
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3140
FOGUANGSHAN
a new way as well. Rather than exerting their energies toward
uang activities in Taiwan, which can attract tens of thou-
being reborn in a pure land in a different dimension of the
sands of participants, often take place at government facilities
universe, as is usually advocated by the Pure Land school,
and have as the guests of honor top political officials, military
people are urged to transform our own immediate world into
brass, and business elite. Because of this, Master Xingyun’s
a Pure Land and thereby personally embody the bodhisattva
detractors have saddled him with the pejorative labels of “po-
aspiration for universal enlightenment. Master Xingyun pro-
litical monk” and “commercial monk.” The former epithet
nounces that advances in science, technology, and medicine,
gained especial salience after the master publicly endorsed
as well as the global trend toward democracy and human
one of his disciples in 1996 in the Republic of China’s first
rights, all foster the conditions of security, peace, and well-
open election for the presidency and then, later that same
being required for cultivation. The notion of humanity’s
year, hosted U.S. vice president Al Gore at a banquet at Hsi
steady progress through history to ever-higher levels of com-
Lai Temple (Hacienda Heights, California) for what turned
fort, freedom, ethical consciousness, and rationality is a cen-
out to be a fund-raiser for the Democratic National Com-
tral feature of the master’s philosophy. Master Xingyun be-
mittee. The label “commercial monk” came about not only
lieves that radical, confrontational reforms are not an
because of the master’s many wealthy devotees, but also due
effective method for achieving such progress, since such tac-
to his penchant to create high-profile, glitzy facilities and
tics create too much suffering and remain within dualistic
events. Foguang headquarters’ eight-story-high statue of
thinking. Instead, he espouses gradual amelioration through
Amita¯bha Buddha, its Pure Land Cave (which was modeled
each person engaging in a daily regimen of contemplation,
on Disney’s “It’s a Small, Small World”), and its annual New
meditation, and self-reflection, while simultaneously devot-
Year’s Festival of a Myriad Lights have over the years attract-
ing his or her energy to improving the welfare of others.
ed millions of pilgrims and tourists. Master Xingyun is of the
Hence, Foguangshan periodically leads large-scale campaigns
firm opinion that attracting society’s elite to Buddhism and
aimed at societal regeneration through moral persuasion and
providing wholesome entertainment with a Buddhist theme
sponsors a variety of civic enterprises, including an orphan-
are both effective expedient means for spreading the dharma.
age, a medical clinic, several preschools, a high school, and
Nonetheless, partially in response to adverse press concern-
a liberal arts university.
ing his organization’s forays into more secular spheres, the
Although improving people’s material and societal con-
master decided in 1997 to henceforth allow only groups of
ditions is seen as essential to establishing a Pure Land on
Foguang devotees participating in organized pilgrimages to
earth, the key to realizing such a utopia nonetheless remains
enter the headquarters’ compound. Since that time the gen-
cultivating people’s wisdom and compassion through expo-
eral public has been welcome to visit Foguangshan’s many
sure to the dharma. Naturally, the master sees Buddhism in
branch temples, but the headquarters in Kaohsiung has large-
general, and Humanistic Buddhism as propounded by Fog-
ly remained off limits.
uangshan in particular, as being at the forefront of this move-
ment. Each Foguang temple is regarded as a miniature Pure
Master Xingyun and his organization are not only influ-
Land whose wholesome influence will slowly radiate outward
ential in Taiwan, but since the early 1990s have played an
to positively influence its surroundings, until eventually the
increasingly prominent role in providing religious instruc-
entire world can be transformed into a realm of bliss.
tion and a sense of cultural identity to overseas Chinese. The
beginnings of Foguangshan’s globalization are to be traced
Master Xingyun asserts that the key to extending such
to the master’s visit to the United States in 1976, at which
purity—or as he would phrase it, “spreading the Buddha’s
point he recognized the great potential for serving the rapidly
light,”—is implementing effective educational programs,
expanding Chinese-American population. Twelve years later,
both for the clergy who guide the process and for the laity
the master opened the doors of Hsi Lai Temple, the largest
who assure its widespread dissemination. Foguangshan is
Buddhist monastery in the Western hemisphere. In less than
therefore especially well known in Taiwan for its system of
a decade after founding that temple, Foguangshan opened
monastic colleges and its publishing empire. By 2000, Fog-
ninety-five overseas branches: twenty-seven in Asia (exclud-
uangshan had a dozen seminaries with more than five hun-
ing the sixty temples in the ROC), thirteen in Australia and
dred students enrolled. While most of the students come
the Pacific Islands, nineteen in Europe, seven in Africa, five
from within the Foguang ranks, a variety of smaller temples
around Taiwan also send their novices to these seminaries for
in South and Central America, and twenty-four in North
training. Foguangshan’s publications include an edition of
America (nineteen in the United States and five in Canada).
the Buddhist canon (with punctuation added), a six-volume
By the close of the twentieth century, Master Xingyun had
encyclopedia of Buddhism, and scores of books, cassettes,
decided to hold off on constructing other centers, so the
videos, and CD-ROMs explicating Master Xingyun’s version
number of Foguang temples has remained fairly steady since
of Humanistic Buddhism. The organization also devotes
that time. This network is supplemented by the Buddha’s
considerable resources to maintaining its many websites and
Light International Association, which in 2000 had some
television station.
110 chapters worldwide.
Foguang projects are typically undertaken in coopera-
Foguang temples may be found virtually anywhere a rel-
tion with political and corporate leaders. Large-scale Fog-
atively large expatriate population from the ROC has co-
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FOLKLORE
3141
alesced. The reach of BLIA is still farther, extending to areas
Jones, Charles Brewer. Buddhism in Taiwan: Religion and the
with even small communities of Taiwan emigrants. The only
State, 1660–1990. Honolulu, 1999.
Chinese Buddhist organization with a comparable overseas
Laliberte, Andre. “The Politics of Buddhist Organizations in Tai-
network is Ciji Hui, which at the beginning of the third mil-
wan, 1989–1997.” Ph.D. diss., University of British Colum-
lennium had offices in twenty-eight countries. The two orga-
bia, 1999.
nizations differ from one another in that Foguangshan has
Pittman, Don Alvin. Toward a Modern Chinese Buddhism: Taixu’s
stationed clerics, and therefore opened temples, while Ciji
Reforms. Honolulu, 2001.
Hui has relied upon its impressive array of lay leaders to es-
STUART CHANDLER (2005)
tablish “offices.” Foguangshan’s international network of
temples exceeds not only that of other Chinese Buddhist in-
stitutions, but is one of the most extensive of any Buddhist
group.
FO KWAN SHAN SEE FOGUANGSHAN
Although the vast majority of devotees in Foguang
branch temples outside of Taiwan are overseas Chinese Bud-
dhists (with most having emigrated from Taiwan, although
FOLK DANCE SEE DANCE, ARTICLE ON
small numbers have come from mainland China, Vietnam,
POPULAR AND FOLK DANCE
and Hong Kong), the organization has also devoted consid-
erable energy to bringing others into its fold. Hsi Lai Tem-
ple, Nan Tien Temple (Wollengong, Australia), and Nan
Hua Temple (Bronkhorstspruit, South Africa) have been at
FOLKLORE. Folklorists have been interested in religion
the forefront of Foguangshan missionary endeavor. Hsi Lai
as an area of research since the beginnings of the discipline
Temple and Nan Tien Temple both maintain BLIA chapters
in the nineteenth century, although early folklorists often
serving several dozen non-Chinese members. Nan Hua Tem-
conceived the beliefs of folk cultures not as religion but as
ple has undertaken the ambitious task of establishing a semi-
superstition or magic. Many folklore scholars were grounded
nary and orphanage. In the early years, at least, Foguang-
in scientific rationalism to the extent that they dismissed the
shan’s efforts to attract non-Chinese to its lay membership
beliefs of the folk as ignorant superstition, even if these be-
or monastic corps has had only limited success.
liefs were part of systems that functioned in ways similar to
organized religion. By the early twentieth century, folklorists
Foguangshan gave formal symbolic imprint to its self-
and other social scientists recognized the link between reli-
avowed role as leader of the global Buddhist community in
gion and folk belief, but condescended toward both. From
1997, when it sponsored an international Triple Altar Ordi-
the positivist perspective of folklore studies as a “historical
nation in Bodh Gaya¯, India (site of the Buddha’s enlighten-
science,” superstition and religion were both considered pre-
ment). One hundred and fifty novices representing
scientific. In 1930 Alexander Krappe stated in The Science
Therava¯din, Tibetan, and Maha¯ya¯na lineages flew in from
of Folklore: “Superstition, in common parlance, designates
countries around the world to take the three sets of vows.
the sum of beliefs and practices shared by other people in so
The vast majority of participants were women, a significant
far as they differ from our own. What we believe and practice
fact since neither Therava¯din nor Tibetan Buddhism pro-
ourselves is, of course, Religion” (p. 203). Krappe implies the
vides women with the opportunity to take the necessary pre-
dichotomy that later folklorists called folk/elite, with the folk
cepts for full ordination as a bhiks:un:¯ı nun. In the following
an invention of an intellectual elite who always defined folk
years, Foguangshan sponsored several other ceremonies in
as inferior because they were construed as rural, isolated, and
which dozens more such women underwent bhiks:un:¯ı ordina-
uneducated.
tion. Only time will tell whether this campaign will gain mo-
mentum and have a noticeable impact on Therava¯din and
On the other hand, folklorists were part of a larger intel-
Tibetan Buddhist communities.
lectual tendency to romanticize the folk, including idealizing
certain beliefs and practices associated with folk culture.
Master Xingyun and Foguangshan remain highly influ-
Folklorists’ attitudes towards the folk were similar to anthro-
ential in Taiwan, enjoy a significant following among over-
pologists’ attitudes toward the primitive. According to
seas Chinese, and to a more limited extent have influenced
George E. Marcus and Michael M. J. Fischer in Anthropology
non-Chinese Buddhists around the world.
as Cultural Critique: An Experimental Moment in the Human
Sciences (1986), anthropologists have idealized the primitive
BIBLIOGRAPHY
since the nineteenth century: “They—primitive man—have
Chandler, Stuart. Establishing a Pure Land on Earth: The Foguang
retained a respect for nature, and we have lost it . . . they
Buddhist Perspective on Modernization and Globalization.
have sustained close, intimate, satisfying communal lives,
Honolulu, 2004.
and we have lost this way of life . . . and they have retained
Jiang Canteng. Taiwan Dangdai Fojiao. Taipei, 1997.
a sense of the sacred in everyday life, and we have lost this
Jiang Canteng. Dangdai Taiwan Renjian Fojiao Sixiang Jia. Tai-
[spiritual vision]” (p. 129). Folklorists were similarly nostal-
pei, 2001.
gic about the folk and their beliefs, imagining some folk be-
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FOLKLORE
liefs as representing a spiritual connection to nature that civi-
lem that scholars had encountered since the invention of the
lized people had lost and perceiving the folk as leading more
folk in the eighteenth century: how to differentiate folk reli-
sacred lives than people in modern urban environments.
gion from other forms of religion.
This romanticized construction of folk belief was maintained
F
simultaneously with the opposite academic construction of
OLK RELIGION. In his seminal 1974 essay “Toward a Defi-
nition of Folk Religion,” Don Yoder points out that “the dis-
folk belief as pathological. For instance, in the United States
covery of folk religion in Europe had come at the time of the
folklorists represented Appalachian people as a folk in ways
eighteenth-century Enlightenment, when rationalist clergy
that sometimes reinforced the stereotype of the irrational su-
attacked folk ‘superstitions’ in sermons and ministerial peri-
perstitious hillbilly and at other times projected the image
odicals” (p. 3). By the nineteenth century, German scholars
of the wise old mountain healer who was spiritually close to
had included religion as an important component in the
nature.
study of Volkskunde (folklife), and by 1901 a German Lu-
SUPERSTITION AND RELIGION. Most folklorists made a dis-
theran minister used the term religiose Volkskunde (religious
tinction between superstition and religion, even when evi-
folklife) for the first time. In the twentieth century, Europe-
dence indicated a close connection between beliefs and prac-
an folklorists conducted extensive research on the religious
tices assigned to different categories. The religious
beliefs and practices of folk groups throughout Europe
orientation and theoretical approach of the researcher were
among both Roman Catholics and Protestants. To German
factors in making this distinction, as were issues of race and
and other European scholars, the folk were uneducated peas-
class. A comparison of the 1920s and 1930s research of white
ants living in isolated rural areas, so that folk religion could
folklorist Newbell Niles Puckett and black folklorist Zora
be differentiated from other forms of religion on the basis
Neale Hurston illustrates the complexity of the cultural rep-
of the elite/folk hierarchy: folk religion was simpler, contam-
resentation of folk belief and religion in folklore scholarship.
inated by superstition, and often at variance with official
Puckett and Hurston viewed the African American tradition
church dogma. Yoder used this long-standing dichotomy as
of hoodoo or conjuration in very different ways: Hurston as
the basis for his definition of folk religion as “unofficial” and
a religion and Puckett as superstitious behavior. Puckett was
“relatively unorganized” in opposition to official organized
still theoretically grounded in the outdated nineteenth-
religion: “Folk religion is the totality of all those views and
century concept of cultural evolution, while Hurston was
practices of religion that exist among the people apart from
trained in the then current school of cultural relativism. Pu-
and alongside the strictly theological and liturgical forms of
ckett, in his extensive collection Folk Beliefs of the Southern
the official religion” (p. 4).
Negro (1926), associates superstition with “uncultured and
backward classes of society” (p. 6), people who had not ad-
The same basic dichotomy worked for folklorists and
vanced up the ladder of cultural evolution as far as the edu-
anthropologists as they began to study the religious life of
cated elite. He therefore saw such African American folk
peoples in the New World. Folklorists especially were look-
practices as midwifery as “murderous lore” that “should be
ing for the equivalent of the European peasant in new envi-
replaced by modern scientific knowledge.”
ronments so that any isolated, rural, and relatively uneducat-
ed people were designated folk, and folklorists began to
Hurston rejected Puckett’s pathological view and saw
collect such religious expressions as hymns, sermons, cus-
hoodoo and conjuration as a systematic religion comparable
toms, and rituals from them. The definition of folk religion
to Christianity. In a 1929 letter to the poet Langston Hughes
as religious practices of peasants persisted well into the twen-
quoted by Robert Hemenway in his “Introduction” to Hurs-
tieth century; William A. Christian Jr., who wrote the entry
ton’s Mules and Men (1935), Hurston writes “I am con-
on “Folk Religion” in the original 1987 edition of The Ency-
vinced that Christianity as practiced is an attenuated form
clopedia of Religion, directed his attention to “past and pres-
of nature worship” (pp. xix–xx). After citing several Christian
ent-day sedentary cultivators and pastoralists of Asia, North
rituals that contain nature symbolism, she proclaims, “Sym-
Africa, southern Europe, and Latin America, and historically
pathetic magic pure and simple. They have a nerve to laugh
to sedentary cultivators in northern Europe and North
at conjure.” She accepted the spiritual efficacy of hoodoo to
America as well” (vol. 5, p. 370). His definition of folk as
the point that she studied with a hoodoo priest and was initi-
pastoral leads him to conclude that the folk had disappeared
ated into the practice and came to believe that conjuration
from North America and northern Europe as a result of ur-
worked in particular instances. She argued against the patho-
banization and industrialization, in contrast to such folklor-
logical perspective toward folk belief, but in order to present
ists as Richard M. Dorson, who answered “yes” to the ques-
a more positive picture of African American folk belief, she
tion posed in the title of his 1970 article, “Is There a Folk
tended to romanticize black southern folk culture as closer
in the City?” Many of Dorson’s examples came from Euro-
to nature and more spiritual than modern societies. Hurs-
pean immigrants and southern rural migrants in heavily in-
ton’s subjective position as an African American ethno-
dustrialized Gary, Indiana, so that the peasant idea was still
grapher caused her to see her own culture in a more positive
underlying the conceptualization of folk.
light than Puckett as a white sociologist/folklorist born and
brought up in a southern racist society could. Despite their
Folklorists and anthropologists also conducted field re-
differences, Hurston and Puckett confronted the same prob-
search on religious folklore in both urban and rural areas in
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3143
Central and South America, where their theoretical concern
to treat religious practices with respect by concentrating on
was with cultural syncretism. They examined the way native
the experiential aspects of religion. Primiano recognizes that
religions merged with official religions. Yoder cites the “ex-
vernacular contains some of the same pejorative connotations
ample [of] the mélange of African primitivism and Roman
as folk, and some folklorists prefer to continue using folk reli-
Catholicism that is in Haiti called ‘Voodoo,’ or the syncre-
gion as the scholarly term, but the theoretical concept of ver-
tism between Catholicism and native Indian religious beliefs
nacular religion has been widely accepted in folklore studies.
and practices in Central and South America” (1974, p. 2).
FOLKLORISTIC APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF RELIGION.
The fieldwork of Hurston offers an example of how syncre-
Concepts of the folk and definitions of folk religion have had
tism also influenced folklore field research in the southern
a basic influence on theoretical approaches folklorists have
United States, since she recognized the Catholic elements in
used in the study of religion, and as these concepts and defi-
hoodoo in New Orleans. Anthropologists and folklorists still
nitions have changed, so have the approaches. Since most
considered religious folklore in socioeconomic class terms as
folklore studies are grounded in field research, the best way
associated with peasants, although some had migrated to cit-
to understand theoretical approaches in folklore scholarship
ies bringing their religion with them.
is by examining representative individual studies since the
early 1900s. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, anti-
Throughout the history of folklore scholarship on reli-
quarians were interested in religious folk customs as survivals
gion, the folk/elite dichotomy has been a basic underlying
of previous savage or barbarian times; they thought collect-
principle, whether in the study of European peasants, Afri-
ing the beliefs and customs of peasants could provide an un-
can Americans, Appalachian whites, or people whose reli-
derstanding of the past. The concept of cultural evolution
gions merge native and European elements. This began to
that was the basis for the survivalist approach had been dis-
change for some folklorists in the 1960s when they started
credited by the late nineteenth century, but some anthropol-
to study urban and suburban folklore and gradually expand-
ogists and folklorists continued to base their interpretations
ed their research to include educated people of a higher so-
of folk beliefs and religion on it well into the twentieth cen-
cioeconomic class, recognizing that folklore had adapted to
tury. Puckett clung to cultural evolution as an explanation
technology so that new genres such as “xerox lore” became
of African American folk beliefs in the 1920s, and Ovidiu
the subject of scholarly books. Finally, Alan Dundes could
Birlia used cultural evolution as the basic approach for his
answer the question asked in his 1980 article “Who Are the
entry on “Folklore” in the 1987 edition of The Encyclopedia
Folk?” by saying that, in essence, we all are: a folk group is
of Religion. However, for most anthropology and folklore
any group with any one linking factor. Once the folk/elite
scholars, cultural relativism had replaced cultural evolution
dichotomy had been undermined, folklorists who conducted
by early in the twentieth century. The history of anthropo-
research on religion were freed to reconceptualize it in non-
logical and folkloristic studies of religion continued to over-
hierarchical ways.
lap as the new paradigm of cultural relativism developed
In 1995, Leonard Norman Primiano, in an important
models that then became dominant influences on the study
essay entitled “Vernacular Religion and the Search for Meth-
of religious folklore.
od in Religious Folklife,” challenged the assumption of folk
Especially important was the anthropological approach
as inferior: “Scholars within the discipline have consistently
that came to be known as functionalism. Bronislaw Mali-
named religious people’s beliefs in residualistic, derogatory
nowski’s fieldwork among Trobriand Islanders became the
ways as ‘folk,’ ‘unofficial,’ or ‘popular’ religion, and have
basis for the functional explanation of magic belief and relat-
then juxtaposed these terms on a two-tiered model with ‘offi-
ed behavior that he articulated in a 1931 essay, “The Role
cial’ religion” (p. 38). This implies the existence of a “pure”
of Magic and Religion.” His “anxiety ritual theory” influ-
religion that is “contaminated” by the folk in their everyday
enced the anthropological and folkloristic study of a wide
religious practices. In order to correct the problems inherent
range of behaviors, from primitive magic to everyday super-
in this hierarchical dichotomy, Primiano suggests a new term
stitions to rituals in religious settings. He invited this wide-
and a new theoretical concept: “Vernacular religion is, by
spread application by suggesting that such behaviors were
definition, religion as it is lived: as human beings encounter,
found in both primitive and modern life: wherever there is
understand, interpret, and practice it” (p. 44). There is no
uncertainty in human endeavors, there will be magic and rit-
opposition here between folk and elite since all religious
ual to help relieve the anxiety that arises from that uncertain-
practitioners would be included no matter what their socio-
ty. Rituals, whether they are as mundane as not walking
economic class: every individual interprets religion within
under a ladder or as elaborate as Catholic priests blessing
the context of his or her everyday life (the vernacular dimen-
fishing fleets, function to give a psychological sense of con-
sion of life). Priests, rabbis, prophets, shamans—no matter
trol over uncertainties in life. The functional approach was
how high in the hierarchy of their respective religions—
grounded in scientific rationalism as a way of explaining
would all practice vernacular religion in the sense that they
what seemed to be irrational behaviors; a functionalist might
make individual interpretations of religious meaning and
say that when modern educated people base their actions on
practice in everyday circumstances. This approach avoids the
“magico-religious” beliefs, their behavior is analogous to
condescension of the old elite/folk dichotomy and attempts
primitives. As folklorist Bonnie Blair O’Connor pointed out
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3144
FOLKLORE
in her 1995 book, Healing Traditions: Alternative Medicines
of religions among various socioeconomic classes and in
and the Health Professions, the functionalist approach is im-
rural, urban, and suburban contexts. There was also a residu-
plicitly condescending to the people whose beliefs are being
al effect of scientific rationalism in this approach in that ritu-
studied; “they” are not capable of understanding their own
al process suggests social and psychological explanations for
behavior the way “we” educated researchers are. This was a
religious conversion experiences, rather than considering the
submerged problem as long as the subjects were classified as
possibility that they are spiritual experiences. A valuable cor-
“primitive” or “folk,” but as the concept of folk expanded
rective to the tendency to condescend toward fundamental-
beyond rural, isolated, relatively uneducated groups, the
ists was the 1988 collection of essays Diversities of Gifts: Field
issue emerged as politically significant.
Studies in Southern Religion. The editors, Ruel W. Tyson Jr.,
James L. Peacock, and Daniel W. Patterson, and the contrib-
In retrospect, present-day scholars can see that conde-
scension toward research subjects was a theoretical problem
utors self-consciously tried to counter stereotypes by depict-
all along for folklorists, including those conducting research
ing fundamentalist religion as complex beliefs and behaviors
on folk religion in the United States. Most American re-
in closely observed cultural contexts.
searchers in folk religion concentrated their field research on
Folklorists theoretically refined the ritual process ap-
fundamentalist Christians in the rural South. These Ameri-
proach by applying it to contexts that required multiple in-
can versions of European peasants were conceived of as the
terpretations, recognizing that communitas and liminality
folk, and if a researcher wanted to study the full range of their
have significance beyond their religious meanings. A good
traditional life, then their religion had to be included—a cir-
example of this is Sabra Webber’s study of the Islamic tradi-
cular way of defining folk religion, but it went uncontested
tion of Ramad:a¯n. In “Ramadan Observed” (1984) she syn-
throughout most of the twentieth century. Despite the fact
thesizes Turner’s ritual theory with cultural politics, seeing
that there were a range of religions to study in the South,
Ramad:a¯n as a space for the negotiation of religious and polit-
folklorists concentrated on the most conservative fundamen-
ical meanings. She bases her study on her own fieldwork in
talist and evangelical Christian denominations, undoubtedly
Tunisia and on other ethnographic accounts from North Af-
because they were large in number but also because they fit
rica, where Ramad:a¯n combines elements of ritual and festi-
preconceived notions about the folk. The very conservatism
val. Ramad:a¯n is a lunar month-long fast in which the break-
of their religion made it seem more traditional, and from the
ing of the fast at the end is an important element. Webber
educated perspective of the folklorist, fundamentalists were
sees Ramad:a¯n as a local liminal event that must be examined
seen as more exotic than mainstream religions that were in
within a larger “liminal period in North African and Arab-
many cases closer to the folklorists’ own religious back-
world history” (p. 187), a publicly recognized awareness of
ground.
great change between more stable periods. “Ramadan at its
In the 1960s and 1970s, folklorists studying fundamen-
most basic . . . has become a paradigm that various political
talist Christian conversion experiences began to use such the-
and social groups, as well as individuals, are seeking to use
oretical approaches as the one Victor Turner described in his
to represent their values” (p. 188). This multivocality com-
1969 book, The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure.
plicates the concept of communitas: “while at a community
One of the first folklorists to use ritual process theory was
level a kind of communitas is achieved, at the individual level
William Clements in his 1976 article “Conversion and Com-
it provides, for some people, an opportunity for intensifica-
munitas”; he identified Turner’s ritual states of “liminality”
tion of pious or recreational behavior” (p. 191), and for oth-
and “communitas” in the experiences of fundamentalists he
ers an opportunity for coming of age, an expression of Mus-
interviewed in Arkansas. Clements posits that since “many
lim identity in opposition to other religions, a statement of
folk Christians are poor, uneducated, and without social
acceptance or rejection of modernity, and even, for some, a
prestige,” their experience of communitas functions “in a
declaration of revolution. Webber’s field research indicates
compensatory manner” to make up for their lack of “social
an ongoing negotiation by Muslims about the meaning of
commodities” (pp. 44–45). Following Clements, Patrick B.
Ramad:a¯n. Unlike the research on ritual among fundamental-
Mullen discerned the same ritual pattern in conversion nar-
ist Christians, where the interpretation comes from outside
ratives among evangelicals in “Ritual and Sacred Narrative
observers, Webber’s use of ritual theory incorporates inter-
in the Blue Ridge Mountains” (1983), and Jeff Todd Titon
pretations from within the group, thus avoiding conde-
applied Turner’s theory to religious expression in Powerhouse
scension.
for God: Speech, Chant, and Song in an Appalachian Baptist
Webber’s research is one indication of a broader shift
Church (1988).
in the study of folk religious behavior from the nineteenth
Unfortunately, ritual process theory continued the ten-
century to the present: a movement away from considering
dency toward condescension in the study of folk religion by
the folk and their beliefs as inferior. Folklorists accepted the
applying it mainly to lesser-educated religious groups. Al-
underlying elite/folk hierarchy for a very long time, but once
though folklorists concentrated fieldwork on lower socioeco-
that was questioned, resistance to it created an effort to re-
nomic fundamentalist religious groups in the rural South,
move pejorative judgments from the documentation and
Turner’s ritual pattern can be seen across a wide spectrum
analysis of folk religion. One result of this movement is folk-
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3145
lorist David J. Hufford’s “experience-centered” theory,
part of a dynamic cultural process. The emphasis was on the
which tries to avoid prejudging religious experiences. In a
specific situation in which the folklore was communicated,
book and a series of articles, Hufford has identified the con-
the performance context. Richard Bauman defined perfor-
descension toward and dismissal of spiritual experiences as
mance in 1992 as “an aesthetically marked and heightened
a major scholarly problem in folk belief and folk religion
mode of communication, framed in a special way and put
studies. He began to formulate his approach to such phe-
on display for an audience” (p. 41). This certainly describes
nomena in his 1982 book, The Terror That Comes in the
many cultural expressions that occur within a religious con-
Night: An Experience-Centered Study of Supernatural Assault
text, and although folklorists concentrated on verbal art in
Traditions, by researching the cross-cultural “old hag” or
secular storytelling at first, it was not long before theoretical
“Mara” tradition in which people wake up paralyzed in the
principles from the performance approach were being used
night thinking that some supernatural entity is pressing
to interpret narrating in religious contexts.
down on their chests. The experience transcends religious
difference with reports from Jewish and Christian believers,
Kirin Narayan’s 1989 book, Storytellers, Saints, and
as well as from Islamic sources, where the experience is relat-
Scoundrels: Folk Narrative in Hindu Religious Teaching, is
ed to the jinn, an evil or mischievous spirit that visits during
based on field research in India, where she observed and par-
the night.
ticipated in storytelling sessions conducted by a Hindu holy
man, Swamiji. Narayan employs performance and other ap-
Hufford has also applied his approach to other spiritual
proaches to analyze the way Swamiji uses storytelling to teach
phenomena, such as out-of-body experiences and visitations
people who come to him seeking spiritual guidance. She fo-
from the dead, in his essay “Beings without Bodies: An Expe-
cuses on eight folk narratives in specific performance situa-
rience-Centered Study of the Belief in Spirits” (1995). His
tions, taking into account the personality and character of
approach to these experiences is grounded in phenomenolo-
the storyteller and dynamic interactions with his audience in
gy: he is critical of preconceived assumptions that explain the
order to explain how religious “truths . . . are made compre-
behavior in psychological or cultural terms, as, for instance,
hensible and persuasive . . . through the medium of stories”
having Freudian symbolic meaning. Rather, his approach
(p. 243). Swamiji’s stories communicate general religious
concentrates on the experience itself as reported firsthand by
principles, “yet by telling a story instead of making a general-
the person involved, opening up the possibility that the expe-
izing statement, Swamiji endows these principles with a vital
rience was an actual contact with another dimension.
immediacy” (p. 244). Narayan’s study of Hindu storytelling
Many folklorists who study religion have accepted Huf-
has application to storytelling in a wide range of other reli-
ford’s theoretical model as a useful balance to the social con-
gious settings.
struction of reality that might view all such spiritual experi-
The performance approach mainly concentrated on nar-
ences as “deconstructed ‘situated hallucinations,’” a phrase
ratives, but it has been applied more broadly to sermons,
used by Margaret Mills in a 1993 article in which she urges
hymns, rituals, and other religious expressions. One of the
folklorists to strive for a sense of what “feels real” in the lives
first studies of religious expression as performance was Bruce
of the people that they study. On the other hand, Patrick B.
Rosenberg’s The Art of the American Folk Preacher (1970),
Mullen in his 2000 essay, “Belief and the American Folk,”
but he goes back to an earlier model, the oral-formulaic ap-
points out that researchers can never determine the exact na-
proach, for his primary theoretical focus. In many ways, the
ture of the “core experience” itself, that the experience is al-
oral-formulaic approach of Albert B. Lord and Millman
ways mediated by the person in the act of telling it to the
Parry was a precursor of performance theory because of its
researcher. Mullen argues that folklorists should not just be
emphasis on oral performance. In The Singer of Tales (1960),
interested in the core experience but also in the “examination
Lord formulated the oral-formulaic thesis based on fieldwork
of narrating, the process of communicating a supernatural or
he and Parry had conducted on performances by South Slav
spiritual experience in a specific cultural context” (p. 137).
epic poets that provided the evidence of certain oral formulas
A folklorist does not have to accept or reject a spiritual expe-
that also occur in written poetry. Rosenberg identified simi-
rience as real in order to examine the cultural process where-
lar themes and formulas in improvised oral sermon perfor-
by the experience was communicated to others. This suggests
mances by American preachers. Gerald Davis later argued in
that the performance approach, which has been a major
“I’ve Got the Word in Me and I Can Sing It, You Know”: A
component of folklore studies since the 1960s, still has rele-
Study of the Performed African American Sermon (1985) that
vance for the study of the expressive dimension of folk reli-
formulas are indeed part of the African American preacher’s
gion today.
performance, but they are culture specific and related to
PERFORMANCE APPROACHES. Performance theory was part
rhythmic patterns that are not the same as those used by epic
of a 1960s and 1970s paradigm shift in folklore studies that
poets. In both studies, belief is not so much an issue as the
incorporated the contextual analysis of anthropology with
artistic dimension of the performance, and this gets at one
the ethnography-of-speaking approach of sociolinguistics
of the problems that folklorists have faced in using a perfor-
and the Kenneth Burke rhetorical approach of literary critical
mance approach to religious expression: such studies contex-
theory in order to examine folklore not as static text but as
tualize traditional religious communication in terms of the
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FOLKLORE
specific circumstances of performance, but tend to leave out
evaluated on the basis of artistic keys, but on authenticity of
the dimension of belief.
belief. Performance theory still seems relevant here: even if
the qualities of performance are lacking in one testimony,
As Diane E. Goldstein states in her 1995 article, “The
they are made apparent by the presence of performance keys
Secularization of Religious Ethnography and Narrative
in the other. The important thing is for the researcher to be
Competence in a Discourse of Faith,” many researchers treat
familiar with the relationship between aesthetics and belief
“belief issues as essentially external to the scope of research.
in the particular religious culture under scrutiny.
The folklorist’s concern with verbal artistry provides grist for
such an approach in that it often lays stress on ‘the verbal’
CULTURAL STUDIES APPROACHES. Performance approaches
and ‘the art’ to the neglect of the underlying cognitive aspects
to folk religion concentrated so much on the aesthetic di-
of culture” (p. 23). We are reminded of Mills’s concern that
mensions of a specific situation that they neglected larger cul-
folklorists are leaving out the felt experiential nature of belief
tural and ideological issues that informed the performance
and practice in ethnographic descriptions. Goldstein points
itself, as J. E. Limon and M. J. Young point out in their 1986
out that scholars tend to separate language from religion in
critique of performance studies in general, “Frontiers, Settle-
order to avoid belief as a factor, and consequently they have
ments, and Development in Folklore Studies, 1972–1985.”
not fully understood the cultural meaning of religious experi-
Limon and Young also criticized folklorists doing perfor-
ence. She says that the performance approach concentrates
mance studies for their concentration on verbal art and ne-
on art in a way that leaves out the performer’s sense of the
glect of material culture. These imbalances were partially cor-
divine, thus secularizing religious communication and mak-
rected by the growing influence of cultural studies on
ing the approach inadequate as a means of understanding the
folklore scholarship in the 1970s and 1980s.
cultural process being examined. The term performance sug-
Folklorists using cultural studies approaches helped fill
gests a metaphor underlying the theory, which prompts
in the gaps by examining power relations within folk religion
Goldstein to ask, “Why would you use the dramatistic meta-
contexts, including numerous studies of both oral traditions
phors of stages and actors if you knew about religious experi-
and material culture. For instance, in the 1993 essay “Mul-
ence?” (p. 29).
tivocality and Vernacular Architecture: The Our Lady of
Some folklorists respond that no matter how divinely
Mount Carmel Grotto in Rosebank, Staten Island,” Joseph
felt the experience itself is, it is communicated from one
Sciorra traces the history of a neighborhood grotto built by
human to another in social contexts that sometimes require
a group of Italian-American men in New York. He inter-
the speaker to engage a listener through artistic means. The
viewed some of the builders to situate the tradition within
specific context of communication must be taken into ac-
local culture, and he also placed his study in the larger con-
count; some contexts require performance techniques and
text of the history of Catholic grottoes in Europe and else-
others do not. As most performance scholars recognize today,
where. His research indicates the social and political reality
an effective theoretical approach to folk religion would com-
of the official/unofficial dichotomy in folk religion. This may
bine performance and culturally based theories. The “keys”
be an imagined construct, but it was manifested in the exer-
that define performance in Bauman’s Verbal Art as Perfor-
cise of power by local church authorities in an attempt to
mance (1977) are culturally relative, so that a specific reli-
keep religious activities within the control of the priests after
gious performance situation must be examined within its
local parishioners started their own neighborhood proces-
larger cultural frame, including the role of belief. The re-
sions and grottos. The struggle took place over many years,
searcher needs to be “fluent” in the keys of the particular cul-
but the folk parishioners were able to maintain the Mount
ture being studied. Goldstein points out that this has not
Carmel grotto that still stands today as an attraction for
been the case in many performance studies of folk religion,
thousands of visitors to an out of the way neighborhood on
but this is not the result of a flaw in the theory, but in its
Staten Island.
application.
A similar study by Suzanne Seriff in 1991, “Homages
Goldstein’s example from her own fieldwork illustrates
in Clay: The Figural Ceramics of José Varela,” focuses on a
the importance of taking the group’s beliefs into account
Mexican-American folk artist whose clay figures often depict
when examining communication about religious experience.
religious themes. Like Sciorra, Seriff’s theoretical approach
She compares testimonies by two different women in an
to folk religion is grounded in cultural politics and ethnic
evangelical worship service; one seems to the researcher to
identity, focusing on power relationships between dominant
be more articulate and effective and the other halting and in-
and minority cultures. Seriff, Sciorra, and other folklorists
effective, but to people in the congregation the inarticulate
concerned with cultural politics see religious and spiritual is-
testimony was deemed more sincere and ultimately more au-
sues not just in aesthetic terms, but also within ideological
thentic and divinely inspired, at least partially because it was
contexts. Varela’s folk art can be understood best through his
not a smooth performance. Their belief system privileged ef-
“concern for community and his passion for the past as a for-
fect over style: “touching the hearts” of people in the congre-
tification against the spiritual and cultural isolation of being
gation was thought to be a sign of divine inspiration. In Bau-
Mexican in an Anglo-dominated world” (p. 162). Varela
man’s terms, the competency of performance was not
worked for low pay at an Anglo-owned brick and tile factory
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FOLKLORE
3147
in a small Texas town; he “surreptitiously” used clay from
ture and identifies strategies whereby these largely illiterate
the factory to create his figures and fired them in the factory
women become experts at rituals that are concerned with
kiln. Some of these he gave or sold to friends, and later in
maintaining the wellbeing of their families. She traces their
life he sold them at markets in San Antonio. He also donated
empowerment in terms of both gender and age: “The Jerusa-
his time to the local Catholic Church in order to build an
lem women describe a shift from relative ritual powerlessness
outdoor grotto to the Virgin of Guadalupe, who “sym-
when young, to intense ritual respect and involvement in old
bolizes the sacred essence of the Mexican community”
age and especially widowhood” (p. 138). By focusing on illit-
(pp. 148–149). Varela “has created a productive niche for
erate women, Sered may be reinforcing the old concept of
himself and his fellow Mexicans . . . in part by creatively
the folk as an oral culture, but this reinforces her feminist
manipulating the conditions of his own oppression—that is,
ideological perspective by concentrating on a group that is
by transforming the materials of the factory in which he
socially marginalized in the modern world.
works into familiar and fantastic forms to be circulated . . .
among members of his own community” (p. 163). Folklor-
Like Sered, Elaine J. Lawless began her scholarly re-
ists often assume the role of advocates for the people they
search by concentrating on subjugated women within an al-
study, and Seriff and Sciorra’s research suggests that they
ready marginalized culture in Handmaidens of the Lord: Pen-
have defined the folk as oppressed and disenfranchised with-
tecostal Women Preachers and Traditional Religion (1988),
in the context of their religious practices in order to argue
but then she switched to more middle-class religious cultures
for their rights.
in Holy Women, Wholly Women: Sharing Ministries of Whole-
F
ness through Life Stories and Reciprocal Ethnography (1993).
EMINIST APPROACHES. Feminist approaches to folk religion
share the political perspective of cultural studies while pro-
The development of her research over those years illustrates
viding a more specific ideological focus. Seriff and another
a broader shift in folk religious studies from rural, relatively
folklorist, Kay Turner, conducted field research that pro-
uneducated, fundamentalist religions to urban and subur-
duced the 1987 essay “‘Giving an Altar’: The Ideology of Re-
ban, educated, “mainstream” religions. In Handmaidens of
production in a St. Joseph’s Day Feast.” “This woman-
the Lord, Lawless examines the process whereby women in
centered altar tradition provides a splendid case in point for
a religion that considered them inferior and submissive to
understanding folklore practice and performance through a
men could become respected preachers and leaders in their
feminist orientation” (p. 446). Their approach combines
congregations. She concentrates on their life stories and ser-
performance and feminist concerns by viewing the feast of
mons using both feminist and performance approaches. She
Saint Joseph as a creative symbolic expression of women’s
analyzes preaching styles in performance terms, but the keys
power of reproduction. The feast “gives dramatic and aes-
to performance reveal images directly related to their experi-
thetic recognition to the sustaining values of nurturance,
ences as women. These stylistic devices then become verbal
care, comfort, and support—the birthright of the mother,”
strategies that work to secure leadership roles for women in
but it moves from the religious to the ideological in that “re-
the church; specifically, the reproductive images used in
ligious belief is specifically wedded with the ideology of re-
women preachers’ sermons are seen as part of a “maternal
production. . .it is through the care and nurturance shown
strategy” to reinforce the role of preacher as “Mother” to the
to the Holy Family on this day that the importance of
congregation. As with other cultural studies approaches to
women’s daily caretaking of the earthly family is sacralized”
folk religion, power relationships are the focus within a reli-
(p. 458). This study indicates how folklorists have gone be-
gious setting.
yond performance in a narrow aesthetic sense by viewing reli-
Lawless used her research in fundamentalist churches to
gious artistic communication within a broader ideological
begin to formulate the concept of “reciprocal ethnography”
frame including feminist principles, and beyond verbal art
in which the field-worker is obliged to share her research
to consider foodways and other aspects of material folk cul-
findings with the subject. This collaborative research process
ture. Turner expanded the scope of her research in folk reli-
requires an ongoing relationship between the folklorist and
gion to include a variety of women’s altars across cultures in
the person providing information about his or her culture,
Beautiful Necessity: The Art and Meaning of Women’s Altars
including discussion between ethnographer and subject on
(1999).
possible scholarly interpretations, and then incorporating the
Susan Starr Sered uses a similar feminist perspective to
consultant’s response in the final report. This approach is
examine an entirely different religious group in Women as
complicated by differences in levels of education, socioeco-
Ritual Experts: The Religious Lives of Elderly Jewish Women
nomic class, and religious belief between researcher and sub-
in Jerusalem (1992), and the principle of women’s empower-
ject. Lawless writes in a 1992 essay, “‘I Was Afraid Someone
ment underlies her research as well. She moves beyond the
Like You . . . An Outsider . . . Would Misunderstand’:
focus on one genre of religious expression to consider a range
Negotiating Interpretive Differences Between Ethno-
of expressions and behaviors including life stories, rituals,
graphers and Subjects,” that she failed to take her consul-
nonverbal gestures, and everyday experiences. As in other
tants’ responses into account in the published version of
feminist folklore studies, Sered analyzes women’s religious
Handmaidens of the Lord, but she began a dialogue with one
activities within the context of a dominant patriarchal cul-
of the preachers later. This woman felt that because Lawless
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FOLKLORE
was a religious outsider she had misinterpreted her sermons,
such ethical problems as dealing with secrecy and to examine
and Lawless herself came to believe that the preacher’s re-
processes of identity formation from within. Her research
sponses should have been included in the book in order to
also indicates how folklorists have blurred the line between
make the scholarly interpretation fuller and richer.
folk and popular religion, recognizing that both are systems
of belief and practice as complex and worthy of study as the
Holy Women, Wholly Women is a product of reciprocal
more academically privileged mainstream organized reli-
ethnography, taking into account the detailed responses of
gions, and thus resisting the dismissal of such religions often
the women preachers who were the subjects of the research.
implied in terms such as New Age.
However, in this case, the women were closer to Lawless in
terms of education and religious beliefs, making the recipro-
Another study of what might be classified as New Age
cal process less difficult and the results more collaborative.
religion is Roseanne Rini’s 1997 dissertation, “Elizabeth
Lawless uses feminist and performance approaches, but this
Kelly: Contemporary Spiritual Teacher and Healer,” which
time with mainstream, more highly educated preachers,
was based on extensive interviews with a healer and psychic,
again interpreting figurative language in their sermons, espe-
Elizabeth Kelly, who was widely respected and consulted by
cially metaphors of nurturing, as revealing particular views
well-educated people in the small college town of Yellow
and strategies of women. Differences in class and education
Springs, Ohio. Rini initially contacted the woman healer for
have been transcended by gender in her two studies, and in
personal advice and came to know her as a friend and to con-
both cases Lawless has situated herself subjectively within the
sult with her on a regular basis. Their personal relationship
study of religion.
gradually expanded to include a researcher/consultant di-
mension, and Rini was able to gain a greater understanding
REFLEXIVE ETHNOGRAPHY. Subjectivity has taken on in-
of Kelly’s belief and practice from a perspective that included
creasing importance in folk religion studies, developing from
her roles as scholar and believer. Reflexive ethnography has
the earlier “invisible ethnographer” of “objective” research to
legitimized this kind of research within one’s own religious
the visibly foregrounded first-person narrator of reflexive
groups in ways that were unimaginable in the past.
ethnography. David J. Hufford has made the most compre-
hensive statement of the significance of reflexivity in folklore
These examples of research in New Age religion illus-
studies of belief in his 1995 essay, “The Scholarly Voice and
trate that the scholarship in folk religion has expanded well
the Personal Voice: Reflexivity in Belief Studies.” Hufford
beyond the old paradigm of the folk as peasant, and these
argues for the necessity of the researcher situating himself or
and other examples from folklore scholarship since the early
herself subjectively within the ethnographic enterprise, say-
twentieth century indicate that the theoretical approaches
ing that this is especially important in studies of belief and
have grown from simple survivalism to a complex pluralism
religion because of the need to make clear the influence of
of choices. The folk are now conceived as any group of peo-
the researcher’s assumptions on the representation of the reli-
ple with any linking factor, although approaches grounded
gious belief system of an “other.” He points out that all too
in cultural politics tend to focus on disenfranchised and op-
often the “objective” stance masks a position of disbelief in
pressed minority groups as the folk. Folkloristic approaches
religious ethnography. “A reflexive analysis of our scholar-
to the study of religion have developed along similar lines as
ship enables us to distinguish among the beliefs of our infor-
the general shifts in postmodern theory, with a special em-
mants, our scholarly knowledge, our personal beliefs and our
phasis on performance, cultural studies, and feminism. Un-
occupational ideology. This permits coherent discourse and
derlying all the various definitions and approaches used by
various warranted moral actions” (p. 71). Instead of hiding
folklorists to study religion is the ongoing concern for indi-
one’s own beliefs, the scholar should make them clear, there-
vidual experience within specific everyday situations and
by allowing different interpretations, including moral or
broader cultural contexts.
ideological ones, to be stated directly, rather than implied as
SEE ALSO Anthropology, Ethnology and Religion; Folk Re-
subtext.
ligion, overview article; Popular Religion.
Reflexivity in religious ethnography also opens up the
possibility of fieldwork and analysis by members of the reli-
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PATRICK B. MULLEN (2005)
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FOLK RELIGION: AN OVERVIEW
FOLK RELIGION
major agricultural threats as drought, hail, and insect
This entry consists of the following articles:
plagues.
AN OVERVIEW
In terms of social relationships, peasant life is character-
FOLK BUDDHISM
FOLK JUDAISM
ized by endemic disputes among households over such mat-
FOLK ISLAM
ters as inheritance, property boundaries, and irrigation; and
yet as cultivators, peasants must normally undertake a certain
amount of cooperative work with their neighbors (such as
FOLK RELIGION: AN OVERVIEW
harvesting, herding, and maintaining roads and irrigation
Peasant populations (i.e., sedentary agricultural groups form-
ditches), as well as provide mutual aid in time of crisis. To
ing part of larger, more complex societies) have probably ex-
a lesser extent, these tensions and dependencies apply also be-
isted since 6000 BCE in southwestern Asia, since 3100 BCE
tween adjacent settlements, particularly when pasture or
in Egypt, and since 1500 BCE in southeastern Mexico. Unlike
water rights are involved. In this context, religious devotion
agricultural entrepreneurs who are active economic agents or
can facilitate the unity of households within a settlement
semisubsistence cultivators practicing ritual exchange and
(mutual fealty to a common divinity) and solidarity between
barter, peasants are farmers whose surpluses are redistributed
settlements (worship at common shrines). On the other
to urban centers by more powerful groups. In practice it is
hand, religions also provide the source, pretext, or rallying
not always easy to decide who actually is or is not a peasant,
cry for chronic and intractable conflict between settlements.
especially in the case of farmers who hold factory jobs, mod-
With regard to patterns of authority and division of labor,
ern European family farmers, contemporary North Ameri-
the role of religion (through divine models of hierarchy, jus-
can small farmers, or cash crop slash-and-burn cultivators of
tice, and emotion) appears to be much the same in peasant
South America and Africa. For the purposes of this article,
as in nonpeasant societies.
this term applies to past and present-day sedentary cultiva-
tors and pastoralists of Asia, North Africa, southern Europe,
Because the household is the critical social and econom-
and Latin America, and historically to sedentary cultivators
ic unit, peasants pay special attention to consecrating the
in northern Europe and North America as well.
identity of household members at birth, the alliance of
household economic units through marriage, and the reorga-
Because sedentary farming emerged independently at
nization of the household at death. In many peasant socie-
different times and in different parts of the world, taking rad-
ties, elaborate care for the souls of deceased household mem-
ically different forms (including short-term fallowing with
bers corresponds to the idea that the social personality of the
animal-drawn plows, alpine pastoralism, and permanent cul-
house or farm endures beyond the lives of any particular in-
tivation by means of hydraulic systems), the search for an
habitants. Consequently, there are reasons why this relation-
original, universal religion based on agriculture seems
ship of religion and identity should be stronger with peasants
doomed to wishful speculation. Attempts nevertheless have
than with others.
been made, concentrating on such notions as matriarchy,
Earth Mother goddesses, and moon worship.
As a local phenomenon, peasant religion only rarely can
be studied well from a distance, or by relying on surveys or
Yet peasant societies do, by definition, have features in
written sources (aside from the rare documents of oral testi-
common that set the requirements and limits on the kinds
mony). The ways that it consecrates relationships with na-
of religion that will serve their members: (1) peasants depend
ture, society, and identity must be lived to be understood.
on a particular ecosystem; (2) most live in similar social envi-
Context is crucial, for it gives meaning, often of a particularly
ronments (household-based, on dispersed farms or in small
local variety, to religious behavior that might otherwise ap-
settlements); and (3) they depend on the larger society for
pear to be universal.
which they produce food. Their religion usually provides
them with ways to deal with the local natural and social
Indeed, for most people, not just peasants, beliefs are
world, as well as the wider social, economic, and political
more acted out (in the sense of worship or ritual) than they
network of which they are a part.
are thought out. Only when challenged are such beliefs for-
mulated or declared by any but the religious specialist or ex-
To manage the ecosystem, peasants, like other people,
ceptional devotee. Much of the study of religion as lived,
mark the cycles of nature, day and night, the lunar cycle, the
therefore, is the study of that which is taken for granted, that
solar year, the life cycles of animals and plants—all hold par-
which goes without saying. As a result students of peasant
ticular importance for cultivators. Many peasant cultures
religion have adopted some of the methods used by anthro-
have rituals and routines for transitions relating to equinoxes,
pologists in studying tribal societies; they have stayed for ex-
planting, germination, and harvest. And because landscape
tended periods in rural communities, paying special atten-
and climate vary widely, peasants tend to establish locally dis-
tion to public religious acts, local interpretation, individual
tinct sacred places, times, and divinities. Whether it is at a
biography, and the range of opinion and doubt.
spring, cave, mountaintop, riverbank, or a special tree, peas-
ants come to pay homage to their divinities according to the
But the religion of peasants does not address only local
calendar, and in times of crisis to seek solutions to such
agricultural and human concerns, for by definition peasants
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3151
are only specialists in a wider network of trade and power
lims. Or, put another way, major world religions are, in prac-
in which, given the vulnerability of agricultural life, they gen-
tice, coalitions or mosaics of widely differing local
erally find themselves in a subordinate position. One of the
adaptations that share a common core of beliefs, rituals, and
vital tasks of government is to ensure an adequate food sup-
organization.
ply for its cities; peasant societies are geared for this purpose,
While peasant religion may be composed of what may
for which they are both protected and exploited. Not coinci-
appear to be different kinds of elements and survivals from
dentally, there is always a major component of religion in
different traditions, in practice these elements usually form
peasant society that is held in common with city dwellers and
an indivisible, functional whole for believers. Where the no-
that generally extends to even wider intersocietal or interna-
tion of survivals exists among peasants themselves, it is often
tional exchange systems as well. Such religions include divine
the result of church efforts to stigmatize nonapproved behav-
beings, sacred sites, rituals, and usually church organizations,
ior as superstitious, or because of the spread of findings of
all of which are common to peasant and nonpeasant alike.
early folklorists bent on unraveling the different strands of
One therefore can no more speak of a radical separate-
peasant religion according to “high” or “low” origin. More
ness of peasant religion than one can speak of a radical sepa-
recent scholarship has concentrated on seeing how these
rateness of peasant society. Peasant religion is an integral part
strands work together as a whole.
of wider religions, which provides a common frame of refer-
ence in the cosmic and ethical sense, a framework that sets
A problem facing students of peasant or folk religion has
the terms for regular social and economic interaction. In-
been finding something with which it can be compared. One
deed, since peasants often do not experience the specifically
tack has been to treat it as “popular” religion and to compare
agricultural features of their religion as something distinctly
it with the prescribed norms of the larger church or doctrine,
different or apart, it is usually incorrect to speak of peasant
much as the “little” tradition is compared to the “great.” But
“religion” in any sense other than religiosity, for peasants are
such comparisons have not always proved fruitful, for they
almost always Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Daoists,
involve comparing two very different things—on the one
or of some other religion that transcends their immediate
hand, a religion as lived and, on the other, a set of norms
arena.
that hardly represents a way of life and that, in fact, may not
be lived strictly by any kind of person, peasant or non-
The presence in peasant society of religious specialists
peasant.
trained in a broader social context provides a never-ending
source of new techniques, ideas, and images, which the peas-
A refinement on this method has involved observation
ant society may adapt for specifically local purposes. And
of the practical impingement of the institutions of a central
much of what anthropologists following Robert Redfield
religion on the religious life of peasants—the extent to which
have called the “little tradition” of the peasantry is what sur-
peasant religion is effectively regulated, updated, and revised
vived of a “great tradition” in the countryside long after it
from without. For Europe, this has been done through longi-
was rejected or forgotten by urban theologians and adminis-
tudinal studies using field-work, church visitation, and gov-
trators.
ernment records.
Because of the long-term stability of the peasants’ physi-
An alternate approach compares the peasant religion to
cal and social landscape, some aspects of their religions have
that of lay nonpeasants in the larger society, as in Clifford
had a remarkable and perhaps misleading permanence, al-
Geertz’s studies in Java and much of the recent work on
though the peasants themselves and the greater political and
China. As yet little is known about urban or nonpeasant lay
religious systems affecting them have undergone many
religiosity, so it is difficult to be sure that the religion of peas-
changes. For example, present-day cult paintings and statues
ants, apart from its attention to the natural landscape, was
throughout the world contain elements from earlier, now ex-
in a given time and society fundamentally different from that
tinct religions; places of veneration are located at the same
of urban laypersons. At least for some places and times, a dis-
kinds of sites as earlier devotions; and in many areas, vows
tinction between peasant and nonpeasant religiosity has not
and votive offerings have not essentially changed in over two
proved particularly revealing.
thousand years.
For when studied with care and sufficient evidence,
Such apparent permanence, however, is often superfi-
peasant religiosity has been found to share many of the char-
cial, masking major changes in attitude and identity. Say that
acteristics hitherto considered the domain of the “civilized.”
one finds that a given group of peasants who are self-
For instance, peasant religion is not necessarily homoge-
confessed, practicing Muslims also leave offerings to images
neous. Even when there is a single religion practiced, there
of cows, contrary to the teachings of the QurDa¯n. It would
is likely to be a wide range of doubt, opinion, and specula-
be a distortion to think of them as covert pagans. For empiri-
tion, whether in a thirteenth-century French village or a
cal studies have broadened the notion of religion to include
twentieth-century Chinese hamlet. Nor is peasant religion
both what believers profess and what they actually do and
particularly fixed or stable. Throughout history peasants
feel. Thus Islamic religion, for instance, can only be fully un-
have converted, have been converted, or have attempted to
derstood as the sum of the religious acts and beliefs of Mus-
convert from one religion to another. And peasants are not
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FOLK RELIGION: AN OVERVIEW
invariably and instinctively religious. There are areas where
and nation. Second, the year-in, year-out give-and-take that
peasant religious indifference has long been common, and
characterizes peasant devotions to divine figures accumulate
recently entire age and gender groups have been known to
great emotional power. Both the investment of identity and
abandon religion enthusiastically under militantly atheist
the emotional power are generally located in divinities with
governments.
relatively bounded territories of grace, presenting a perma-
nent temptation to governments, political parties, and to the
Indeed, radical changes in the world political economy
churches themselves. And if effective channels of political ac-
since the mid-nineteenth century have affected the terms in
tion are blocked by authoritarian regimes the local religion,
which peasant religion can be studied. Urban and rural in-
its shrines, divine protectors, and priests, can embody the en-
dustrialization, as well as the growth of the service sector, has
tire peasant way of life. Thus through religion, peasant dis-
brought an increased homogeneity in peasant and urban life-
content finds a charismatic expression. By the same token,
styles. As a result of socialist, communist, and anarchist
in the face of all-pervasive regimes such as China during the
movements, active, militant disbelief may be an overt or la-
Cultural Revolution, early modern Spain, or Spanish-
tent presence in rural areas. Seasonal migrations to the cities,
occupied Peru, private religious acts and beliefs provide some
increased visiting in the cities with relatives, peasant partici-
peasants with a margin of independent identity and action,
pation in the international workforce, and the tremendous
a buffer against the politicization of private life.
growth in literacy, as well as the spread of radio and televi-
sion, have all helped to diffuse new religious styles and cults
Often peasant religion is mobilized or exploited by non-
more rapidly among the peasantry.
peasant leaders. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries,
literary romanticists, folklorists, and nationalists alike have
In most places this broadening of horizons has made
seen in local peasant religion a source of indigenous virtue,
peasants more aware of their “otherness” in religious matters,
the survival of an earlier local culture and identity in the face
so that it is they themselves who internalize behavioral dis-
of foreign domination. In Ireland, Brittany, Poland, the
tinctions proposed by the dominant culture. Some scholars
Basque country, Greece, Yugoslavia, Armenia, the Baltic
refer to this process as “biculturalism”: acting in different
states, as well as in many of Europe’s colonial empires world-
ways at different levels (the local and the metropolitan),
wide, independence and autonomy movements have fed on
clearly distinguishing between the two, and segregating be-
an exaltation of peasant religion that on a superficial level in-
havior appropriately.
volves a kind of ruralization of the urban elite. An extreme
As a corollary to this bicultural insecurity, there is in-
but symptomatic example is Mohandas Gandhi’s religious
tense religious and political competition for the allegiance of
transformation from lawyer to peasant. In response to this
the peasants whose religion has been devalued or rendered
kind of demand, rural gurus and seers circulate from city to
impractical. There exists a global religious competition, in
city and nation to nation servicing devotees; they also spread
keeping with the global economy in which peasants are now
their messages by the internet.
involved, in which the competitors are missionaries, again
This type of idealization represents the obverse of met-
both religious and political. Among Peru’s Altiplano peasant-
ropolitan religious doctrines that long held much of peasant
ry one finds several lifestyles based on models and aid from
religiosity to be pagan superstition, an attitude shared by en-
American and European religious organizations. Indeed,
lightened secularizers as well. For both clergy and sophisti-
some of the class/clan factionalism that unitary religions once
cates, peasant religion has represented an “other” against
served to ease is now expressed with rival religions from the
which both orthodoxy and civilization could be measured.
wider world.
These seemingly contradictory points of view, by their
Yet it is not that peasants must choose only from the
emphasis on tradition, survivals, and stability, all draw atten-
great religions; on the contrary, as the anthropologist Eric
tion to peasant religion’s past rather than its dynamics of
Wolf pointed out, there have been many instances of peasant
change or its present roles. Idealization and stigmatization
religious innovation, through creative imitation or the inspi-
both tend to attribute an integrity and homogeneity to this
ration of visionaries and prophets. Some have taken the form
religion that it rarely possesses, and simplify a more complex,
of millenarian movements, others as radical purification
perhaps less manageable reality.
sects. (Some religiously innovative groups, such as the Mor-
SEE ALSO Agriculture; Anthropology, Ethnology, and Reli-
mons and the Mennonites, created peasants as much as they
gion; Dance, article on Popular and Folk Dance; Indo-
were created by them.) And as tribespeople become peasants
European Religions, article on History of Study; Popular
in African nation-states, new sects and cults spring up that
Religion.
speak to the new conditions, most of which, true to form,
are not just local but national or international in scope.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The search for universal features of the religion of cultivators in
In the context of the nation-state, peasant religion is
keeping with the framework theory of religious evolution, as
quite easily politicized. Two overlapping factors are at work.
exemplified by the work of James G. Frazer and Wilhelm
First, human-divine relations serve to consecrate and are
Schmidt, is reviewed by Mircea Eliade in his Patterns in
thereby tied up with personal identities in the family, village,
Comparative Religion (New York, 1958).
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FOLK RELIGION: FOLK BUDDHISM
3153
A persuasive exposition of general characteristics of peasant life
building on a long line of distinguished ethnographies. Peter
from an anthropological viewpoint is provided in Eric Wolf’s
Brown, in his elegant The Cult of the Saints: Its Rise and Func-
Peasants (Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1966), following on Robert
tion in Latin Christianity (Chicago, 1981), challenges a radi-
Redfield’s Peasant Society and Culture (Chicago, 1956). A
cal distinction between peasant and nonpeasant religion in
model study by Clifford Geertz, The Religion of Java (Glen-
the Mediterranean, as I do in Local Religion in Sixteenth Cen-
coe, Ill., 1960), compares the religion of peasants with that
tury Spain (Princeton, N.J., 1981).
of merchants and nobles, all under the wide mantle of Islam.
Peasant millennial movements are studied in Millennial Dreams
For Buddhism, Stanley J. Tambiah in Buddhism and the
in Action, edited by Sylvia L. Thrupp (New York, 1970).
Spirit Cults in North-East Thailand (Cambridge, 1970)
Charles Tilly’s The Vendée (Cambridge, Mass., 1964) asks
shows how in practice the elements of different religious tra-
important questions about the social and economic roots of
ditions function as a whole in the religion of a village. A
a peasant uprising in the name of religion.
number of scholars have produced excellent work on folk re-
ligion in China. Thomas DuBois, using primary written and
WILLIAM A. CHRISTIAN, JR. (1987 AND 2005)
oral sources has made a particularly thorough study of the
different religious alternatives on the North China Plain in
“The Sacred World of Cang County: Religious Belief, Orga-
nization and Practice in Rural North China During the Late
FOLK RELIGION: FOLK BUDDHISM
Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries.” (Ph.D. diss., Univer-
Religious traditions are, by their very nature, complex. One
sity of California in Los Angeles, 2001). For the religion of
the one hand, the symbolize the highest aspirations of the
European peasantry, I describe Catholicism in northern
human mind and spirit; on the other, they sanctify and give
Spain in its relation to the landscape and social relations in
meaning to the most ordinary and commonplace human
Person and God in a Spanish Valley (rev. ed. Princeton,
needs and activities. The complexity of religion and its func-
N. J.,1989), and Lucy Rushton admirably relates Greek Or-
thodox theology to personal life in “Religion and Identity in
tions have been analyzed in various ways. There has been a
a Rural Greek Community” (Ph.D. diss., University of Sus-
tendency, however, to distinguish between those aspects cre-
sex, 1983).
ated by and appropriate to the educated elites, for example,
priests and rules, and those that help the uneducated, com-
Much of the early work on popular religion in Europe is discussed
mon folk cope with the uncertainities and exigencies of life.
in P. Bolgioni’s “Religione Popolare,” Augustinianum 21
Scholars have sometimes referred to this distinction as ob-
(1981): 7–75, with ample bibliographic notes. Richard F.
Gombrich in Precept and Practice: Traditional Buddhism in
taining between “great” and “little” traditions or between
the Rural Highlands of Ceylon (Oxford, 1971) argues against
“elite” and “folk” traditions. It must be kept in mind that
the notion of popular religion, as does Jean-Claude Schmitt
these formal distinctions do justice neither to the multiplexi-
in “‘Religion populaire’ et culture folklorique,” Annales:
ty of religious traditions nor to the organic unity that charac-
Économies, sociétés, civilisations 31 (September–October
terizes them, even though such categories may serve a useful
1976): 941–953. Unusual ethnographic information about
function.
peasant religion in the Friuli region of northeast Italy, gath-
ered in the context of diocesan investigations, is provided by
“Folk” Buddhism may be understood as a persistent,
Carlo Ginzburg in I Benandanti: Richerche sulla stregoneria
complex, and syncretic dimension of the Buddhist tradition
e culti agrari tra Cinquecento e Seicento (Turin, 1966), trans-
characterized by beliefs and practices dominated by magical
lated by John Tedeschi and Anne C. Tedeschi as The Night
intent and fashioned with the purpose of helping people
Battles: Witchcraft and Agrarian Cults in the Sixteenth and
cope with the uncertainties and exigencies of life. Its varied
Seventeenth Centuries (Baltimore, 1983). Emmanuel Le Roy
expressions emerge along the wide spectrum between the
Ladurie’s Montaillou: The Promised Land of Error (New
normative Buddhist ideal represented quintessentially but
York, 1978) describes in detail village Catholicism in the
not exclusively by the Buddha and the concept of nirva¯n:a,
Pyrenees and the villagers’ conversion to Cathar beliefs. Sim-
and the indigenous magical-animistic and shamanistic tradi-
ilarly rich in detail, although not about a single community,
tions of the given culture in which Buddhism becomes insti-
is Keith Thomas’s Religion and the Decline of Magic: Studies
tutionalized. Consequently, some aspects of folk Buddhism
in Popular Beliefs in Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century En-
(e.g., the figure of the Buddha, the person of the monk, and
gland (New York, 1971). Campaigns to change peasant reli-
gion are described in Eamon Duffy, The Stripping of the Al-
the practice of meditation) appear to be closely affiliated with
tars: Traditional Religion in England 1400–1580 (New
the normative ideals of Buddhism, while others are barely
Haven, Conn., 1992), by the same author in The Voices of
distinguishable from native, non-Buddhist religious forms.
Morebath: Reformation and Rebellion in an English Village
Folk Buddhist institutional structures, religious practices and
(New Haven, Conn., 2001), and for Peru, in Kenneth Mills,
practitioners, and oral and written literatures reflect this vari-
Idolatry and its Enemies: Colonial Andean Religion and Extir-
ation.
pation, 1640–1750 (Princeton, N.J., 1997). Nancy M. Far-
riss’s Maya Society under Colonial Rule: The Collective Enter-
Buddhism has had a folk or popular dimension since its
prise of Survival (Princeton, 1984) and Victoria Reifler
inception. Early Buddhist scriptures challenge the view of a
Bricker’s The Indian Christ, the Indian King: The Historical
“golden age” of pure monastic practice dedicated to the pur-
Substrate of Maya Myth and Ritual (Austin, Tex., 1981) are
suit of nirva¯n:a unencumbered and undisturbed by the needs
historical studies of religious syncretism in the Yucatan,
and expectations of a simple, uneducated laity. That the
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FOLK RELIGION: FOLK BUDDHISM
Buddha and his followers were supported by laypersons for
sentially syncretistic phenomenon can be seen in terms of
reasons of material gain and magical protection, as well as
three types or modes of interaction between Buddhist and
for spiritual benefit, cannot be denied. Even meditation, the
non-Buddhist elements: appropriation, adaptation, and
sine qua non of monastic practice, was perceived as leading
transformation. These categories are intended to characterize
not only to equanimity and enlightenment but also to the
particular historical instances as well as describe general
acquisition of magical power. The Maha¯vagga of the
types. Although they have overlapping qualities, they point
Therava¯da Vinaya Pit:aka depicts the Buddha not simply as
to the variety within folk Buddhist belief and practice as well.
an enlightened teacher, but as a yogin who wins followers
APPROPRIATION. In many cases, folk Buddhism merely ap-
through his magic. Moreover, although the source is later
propriated and subordinated indigenous symbols, beliefs,
commentary, it is significant that the future Buddha, just
and practices with very little change in meaning. This is par-
prior to his enlightenment, was said to have been offered
ticularly true in the incorporation of a wide range of super-
food by a woman who mistook him for a tree deity. In gener-
natural beings and powers into the Buddhist system. Gener-
al, Buddhist scriptures readily intermesh doctrinal exposition
ally speaking, these supernaturals, whether gods or spirits,
with magical and animistic figures and elements ranging
malevolent or benevolent, were subordinated to the domi-
from devas (gods) to mantras (sacred utterances).
nant Buddhist symbols and motifs. Most often they played
To be sure, folk Buddhism became a more dominant
a protective role, standing guard at a sacred Buddhist pre-
aspect of Buddhist institutional and cultural life as the reli-
cinct, be it temple or man:d:ala, or functioned in an appropri-
gion grew in size and cultural significance throughout Asia.
ately subordinate way in relationship to the Buddha. In Sri
In India, A´soka’s strong support of the Buddhist monastic
Lanka, for example, a kind of divine pantheon evolved, a hi-
order in the third century
erarchy of gods and spirits ranging from the most localized
BCE proved to be crucial to its
growth and diffusion, and the appropriation of folk elements
guardian spirits of village and field to the suzerainty of re-
from different cultures was a means by which Buddhism
gional gods the likes of Skanda and Vis:n:u with the entire
spread and accommodated itself to the cultures of Asia from
structure under the sway of the Buddha. In Tibet the gods
at least the beginning of the common era. Indigenous folk
of the everyday world (’jig rten pa) became protectors of the
religions, therefore, were the major media through which
dharma, obeying the commands of the great teachers. While
Buddhism became a popular religion not only in India, but
they are so numerous and indeterminate as to defy a fixed
in Southeast, Central, and East Asia as well. The fact re-
ordering, they generally are divided according to the tradi-
mains, nevertheless, that the folk element within Buddhism
tional Indian tripartite cosmology of heaven, earth, and the
has been a part of the tradition since its inception, and has
intermediate realm. In Burma (Myanmar) the indigenous
persisted in different forms to the present.
nat spirits are incorporated into Burmese Buddhism as devas.
Thagya Min, for instance, is assimilated into Sakka (the
Folk Buddhism has several different facets that reflect
Brahmanic Indra), and resides in Ta¯vatim:sa Heaven as king
various modes of interaction between normative, doctrinal-
of the devas, but is also said to be ruler of the “thirty-seven
institutional Buddhism and native religio-cultural traditions.
nats.” In Thailand various supernaturals including devata,
In some cases, the normative Buddhist tradition made only
cao, and ph¯ı have a complex relationship to Thai Buddhism
inconsequential adjustments; in others, Buddhism emerged
involving linkage, hierarchy, and instances of both opposi-
as a thinly veiled animism. The major ingredient of folk Bud-
tion and complementarity. In Japan, Buddhism absorbed na-
dhism is usually referred to as animism or magical-animism,
tive Japanese deities or kami. In many cases the kami are
that is, the belief in benevolent and malevolent supernatural
taken as manifestations of Buddhas or bodhisattvas (the theo-
powers and the attempt to avoid them or to enlist their aid.
ry of honjisuijaku), although a uniform set correspondence
These powers range from spirits of the living and the de-
did not develop. A similar story can be told for Buddhism
ceased to deities of regional or even national jurisdiction as-
in China, Korea, and other parts of Asia. While the specific
sociated with non-Buddhist (e.g., Brahmanic) pantheons.
list of supernaturals appropriated into the Buddhist system
The dialectical relationship between Buddhism and indige-
varies from culture to culture, these beings represent a hierar-
nous animism such as the Bon of Tibet led to the parochial-
chy of powers and suzerainties dependent on, under the au-
ization of Buddhism, but also changed the face of those na-
thority of, or even in tension with, Buddhist figures, sym-
tive traditions encountered in Tibet, Korea, Japan, and
bols, and motifs.
elsewhere. For example, Shinto¯, rooted in an autochthonous
animism, developed in Japan in competition with the more
These supernaturals have been assimilated into the Bud-
sophisticated traditions of Chinese Buddhism, just as reli-
dhist cultus as well as into Asian Buddhist worldviews; they
gious Daoism in China institutionalized, at least in part, in
are amalgamated into orthodox ritual activity or become a
response to Indian Buddhist influence.
distinct ritual subset. Throughout Buddhist Asia the guard-
ian spirits of a temple precinct, such as the ph¯ı in Thailand
The complex nature of folk Buddhism can be analyzed
or the kami in Japan, may be propitiated prior to an auspi-
in various ways, but the method should do justice to its com-
cious ceremonial event. In Tibet, Tantric ritual has provided
mon or generic elements as well as the uniqueness of distinc-
a framework for customary religious practices in which Ti-
tive religio-cultural environments. Folk Buddhism as an es-
betan deities exist side by side with Indian Buddhist ones.
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In Sri Lanka, devout Sinhala Buddhists paying respects to the
become famous for their skills as alchemists, for their ability
Buddha at the famous sanctuary of Lankatileke outside of
to communicate with the spirit world, and for their prognos-
Kandy will make offerings before images of the Hindu deities
tication of future events, activities that conflict with the
enshrined in devales around the perimeter of the building.
Vinaya. The biographies of such Tantric adepts as Padma-
In Thailand, Brahmanic deities (e.g., Vis:n:u) may be invoked
sambhava and Mi la ras pa attest to this type of parochializa-
during a customary Buddhist ritual, and offerings are made
tion, and even the lives of the Chan (Zen) patriarchs are not
to the guardians of the four quarters as part of the New Year
exempt from supernatural hagiographic elaboration. In Sri
celebration at a Buddhist monastery (wat).
Lanka, ascetic monks are revered not only for their piety but
Of special significance in folk Buddhism have been the
for their magical prowess as well, and in Thailand a signifi-
belief in the soul (the existence of which is scarcely main-
cant cult of monk-saints has developed. Popular magazines
tained in scripture), or spirit element(s), of the individual,
attest to their extraordinary deeds, their advice is sought for
and various rituals associated with this belief, especially life-
everything from lottery numbers to military ventures, and
crisis or life-transition rites. The role of Buddhism in the
their amulets are worn for protection against danger and
conduct of mortuary and death anniversary rites for the souls
disease.
of the dead in China, Korea, and Japan is well known. In
TRANSFORMATION. Buddhism appropriated magical-
Japan, the Obon festival celebrated in the seventh month
animistic and shamanistic religious forms and adapted its
honors the return of the souls of the dead. Graves at Bud-
own beliefs and practices to this type of cultural milieu. The
dhist temples will be cleaned in preparation for the spirits’
degree to which assimilation and adaptation has occurred has
return, and the household altar (butsudan) will be decorated
led to profound transformations of the tradition. While deci-
with flowers, lanterns, and offerings of fruit. In Burma, mor-
sive turns in the development of Buddhism have taken vari-
tuary rituals are performed to prevent the soul of the de-
ous forms, popular sectarian movements have provided one
ceased from remaining in its former haunts and causing trou-
of the most fruitful contexts for this kind of transmutation.
ble. In Thailand, soul-calling (riag khwan) rites are
Examples abound throughout Buddhist Asia. In Burma and
performed at life-transition times such as weddings and even
Thailand messianic Buddhist groups emerged in the modern
as part of ordination into the monkhood.
period centered around charismatic leaders often claiming to
ADAPTATION. In assimilating indigenous magical-animistic
be Maitreya Buddha. In China, Buddhist sectarian groups
and shamanistic religious beliefs and practices, Buddhism it-
led by “rebel monks” split off from monasteries in the North-
self has changed. This process of adaptation and parochial-
ern Wei kingdom (386–535) as early as the fifth century.
ization has been part of the Buddhist tradition from its out-
The best known is the White Lotus movement, a complex
set: the Buddha as teacher but also miracle-worker,
of rebel eschatologies active from the twelfth to the nine-
meditation as the vehicle for the attainment of insight and
teenth century. Other major sects include the Maitreya,
supernatural powers, the monk as nirva¯n:a-seeker and magi-
White Cloud, and Lo, or Wuwei. These groups were lay-
cian. In the Therava¯da traditions of Sri Lanka and Southeast
based, heterodox, and syncretistic, and were often politically
Asia the miraculous power of the Buddha is attested to not
militant. The White Lotus sect developed its own texts, a
only in supernatural feats of magical flight, prognostication,
married clergy, hereditary leadership, and by the mid-
and the like, but also in the cult of Buddha relics and Buddha
fourteenth century a full-blown eschatology derived from
images that typifies ritual practice in this region. The
both the Maitreyan tradition and Manichaeism. By the late
Maha¯ya¯na and Tantrya¯na traditions elaborated the salvific
sixteenth century the principal deity of the White Lotus
function of the Buddha through the proliferation of Buddhas
groups was a mother goddess. Eventually, by the late nine-
and bodhisattvas. In China, Dao’an (312–385) popularized
teenth century, the Buddhist elements were so extenuated
Buddhism by promoting Maitreya as a savior Buddha, the
that they had become congregational folk religion rather
god of Tus:ita Heaven, an earthly paradise accessible to all.
than a distinctive form of folk Buddhism.
Huiyüan (334–416) did for Amita¯bha Buddha and his Pure
In Japan as early as the Heian period (794–1185) holy
Land (Sukha¯vat¯ı) what Dao’an did for Maitreya and Tus:ita
men (hijiri) developed a folk Buddhism outside the orthodox
Heaven. Both Maitreyism and Amidism became fundamen-
ecclesiastical system. In the tenth and eleventh centuries
tal to folk Buddhism. In Japan, one of the specific adapta-
Amida hijiri and Nembutsu hijiri, preeminent among whom
tions was the assimilation of popular elements into the figure
was Ko¯ya, a layman of the Tendai sect, taught universal sal-
of the bodhisattva Jizo¯ (Skt., Ks:itigarbha), who thereby came
vation through the repetition of the Nembutsu (the formula-
to occupy an even more important place than did his Chi-
ic recitation of the name of Amida Buddha). The Nembutsu
nese counterpart, Dizang. Not only does Jizo¯ deliver souls
came to be seen as a powerful form of protection against the
from hell, but he also helps women in childbirth and, like
spirits of the dead and evil spirits (goryo¯) and a means to re-
Kannon (Chin., Guanyin), another popular savior, is seen as
lease them into Amida’s paradise. While the founders of the
the giver of healthy children and a guide to the Western Par-
orthodox Pure Land sects, Ho¯nen and Shinran, rejected the
adise of Amida.
animistic and magical aspects of the Nembutsu, the attitudes
The supernormal powers associated with meditation
of the common folk did not substantially change. The Amida
adepts has a close association with shamanism. Monks have
mantra was considered a causally effective means to attain the
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FOLK RELIGION: FOLK BUDDHISM
Pure Land after death as well as a magical spell for sending
dimension are more difficult to perceive. Even in the
evil spirits to Amida. Popular sectarianism has continued to
Therava¯da countries of Southeast Asia, however, actual mo-
develop into the contemporary period. Some of the so-called
nastic custom and practice may be far removed from the
new religions (shinko¯ shu¯yko¯) in Japan represent a unique
strict ideal of monastic discipline, which discourages fortune
form of folk Buddhism. Arising in the nineteenth and twen-
telling, alchemy, and the like.
tieth centuries in a period of political and social crisis, these
The texts of folk Buddhism also reflect the ways in
religions, which developed around strong, charismatic lead-
which the normative tradition has appropriated, adapted,
ers, are syncretistic and often utilize magical ritual practices.
and been transformed by indigenous folk religion. An impor-
Two of the best known are Rissho¯ Ko¯seikai and So¯ka Gak-
tant genre of folk literature is the miraculous tale, often pur-
kai. Both are indebted to the Lotus Su¯tra-Nichiren tradition.
porting to be an episode from the life of the Buddha or a fa-
Through its political wing, So¯ka Gakkai has become a some-
mous Buddhist figure such as Maudgalya¯yana or
times militant force in Japanese politics.
Vimalak¯ırti. Included in this literary genre are the Ja¯takas,
The Buddhist encounter with folk religion, which has
which are themselves examples of the appropriation of folk-
taken the forms of appropriation, adaptation, and transfor-
tales, mythic accounts of heavens and hells (e.g., Petavatthu),
mation, has not occurred without conflict. In Southeast Asia
legendary elements in chronicles, lives of the saints in various
stories abound of the Buddha’s encounter with indigenous
Buddhist traditions, and vernacular collections such as the
supernatural beings who are only eventually subdued and
Chinese pien-wen (texts of marvelous events). Other texts,
made to vow their allegiance to the dhamma. Other heroic
such as the paritta (scriptural passages that, when chanted,
figures exemplify a similar pattern. Especially noteworthy is
are said to have apotropaic power) in the Therava¯da tradi-
Padmasambhava’s propagation of the dharma in Tibet. The
tion, function in a magical manner in Buddhist ritual, even
key to his success, in contrast to the previous failure of the
though the content reflects the highest ethical and spiritual
great teacher S´a¯ntiraks:ita, was Padmasambhava’s magical
ideals of the normative tradition. The Bar do thos grol (Tibet-
prowess in subduing the powerful Tibetan deities. Such con-
an Book of the Dead), although at the center of the Tantric
flict may be mirrored in Buddhist ritual as well as in myth
technique of liberation, certainly incorporates shamanistic el-
and legend. In northern Thailand, for example, offerings of
ements. Another type of folk Buddhist literature includes
buffalo meat to the guardian spirits (ph¯ı) of Chiang Mai are
those texts specifically related to the practice of astrology,
made as part of the New Year celebration; however, this ritu-
fortune telling, and animistic rituals.
al activity has no formal connection with the elaborate cere-
In the final analysis, folk Buddhism should not be seen
monies occurring at Buddhist sanctuaries in the area.
as a later degeneration of the normative Buddhist ideal.
Rather, it is a complex dimension of the tradition, present
The practitioners of folk Buddhism likewise present a
from its origin, that has provided the tradition with much
great diversity. Those most closely tied to the autochthonous
of its vitality and variation from culture to culture.
animism may be likened to shamans, for they function in a
shamanlike manner. They have the power to enter into the
SEE ALSO Arhat; Avalokite´svara; Buddhas and Bodhisattvas,
realm of the supernaturals, an act often symbolized by magi-
article on Celestial Buddhas and Bodhisattvas; Chinese Reli-
cal flight; they may also become possessed by supernatural
gion, article on Popular Religion; Hijiri; Honjisuijaku; Japa-
beings or function as a medium between the supernatural
nese Religions, article on Popular Religion; Ks:itigarbha;
and human realms, and have the knowledge to enlist or ward
Maha¯siddhas; Millenarianism, article on Chinese Millenari-
off their power. In Tibet, mdos rituals are performed by wan-
an Movements; Nats; New Religious Movements, article on
dering lamas (Tib., bla mas) or exorcists (snyags pa) for pro-
New Religious Movements in Japan; Nianfo; Popular Reli-
tection against dangers, hindrances, injuries, illness, and ob-
gion; Priesthood, article on Buddhist Priesthood; Worship
stacles caused by evil powers. The person who carries out
and Devotional Life, articles on Buddhist Devotional Life.
exorcistic rituals (gto) must be an expert in meditating on his
yi dam or tutelary divinity. The yamabushi or mountain as-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
cetics of Japan, while affiliated with the Tendai and Shingon
In recent years studies of folk or popular Buddhism have been
sects, perform exorcisms and function as village magicians.
greatly enhanced by the work of anthropologists, especially
The Chinese shaman (wu), who exorcised spirits of evil and
those working in Southeast Asia. These descriptive and ana-
illness and danced and chanted to ward off disasters, influ-
lytic studies provide an important complement to the work
enced the popular conception of the charismatic leadership
of cultural historians and historians of religion. Notable of
of folk Buddhist sects in China. Often, lay Buddhists are the
mention for the Therava¯da Buddhist cultures are the works
principal practitioners of the folk traditions, especially be-
of Stanley J. Tambiah, in particular his Buddhism and the
Spirit Cults in North-East Thailand (Cambridge, 1970).
cause many of the magical practices associated with folk Bud-
While this work is a microstudy, like many anthropologists
dhism are either forbidden or discouraged by the orthodox
Tambiah offers a more comprehensive interpretation of the
Vinaya. In the Esoteric schools of Buddhism (e.g., Shingon),
religious system in northeast Thailand. Tambiah’s structural-
as well as in sectarian movements, the differentiation be-
ist-functionalist approach contrasts with the social-
tween mainstream beliefs and practices and those of the folk
psychological perspective (as found, for instance, in the
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FOLK RELIGION: FOLK JUDAISM
3157
works of Abram Kardiner) of Melford E. Spiro’s Buddhism
Numrich, Paul David. Old Wisdom in the New World: American-
and Society: A Great Tradition and Its Burmese Vicissitudes, 2d
ization in Two Immigrant Theravada Buddhist Temples.
ed. (Berkeley, Calif., 1982). A dominant theme in anthropo-
Knoxville, Tenn., 1996.
logical studies is the nature of the interrelationship between
Ortner, Sherry B. High Religion: A Cultural and Political History
the folk or “little” tradition and the “great” tradition. In vari-
of Sherpa Buddhism. Princeton, 1989.
ous ways this theme is addressed in Michael M. Ames’s
Swearer, Donald K. “Folk Buddhism.” In Buddhism and Asian
“Magical-Animism and Buddhism: A Structural Analysis of
History, edited by Joseph Mitsuo Kitagawa and Mark D.
the Sinhalese Religious System,” in Religion in South Asia,
Cummings, pp. 351–357. New York, 1989.
edited by Edward B. Harper (Seattle, 1964), pp. 21–52; Ga-
nanath Obeyesekere’s “The Great Tradition and the Little in
Tannenbaum, Nicola. Who Can Compete against the World?
the Perspective of Sinhalese Buddhism,” Journal of Asian
Power-Protection and Buddhism in Shan Worldview. Ann
Studies 22 (February 1963): 139–153; Manning Nash’s The
Arbor, 1996.
Golden Road to Modernity: Village Life in Contemporary
DONALD K. SWEARER (1987)
Burma (New York, 1965); and A. Thomas Kirsch’s “Com-
Revised Bibliography
plexity in the Thai Religious System: An Interpretation,”
Journal of Asian Studies 36 (February 1977): 241–266. This
theme figures in studies of the religious systems in Central
and East Asia as well. See, for example, J. H. Kamstra’s En-
FOLK RELIGION: FOLK JUDAISM
counter or Syncretism: The Initial Growth of Japanese Bud-
In the course of its millennial history, biblical and Jewish folk
dhism (Leiden, 1967), Alicia Matsunaga’s The Buddhist Phi-
religion has found its expression in beliefs in male and female
losophy of Assimilation: The Historical Development of the
deities other than God; in angels, devils, demons, ghosts, and
Honji-Suijaku Theory (Rutland, Vt., and Tokyo, 1969), and
spirits; in saints and holy men; in the “evil eye” and other
Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf’s Morals and Merit: A
baleful influences; and in rites and practices such as magic,
Study of Values and Social Controls in South Asian Societies
witchcraft, divination, and the use of amulets, charms, and
(London, 1967).
talismans. Manifestations of Jewish folk religion were found
Popular Buddhist millenarian movements constitute another
from earliest biblical times and continued to appear, until in
theme addressed by recent studies of folk Buddhism. For
the nineteenth century it waned in those European countries
Southeast Asia, E. Michael Mendelson’s “The King of the
in which the Jews came under the influence of the Enlighten-
Weaving Mountain,” Journal of the Royal Central Asian Soci-
ment. In the Middle Eastern Jewish communities folk reli-
ety 48 (July–October 1961): 229–237, and Charles F.
gion retained its vitality until 1948, after which the people
Keyes’s “Millennialism, Therava¯da Buddhism, and Thai So-
of these communities were largely transplanted to Israel.
ciety,” Journal of Asian Studies 36 (February 1977): 283–302,
are particularly noteworthy. For China, Daniel L. Over-
BIBLICAL PERIOD. In a few cases the biblical authors refer
meyer’s Folk Buddhist Religion: Dissenting Sects in Late Tradi-
to folk beliefs and rites without condemnation. These
tional China (Cambridge, Mass., 1976) is definitive.
“naive” references pertain mostly to cosmic origins or to the
early history of mankind, the Hebrew patriarchs, and the
Studies dealing with folk Buddhism that do not take a particular
thematic perspective abound. Francis L. K. Hsu’s Under the
people of Israel. Thus Genesis 6:1–4 clearly reflects a folk be-
Ancestors’ Shadow; Chinese Culture and Personality (New
lief in the existence of “sons of God”; Isaiah 14:12–15, in
York, 1948) treats Chinese popular religion and the ancestral
a rebellious angel who was cast down into the netherworld;
cult. H. Byron Earhart’s A Religious Study of the Mount
and various passages in Isaiah, Psalms, and Job, in sea dragons
Haguro Sect of Shugendo¯ (Tokyo, 1970) deals with the
and other monsters who dared to oppose God. Terafim,
Shugendo¯ sect, a popular movement combining Esoteric
small household gods taken by Rachel from her father’s
Buddhism with Japanese folk religious beliefs. René de Ne-
house (Gn. 31:19, 31:30–35), and larger versions of the same
besky-Wojkowitz’s Oracles and Demons of Tibet: The Cult
kept by Saul’s daughter Michal (the wife of David) in her
and Iconography of the Tibetan Protective Deities (The Hague,
chambers (1 Sm. 19:13, 19:16), are clear examples of folk
1956) treats popular Tibetan protective deities. For folk
belief.
Buddhism in Japan, see also Hori Ichiro¯’s Folk Religion in
Japan; Continuity and Change, edited and translated by Jo-
In sharp contrast to these uncritical mentions of folk re-
seph M. Kitagawa and Alan L. Miller (Chicago, 1968).
ligion are the condemnatory references to the popular (as
well as institutional) worship of gods other than Yahveh con-
New Sources
Gellner, David N. Monk, Householder, and Tantric Priest: Newar
tained in the historical and prophetic writings of the Bible.
Buddhism and Its Hierarchy of Ritual. Cambridge, U.K.,
But these scornful references are, at the same time, also testi-
1992.
monies to the popular worship in Israel of several male and
female deities (such as Baal, Kemosh, Milcom, Asherah, As-
Gombrich, Richard, and Gananath Obeyesekere. Buddhism
tarte, and the Queen of Heaven) from the time of the Judges
Transformed: Religious Change in Sri Lanka. Princeton, 1988.
to the destruction of Israel and Judah in 722 and 587/6 BCE
LaFleur, William R. Liquid Life: Abortion and Buddhism in Japan.
and even later (see Jer. 44:15–19). These biblical data are
Princeton, 1992.
supplemented by archaeological discoveries of small figurines
Mumford, Stan Royal. Himalayan Dialogue: Tibetan Lamas and
of goddesses (Asherah, Astarte) in many excavated Israelite
Gurung Shamans in Nepal. Madison, Wis., 1989.
homes from the biblical period all over the country.
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FOLK RELIGION: FOLK JUDAISM
Demons. With reference to demons the biblical evi-
which tells about the Jewish warriors who wore under their
dence shows a similar duality. On the one hand, there are
tunics amulets (hieromata) taken from the idols of Yavneh.
prohibitions of witchcraft and all trafficking with, or consul-
This practice was condemned by the author because of the
tation of, demons, ghosts, and spirits, which practices are
pagan derivation of the amulets. On the other hand, in
considered capital sins punishable by death (Ex. 22:17, Dt.
Tobit, an apocryphal book of the first century BCE, a method
18:10–12), and historical notes tell of the attempted extermi-
of exorcising a demon from a possessed person with the help
nation by royal decree of “those that divined by a ghost or
of fumigation is described as having been taught by the angel
familiar spirit” (1 Sm. 28:3). On the other, there is ample
Raphael, that is, as a religiously orthodox act.
testimony to the belief, shared by the Yahvist historians and
TALMUDIC PERIOD. After the Babylonian exile, Jewish folk
prophets with the common folk, in the existence of demons
religion found its expression, partly under the impact of Bab-
and their power to harm people’s bodies and minds (Gn.
ylonian, Persian, and, later, Hellenistic influences, in a pro-
32:25ff.; Lv. 16:10; Is. 13:21, 34:14; 1 Sm. 16:15, 16:23; 1
liferation of angels, demons (some of whom had figured al-
Kgs. 22:22–23; Ps. 91:5–6). Israelite folk religion seems to
ready in the Bible), evil spirits, the evil eye, and so on, and
have made room for species of demons (shedim, se Eirim), as
in practices aiming at the invocation of beneficial superhu-
well as individual demons, for example EAzDazel. Most of the
man powers and the propitiation of, or protection against,
latter are known from the religions of the neighboring peo-
those with evil intentions. While in the Jerusalem (Palestin-
ples as gods, thus, for example, Lilith, Mavet (“death”), and
ian) Talmud only three categories of demons (mazziqim,
Reshef (“pestilence”). From the late biblical and apocryphal
shedim, and ruh:ot) are mentioned, demonology is more
literature are known the devil-like demons called Sat:an,
prominent in the Palestinian midrashim. However, it is the
Mast:emah, Belial (BeliyyaEal), Asmodeus (AshmedEai), while
Babylonian Talmud (completed c. 500 CE) that is the richest
both in the New Testament and in rabbinic literature de-
source for Jewish folk religion in general and demonology in
mons are referred to as “unclean” or “evil spirits.” In the
particular.
three synoptic gospels the prince of demons has the name
Beelzebul (BaEal Zebub). These demons, generic and individ-
For Talmudic Judaism the number of demons was le-
ual, are all reflections of Jewish folk belief.
gion. AshmedDai was their king, while their queen, Iggrat the
daughter of Mahalat, went about with a retinue of 180,000
Magic and divination. The Bible repeatedly condemns
“angels of destruction” (B.T., Pes. 112b). The Talmudic
action taken to influence the mysterious forces of nature and
sages fought valiantly, not against the popular belief in de-
the spirits. Deuteronomy 18:10–11 decrees, “There shall not
mons, but against the demons themselves. Thus H:aninaD ben
be found among you any one that . . . useth divination, a
DosaD and Abbaye succeeded in restricting the activities of
soothsayer, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer, or a charmer, or
Iggrat to certain times and places. Other sages conducted
one that consulteth a ghost or a familiar spirit, or a necro-
conversations with demons. Most dangerous was the female
mancer.” Exodus 22:17 rules explicitly, “Thou shalt not suf-
demon Lilith, who seduced men at night and strangled
fer a sorceress to live” (cf. Lv. 20:27). Passages such as these
babes, and who could be kept away only by means of protec-
indicate that the biblical authors shared with the common
tive charms.
people the belief in the reality and efficacy of magic, but, in
contrast with the common folk, condemned it as an act of
Since both Talmuds and the midrashim record the say-
unfaithfulness to God (cf. Dt. 18:12–13).
ings, rulings, and acts of the sages, and not of the common
Recognizing the assurance divination provided, biblical
folk, our knowledge of folk religion is largely confined to its
legislation, while outlawing it in the form practiced by the
reflection in the recorded words and deeds of the rabbis, and
Canaanites, supplied a substitute for it in the mantic activity
it is on them that we must base our conclusions as to the reli-
of prophets, whose legitimacy, it states, would be proven by
gious beliefs and acts of the simple people. Thus, for exam-
subsequent events (Dt. 18:14–22). The people, it seems,
ple, the Mishnah (San. 6.4) and the Jerusalem Talmud (San.
turned to the prophets primarily in order to profit from their
6.9, 23c) tell about the leading first century BCE Palestinian
mantic powers (1 Sm. 9:6; 1 Kgs. 14:1ff., 22:5ff.; 2 Kgs.
sage and head of the Sanhedrin, ShimDon ben Shet:ah:, that
3:11). Divination included the questioning of the Urim and
he had eighty witches hanged in the port city of Ashqelon.
Tummim (1 Sm. 23:9–12), consultation of the terafim (Jgs.
Such a report is, of course, evidence of the existence of a be-
17:5, 18:14; Hos. 3:4; Ez. 21:26; Zec. 10:2), the use of gob-
lief in witches among both the people and their spiritual
lets (Gn. 44:5), arrows (Ez. 21:26), spoken words (Gn.
leaders.
24:14, 1 Sm. 14:9–10, cf. v. 12), and the interpretation of
Occasional references in the Mishnah and Talmud indi-
the liver (Ez. 21:26), stars (Is. 47:13, Jer. 10:2), and dreams
cate that kishshuf, witchcraft, was widespread, especially
(1 Sm. 28:6). The hold diviners had over the people is best
among women (Sot. 9.13, Avot. 2.7; B.T., San. 67a), despite
illustrated by the story about King Saul: he “cut them off the
the fact that it was a capital offense (San. 7.4, 7.11; B.T.,
land,” but when in trouble sought out one of those who re-
San. 67b), punishable by stoning. Persons accused of witch-
mained (1 Sm. 28:3–25).
craft were frequently brought before the judges, who there-
The persistence into the first century BCE of magic as
fore were required to have a thorough familiarity with the
a part of popular religion is attested by 2 Maccabees 12:40,
workings of magic (B.T., San. 17a). They also had certain
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3159
criteria by which they were able to differentiate between
of human life: birth (including circumcision), marriage, and
witchcraft and mere trickery (B.T., San. 67b).
death. On these occasions the demons were believed to be
Of several sages it is reported that they themselves prac-
especially aggressive and dangerous, and the protection of the
ticed and taught magic (B.T., San. 67b–68a), as did the
principals as well as the attendants was a major concern that
daughters of at least one of them (B.T., Git. 45a). Some
gave rise to numerous folk rites.
women engaged in faith healing (B.T., Sot. 22a, cf. Rashi).
Features of folk religion are also present at the celebra-
One of the pious men of the first century BCE, Honi the Cir-
tions of the official Jewish holy days, despite repeated at-
cle Maker, practiced rain magic (Ta Ean. 3.8). The use of in-
tempts by rabbinical authorities to suppress them. The
cantations and the recitation of magic formulas for curative
Tashlikh rite (the symbolic casting of one’s sins into water
purposes was widespread (B.T., Shab. 67a).
on RoDsh ha-Shanah, the Jewish New Year) and the Kap-
As for amulets (sg., qamei Ea), in Talmudic times two
parah (the symbolic transference of one’s sins onto a hen or
kinds were in vogue: those written on and those containing
a cock on the eve of Yom Kippur) are two examples of prac-
roots and leaves. They were dispensed by physicians to cure
tices that Jewish folk religion introduced into the High Holy
ailments, and also used by people for protection against the
Days celebrations over the objection of the rabbis.
evil eye and demons, and to make women conceive (Kel.
23.1, Shab. 6.2; B.T., Shab. 61a–b, Pes. 111b; J. T., Shab.
Of special interest for the historian of religion is the ex-
6, 8b top; Gn. Rab. 45; Nm. Rab. 12; et al.). (Whether the
tent to which Jewish folk religion succeeded in being accept-
biblical duda Eim [mandrakes] found by Reuben in the field
ed by the leading Jewish religious authorities, who, by in-
were ingested by the sterile Rachel or used by her as an amu-
cluding numerous folk beliefs and customs into their
let is not clear. See Gn. 30:14–15, 30:22–23.) An amulet was
halakhic codes, made them part of official Judaism. The
usually put around the neck of a child soon after its birth
Shulh:an Earukh, the law code that governs Jewish traditional
(B.T., Qid. 73b), which custom has remained alive until
life to this day, contains rulings that show that its author, the
modern times in Middle Eastern Jewish communities. Amu-
Sefardi Yosef Karo (1488–1575), and his chief annotator,
lets that had proven their efficacy were allowed to be worn
the Ashkenazi Mosheh Isserles (1525–1572), believed in the
outside the home even on the Sabbath, although on that rest
power of the evil eye to harm a person even in the synagogue,
day the carrying of all objects was prohibited (Shab. 6.2).
in the efficacy of amulets, in the influence of the stars on
human life, in omens, in incantations to subdue demons and
Divination (nih:ush) continued in the Talmudic period
dangerous animals, in the magic prevention or cure of illness,
as an integral part of popular religion, despite rabbinic prohi-
in consulting the dead and the demons, and so on.
bition and its punishment by flogging. The influence of Jew-
ish and Babylonian folk religion on the Babylonian amoraim
The veneration of saintly men and, more rarely, women,
(Talmudic sages of the third to fifth centuries) can be seen
expressed mainly in visits to their tombs with appropriate of-
in the permission they gave to use simanim (signs or omens)
ferings in the hope of obtaining various benefits, has been
in trying to foretell the future. Very popular in Talmudic
an integral part of Jewish folk religion, especially in Islamic
times was the divinatory use of biblical verses randomly recit-
countries, for centuries. Occasionally the same Jewish or
ed by children (B.T., H:ag. 15a–b, H:ul. 95b). There were so
Muslim saint has been venerated by both Jews and Muslims.
few people who refrained from practicing some kind of divi-
nation that those who did were considered more meritorious
Although several leading medieval rabbinical authorities
than the ministering angels (B.T., Ned. 32a).
(including Moses Maimonides, 1135/8–1204) objected to
the use of amulets, charms, and magic remedies, their popu-
MIDDLE AGES AND LATER TIMES. The medieval develop-
larity could not be checked, and after the expulsion of the
ment of Qabbalah constituted a favorable environment for
Jews from Spain in 1492 they spread to eastern Europe. Pre-
the further proliferation of the belief in demons. Folk belief
pared by rabbis, healers, or holy men for a fee, they were be-
and the teachings of Qabbalah mutually reinforced each
lieved to save the wearer or user from all types of harm; to
other. The sexual seduction of humans by demons was con-
cure his (or her) ailments; to protect him from demons; and
sidered an imminent danger, resulting in the birth of addi-
to provide good luck, health, and many other kinds of bene-
tional demons. Many illnesses were believed to be the result
fits. The amulets, widely used especially in the Middle East
of spirit possession, and consequently the exorcism of spirits
down to recent times, whether written on paper or made of
(dybbuks) became an important method of popular medi-
silver, brass, tin, or iron, are often decorated with magic tri-
cine. While the exorcists seem to have been men only, the
angles and squares, the Magen David (Shield of David), or
persons considered possessed were mostly women. Childless-
menorahs. The metal amulets typically have the shape of a
ness—generally considered the wife’s “fault”—gave rise to a
circle, a square, a rectangle, a shield, a hand (the most fre-
wide variety of folk cures, including the ingestion of sub-
quent shape), and, rarely, a foot. They are inscribed with di-
stances of animal origin prohibited by halakhah (traditional
vine and angelic names, brief quotations from the Bible, and
Jewish law).
magic combinations of letters or obscure words. Often the
Much of medieval Jewish folk religion expressed itself
amulet states the name of the person for whom it was pre-
in rites and ceremonies performed at the three major stages
pared and the name of his or her mother.
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In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in central
and can be expected to produce as yet unforeseeable develop-
and eastern Europe a magician who prepared such amulets
ments.
was called Ba Eal Shem, that is, “Master of the Name,” be-
cause he was an expert in the use of holy names for magico-
SEE ALSO Alphabets; Hasidism, overview article; Pilgrimage,
religious purposes. The founder of Hasidism, YisraDel ben
article on Contemporary Jewish Pilgrimage; Prophecy, arti-
EliEezer, known as the Besht (acronym of BaEal Shem T:ov),
cle on Biblical Prophecy; Talmud.
was, in his early years, such a provider of amulets. The popu-
lar belief in the efficacy of amulets was so strong that numer-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ous rabbis openly supported their use and wrote treatises in
There is no single book dealing with the whole field of Jewish folk
their defense. While practically all the Hasidic rebeyim (as the
religion, or even with Jewish folk religion in one particular
miracle-working saintly leaders were known) were men, at
period. There are, however, numerous studies on specific as-
pects of Jewish folk religion in each of the major historical
least occasionally women functioned in the same capacity.
periods of Judaism.
Divination continued to be a widespread practice
Biblical Period
among the Jews down to modern times. More recent meth-
Several of the standard histories of biblical Hebrew religion discuss
ods resorted to include the lighting of candles, the observa-
such elements in it as folk belief, folk custom, and magic. See
tion of shadows, opening the Bible at random, casting lots,
also Reginald C. Thompson’s Semitic Magic: Its Origins and
gazing at a polished surface, incantations, and consulting
Development (London, 1908); Alfred Guillaume’s Prophecy
with the dead. The interpretation of omens developed into
and Divination among the Hebrews and Other Semites (Lon-
a veritable folk science to which frequent references are
don, 1938); James G. Frazer’s Folk-Lore in the Old Testa-
found in medieval and later rabbinic literature. It also led to
ment, 3 vols. (London, 1919); and S. H. Hooke’s The Origins
a literary genre of its own in Hebrew, sifrei goralot, “books
of Early Semitic Ritual (Oxford, 1938).
of lots,” which contain instructions and rules for the predic-
Talmudic Period
tive use of names of animals, birds, the twelve tribes, the
There is no study on Talmudic folk religion in general, but several
twelve signs of the Zodiac, cosmic phenomena, the twenty-
books deal with Talmudic magic and other aspects of Tal-
two letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and so on. These books,
mudic folk belief. See Gideon Brecher’s Das Transcendentale,
which, as a rule, are of southern European or Middle Eastern
Magie, und magische Heilarten im Talmud (Vienna, 1850),
origin, are the counterpart in the field of divination to the
mainly of historical interest as a pioneering study; Ludwig
Blau’s Das altjüdische Zauberwesen (Strasbourg, 1898), still
even richer assortment of books on charms and magic reme-
very valuable; Samuel Daiches’s Babylonian Oil Magic in the
dies, some of which were composed or reprinted as late as
Talmud and Later Jewish Literature (Oxford, 1913); Sefer ha-
the twentieth century.
razim, edited by Mordechai Margalioth (Jerusalem, 1969);
MODERN PERIOD. The spread of the Haskalah (Jewish En-
and my Man and Temple in Ancient Jewish Myth and Ritual
lightenment) in the nineteenth century resulted in a decline
(1947; 2d ed., New York, 1967).
of both Jewish folk religion and Jewish orthodoxy. By the
Middle Ages and Later Times
second half of the twentieth century folk religion remained
The subject most thoroughly researched within the general field
a significant element only in the culture of a diminishing sec-
of medieval and later Jewish folk religion is magic. See in par-
tor of unsecularized ultraconservative Jews. Those of Middle
ticular The Sword of Moses: An Ancient Book of Magic, edited
Eastern extraction transplanted into Israel colorful customs
by Moses Gaster (London, 1896), and Gaster’s Studies and
connected with the life cycle and the ritual calendar, as well
Texts in Folklore, Magic, Medieval Romance, Hebrew Apocry-
as features such as the Moroccan Maimuna feast that com-
pha, and Samaritan Archaeology, 3 vols. (1925–1928; reprint,
memorates the death of Maimonides and the veneration of
New York, 1971); Hermann Gollancz’s Book of the Key of
Solomon, in Hebrew and English (Oxford, 1914); Joshua
other saints, similar to the long-established Lag ba-EOmer
Trachtenberg’s Jewish Magic and Superstition (1939; reprint,
festivities at the tomb of the second-century tanna ShimEon
New York, 1982); H. J. Zimmels’s Magicians, Theologians
bar Yoh:Dai in Meron. In Israeli kibbutsim and in some circles
and Doctors (London, 1952).
in the United States, attempts are being made to endow tra-
ditional religious ceremonies (such as the Passover Seder)
Special Subjects
with contemporary religious, social, and political relevance.
Among the books dealing with special subjects within the general
field of Jewish folk religion the following should be men-
In the United States, outside Orthodox circles, traditional
tioned: Michael L. Rodkinson’s History of Amulets, Charms,
Jewish folk religion is largely moribund, but the transforma-
and Talismans (New York, 1893); Theodore Schrire’s He-
tion of the synagogue into a “center” of social, educational,
brew Amulets (London, 1966); reprinted as Hebrew Magic
cultural, and charitable activities and the proliferation of
Amulets (New York, 1982); Angelo S. Rappoport’s The Folk-
men’s clubs, sisterhoods, youth groups, and h:avurot (egali-
lore of the Jews (London, 1937); my On Jewish Folklore (De-
tarian religious fellowships) can be interpreted as a new de-
troit, 1983); and Michael Molho’s Usos y costumbres de los Se-
parture in the realm of folk Judaism. Manifestations such as
fardíes de Salónica (Madrid, 1950).
these can be taken as indications that folk religion, which has
Much material on Jewish folk religion is contained in the journals
always been a significant aspect of Jewish religious life, is still
devoted to Jewish folklore and folk life: Mitteilungen zur
alive
jüdischen Volkskunde (Berlin, 1898–1929) and Jahrbuch für
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FOLK RELIGION: FOLK ISLAM
3161
jüdische Volkskunde (Berlin, 1923–1925), both edited by
from local “folk” practice toward greater orthodoxy even in
Max Grunwald; Edoth: A Quarterly for Folklore and Ethnology
the face of the weakening of Islamic state institutions. Robin-
(in Hebrew and English), edited by myself and Joseph J. Riv-
son in turn was engaged by Veena Das and Gail Minault,
lin (Jerusalem, 1945–1948); and Yeda E- EAm, edited by Yom-
arguing against an overly monolithic model of religious prac-
Tov Levinsky (Tel Aviv, 1948–).
tice. Though this debate took place in the 1980s, it deserves
New Sources
new attention in the face of Hindu religious nationalism,
Cohen, Shaye J. D., ed. The Jewish Family in Antiquity. Atlanta,
which like Robinson’s vision of Islam, develops a concept of
1993.
religious orthodoxy that would reject arguments like those
King, Philip J., and Laurence E. Stager. Life in Biblical Israel. Lou-
of Imtiaz Ahmad for the indigenous nature of South Asian
isville, Ky., 2001.
or other regional Islam(s). Robinson criticized Ahmad as har-
Lowenstein, Steven M. Frankfurt on the Hudson: The German-
boring a political motive for arguing the indigenous nature
Jewish Community of Washington Heights, 1933-1983, Its
of South Asian Islam, reflected in its abundant vernacular or
Structure and Culture. Detroit, Mich., 1989.
“folk” practices, with their rapprochement to Hindu devo-
Lowenstein, Steven M. “The Shifting Boundary between Eastern
tional forms. Robinson was concerned that Ahmad’s vision
and Western Jewry.” Journal of Social Studies, 4 (Fall 1997):
of South Asian Islam, arguing for an equilibrium between
60–79.
transnational orthodoxy and local practice, was weak on his-
Lowenstein, Steven M. The Jewish Cultural Tapestry: International
tory. In the ensuing twenty years, however, the emergence
Jewish Folk Traditions. New York, 2000.
of the Hindu right wing in India has made abundantly clear
Malina, Bruce J. The Social World of Jesus and the Gospels. New
the lethal potential for politicization of essentialist distinc-
York, 1996.
tions among religious traditions as well.
Niditich, Susan. Ancient Israelite Tradition. New York, 1997.
More recently, and also with specific reference to South
RAPHAEL PATAI (1987)
Asian local religious practice, Tony Stewart and Carl Ernst
Revised Bibliography
(2003) have mounted a trenchant general criticism of the
whole notion of syncretism in religious discourse. They reject
the concept of syncretism (a pejorative view of borrowing,
FOLK RELIGION: FOLK ISLAM
mixing, or hybridization across distinct religious traditions)
as founded on an untenably essentialist concept of discrete
The dichotomy implied by the terminology of “folk” or “lit-
religious traditions in general, for “on examination, every
tle” versus “orthodox” or “high” religious traditions has been
‘pure’ tradition turns out to contain mixed elements”
challenged in various ways by folklorists, sociologists, and
historians of Islam and other world religions. In recent dec-
(p. 586). The idea of the canonical or orthodox, they argue,
ades folklorists have argued that all religion, at the point of
entails a historically untenable concept of a pristine, clearly
enacted belief, may be considered “vernacular” and “oral.”
bounded, originary or primordial form to which later enact-
Yet at the same time, both within and across religious tradi-
ments strive to conform. Local or folk practice and belief are
tions and academic disciplines, debates rage on about the via-
then implicated in a pejorative concept of syncretism or
bility of terms like “folk” and “orthodox.” The manifest vi-
“mixing” to the extent that the local deviates from this time-
tality of abundant local variations on religious practice, and
less and placeless ideal.
the debates that ensue among believers about their authentic-
While academic debates continue to swirl around cri-
ity or permissibility, continue to fuel concern beyond the ac-
tiques of essentialism and relativism in studies of the “folk,”
ademic.
vernacular, or local belief and practice over against the ca-
South Asia, more particularly India, provides a poignant
nonical or orthodox, it is fair to say that within believing
example. Imtiaz Ahmad in the 1970s and early 1980s pro-
communities, reform movements operate along parallel lines
duced a series of volumes documenting and arguing the in-
of debate over the pure and the mixed, the authentic and the
digenous “Indianness” of South Asian Islamic belief and
“tainted.” Insofar as religious thought is based on a mythic
practice. His ethnographic approach was criticized by the re-
vision of an illud tempus in which the terms of human exis-
ligious historian Francis Robinson for being unduly syn-
tence were established, whether by act of creation or by pro-
chronic and thus missing an overall, gradual trajectory of “Is-
phetic revelation, it is hard to avoid some form of originary
lamicization” (also noted by anthropologist Clifford Geertz)
or essentialist logic. Folklorists simply grant this sense of the
from more localized or “syncretic” practices and beliefs to-
ideal to all believers, holding that all who believe find their
ward “perfection” in the form of closer adherence to a “high”
beliefs to be legitimate and orthodox. This is not to say, how-
religion as articulated in the entexted and canonized law,
ever, that beliefs are not malleable through experience or cri-
shar¯ı Eah. Robinson further argued that the eighteenth-
tique. In religious belief and practice, as for the general no-
century decline of Muslim states (for example, Mughal in
tion of tradition held by contemporary folklorists, tradition
India, Ottoman in southwest Asia and North Africa) itself
is not fixed but dynamic, consisting of the creative responses
inspired the major Islamic revival movements active down
of individuals in communities to the preexisting culture-
to the present, which moved the believing community away
specific materials of their received knowledge base, in dy-
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namic interaction with the emerging conditions of their
teracting with those more powerful, offers additional rich ex-
physical lives. Thus, the same person, over the course of a
amples of popular ambivalence toward clerical and other au-
lifetime, without necessarily experiencing a definitive crisis
thorities. However tenuously these humorous forms may
of faith, may radically change her interpretation of her own
seem to connect with serious matters of belief and religious
spiritual experience: “Ma¯dar Z:her,” whom I met as a woman
practice, they articulate fault lines in both the concept of the
of twenty-eight in Afghanistan in the mid-1970s, attributed
ideal community of the ummah (the total community of be-
an earlier episode of severe psychological distress in her life
lieving Muslims) and the trustworthiness of others’ religious
to the interference of jinn who had seen her and become in-
views and practices.
terested in her. Eighteen years later, she attributed the same
Folk poetry may articulate differential or contested reli-
period of mental illness (divanegi in Persian) to stress and at
gious identity in more specifically theological terms. Hassan
least in part to the stern constraints of purdah imposed on
Poladi (1989, p. 134) quotes a folk rhyme in Dari (Afghan
her by her husband at that period of her life. Nonetheless,
Persian) that is both a statement of orthodox Sunn¯ı faith and
while her idea of the etiology of her illness had changed, both
directed against the Sh¯ıEah Hazara, who are thought to deny
at the time of her illness and more than two decades later she
the legitimacy of the first three caliphs who led the commu-
considered that the appropriate cure for such illnesses was re-
nity after the Prophet’s death and to see only Al¯ı, the Proph-
ligious, through the prayerful intervention of an effective
et’s cousin and son-in-law, as his legitimate successor:
local saint (pir). Islam, whether orthodox or mystical, recog-
Saram kha¯k-e ra¯h-e Chaha¯r Sarwar,
nizes that human understandings of religious truths are par-
EOmar, Abubakr, EOs:ma¯n wa H:aidar,
tial and emergent, such that intention (niyat) or sincerity is
Abubakr Ya¯r-e Gha¯r, EOmar Mir-e Durrah-dar
the touchstone of true religion and acceptability to God, over
EOs:ma¯n Sha¯h-sawar ast, EAli Fath:-e lashkar ast.
and above the state of knowledge (Eerfa¯n) one has attained.
Har ki az in Chaha¯r Ya¯r-e Ra¯h khila¯fa nada¯nad
Kamtarin-e khers wa khuk wa Yahuda¯n-e Khaybar ast.
Such an operating principle may in practice, if not in
principle, admit of a wide variety of religious views and activ-
My head be in the dust of the path of the four Knights
ities and facilitate a gradualist or accommodationist ap-
[the first four caliphs of Islam]
proach to missionary work, as has been observed in the ad-
EOmar, Abu Bakr, EOs:ma¯n and H:aidar
justments to local and preexisting religious beliefs and social
Abubakr, Friend of the Cave, the Prince who possesses
practices in the poetry and preaching of S:u¯f¯ı mystics and
the pearl,
other lead missionaries on the frontiers of Islam, from South
Os:ma¯n is the Royal Knight, EAli is the Victorious War-
Asia to sub-Saharan Africa (Eaton, 1974; Horvatich, 1994;
rior
Lambek, 1990; Robinson, 1984). Yet even in the absence of
Whosoever denies the caliphate of the Four Friends [of
an active reform movement, diversity of practice may also be
the Way],
He is less than a bear, a pig, or the Jews of Khaybar
the focus for pejorative group identifications, for religious
[who rejected the Prophet’s revelation].
blason populaire and scandalous migratory legends. One ex-
ample is the “murdered saint” legend, ascribed to at least two
The Jews of Khaybar are cited as the archetypal recalcitrant
local shrines in Afghanistan and Pakistan, respectively, alleg-
skeptics but are nonetheless regarded by Muslims as “People
ing that the local population, hearing that a saint who had
of the Book,” who received a revelation of their own in the
arrived in their midst would confer great blessings on the
legitimate line of prophecy. In a situation of Sunn¯ı-Sh¯ıE¯ı
community in which he died and was buried, hastened to
tension in upland Afghanistan, where Jews were few and far
secure that benefit to themselves by killing him and building
between, the Sh¯ıEah were portrayed as worse than the Jews
him a shrine. Another story, told as a joke to this author in
for having rejected the worldly successors of the Prophet, but
Pakistan, is that of the “Pashtun sayyed,” in which a Pashtun
at another time, in urban Hera¯t, where both Sunn¯ıs and
who has come to town advertising himself as a sayyed (a de-
Sh¯ıEahs coexisted with an ancient Jewish community until
scendant of the Prophet, whose prayers and other healing in-
the post-1948 migration of that population to Israel, Afghan
terventions may be regarded as especially efficacious) is asked
Sunn¯ıs and Sh¯ıEahs may agree to portray Jews as trying to
to bring a witness to his sayyed status. The witness he pro-
sow dissension between otherwise (notionally) solidary
duces says, “Of course I can attest that he’s a sayyed, I remem-
Sunn¯ı and Sh¯ı’¯ı Muslims (Mills, 1990).
ber the day he became a sayyed.” Thus, the ethnic slur takes
Yet in other instances, shared veneration of a religious
the form of casting aspersions on the legitimacy of a Pash-
personage may dramatically cut across sectarian lines, as in
tun’s religious status claim. A third, large class of such margi-
the case of the Bengali figure of Satya Pir, whose Muslim
nalizing discourses is anticlerical humor and folktales, in
devotees regard him as a somewhat cantankerous saint while
which clergy are alleged to be more avaricious, lustful, or stu-
his Hindu devotees consider him a god. The competing ori-
pid than the general run of humanity. The ambidexterous
gin stories for Satya Pir are copresent and available for com-
genre of Mulla¯ Nas:r ud-Din jokes (Hodja Nasruddin in
parison by his devotees, as is also the case for Skanda, the
Turkish), in which the famous clergyman is a scapegrace, a
deity of the great Kataragama Buddhist shrine in Sri Lanka,
greedy fool when interacting with those less powerful than
who is revered as the Prophet Khizr by Muslims who can
himself, and a foolish-wise underdog and trickster when in-
visit the mosque located on the site.
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Parallel practices may be less obvious to practitioners,
An overview of the vast topic of folk Islam or Muslim
as is the case with votive activities distributed across Muslim
vernacular religion can at best offer snapshot views both of
and Hindu southwest and south Asia. The votive offering
actual devotional activities and of articulations of perceived
called na¯z:ir in Arabo-Persian has a complex history in Sh¯ıE¯ı
differences in practice and belief within the community, that
Iran, apparently connected also with Zoroastrian (pre-
is, of Islamic folk religion and of Muslim folklore, through
Islamic Iranian) practice (Jamzadeh and Mills, 1984). In
which Muslims reflect on being Muslims by alleging prac-
local women’s practice, the votive activity may involve the
tices and beliefs of others that may or may not actually occur.
ritual performance of various kinds of oral narrative from leg-
Such differences only partly fall along sectarian lines. Gender
ends of Sh¯ıE¯ı saints (called rowzeh) to international folktale
and ethnicity also figure in Muslims’ perceptions of insider
variants (Betteridge, 1980; Mills, 1982) and be seen as mar-
and outsider, orthodox and heterodox, and differences in re-
ginal by clergy and by orthodox-aspiring women alike. Not
ligious practice within the confessional community that defy
all Muslim na¯z:ir rituals entail narrative recitations; from the
the doctrinal ideal of equality before God for all pious believ-
data at hand this seems more common among Sh¯ıE¯ı than
ers. Vernacular practice provides scope for personal devo-
Sunn¯ı na¯z:ir offerants. Indian Hindus have parallel practices
tionalism, some of it of a highly local nature, for members
in votive rituals called vrat katha (“vow stories”), conducted
of the community who may be otherwise marginalized (for
by women as domestic rites or more formally by male
example, women, who are not expected or encouraged to be
Bra¯hman: priests, which indeed require the ritual perfor-
regular mosque attendees in some Muslim communities).
Perceptions of solidarity, of difference, or even of apostasy
mance of origin stories articulating the rite’s relationship to
may be cast in absolute and ideal terms, but they also can
the deity addressed (Wadley, 2003). While Muslims and
be observed to vary dramatically at different times and places
Hindus share certain shrines in South Asia (as do, or did,
and to reflect and in part constitute political relationships or
Muslims and Jews in North Africa; see Ben-Ami, 1983), it
rifts that are in turn susceptible to community critique. As
is not clear that either the practitioners or the scholars have
with other forms of folklore, vigorously held “folk” beliefs
dwelt on the specific parallels in narrative-based na¯z:ir and
and practices may not be perceived as local or idiosyncratic
vrat katha. Within Islam, the veneration of saints and shrine
by their adherents, or, on the contrary, they may indeed be
pilgrimage, a pervasively popular practice that is not limited
espoused as part of local identity work, as in the case of the
to women, though often attributed primarily to them as reli-
many instantly recognizable, locally distinctive, elaborated
giously marginal, comes in for criticism from some of the or-
versions of modest dress for both men and women. Further,
thodox, specifically as a form of shirk (worshiping personages
this identity work, a staple of folk process, may be viewed
other than God, which violates a basic tenet of the faith),
as benign, or as antireligious if it divides the community in
whereas in Hinduism, vrat katha is a staple of worship.
the face of some perceived external threat. Not only practices
Both na¯z:ir (with or without narrative) and vrat katha
but also the interpretations put upon them are emergent in
also involve a food offering or charity food distribution. In
terms of consciousness as ties and schisms among Muslims
foodways in particular, one can see regional or local practices
or between Muslims and non-Muslims wax and wane. Aca-
most closely tied to local ecology. In a wide belt from Anato-
demically speaking, the jury remains out as to the overall and
lia across Central Asia to northern Pakistan, the staple grain
longer-term trajectory of universal Islamization (the goal of
is wheat, and wheat products are featured as the blessed ele-
Islamic reform movements) versus the elaboration of local
practices. From the viewpoint of non-Muslim venues, the
ments in ritual meals. In particular, sprouted wheat porridges
globalizing trends of a new orthodoxy appear more influen-
or fudgelike halvas figure in Spring New Year rituals predat-
tial at present, but on closer inspection, local vernacular (also
ing Islam on the Iranian plateau but now included as part
known as “folk”) practices (such as conventions and styles
of Muslim festival cycles from Kurdish Turkey across Iran
of women’s modest dress) appear to thrive, to be invented,
to Central Asia and the Karakorum. For several of these dish-
reinvented, and often enough, contested, even in diaspora
es, wheat must first be ritually sprouted, then dried and
populations.
ground into flour and cooked to make a naturally sweet (be-
cause malted) ritual food called samanu or samanak in Per-
SEE ALSO Domestic Observances, article on Muslim Prac-
sian (and by other names, for example, shoshp in the Khowar
tices; Islamic Religious Year; Oral Tradition; Rites of Pas-
language). In many na¯z:ir rituals outside the context of the
sage, article on Muslim Rites.
Spring New Year, various kinds of wheat bread are the sanc-
tified food, sanctified before it is cooked because the saint
BIBLIOGRAPHY
is believed to visit and touch wheat flour laid out in advance
Ben-Ami, Issachar. “Relations Between Jews and Muslims in the
for the rite if the offerant’s petition is acceptable. Among
Veneration of Folk-Saints in Morocco.” International Folk-
Thai and Javanese Muslims, for whom folk ritual feasts are
lore Review 3 (1983): 93–105.
prominent as part of death memorial ceremonies, and as such
Betteridge, Anne. “The Controversial Vows of Iranian Women.”
also to some extent contested by the orthodoxy, the central
In Unspoken Worlds: Women’s Religious Lives in Non-Western
ritual food, not surprisingly, is rice (Burr, 1983; Woodward,
Cultures, edited by N. A. Falk and R. M. Gross,
1988).
pp. 141–153. New York, 1980.
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3164
FOMHOIRE
Burr, Angela. “The Relationship Between Muslim Peasant Reli-
Fomhoire are sometimes depicted as misshapen or half-
gion and Urban Religion in Songkhla.” Asian Folklore Studies
animal in form, disproportionately female in numbers, or
43 (1983): 71–83.
having only one leg, one arm, and one eye. In other sources,
Das, Veena. “For a Folk-Theology and Theological Anthropology
the Fomhoire resemble and intermarry with the gods, the
of Islam.” Contributions to Indian Sociology (n.s.) 18, no. 2
Tuatha Dé Danann (The Tribes or Peoples of the Goddess
(1984): 293–299.
Danu). Later Irish and Scottish Gaelic folklore know the
Eaton, Richard M. “S:u¯f¯ı Folk Literature and the Expansion of In-
fomhóir (Scottish Gaelic, famhair) as raiders from the sea or
dian Islam.” History of Religions 14, no. 2 (1974): 117–127.
marauding giants, and throughout Irish literature the Fom-
Horvatich, Patricia. “Ways of Knowing Islam.” American Ethnolo-
hoire manifest both sea connections and supernatural ori-
gist 21, no. 4 (1994): 811–826.
gins. For example, “the cattle of Tethra”—an early poetic
Jamzadeh, Laal, and Margaret A. Mills. “Iranian sofreh: From Col-
kenning about the Fomhorian king Tethra—refers to the
lective to Female Ritual.” In Gender and Religion: On the
waves, and in an eighth-century tale the people of Tethra
Complexity of Symbols, edited C. W. Bynum, S. Harrell, and
dwell in a timeless realm of peace and abundance across the
P. Richman, pp. 23–65. Boston, 1984.
sea. The name Fomhoire is of uncertain derivation, meaning
Lambek, Michael. “Certain Knowledge, Contestible Authority:
perhaps “undersea people” or “sinister supernatural beings.”
Power and Practice on the Islamic Periphery.” American Eth-
Suggested etymologies include taking the word as compris-
nologist 17, no. 1 (1990): 23–40.
ing fo (under) and an element meaning sea. Alternatively, the
Mills, Margaret A. “A Cinderella Variant in the Context of a Mus-
second element may be related to the mare of the English
lim Women’s Ritual.” In Cinderella: A Folklore Casebook, ed-
word nightmare.
ited by Alan Dundes, pp. 180–192. New York, 1982.
ORIGINS OF THE FOMHOIRE. References to the Fomhoire
Mills, Margaret A. “‘Fill a pipe for the Akhond!’ The Akhond and
appear in Leabhar Gabhála Éireann (The book of the taking
the Rabbi of Hera¯t.” In Rhetorics and Politics in Afghan Tra-
of Ireland), a pseudohistorical compendium of medieval
ditional Storytelling, pp. 255–262. Philadelphia, 1991.
prose and poetry linking pre-Christian Ireland to the chro-
Minault, Gail. “Some Reflections on Islamic Revivalism vs. As-
nology of the Hebrew Bible and presenting gods and mythi-
similation Among Muslims in India.”Contributions to Indian
cal ancestors of the early Irish as mortals descended from
Sociology, n.s. 18, no. 2 (1984): 301–305.
Noah. In this system, the Fomhoire are identified as descen-
Poladi, Hassan. The Hazaras. Stockton, Calif., 1989.
dants of Cain or of Noah’s unfilial son Ham. Other sources
Robinson, Francis. “Islam and Muslim Society in South Asia.”
include mythic and epic tales, glossaries, and place-name
Contributions to Indian Sociology (n.s.) 17, no. 2 (1983):
lore. In Leabhar Gabhála the Fomhoire (sometimes in the
185–203.
form of misshapen demons) repeatedly attack Ireland’s colo-
Robinson, Francis. “Islam and Muslim Society in South Asia: A
nists. After defeating two groups of settlers, they reduce a
Reply to Das and Minault.” Contributions to Indian Sociology
third, the people of Nemhedh, to one boatload of refugees,
(n.s.) 20, no. 1 (1984): 97–104.
who survive to become ancestors of two later groups, the Fir
Stewart, Tony K. “Satya Pir, Muslim Holy Man and Hindu
Bholg and the Tuatha Dé Danann.
God.” In The Religions of South Asia in Practice, edited by
The Fir Bholg rule Ireland successfully without Fom-
Donald S. Lopez Jr., pp. 578–597. Princeton, N.J., 1994.
horian interference but are eventually dispossessed by the
Stewart, Tony K., and Carl W. Ernst. “Syncretism.” In South
Tuatha Dé Danann. According to Cath Maige Tuired: The
Asian Folklore: An Encyclopedia, edited by Margaret A. Mills,
Second Battle of Mag Tuired, which includes language as early
Peter J. Claus, and Sarah Diamond, pp. 586–588. New
York, 2003.
as the ninth century, once established in Ireland, the Tuatha
Dé contract a marriage alliance with the Fomhoire and offer
Toelken, Barre. “Introduction.” The Dynamics of Folklore. Boston,
kingship to the half-Fomhorian Bres, son of Elatha. Howev-
1979.
er, Bres’s reign proves disastrous: He is greedy, self-centered,
Wadley, Susan S. “Vrat katha.” In South Asian Folklore: An Ency-
and oppressive, enforcing demands for tribute from his Fom-
clopedia, edited by Margaret A. Mills, Peter J. Claus, and
horian relatives. When the Tuatha Dé restrain his behavior,
Sarah Diamond, p. 631. New York, 2003.
he flees to his powerful Fomhorian kin to gather an army.
Woodward, Mark R. “The Slmetan: Textual Knowledge and Ritu-
Demands for tribute by Fomhorian kings outside of Ireland
al Performance in Central Javanese Islam.” History of Reli-
(including Tethra, Elatha, and Indech, son of Dé Domnann,
gions 28, no. 1 (1988): 54–89.
who ruled islands off Ireland and Scotland) are reminiscent
MARGARET A. MILLS (2005)
of Viking control of these peripheral areas and may reflect
legends surrounding Viking claims to overlordship.
Lugh, who ultimately leads the Tuatha Dé to victory in
FOMHOIRE. The Fomhoire are a hostile supernatural
the Second Battle of Magh Tuiredh, is the half-Fomhorian
race who warred for control of Ireland against both gods and
product of the marriage alliance between the two peoples.
men. Descriptions of the Fomhoire vary widely in different
The unsuccessful king Bres (Fomhorian on his father’s side)
texts and apparently reflect several distinct traditions. The
is the product of an acknowledged but less formal union.
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FON AND EWE RELIGION
3165
The theme of Fomhorian kinship amidst hostilities recurs in
Mac Neill, Máire. The Festival of Lughnasa. 2 vols. 2d ed. Dublin,
epic, recalling widespread traditions in other cultures of am-
1982. Provides an extensive discussion of literary sources and
bivalent relations between distinct but intermarrying groups.
folk customs related to Lugh and Balar.
Lugh’s son, the epic hero Cú Chulainn, can only marry the
Rees, Alwyn, and Brinley Rees. Celtic Heritage: Ancient Tradition
daughter of Forgoll Monach (a nephew of the Fomhorian
in Ireland and Wales. London, 1961. Far reaching and ahead
Tethra) by abducting her against her family’s armed oppo-
of its time, Celtic Heritage explores the range of Celtic mythic
sition.
tradition in the Indo-European context, including reference
to the work of Georges Dumézil, with exhaustive notes that
MYTHICAL STRUGGLES. Theomachy—the mythic struggle
provide access to both specialist studies and more general
between gods and their supernatural opponents—is another
works.
theme shaping the relationship between the Fomhoire and
the Tuatha Dé Danann. In comparative Indo-European
ELIZABETH A. GRAY (2005)
terms, as enemies of the gods, the Fomhoire resemble the As-
uras (in relation to the Indic Devas)—often monstrous in
form but nonetheless blood relations. The ultimate victory
FON AND EWE RELIGION. The Ewe and Fon,
of the Tuatha Dé Danann follows Lugh’s single combat with
related linguistically and culturally, live along the coast and
his maternal grandfather, the Fomhorian Balar, who has a
in the hinterland of Benin (formerly Dahomey), Togo, and
baleful eye of monstrous size and power. The contest is fa-
eastern Ghana in West Africa. They number some three mil-
mous in the popular folklore of Mayo and Donegal.
lion; depend on fishing, intensive farming, and crafts (espe-
Another mythic theme that may influence the role of
cially weaving); and live mostly in towns and large villages.
the Fomhoire in the Second Battle of Magh Tuiredh—
Europeans in contact with the Fon of Dahomey late in
especially the conflict between Bres and his Tuatha Dé kin—
the seventeenth century left an exotic and exaggerated pic-
is the struggle between divine representatives of functional
ture of kings, wealth, women soldiers (“Amazons”), brutal
aspects of social order. These functions are identified as: (1)
human sacrifice, and slave trading; such a picture has fallen
the sacred and sovereign, associated with kingship, priest-
into disrepute. Today the seat of the royal family is still cen-
hood, and magical power; (2) physical, especially martial,
tered in the towns of Abomey and Kana, which differ some-
force; and (3) fertility and abundance. Each of the three is
what in both social organization and religion from the hin-
linked to a social class or stratum (i.e., the priestly class, in-
terland. The people today are organized into dispersed
cluding the king; the aristocratic warrior class, from which
patrilineal clans in each of which the oldest living man is said
kings may be drawn; and the class of ordinary free landown-
to be “between the two worlds” of the living and the dead.
ers or farmers) represented within both human and divine
There was traditionally a complex hierarchical organization
societies. The mythic struggle between representatives of the
from the compound to village chief to king. The kingdom
first two functions and those of the third leads to a resolution
has now lost its former political prerogatives but still retains
in which the powers of all three functions are available to so-
many traditional ceremonies required by worship of the royal
ciety as a whole, although the nature of that resolution varies.
ancestors.
For example, Bres’s powers evoke fertility and abundance,
his name (“The Beautiful”) becomes a byword for beauty,
The Ewe of Togo and Ghana, historically representing
and he is the husband of the Tuatha Dé goddess Brígh (pa-
the outposts of Fon civilization, share a sense of identity and
troness of domestic animals). When suggesting possible ran-
history of migration (ultimately from Oyo in Nigeria) that
soms for his life to Lugh after the Tuatha Dé Danann victo-
is commemorated annually. The northern inland Ewe lack
ry, Bres includes the well-being and growth of crops and
centralized political authority and have localized clans, while
herds. Lugh’s acceptance of Bres’s final offer integrates the
the coastal groups (known as Anlo Ewe) have a tradition of
power of fertility, bringing the Tuatha Dé perpetual success
weak kingship, dispersed clans, and ancestral shrines that are
in plowing, sowing, and reaping.
of central importance in the religious life of the community.
In each Ewe lineage there is a carved wooden stool, which
SEE ALSO Celtic Religion, overview article.
is the locus of the cult of the lineage diety. During rituals this
stool is the place to which ancestral spirits may temporarily
BIBLIOGRAPHY
be summoned.
Gray, Elizabeth A. Cath Maige Tuired: The Second Battle of Mag
F
Tuired. Irish Texts Society, Vol. 52. Leinster, Ireland, 1982.
ON. The ancestral cult, believed to be necessary for the per-
Provides text and translation, contains extensive indices of
petuation of the clan, is the focal point of Fon social organi-
references to the Tuatha Dé Danann and Fomhoire in early
zation and of much religious activity. Funeral ceremonies for
and later medieval Irish literature.
dead adults are concluded three years after their death so that
Mac Cana, Proinsias. Celtic Mythology. New York, 1970; reprint,
their souls are not lost to the clan. Every decade or so the
1973. Succinct, authoritative and comprehensive survey, ex-
ancestors are “established,” that is, they are deified as tovodu
tensively illustrated with photographs of significant items of
(family gods) by a rite in which a local group head must
Celtic material culture, includes chapters on the Tuatha Dé
name all the dead group members from the most recently
Danann and on the Irish heroic tradition.
dead back to the earliest. At this rite an ancestral shrine (dex-
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3166
FON AND EWE RELIGION
oxo) is built. There, the tovodu are annually “fed” and hon-
are said to be given to humans by Legba and Sagbata, and
ored with dancing and praise songs. The individual who is
especially by the aziza, small hairy creatures who live in ant-
seen as the human founder of a clan is also a deified ancestor;
hills and silk-cotton trees (Eriondendron anfractuosum).
because of this status, the founder is worshiped by a cult of
EWE. The Ewe share many aspects of culture, religion, and
priests and initiates who do not necessarily belong to that
art with the Fon and indeed occasionally travel to Benin to
particular clan. Royal clan members, however, may worship
obtain shrines and spiritual aid. They share many gods, in-
only their own ancestral deities and cannot be cult-initiates
cluding Mawu, the remote creator god associated with the
of “public” pantheons of gods; ancestral worship is their only
sky, and Torgbi-nyigbla, the head of the nature gods (tro) as-
form of religious affiliation.
sociated with war and thunder (and thus with Xevioso). Sim-
More powerful than the tovodu are the spirits of those
ilar, too, are the practice of Afa divination and the Legba
who lived so long ago that their names are no longer known
cult, including both dulegba and alegba (town and individual
by their descendants: these ancestors, personified by Damba-
protective deities). There is, however, ambiguous usage
da Hwedo, are important because a “forgotten” ancestor is
among the Ewe of such key terms as vodu, dulegba, tro, and
angry and dangerous. Also in the tovodu category are the spir-
dzo (amulets), which are often confused. Most of these dei-
its of twins, of children born after twins, and of malformed
ties come from outside Eweland and each is thought of as
and aborted children. These last spirits are considered very
a discrete entity; this inconsistent usage probably reflects dif-
powerful as they guard the rivers over which the spirits of the
ferences in the history of migration and introduction of the
dead must pass to reach the other world. Furthermore, the
cults.
world of the dead reflects that of the living, with local rank
RELIGIOUS CHANGE. Vast numbers of slaves were taken
there being established by priority of birth in the land of the
from the Fon-Ewe coast to the New World and they took
living.
many aspects of their religion with them. Syncretized with
Catholicism in Haiti, Brazil, Cuba, and Jamaica, Fon and
The Fon have a number of variant cosmologies, and
Ewe religions contributed important influences to the forma-
some disagreement exists concerning the identities of the var-
tion of many cults in the New World, including Voodoo (vo-
ious deities. Some say that the world was created by one god,
doun) and the cult of Shango, among others.
Nana Buluku, both male and female, who gave birth to twins
named Mawu and Lisa; the first, female, was given command
Christian missionaries have worked among the Fon and
of the night, and the second, male, was associated with the
Ewe since the mid-nineteenth century. Today the vast ma-
day. Opinion varies as to the identifying characteristics and
jority of people declare themselves to be Christian, although
even the relationship between the twins, whose names are
most Ewe are involved in both Christian and traditional reli-
often merged together in everyday speech as though they
gious practices. In the north, reportedly, many rites of pas-
were a single deity, Mawu-Lisa. In addition to being siblings,
sage are now abandoned; traditional funerals, especially in
Mawu and Lisa are also spouses. Other public gods who rep-
the south, however, are still very important.
resent the forces of nature that affect all humans alike include
SEE ALSO Mawu-Lisa.
Sagbata, the earth deity who watches over the fields and wa-
ters of the earth and punishes offenders with smallpox, and
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Sogbo, or Xevioso, the thunder and sea god who sends fertil-
The standard work on Fon religion is Melville J. Herskovits’s Da-
izing rains but also punishes with his “ax,” the thunderbolt.
homey: An Ancient West African Kingdom, 2 vols. (New York,
Under each of these is a pantheon of named deities (vodu)
1938); on the Ewe there are several early accounts, mostly
ranked according to their birth order, each with differing
very patchy and superficial, summarized by Madeline
tasks. Worship of each pantheon of these gods is in the hands
Manoukian in The Ewe-Speaking People of Togoland and the
of an associated priesthood. None of these three pantheons
Gold Coast (London, 1952). More recent works include D.
of deities has universal worship.
K. Fiawoo’s “The Influence of Contemporary Social
Changes on the Magico-Religious Concepts and Organiza-
No single god is all-powerful, not even Mawu who is
tion of the Southern Ewe-Speaking Peoples of Ghana” (Ph.
the parent of the others and controls life and death. The
D. diss., University of Edinburgh, 1958) and my “Mystical
“writing” of Mawu is called Fa, the destiny of the universe.
Protection among the Anlo Ewe,” African Arts 15 (August
A highly specialized system of divination (derived from the
1982): 60–66, 90.
Yoruba), administered by officials known as bokono, permits
New Sources
humans to know what destiny has been decreed for them.
Adler, Alfred. Le Pouvoir et l’interdit: Royauté et religion en Afrique
Only the divine trickster Legba, who is the youngest son of
Noire: Essais d’Ethnologie Comparative. Paris, 2000.
Mawu, can change a person’s destiny. His worship is univer-
Meyer, Birgit. Translating the Devil: Religion and Modernity
sal (unlike that of the other major divinities) and individual,
Among the Ewe in Ghana. Edinburgh,1999.
with neither priests nor cult houses. Other forms of divina-
Riviere, Claude. Anthropologie religieuse des Eve du Togo. Paris,
tion are practiced, including mirror-gazing and the study of
1981.
entrails. Finally, most widespread of all forms of divination
Rosenthal, Judy. Possession, Ecstasy and Law in Ewe Voodoo. Char-
are magical charms (gbo) of many and various kinds. These
lottesville, Va., 1998.
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3167
Surgy, Albert de. Le Système Religieux des Evhe. Paris, 1988.
meals. Fish and vegetable oil fall into an intermediate class,
M
known as pareve, that can be consumed with either milk or
ICHELLE GILBERT (1987)
Revised Bibliography
meat.
The Jewish taboo on pork has become famous because
the pig is so popular as a source of protein in Europe and
FOOD.
Asia, but Jews also abstain from a long list of animals found
Historians of religion and cultural anthropologists
in Leviticus 11 and further defined by the rabbis. Only ani-
face an extraordinarily difficult task when they attempt to an-
mals that have hooves (not claws) but also part the hoof (like
alyze food customs on a worldwide basis. Dietary laws, food
cows and sheep, unlike horses) and chew the cud (ruminants,
taboos, and the religious and social environments that have
capable of eating grass) can be eaten. These restrictions elimi-
molded them are as varied as humanity itself.
nate such common food animals as rabbits, dogs, bears,
Although there are no universal food customs or food
horses, and camels as well as pigs, which divide the hoof but
taboos, such things are part of daily life in every society. So-
do not chew the cud. Predatory birds and swarming insects
cieties of every sort have restricted what their members may
are also forbidden. Among sea creatures, only fish with fins
eat, specified the circumstances in which certain types of
and scales can be eaten; clams, lobsters, eels, squid, scallops,
nourishment may be taken, and made use of food in religious
shark, sturgeon (with their caviar), porpoise, and whale are
ritual. Rules and practices regarding food constitute lan-
all forbidden, and swordfish are an object of dispute, since
guages that express the values a culture teaches regarding na-
they are scaled only as juveniles.
ture, God, the sources of social authority, and the purposes
During the eight days of Passover, the spring holiday
or goals of life. In different religious systems, the same
commemorating the deliverance of ancient Israel from slav-
foods—milk, oil, blood, wheat, or rice, for example—may
ery in Egypt, Jews observe a taboo on leaven, which is ordi-
cleanse or defile, signify death or rebirth, give nourishment
narily ubiquitous in bread and other products containing
to gods or convey the power of gods to worshipers, depend-
wheat. The observance of Passover can lead to a Jewish fami-
ing on the contexts in which these foods are used.
ly owning a third and fourth set of dishes and pots for meat
FOOD TABOOS. Because food is a universal human need, the
and dairy during Passover, or even a third kitchen, in order
act of making some foods taboo is particularly revelatory of
to avoid leaven. Not all prepared foods that are certified by
the values that distinguish one culture from another.
rabbinical boards as kosher are also kosher for Passover, be-
Judaism. No religion has such a complex set of food ta-
cause some kosher foods may have been prepared with or in
boos as Judaism. Jewish dietary law begins with the Torah
the presence of leaven. Even wine, which might have been
(also known as the Pentateuch, including the biblical books
thought to be exempt from laws regarding blood, milk, meat,
of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy),
forbidden animals, and leaven, must be certified as kosher
which according to Orthodox Jews was given to Moses on
or kosher for Passover depending on rabbinical supervision
Sinai; modern scholars date the final version of the Torah to
of the conditions of manufacture.
the Babylonian exile, after 486 BCE. Since Roman times, rab-
It should be noted that today, only about 10 percent of
bis have greatly expanded the food taboos of the Jews
Jews keep the kosher laws strictly. Among Conservative, Re-
through commentary designed to show how the laws of the
form, and Reconstructionist Jews, and among the large num-
Torah may be kept.
bers unaffiliated with a synagogue, there was a strong move-
Oldest among Jewish food taboos is the prohibition on
ment away from keeping kosher during the nineteenth and
eating blood, which forms part of the covenant between God
twentieth centuries. Recently, a return to modified practice,
and Noah in Genesis 9. From this prohibition grew the prac-
sometimes called “kosher style,” has gained ground among
tice of kosher butchering, which emphasizes killing the ani-
liberal Jews. Jewish food taboos have undoubtedly had one
mal with a quick cut of the neck and draining its blood. Jews
effect announced in the Torah: they have fostered solidarity
also salt and boil meat to remove blood, broil organ meats
among Jews by separating Jews from others, making “a dis-
in which the blood collects, and cook meat very thoroughly
tinction between the clean and the unclean” (Lev. 11:47) so
to eliminate blood. The taboo on blood and the laws of
that Israel may be “holy” (related to the word for “separate”)
butchering mean that no animal killed by hunting can be
as its God is holy.
eaten by an observant Jew.
Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism. Although the ear-
Elaborating on a law repeated three times in the Torah,
liest Sanskrit scriptures indicate that the Aryan ancestors of
“Thou shalt not boil a kid in its mother’s milk” (Exod. 23:19,
modern Indians ate beef and sacrificed horses, Hinduism
34:26; Deut. 14:21), the rabbis developed rules to prevent
quickly (by about 1000 BCE) developed a taboo on meat for
contact of meat and milk. Observant Jews not only abstain
the three upper castes (the Brahmin or priestly, Kshatriya or
from cheeseburgers and avoid milk for some time after eating
warrior, and Vaisya or merchant). The cow became particu-
meat but also maintain two sets of dishes, pots, and utensils
larly sacred, so that only the outcaste or untouchable could
for meat and dairy meals. Restaurants observing kashrut (ko-
work with leather or eat beef, but chicken and fish were also
sher) law limit themselves to serving either meat or dairy
avoided by those who wished to maintain purity. Another
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FOOD
powerful taboo involves saliva; a cook must not taste food
nence from all alcohol; with the exception of the Therava¯dan
during preparation because of the danger that saliva will
monks of South Asia (Sri Lanka, Burma [Myanmar], Thai-
come in contact with the food. Caste differences entailed
land, Vietnam), most Buddhist cultures have not prohibited
general taboos on eating food prepared by someone of a
alcoholic drinks.
lower caste, so that a demand arose for Brahmins willing to
Christianity. The New Testament shows that early fol-
serve as cooks. Unlike in Judaism, where food taboos created
lowers of Jesus struggled with questions of how far to contin-
solidarity among adherents of the religion, in Hinduism
ue Jewish food taboos and whether to compromise with
these taboos have emphasized difference. The purpose of ab-
Roman rituals of offering food to their ancestors and their
staining from meat and avoiding impurity for Hindus is to
gods. Although Mark 7:19 says that Jesus “declared all foods
avoid collecting karma, the attachment to the world that
clean,” it seems evident from the story of Peter and the
causes reincarnation after death. The same motive causes
Roman centurion Cornelius in Acts 10 that the disciples of
many Hindus to abstain from alcohol, although there is no
absolute rule in the tradition against it, and ancient texts de-
Jesus had not begun to eat nonkosher food or to share meals
scribe the ritual use of an intoxicating substance called soma,
with non-Jews even after taking up their mission of preach-
the identity of which is uncertain. Some traditions depict the
ing the gospel. An argument between Peter and Paul men-
Hindu god S´iva drinking a mixture of yogurt and cannabis
tioned in Paul’s letter to the Galatians shows that the ques-
indica, an Asian variety of marijuana.
tion of food taboos seemed very urgent two decades after the
crucifixion. Acts 15 recalls a letter sent by agreement of the
During the sixth century BCE, the movements of Jainism
apostles to all non-Jewish Christians, telling them to abstain
and Buddhism gained adherents in India among those who
from blood, from anything strangled rather than butchered
sought freedom from castes and rituals and a more direct
quickly, and from food consecrated to Roman ancestors or
means of escape from reincarnation. Following their teacher
gods. In the Book of Revelation, Christians who have decided
Maha¯v¯ıra, Jains abstain both from meat and from plants that
to eat at the same table where Roman food offerings were
must be killed to be consumed. Their ideal diet consists of
made are consigned to the pit of sulfur created for Satan and
fruit that ripens on the tree and grains that dry of themselves;
his angels. After the Roman Empire became Christian in the
they avoid root vegetables that must be destroyed in the
fourth century CE, this issue disappeared—until recently,
harvest.
that is, when it has demanded a decision by Christians who
have friends or relatives who practice Chinese, Wiccan, Yor-
Maha¯v¯ıra arose from the warrior caste to reject Brahmin
uba, or other traditions involving the offering of food to spir-
rules, and so did Siddha¯rtha Gautama, who became known
its. Except for the Coptic Christians of Egypt, who continue
as the Buddha (the one who awoke). Not as strict as the
to follow some Jewish laws, and the mild restrictions on meat
Jains, Buddhists sought a middle way between indulgence
observed by Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians dur-
and asceticism. The Buddha advised the monks whom he
ing Lent and Advent, most Christians now observe no food
sent to spread his teaching not to allow anyone to kill an ani-
taboos, and Christianity remains remarkable for its lack of
mal especially for them, but to eat if the animal had already
such rules. In the nineteenth century, Adventists in the Unit-
been killed. In Buddhism the karma that binds humans to
ed States rediscovered the prohibition of Acts 15 on blood
the wheel of rebirth has nothing to do with divine will, mate-
and went beyond it to vegetarianism; many Christians, espe-
rial pollution, or with the influence of matter on spirit, but
cially Protestant evangelicals, Mormons, and Christian Sci-
depends entirely on attitude and can be dispelled by aware-
entists, adopted a taboo on alcohol; but most Roman Catho-
ness. Buddhists have commonly counted the profession of
lic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant Christians remained
a butcher as a forbidden means of livelihood, like that of
free, in theory, to eat and to drink anything.
gambler or prostitute, because a butcher causes suffering to
sentient beings; yet Buddhism has adapted to many cultures
Islam. The QurDa¯n, the book of revelations to Prophet
in which meat eating is allowed. Some of the most traditional
Muh:ammad, explicitly forbids eating animals that have died
Buddhists, such as the Therava¯dan monks of Thailand, who
of themselves, blood, pork, and food over which the name
go into the street to beg each day at dawn and eat nothing
of a god other than Allah has been invoked (su¯rah 2:173).
at all after noon, are not vegetarian. The Chan monks of
Islamic slaughtering rules resemble those of Judaism with re-
China have normally followed a vegetarian diet themselves
gard to cutting the neck and drawing the blood, but many
but only recently have begun to preach the virtues of vegetar-
Muslims also refuse any meat not killed by a Muslim, since
ianism to the laity. Tibet, where Buddhism has dominated
only then can they be assured that an invocation of Alla¯h has
for more than a thousand years, has never become vegetarian,
accompanied the slaughter. Though abstinence from alcohol
although some of its religious leaders have. In Japan, the tra-
does not appear in the QurDa¯n, the traditions (or h:ad¯ıth)
ditional diet of rice and seafood remained despite Buddhism,
connecting such abstinence to the prophet Muh:ammad are
although the influence of Buddhist ideals of compassion
so strong that most Muslims believe that their religion for-
helped to keep meat eating from gaining much favor until
bids all alcohol, even if (as in Muslim countries like Morocco
modern times. Although the Buddha forbade intoxication,
or Turkey) there are public places in which Muslims drink.
Buddhists have disagreed as to whether this meant absti-
Many Muslims avoid mozzarella cheese because of the ren-
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net, sometimes derived from the stomachs of pigs, involved
stomach, corn from her breasts, and tobacco from her fore-
in its manufacture.
head. In Tongan mythology, Eel was condemned to death
for allegedly causing the pregnancy of a virgin who shared
Chinese traditions. It is part of the genius of China to
his Samoan bathing pool. Villagers who planted Eel’s severed
make use of everything edible, if not as food then as medi-
head, as he had requested, testified that the coconut tree first
cine. However, Daoist wisdom does teach the avoidance of
appeared on that spot. Another Polynesian myth affirms that
some combinations of foods because Daoist cosmology has
the breadfruit tree emerged from the plot where a woman
led people to think that the combinations would be poison-
buried the head of her husband.
ous. Such combinations include garlic and honey, crab and
persimmon, dog meat and green beans, and mackerel and
As religions develop more philosophical perspectives,
plums.
they distance themselves from myth, but food retains sym-
bolic meanings and important roles in ritual and in healing.
Indigenous (or primal) traditions. Religions that re-
main limited to particular ethnic groups and places do not
Judaism. The story of Eden implicates a fruit in the be-
tend to develop general food taboos, such as the Jewish ban
ginning of death and of agricultural work (through the curse
on pork or the Hindu reverence for the cow, which apply
on Adam). According to Genesis, people were vegetarians in
in all times and all places. Food taboos in these religions
Eden but became carnivorous in the aftermath of the Flood;
focus on specific times during which certain foods may not
the offering of blood to God in the Temple remained as testi-
be eaten or specific people who may not eat certain foods.
mony that animal life still belonged to the creator. Jewish
Even cannibalism, the strongest candidate for a universal
practice included a sacrificial lamb at Passover until the Tem-
food taboo, may be allowed or even encouraged or required
ple was destroyed by the Romans. Even now, elements of the
at certain times; among the Hua of New Guinea, funerals
Passover include a bone to stand for the lamb and other ele-
involve children eating the parent of the same sex to recycle
ments such as an egg, salt water, and green herbs that point
the limited supply of life force, or nu. Before death, Hua
to a festival of rebirth with foods appropriate to the spring.
adults transmit nu to children by rubbing them with spit or
Foods celebrated in Jewish stories include the manna, said
other bodily secretions.
to resemble coriander seed, that fell from heaven each day
F
to feed Israel during its wandering in the wilderness and the
OOD IN SYMBOL, MYTH, AND RITUAL. In some religious
traditions, a particular food may stand for the whole identity
cakes brought by ravens to feed the prophet Elijah when he
of the group. The Hopi of southwestern North America say
fled into the desert from the wrath of Jezebel. According to
that their first act upon emerging into this world was to
Orthodox Jews, the coming of the Messiah will include the
choose the short blue corn that expresses the hard but endur-
return of manna from heaven and a great banquet.
ing life of their people. Since the purpose of Hopi ritual is
Daily Jewish practice includes a ritual blessing over
to continue a cycle in which cloudlike ancestors (called kat-
bread and wine performed at home. On the Sabbath, it is
sinas) come from the mountains to nourish corn, which feeds
a mitzvah (religious duty or good deed) to drink wine and
the Hopi who eventually die and return to the mountains,
to eat meat. Synagogue services now also commonly include
the Hopi have sometimes said that “We are corn.” Similarly,
a blessing and sharing of bread and wine. Holidays involve
the Lakota of the northern Plains sometimes describe them-
symbolic foods such as the matzoh (unleavened bread) of
selves as the descendants of “buffalo people” who emerged
Passover and the round loaves of bread and apples with
from under the Black Hills and gradually became human,
honey that are eaten to promote continuity and good fortune
never losing their kinship with the primary animal they
at the New Year.
hunted. This identification of food and people is not neces-
Hinduism and Buddhism. Temple worship among
sarily limited to small nations. Each year in Japan, the first
Hindus involves large quantities of food because every statue
planting of rice by the emperor, who is the living embodi-
of a god must be fed three times a day and bathed, not only
ment of Ninigo-no-mikoto, the god of the mature rice plant,
in water but also in substances such as milk, sesame oil, coco-
is photographed for newspapers. When a bad harvest and
nut water, grain, and clarified butter. The bathing of a god
World Trade Organization pressure caused the Japanese gov-
with milk, oil, and colorful spices can make a striking visual
ernment to lower barriers against imported rice in 1993, the
impression. The primary duty of most temple priests is not
action caused a reaction that went beyond economics to the
to instruct but to perform this washing and feeding with cor-
spiritual, and imported rice is still considered inferior and
rect prayer; people come to observe and to offer their own
unclean by many Japanese.
prayers as these ceremonies proceed, or they visit the gods
Myths often associate death with the gift of food. The
at other times and make food offerings of their own. Food
inhabitants of Ceram, an island in the Indonesian archipela-
offerings include rice, curds, clarified butter, oil, many kinds
go, tell the story of a quasi-divine young girl whose body pro-
of vegetables and fruits, almonds and other nuts, betel leaves,
duced tubers after it was cut up and buried. Among the Iro-
and combinations of spices including turmeric, salt, and pep-
quois of northern New York, one variant of the creation
per. Among Vaisnavites (worshipers of Vis:n:u and his avatars,
story describes a girl who fell from the sky, then died and
such as Kr:s:n:a and Ra¯ma), food offered to the gods is com-
produced beans from her fingers and toes, squash from her
monly shared by all worshippers under the name of prasa¯da,
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which may be taken home from the temple and eaten.
Catholics. One famous convert to Catholicism, the English
S´aivites (worshipers of S´iva and his wife Parvati) consume
writer Evelyn Waugh, was said to have converted because
only what has washed the linga and yoni statues that are his
only Catholics offered the opportunity to “eat God.”
primary symbols, leaving the food offerings to the priests.
On festivals (which often entail fasting), Hindus may bring
Few symbolic foods are used by Christians today, but
large quantities of prasa¯da home and subsist on it for some
the Easter egg and its chocolate and candy variants are widely
days.
recognized; as in the Passover meal, the egg indicates the pri-
mordial roots of Easter in spring festivals of rebirth. Ethnic
At home and in other areas outside the temples, Hindus
groups like the Italians, many of whom seek a meal of twelve
hire Brahmin priests to perform fire sacrifices that also in-
types of seafood on Christmas Eve, often associate particular
volve food. At a wedding or at the brahmacharya ritual that
foods with Christian holidays. Some Protestants in the Unit-
marks a son’s beginning study of the scriptures, the priest will
ed States have substituted grape juice, which was invented
offer clarified butter, rice, and other foods in a fire while
for this purpose by a Methodist named Welch, for sacramen-
chanting appropriate prayers. In the temple, offerings of food
tal wine in many churches. Meanwhile, Protestants have
enable worshipers to seek protection and favor from the
made a virtual sacrament of coffee, with after-worship coffee
gods, but in fire sacrifices, the food becomes fuel in the same
hours following services at most churches. The coffeepot has
economy of energy that created the gods and the universe it-
become the unofficial symbol of Alcoholics Anonymous, a
self; this cosmic energy is released by the fire and directed
nondenominational spiritual group that grew from the Prot-
by the priest to the purpose for which he performs the ritual.
estant ethos.
Although Buddhists do not hire priests for Brahmin rit-
Chinese traditions. Daoist cosmology, and the tradi-
uals or bathe the Buddha’s statues in food, they continue to
tional Chinese wisdom that precedes formal Daoism, sees all
leave offerings of fruit before these images. Food offered to
foods (and all things in the world) as composites of yin (dark,
the Buddha is not eaten by devotees but thrown away in
moist, soft, bland, feminine) and yang (bright, dry, hard,
compassion to animals or (in some cases, if there are large
spicy, masculine), which in turn express the basic force of qi
amounts) given to beggars. The tradition that the Buddha
(breath, spirit) that inheres in all things. For Chinese tradi-
himself lived and taught as a beggar remains important in
tion, every meal has symbolic and medical aspects, and every
the Therava¯dan tradition that prevails in South Asia, where
food establishes a direct and definable connection between
Thai monks usually receive food or flowers, not money, in
the eater and the forces that move the stars. A typical Chinese
the begging bowls they bring to the streets each morning.
menu seeks to balance yin and yang, cooling and heating
Both Hindus and Buddhists sometimes use violations
properties, and so to have many ingredients offered in small
of food taboos as spiritual practices. For example, the sannya-
portions over many courses. Folk traditions associate many
si, or renunciates, of India always eat leftover (or symbolically
symbolic foods, such as round cakes called mooncakes at the
leftover) food, violating the Hindu taboo on saliva; some
New Year, with holidays. Daily ancestor worship, the central
yogis go so far to teach and to experience the reality of rein-
practice of Chinese religion, involves offering food by plac-
carnation as to eat their own excrement. Hindu ritual purifi-
ing it before tablets containing the names of ancestors, some-
cation may entail eating a mixture of the cow’s five products,
times accompanied by pictures. Failure to perform this duty,
which are milk, ghee (clarified butter), curds, urine, and
which can only be done by the eldest son, will result in ances-
dung. Tibetan Buddhists may remind themselves of empti-
tors becoming hungry ghosts who cause disharmony in the
ness and insubstantiality by drinking from cups made of the
home. For about three thousand years before 1911, the em-
skulls of monks. Among those who practice the Tantric tra-
peror of China offered animal sacrifice to the imperial ances-
ditions of Hinduism and Buddhism, eating meat and drink-
tor and to the heavenly beings at least three times a year, on
ing alcohol sometimes form part of secret rituals meant to
the Altar of Heaven at the capital; this ritual, which was also
teach that all things eventually contribute to deliverance.
performed at times of crisis, was held to keep both the natu-
ral world and the nation in harmony.
Christianity. Building upon the blessing of bread and
wine from Jewish mealtime, Sabbath, and Passover rituals,
Islam. Islam stands out among religions by involving no
Christians have often made the sharing of bread and wine
food or drink in its ordinary services of worship. Eating plays
during Communion (or Eucharist) into the center of their
an important ritual and social role in the fasting month of
ritual lives. During the Middle Ages, Roman Catholic theol-
Ramada¯n, when each day ends at sunset with an iftar meal
ogy defined this ritual meal as the miracle of transubstantia-
that breaks the fast; these meals traditionally begin with figs,
tion, during which bread and wine are miraculously trans-
following the example of the Prophet. In Muslim countries
formed into the actual body and blood of Jesus of Nazareth,
like Egypt, iftar meals stretch into the night and create a fes-
who is the incarnation of God; Thomas Aquinas taught that
tive atmosphere during the month. One of the main holidays
the substance of Christ’s body is then concealed under the
of Islam, the E¯Id al-Ad:h:a¯ during the month of pilgrimage to
appearance of bread and wine by another miracle in order
Mecca, involves the sharing of food because each Muslim
to prevent disgust among the communicants. Although Prot-
household is obligated to sacrifice a goat, sheep, ram, cow,
estants later rejected this doctrine, it still prevails among
or camel and distribute one-third of the meat to the poor.
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In the United States, where many Muslims and others do not
Mass in private—have been eliminated by reformers, Roman
enjoy eating goat, it has sometimes been difficult to arrange
Catholics today still buy Mass Cards and give money so that
for this meat to be used. The Muslim vision of Paradise in-
Jesus may again be offered to God the Father, under the ap-
volves both food and drink: the QurDa¯n often pictures those
pearances of bread and wine, for the intentions of those who
in Paradise enjoying “fountains” and “fruits, any that they
make the donations.
may select,” with “flesh of fowls, any that they may desire”
The most prevalent form of food sacrifice is the offering
(Su¯rah 56:18–21).
of food to ancestors, which takes place daily at millions of
Yoruba (Vodou, Santeria, Condomble) traditions.
home altars in China, Korea, and Japan, under the influence
The West African religion of the Yoruba and Fon peoples,
of Confucian and Shinto¯ traditions. Practitioners of the Yor-
native to such modern nations as Nigeria, Cameroon, Benin,
uba and other African traditions also give food and drink to
and Dahomey, has spread through slavery and immigration
ancestors, as the ancient Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians did
throughout the Americas, becoming known as vodou in
in their time. The Shinto¯ priests of Japan offer food sacri-
Haiti and Louisiana, as Santería in Cuba, and as Condomble
fices—clean, fresh whole foods, fish, and fruits and rice—to
in Brazil, bringing its own symbolic and ritual uses of food
the kami, or divinities who are said to inhabit eight million
while integrating Christian elements into its African heritage.
places in the islands of Japan. Regular worship takes place
Here food is offered to the gods so that they descend into
at striking waterfalls, impressive rocks, and dignified trees
the community performing the ritual, taking possession of
where the kami are believed to dwell; along with presenta-
some participants and inducing trance, while communicat-
tions of food, petitions from local people are read to the
ing with and healing others. Each deity has favored foods and
kami. At the center of the Shinto¯ system are offerings of rice
drinks and animals of sacrifice. For example, Elegba, the god
planted by the emperor to Amaterasu, the goddess of the sun
of the crossroads who is invoked to begin any service, favors
and ancestor of the imperial house.
palm oil, fruits, nuts, roasted corn, and yams; he is drawn
FASTING AND DIETING. One of the most universal of reli-
to the sacrifice of roosters and male goats; Oya, goddess of
gious practices, fasting can be done for reasons that range
storms and cemeteries, enjoys red wine and purple grapes,
from repentance for sins to the cultivation of mystical experi-
eggplant and rice and beans; hens and female goats are sacri-
ence. For Muslims, fasting during the month of Ramad:a¯n
ficed to her. Shango, companion of Oya, is a former human,
stands as the fourth among five pillars of Islam. Muslims may
a deified ruler of the Yoruba who has become the god of
not eat, drink, smoke, or engage in sex between sunrise and
lightning and retribution; he is called upon with plantains,
sunset during the month of Ramad:a¯n; those who are sick or
green bananas, and bitter kola nuts, and enjoys rum; rams
traveling are supposed to fast an equal number of days at an-
and red roosters are sacrificed to him. The list of orishas (or
other time. The fast commemorates the month in which the
loa, divinities) runs to the dozens, each with a set of prefer-
first revelations of the QurDa¯n were given to Muh:ammad;
ences in food, drink, and sacrificial animal.
Muslims often teach that the hunger and thirst of this month
F
makes them more sensitive to the needs of the poor and more
OOD AND SACRIFICE. There is a vast body of literature on
the origins and meaning of sacrifice and the role it has played
aware of their dependence on God.
in human history. With relation to food, farmers have often
Jews undertake two briefer, but more intense fasts, also
sacrificed the first fruits of the harvest, while shepherds have
abstaining from drink and sex as well as from food: from sun-
sacrificed the firstborn of each female in their flocks. Ancient
set to the next sunset on the Day of Atonement, Yom Kip-
Israelite tradition continued these sacrifices and added the
pur, which completes the New Year’s holiday in the fall, and
substitution of a sacrifice or monetary gift for a firstborn son.
during the summer on Tisha B’Av, to commemorate the de-
Animals sacrificed at the Jerusalem Temple included bul-
struction of the Temple. Roman Catholics and Orthodox
locks, rams, lambs, pigeons, and doves; other foods included
Christians fast for forty days called Lent, between Ash
cooked and uncooked dough, prepared with oil and salt, and
Wednesday and Easter, every spring; among Catholics, the
wine poured like blood at the foot of the altar.
rules of this fast have been relaxed in recent years. Lent in-
volves no periods of complete denial of food and drink, but
After the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple, Jews
only abstinence from meat on certain days and a commit-
gave up on sacrifice, but the Jewish and Gentile followers of
ment to eat less every day. Among the devout, there is a tradi-
Jesus, faced with the need to understand the crucifixion,
tion of voluntarily giving up a favorite food or drink, both
gradually transmuted the traditional blessings of bread and
to repent for sin and to provide money for charity. A celebra-
wine into a sacrificial meal. Not only were the bread
tion called Mardi Gras (French for “fat Tuesday”) or Carni-
and wine understood as transubstantiated into the body and
val often precedes the beginning of Lent, especially in Latin
blood of Jesus, and hence of God, but the act of offering the
countries.
bread and wine was held to have the effects of a sacrifice, re-
leasing power that could gain favor for the living and shorten
In many religions, monks and nuns and ascetics use re-
the punishment of souls in purgatory. Although the most
stricted diets as a means to heighten awareness in prayer or
dramatic examples of purely sacrificial worship—for exam-
meditation and to lessen the passions of the body. Under the
ple, the priests who did nothing but offer the sacrifice of the
Christian Rule of St. Benedict, each monk was allowed one
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pound of bread per day and a pint of wine, but meat was not
In Purity and Danger (1966), Mary Douglas focused on
recommended except for the sick. Monks in Thailand do not
spiritual pollution as a common element in food taboos. Fol-
eat after noon, in imitation of the Buddha.
lowing the perspective of Émile Durkheim, Douglas argued
that religions provide their adherents with a sense of identity.
Many holidays that involve fasting from grain and beans
Identity is constructed through patterns of social behavior,
for periods of two or three days punctuate the Hindu calen-
such as those involved in the production, preparation, and
dar. On those days, Hindus may subsist on milk and fruits
consumption of food. Cleanliness, in this context, becomes
that have become prasa¯da by being offering at a temple. In
an attribute of anything that strengthens group identity by
the twentieth century, Mahatma Gandhi added a political di-
contributing to the order of the universe. Applying this per-
mension to the Hindu tradition of fasting by his hunger
spective to Judaism, Douglas saw the law of Moses as divid-
strikes, which Gandhi employed both in order to convince
ing the world into three types of creatures: those whose natu-
the British to set India free and to convince the people of
ral environment is either land, sea, or sky (see Lev. 12 and
India to stop a religious war between Hindus and Muslims.
the creation story of Genesis). Creatures that seem “mixed,”
Going beyond politics to spirituality, Gandhi taught that
such as flightless birds or animals that live in the sea without
people should always eat according to a standard of “meager-
fins (or with legs, like lobsters and crabs), are taboo.
ness,” keeping a perpetual fast in which they took food as
medicine, in the interests of promoting clear thinking. Call-
Following this reasoning, pork becomes “unclean” be-
ing a “full” meal “a crime against God and man,” Gandhi
cause it violates another category, that dividing Israel from
urged his followers not to allow food to make them sensual.
its neighbors. Douglas noted the command to be holy that
surrounded the passages on food in the Torah, and she ob-
Late in the twentieth century, the rise of industrialized
served that the root meaning of the Hebrew kadosh, translat-
food production and marketing led to an epidemic of obesi-
ed “holiness,” is “to set apart or to cut off.” According to the
ty, especially in the United States, which led in turn to a pro-
Torah, holiness is an attribute of God, and God wants Israel
liferation of diet plans and programs. Many of these pro-
to be holy; therefore, Israelites must not eat the pork (or
grams take on spiritual connotations. Compulsions to diet,
many other foods) that their Canaanite and Egyptian neigh-
in the forms of anorexia and bulimia, have killed many
bors ate. The prohibition of pork would then be one of many
young women and attracted attention from historians of cul-
laws, such as those prohibiting intermarriage with Canaan-
ture. A historian of Christianity, Caroline Walker Bynum,
ites or prohibiting any image of Israel’s God, that were meant
pointed out that medieval ascetics like Catherine of Siena,
to keep the identity of Israel cleanly defined, or “holy.”
though she may have killed herself with fasting, did so in
Though this argument has some force, it remains true that
order to gain power and control, while modern anorexics are
Israel borrowed many things, such as the architecture of the
driven by social pressure to their unhealthy behavior.
Temple and the words of many Psalms, from Canaanite
THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES. In an attempt to make sense
models. The modern sense of ancient Israel’s uniqueness may
out of the array of food customs that have been documented
reveal as much about the work of later rabbis and the need
in both ancient and modern societies at all stages of their de-
of Christians to find heroic origins for their own religion as
velopment, scholars have traveled many different roads seek-
it does about the reasons for ancient Israelite law.
ing common elements that would justify the organization of
food customs into intelligible categories. For example, writ-
Observing that Muslims also do not eat pork, though
ers since Moses Maimonides (d. 1204) have suggested that
they do eat camels and other animals prohibited by the
hygiene motivated the Jewish food taboos. Maimonides said
Torah, Marvin Harris offered an evolutionary perspective on
that pork contained too much moisture and so caused indi-
this law, contending that religions tend to promote behaviors
gestion and denounced the filthiness of pigs; moderns have
that help their followers to survive. At first this would seem
pointed to the danger of trichinosis from undercooked pork.
paradoxical with regard to a pork taboo, because the pig is
The facts that parasitic diseases were not recognized until the
a very efficient source of protein, converting food to meat
nineteenth century and that permitted foods may also bear
much more quickly than other animals. However, Harris
disease work against this perspective, though the experience
noted, in arid climates the pig becomes very expensive with
of consequences as a factor in food taboos also forms part of
regard to water; he finds that the Christian-Muslim divide
an evolutionary perspective that could have some validity.
in the Balkans corresponds to a divide between heavily for-
ested land, friendly to pigs, and dry regions. Harris used the
On the other hand, China developed a system of food
same reasoning to explain why the Aryans, who ate cattle be-
wisdom even more elaborate than that of the Jews, and just
fore entering the dry Indian subcontinent, came to revere
as concerned with health and with spiritual well-being, with-
“mother cow” and to use her only for plowing and hauling
out any taboos at all. As anthropologist Marvin Harris has
and for milk as Hinduism developed.
said, the Jewish law could have completely eliminated trichi-
nosis by outlawing undercooked pork. Clearly, the social
Psychoanalytic explanations for food customs have
structure and circumstances of each society need to be con-
begun from the infant–mother bond in nursing and the in-
sidered in understanding how the world’s religions regulate
stinctual relations that this may establish between eating and
food.
sex. Many cultures, from the Lele of West Africa to modern
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Orthodox Jews, have forbidden women from cooking during
its own effects. The development of large communities with
menstruation; the Bemba of central Africa keep children
formal political authority brings another stage, at which large
from eating food prepared by those who have not purified
festivals and more serious sacrifice (often demanding human
themselves by a ritual after sex. Perhaps the command of the
victims) begins to be seen as necessary to renew the supply
Torah not to boil a kid in its mother’s milk arose in order
of food each year. The human sacrifices of ancient China be-
to forbid a kind of culinary incest that Canaanites practiced
fore the Shang dynasty, of ancient Rome in the arenas, and
to promote fertility. Japanese menus still offer a “mother-
of the Incas and Aztecs in America lend some plausibility to
child udon,” or bowl of noodles that contains both chicken
this view.
and egg, and the title still makes some diners cringe.
FOOD IN THE RECENT HISTORY OF RELIGIONS. Since the
Seeking a psychological root for food rules in the realms
worldwide distribution of foods that began with Columbus
of cognition and linguistics, Claude Lévi-Strauss proposed
after 1492, and especially since the emergence of the empiri-
that all thought and language begins with binary oppositions
cal science of chemistry around 1650, a revolution has taken
such as self/other, human/animal, and nature/culture. In the
place with regard to the values placed upon food, at least in
domain of food, objects are classified according to the binary
the Western world. Before then, both life and digestion were
of cooked/rotten, between which the midpoint is raw. Lévi-
thought of as processes that resembled cooking, and the
Strauss classified the processes of food preparation, begin-
foods considered best were those that had cooked longest,
ning with roasting, boiling, and smoking, along the continu-
with the most complex sets of ingredients, so that they could
um between cooked and rotten. He concluded that roasted
balance the humors of the body. The blancmange and the
food remained most similar to the raw and therefore was un-
puddings of England and France, served with cooked drinks
derstood as possessing the most natural strength and prestige,
and spiced wines, the moles and sauces of Latin America, and
while boiled food stood closer to rotten, weaker but more
the samosas and curries of India survive from those days. But
civilized, because boiling required a pot rather than a spit,
after the seventeenth century, fermentation became the
and also more closely associated with rebirth (as in the caul-
model of life, and high value was placed on fresh and roasted
dron of immortality that appears in many cultures). Lévi-
foods that could spoil quickly. Roasted meats, salads, fruits,
Strauss thought that processes like frying, baking, and smok-
and clear or sparkling wines came to dominate the tables of
ing, with variation depending on oils and spices, could be
the West.
located along the same continuum between cooked and rot-
ten in every civilization.
The goal of diet wisdom shifted from maintaining bal-
ance to returning to nature. Sometimes food became the
Abandoning the quest for universal systems, such func-
means to a spiritual goal, expressed in terms of returning to
tional anthropologists as A. R. Radcliffe-Brown, Bronislaw
nature or even regaining the innocence of Eden. Especially
Malinowski, and Franz Boas have emphasized that every so-
in the United States and in England, partisans of “diet re-
cial group must be understood on its own terms, and that
form,” a program that advocated whole-grain flour, a mini-
food forms part of a system that both expresses and reinforces
mum of cooking, and often vegetarianism, attempted to en-
the roles people play in helping the group to function. For
gage the conscience of the Christian world. Religious leaders
example, they would say, women who contribute large dow-
like Sylvester Graham, a former minister and inventor of
ries and exercise authority tend to eat with men of the same
Graham flour, and John Harvey Kellogg, physician and in-
social status and to eat the same foods, while women in po-
ventor of the corn flake, profoundly influenced eating habits.
lygamous families who exercise no authority eat with the
Whole denominations, such as Kellogg’s Seventh-day Ad-
children and eat different foods. From this perspective, ta-
ventists, emerged to embrace vegetarianism. Pledges against
boos on menstruating women preparing food arise from the
all use of alcohol prevailed among the Methodists, Baptists,
definition of women by their availability for sex and for
Mormons, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, and even some
childbirth. Taboos on specific foods may reflect the low sta-
Roman Catholics of the United States, until the nation
tus (or the status as enemies) of people who possess that food.
passed a constitutional amendment prohibiting alcohol in
1919. The failure of Prohibition did not end the connection
Anthropologists have also observed symbolic uses of
between diet and righteousness for American Christians. As
food that seem suitable to societies at various levels of social
Daniel Sack has documented, the menus of church suppers
and technological development. Research has revealed, for
shifted from steak, brandy, and cigars in the 1890s to a mix-
example, that hunter-gatherer societies have much in com-
ture of ethnic foods in the 1950s to tofu and sprouts in the
mon, whether they live in desert regions, the Arctic, India,
1970s and then to starvation dinners, dramatizing the prob-
or Africa. According to Joseph Campbell, one of the earliest
lem of world hunger, in the 1990s.
analysts of world mythologies, hunter-gatherers tend to ad-
dress prayer and sacrifice to a cosmic force (or a god) that
FOOD AND SOCIAL JUSTICE. In the twentieth century, many
stands apart, acting as master of the game animals. Campbell
Christians, especially in the United States and England,
went on to say that when a group takes up agriculture, rituals
began to see food as a primary field of social action and ethi-
and myths appear in which the cosmic force or god dwells
cal responsibility. The Salvation Army, the Catholic Worker
within the object sacrificed, so that the sacrifice brings forth
movement, the Universal House of Prayer, and many indi-
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FOOD
vidual churches made soup kitchens and pantries for the
SEE ALSO Agriculture; Beverages; Bread; Cannibalism; Fast-
poor into the center of their mission. Such organizations as
ing; Kashrut; Leaven; Sacrifice; Salt; Taboo.
CARE, Oxfam, and Bread for the World—a specifically
Christian lobbying group, incorporated in Washington to
BIBLIOGRAPHY
influence U.S. policy—tried to ameliorate the unequal distri-
Anderson, E. N. The Food of China. New Haven, Conn., 1988.
bution of food in the world. Theorists including Arthur
A comprehensive treatment of the cosmological theories and
Simon of Bread for the World and Francis Moore Lappe, au-
the history linking Chinese religions and food.
thor of Diet for a Small Planet, argued that meat consump-
Bynum, Caroline Walker. Holy Feast and Holy Fast. Berkeley,
tion stole grain from the starving and pointed out the inequi-
Calif., 1985. Explores the meaning of abstinence from food
among medieval women mystics.
ties of a world market in which such food-exporting
countries as the Philippines sent fruit to the United States
Campbell, Joseph. The Masks of God, vol. 1, Primitive Mythology.
New York, 1959. Food myths of planters and hunters are
while their own people starved. Several boycotts of food en-
discussed in this important work.
gaged religious groups and had clear effects: a boycott of Cal-
ifornia grapes in the 1960s helped to organize farmworkers;
Counihan, Carole, and Penny Van Esterik, eds, Food and Culture:
A Reader. New York, 1997. Perspectives on food from Anna
a boycott of Nestlé products in the 1980s modified the com-
Freud and Margaret Mead to recent analyses of anorexia and
pany’s policy of promoting infant formula to women who
globalization.
could not get clean water; a boycott of Campbell’s soup led
Douglas, Mary. Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pol-
to the company negotiating with its workers. Concern for
lution and Taboo. New York, 1966. An excellent study of
animal rights led to a new kind of vegetarianism, in which
how food customs mirror the patterning of a society. Doug-
people abstained from meat not because they were fasting or
las’s approach applies equally to secular and to religious life,
avoiding bad karma, but because industrial farm conditions
ancient and modern.
seemed inhumane or because animals were seen as sentient
Eliade, Mircea. Patterns in Comparative Religion. New York, 1958.
beings whose right to live equaled that of a human.
Chapter 8 of this classic deals with “Vegetation: Rites and
GLOBALIZATION. The profusion of meat, potatoes, toma-
Symbols of Regeneration” and chapter 9 with “Agriculture
toes, and corn from the Americas added new whole foods to
and Fertility Cults.”
the world’s diet. Industrialization and modern transporta-
Engs, Ruth Clifford. Clean Living Movements: American Cycles of
tion, refrigeration and freezing, petrochemical fertilizers, and
Health Reform. Westport, Conn., 2000. Provides back-
hydrogenated fats and genetically modified crops have made
ground on the religions of health that have shaped American
attitudes toward food.
vast resources available to the rich and the middle classes of
all nations, while the world market in food has sometimes
Fernandez-Armento, Felipe. Near a Thousand Tables: A History of
Food. New York, 2002. Readable, Western-oriented story of
exacerbated inequities and hunger. Millions who once lived
food in history.
in stable, subsistence economies now work in industry for
Goody, Jack. Cooking, Cuisine and Class: A Study in Comparative
more money but run the risk of famine.
Sociology. Cambridge, U.K., 1982. Begins with a summary
Resistance against and adaptation to globalization have
of the advances made by anthropologists and sociologists in
sometimes taken religious forms. In 2003, U.S. military ac-
their study of food customs. Compares differences in African
tions in the Muslim world sparked both a boycott of Ameri-
and Eurasian cuisine as reflections of their different social
can products and the development of substitutes, such as
structures.
Qibla Cola and Mecca Cola. Globalizing corporations have
Greenberg, Blu. How to Run a Traditional Jewish Household. New
also shown a willingness to adapt to religious preferences: in
York, 1985. Intelligent, inside account of running a kosher
kitchen.
India, McDonald’s offered an extensive vegetarian menu, in-
cluding the Maharaja Mac and eggless mayonnaise, prepared
Harris, Marvin. Good to Eat: Riddles of Food and Culture. London,
1985. Food customs explained from a Darwinian, evolution-
in separate kitchen areas by staff wearing green aprons. Even
ary perspective.
the nonvegetarian section served no beef but only chicken
Khare, R. S., ed. The Eternal Food: Gastronomic Ideas and Experi-
burgers and curry. Meanwhile in Israel, at the start of the
ences of Hindus and Buddhists. Albany, N.Y., 1992. Excellent
twenty-first century, all 110 McDonald’s guaranteed kosher
selection of articles on the practical uses of food in worship
beef, while seven were actually kosher restaurants, serving no
and in diet advice by Hindus and Buddhists.
dairy and closing on the Sabbath. Seventy-one McDonald’s
Lappe, Francis Moore. Diet for a Small Planet. New York, 1971;
were operating in Saudi Arabia in the early twenty-first cen-
updated editions, 1991 and 2002. Classic statement of the
tury, including two in Mecca, observing Muslim food laws.
modern vegetarian movement.
Both Detroit, Michigan, and Sydney, Australia, had h:ala¯l
Laudan, Rachel. “Birth of the Modern Diet.” Scientific American
McDonald’s, where potatoes are fried without animal fat and
283, no. 2 (August 2000): 76–81. Connects advances in
all meat is slaughtered by Muslim butchers. Increasing num-
chemistry with wisdom regarding health and food.
bers of immigrants and people exploring their heritage in
Lévi-Strauss, Claude. “The Culinary Triangle.” In The Origin of
every part of the world have given evidence that food cus-
Table Manners: Introduction to a Science of Mythology, vol. 3.
toms often provide the most enduring forms of religious
New York, 1968. Seeks the structure of a universal grammar
practice.
behind cooking techniques across cultures.
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FORTUNA
3175
Meigs, Anna. Food, Sex, and Pollution: A New Guinea Religion.
baths in men’s bathhouses. This goddess is known only from
Piscataway, N.J., 1984.
the fasti and literature, especially from accounts of the afore-
Sack, Daniel. Whitebread Protestants: Food and Religion in Ameri-
mentioned particular rite; this custom must have occurred
can Culture. New York, 2001. An amusing and insightful ac-
relatively recently, however, because public baths were built
count of the evolution of communion elements and church
in Rome during the second century BCE. Originally, Fortuna
suppers in the United States.
Virilis probably was the guardian spirit of men, viri. In addi-
JAMES E. LATHAM (1987)
tion to protecting the sexuality of men, she was supposed to
PETER GARDELLA (2005)
help women to obtain the men’s love.
Most scholars doubt the existence of a special cult of
Fortuna Virgo. According to Wissowa, the Fortuna of the
FOOLS, HOLY SEE CLOWNS; DRAMA; HUMOR
Forum Boarium was indeed a women’s deity, but Fortuna
AND RELIGION
Virgo may be a later name. This goddess eventually came to
be called Virgo or Virginalis, but only three ancient writers
recorded the epithet.
FORTUNA was the Latin (and perhaps also the Sabine)
Fortuna Equestris received a temple of her own in 173
goddess of the incalculable element in life. Her name is de-
BCE, after a victory of the Roman cavalry; similarly, a temple
rived from the Latin word fors (“luck”). Cults dedicated to
to “Fortune of this day” (Fortuna Huiusce Diei) celebrated
various manifestations of Fortuna existed throughout La-
the victory by Q. Lutatius Catulus at Vercellae in 101 BCE.
tium—attes ted atTusculum, Signia, Cora, Ostia, and espe-
Chapels and altars to Fortuna Bona, Fortuna Mala, Fortuna
cially at Praeneste—as well as in Rome and Antium. Etrus-
Dubia, Fortuna Publica, and others multiplied, along with
can civilization also included worshipers of Fortuna; the
dedications to the Fortuna of certain localities. These minor
Etruscans placed a great deal of importance on the idea of
monuments took more notice of the negative aspects of For-
fate.
tuna. Later imperial temples, constructed in Rome and else-
where, connect Fortuna, always positively, with the emperors
In Rome, Fortuna did not belong to the oldest stratum
(Fortuna Augusta, Fortuna Redux).
of cults traditionally connected with King Numa Pompilius.
She is one of the Sabine divinities listed by Varro in his De
The sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia at Praeneste
lingua Latina. King Servius Tullius considered Fortuna to be
(modern-day Palestrina) presented Fortuna as filia primi-
his special patron and friend; consequently, he built two of
genia, or “first daughter” (of Jupiter?), a most unusual notion
the oldest temples dedicated to her in Rome. One of these
in a Latin context. Scholars have speculated about a possible
temples, in the Forum Boarium, was associated with the tem-
Indo-European, Etruscan, or Greek influence. In his De
ple of Mater Matuta; the other, on the right side of the Tiber
divinatione, Cicero adds to the confusion by describing the
River, was specifically known as Fanum Fortis Fortunae.
Fortuna of Praeneste as Jupiter’s nurse. The building, exca-
vated by Italian archaeologists, dates to approximately the
Scholars believe the sanctuary of Fortuna in the Forum
second century BCE, but the cult itself, famous for its oracle,
Boarium dates back to the very beginning of urban life in
is certainly much older. After a period of friction with
Rome. Recent excavations have shown that sacred life in the
Roman authorities, the cult of Fortuna Primigenia was intro-
Forum Boarium began around 575 BCE, when the first floor
duced from Praeneste to Rome toward the end of the Second
of the forum was laid. The ancient house of worship consist-
Punic War, where it became very popular. The first temple
ed solely of an open area with an altar in the center; the first
to Fortuna Primigenia erected on the Quirinal was soon fol-
actual temples identified with the temples of Mater Matuta
lowed by two other temples built on the same hill. Another
and Fortuna were not built until the end of the sixth century
famous center of the cult of Fortuna with an oracle was locat-
BCE and later reconstructed by Camillus in 395 BCE.
ed in Antium. Here, for unexplained reasons, people wor-
Fortuna was also related to the goddesses of childbirth
shiped two Fortunas.
and fecundity, the Matralia, whose feast day was celebrated
The diffusion of the cult of Fortuna throughout Italy
on June 11. Two other temples were dedicated to her in 293
and the Latin West was influenced by the corresponding
BCE and 17 CE. In general, Fortuna appealed to the lower
Greek cult of Tyche. This connection is evident in the ico-
classes of Roman society, particularly to slaves; they consid-
nography of Fortuna, who is often represented, as was Tyche,
ered her a benefactor, rather than a menace. The cult often
as a standing woman with a rudder in her right hand and
prayed for fertility or for success in certain endeavors.
a cornucopia in her left hand. Furthermore, both Tyche and
Married women worshiped Fortuna Muliebris, whose
Fortuna were sometimes depicted as possessing several attri-
sanctuary was located at the fourth milestone on the Via La-
butes of Isis. The influence of Tyche is also clear in literary
tina. She also played a part in the legend of Coriolanus,
texts (for instance, in works by Horace and Seneca) that try
which attributed the founding of the temple to Coriolanus’s
to clarify the nature of Fortuna. Whereas in cult, her most
mother and wife. On April 1, all women worshiped Fortuna
typical attributes—the cornucopia, the rudder, and the
Virilis, associated with Venus, by praying and taking ritual
globe—symbolized Fortuna as the giver of material blessing
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3176
FORTUNE
and as the arbiter of human destiny, in literature, her sym-
Radke, Gerhard. Die Götter Altitaliens. Münster, Germany, 1965.
bols accentuated fickleness and unreliability. Thus, the wheel
Wissowa, Georg. Religion und Kultus der Römer. 2d ed. Munich,
was a common literary attribute of Fortuna, a symbol of her
1912.
ever-changing nature. Other ways authors alluded to For-
ARNALDO MOMIGLIANO (1987)
tuna’s fickleness in literature included: portraying her as
CHARLES GUITTARD (2005)
standing upon a stone or upon a sphere; as possessing wings,
with which she could easily fly away; as roaming in the world
without settling anywhere; and as expressing her ever-
shifting favor or disfavor by her countenance, her smile, and
FORTUNE SEE CHANCE; FATE
her thundering voice. Goddess Fortuna was occasionally
identified with Nemesis and associated with Felicitas and
Bonus Eventus.
FOUCHER, ALFRED (1865–1952), was a French In-
Two varieties of Fortuna came to have a great impor-
dologist and specialist in Buddhist archaeology. Alfred C. A.
tance during the Roman Empire: Fortuna Augusta or Augus-
Foucher studied in Paris, under the guidance of Sylvain Lévi,
ti, the guardian spirit of the Emperor, an equivalent of his
and in India (1895–1897), where he combined philosophical
Genius; and Fortuna Redux, the power that guarded the re-
training at the Sanskrit College of Banaras with “militant”
turn of the Emperor from dangerous foreign journeys. Both
archaeology through extensive pilgrimages to several places
deities were recorded on numerous votive inscriptions and
of historical interest.
coins; the honor paid to Fortuna Augusta and Fortuna
Redux expressed loyalty to the state and to the reigning em-
Foucher was a pioneer in the area of religious archaeolo-
peror. Though Christianity as a doctrine was incompatible
gy with his study of the relation between artistic representa-
with the pagan idea of Fortuna, the entity did not quite dis-
tions and their doctrinal and literary background. His field
appear; rather, she evolved into both an inherited literary fig-
of predilection was the area known as Gandhara (roughly,
ure and a pagan deity.
those portions of Afghanistan and Pakistan between the
Hindu Kush mountains and the Indus River), where the In-
SEE ALSO Chance; Fate; Roman Religion, article on the
dian and Greek worlds had been in contact at around the be-
Early Period.
ginning of the common era. The publication of Foucher’s
L’art gréco-bouddhique du Gandhâra: Étude sur les origines de
BIBLIOGRAPHY
l’influence classique dans l’art bouddhique de l’Inde et de
Castagnoli, F. “Il culto della Mater Matuta e della Fortuna nel
l’Extrême-Orient extended over half a century and comprised
Foro Boario.” Studi Romani 27 (1979): 145–152.
three volumes: volume 1, Introduction; Les édifices; Les bas-
Coarelli, Filippo, “La Porta Trionfale e la Via dei Trionfi.”
reliefs (1905); volume 2, Images (1922); and volume 3, Addi-
Dialoghi di Archeologia 2 (1968): 55–103.
tions et corrections; index (1951). Though criticized for some
Champeaux, Jacqueline. Fortuna, Recherches sur le culte de la For-
of its conclusions regarding chronology and style, this work
tune à Rome et dans le monde romaindes origines à la mort de
remains the most accurate sourcebook on early Buddhist ico-
César. 2 vols. Rome, 1982–1987. Reviewed by Gerhard
nography.
Radke in Gnomon 56 (1984): 419–426.
Dumézil, Georges. Servius et la Fortune. Essai sur la fonction sociale
Foucher’s interest in Gandhara received a new impulse
de Louange et de Blâme et sur les éléments indo-européens du
when Afghanistan opened its frontiers to archaeological in-
cens romain. Paris, 1943.
vestigation. Foucher, who was then working at the Archaeo-
Dumézil, Georges. “Mythe et épopée.” In Histoires romaines,
logical Survey of India (1919–1921), was immediately à pied
pp. 116–141 and 306–330. Paris, 1973.
d’œuvre as the first director of the Délégation Archéologique
Gagé, Jean. Matronalia. Essai sur les dévotions et les organisations
Française en Afghanistan (1921–1925). In Afghanistan, as
cultuelles des femmes dans l’ancienne Rome. Collection Lato-
previously in Northwest India, his habit of methodically fol-
mus, vol. 60. Brussels, 1963.
lowing the itinerary of Xuanzang, his natural gift for observa-
Gagé, Jean. La chute des Tarquins et les débuts de la république ro-
tion, and his archaeological insight led Foucher to remark-
maine. Paris, 1976.
able discoveries in Had:d:a, Ka¯pi˙s¯ı-Be¯gra¯m, Ba¯miya¯n, Balkh,
Fasolo, Furio, and Giorgio Gullini. Il santuario della Fortuna
and the Lampaka-Laghma¯n region. The gist of these discov-
Primigenia a Palestrina. Rome, 1953.
eries is expressed in a work accomplished with the collabora-
Kajanto, Iiro. “Fortuna.” In Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen
tion of his wife, Eugénie Bazin-Foucher, La vieille route de
Welt, vol. 2.17.1, pp. 502–558. Berlin and New York, 1981.
l’Inde de Bactres à Taxila (2 vols., 1942–1947). Foucher also
collaborated with John Marshall in editing the three huge
Liou, Bernadette. “La statue cultuelle du Forum Boarium.” Revue
des Etudes Latines 42 (1969): 269-283.
volumes of The Monuments of Sanchi (1939), a work focused
on the main Buddhist site of central India.
“Lazio Arcaico e mondo greco.” La Parola del Passato, vol. XXXII
(1977): 7–128.
The clear-sightedness of Foucher as an archaeologist was
Otto, Walter F. “Fortuna.” In Real-Encyclopädie der classischen Al-
no doubt the result of his deep penetration of the Indian tra-
tertumswissenschaft, vol. 13, cols. 12–42. Stuttgart, 1910.
dition. Foucher, who used old texts as guides in his archaeo-
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FOUNTAIN
3177
logical researches, in turn used monuments for a better un-
FOUNTAIN. The word fountain derives from the Latin
derstanding of Buddhism and especially of its founder,
fons, meaning “source.” As physical phenomena serving as
S´a¯kyamuni Buddha. Foucher’s best-known book, La vie du
the material basis of hierophanies (appearances of the di-
Bouddha (1949; English trans., 1963) is, significantly, subti-
vine), fountains may be described as the flowing of pressur-
tled D’après les textes et les monuments de l’Inde. Foucher was
ized water up and out through an aperture from some hidden
aware of all the difficulties of such a biography. In 1894 he
depth below the earth’s surface. As hierophanies, they mani-
had translated from German into French Hermann Olden-
fest locally the flowing of diverse creative, recreative, or trans-
berg’s study of the Buddha’s life (Le Bouddha, sa vie, sa doc-
formative potentialities from depths beyond the ordinary or
trine, sa communauté, 2d ed., 1903), which remains the best
profane plane of existence. There is no single sort of potenti-
“positive” history of the Buddha following the Pali sources.
ality attributed in common to all sacred fountains in the
At the same time, Foucher was much in contact with Émile
world’s religions, but a number of potentialities are severally
Senart, who had proposed a mythical interpretation of the
attributed to them, for example, healing powers, oracular
life of the Buddha. In the 1930s, Foucher had also witnessed
powers, rejuvenating powers, and so forth. Likewise, no sin-
the brilliant attempt at a new interpretation of Buddhism
gle divinity is regarded as a manifestation common to all
through archaeology and sociology made by his young con-
fountains; the various named and nameless gods, spirits, and
temporary Paul Mus. It was only at the end of his life that
nymphs of fountains are particular to individual instances.
Foucher’s own biography of the Buddha came to matura-
Furthermore, sacred significance is attributed seemingly no
tion. This book shows the geographical (centers of pilgrim-
less to artificial than to naturally occurring fountains.
ages) and historical (superposition of hagiographical pat-
The typical attributes of fountains reflect diverse meta-
terns) influences on the tales surrounding S´a¯kyamuni. It
phoric images expressive of the principal water potentiality,
remains the most satisfactory approach toward the personali-
the cosmogonic; cosmogonic water is viewed as pristine, as
ty of the historical Buddha as he has been seen through the
formless, as eternal, as receptive, as living, as chaotic. For ex-
Asian tradition.
ample, the creative power of fountains can be understood as
Though deeply original in his method and his achieve-
one manifestation of the world-creating power itself, and the
ments, Foucher cannot be isolated from a golden age of
water of fountains as homologous to the cosmogonic water
French philological studies of which he is a typical represen-
from which creation arises and into which it dissolves, like
tative. Even if different in spirit, his La vie du Bouddha recalls
the Babylonian waters of Apsu or the Vedic watery source
the much earlier Vie de Jésus (1863) by Foucher’s fellow Bre-
of all things and all existence.
ton, Ernest Renan. Foucher’s systematic inventory of archi-
Some fountains are sacred as sources of divine power.
tectural remains and iconographical documents as an ap-
In times of drought, for example, the priest of the god Zeus
proach to an understanding of Buddhism has a parallel in the
Lykaios in Arcadia cast an oak branch into the mountainside
encyclopedic research on Christian symbolism done by his
spring, activating the spring’s power to make rain.
contemporary Émile Mâle.
Again, some fountains restore to an original or pristine
Besides his already mentioned sojourns in India and Af-
condition those who bathe in them or drink from their wa-
ghanistan, Foucher lived for a time in French Indochina
ters. It was thought, for instance, that when the goddess Hera
(1901 and 1905–1907), where he succeeded his friend Louis
or the members of her cult bathed in the Nauplian spring,
Finot as the director of the École Française d’Extrême-
they became virginal again. The pristine state is homologous
Orient, and in Japan (1925–1926), where he established
to the virginal aspect of the cosmogonic waters before the
with Sylvain Lévi the Maison Franco-Japonaise.
creative act. Thus, fountains of youth manifest a forever self-
renewing potentiality for creation. In Brahmanic legend the
fountain of youth typically renews power or vigor, but it does
BIBLIOGRAPHY
not bestow immortality. However, in other legends immor-
In addition to the writings mentioned above, Foucher’s The Be-
tality is granted. In the Greek romance of Alexander by Pseu-
ginnings of Buddhist Art and Other Essays in Indian and Cen-
do-Callisthenes, Alexander’s cook accidentally discovers a
tral-Asian Archaeology (London, 1917) should be noted. Al-
fountain that bestows immortal life. In Islamic folklore, the
though outdated, it remains a testimony to his exactitude,
figure Khidr is mentioned as the only being who gained im-
clarity, and elegance. For bibliographic data, see Shinsho¯
Hanayama’s Bibliography on Buddhism (Tokyo, 1961);
mortality by drinking from the fountain of life, which repre-
Bibliographie bouddhique, 32 vols., compiled by Marcelle
sents the principle of eternal existence.
Lalou (Paris, 1928–1967); and Henri Deydier’s Contribution
Some fountains function as principles or causes of life
à l’étude de l’art du Gandhâra (Paris, 1950). A biographical
itself. For example, in the prophet Ezekiel’s vision of Yah-
sketch of Foucher can be found in Alfred Merlin’s “Notice
veh’s regenerated Temple, a spring flows out from under the
sur la vie et las travaux de M. Alfred Foucher,” in Académie
Temple. Its waters cause perpetually bearing fruit trees to
des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres: Comptes rendus (Paris, 1954),
pp. 457–469.
spring up at once along its banks. This water demonstrates
two additional potentialities attributed to certain sacred
HUBERT DURT (1987)
fountains, namely, healing and fructifying powers. “Fish will
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3178
FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS
be very plentiful, for wherever the water goes it brings health,
est formulations of the salvific insight gained by the Buddha
and life teems wherever the river flows” (Ez. 47:1–12).
on the occasion of his enlightenment. For the Therava¯da tra-
In Babylonian religious thought, Apsu, the water of cre-
dition, the discourse on the four truths constitutes part of
ation, is called “house of wisdom,” or the house of Ea, god
the first sermon of the Buddha, the Dhammacakkappavat-
of wisdom. Wisdom, supernatural insight, oracular vision,
tana Sutta, delivered in the Deer Park near Banaras to his five
and poetic inspiration are other typical attributes of various
original disciples. The standard formulaic enumeration of
sacred fountains. For example, the gods in Germanic my-
the four truths as found in this discourse is as follows:
thology determine the world’s fate beside the Spring of
This, monks, is the noble truth of dukkha [“suffering”]:
Mímir, and the Germanic tribes had “springs of justice”
birth is dukkha, old age is dukkha, disease is dukkha,
where justice was meted out. Among the Romans, the priest-
dying is dukkha, association with what is not dear is
ess of Carmentis sang of the newborn child’s destiny after
dukkha, separation from what is dear is dukkha, not get-
drinking from a spring, and likewise the Greek priestess of
ting that which is wished for is dukkha; in brief, the five
Apollo at Delphi delivered oracles after drinking from the
groups of grasping [i. e., the five khandhas; Skt., skand-
Castalian Spring. The Greek muses, goddesses of inspiration,
has] are dukkha. And this, monks, is the noble truth of
were originally nymphs connected with springs.
the uprising [samudaya] of dukkha: this craving, which
is characterized by repeated existence, accompanied by
Finally, the dissolving power of a fountain’s water, its
passion for joys, delighting in this and that; that is to
chaotic quality, is the typical attribute manifested by both
say, craving for sensual desires, craving for existence,
those fountains having the positive potential for sacred
craving for cessation of existence. And this, monks, is
cleansing and also those bringing insanity or terrible loss.
the noble truth of the cessation [nirodha] of dukkha:
The Greek term numphol¯eptos, meaning “insane, senseless,
complete dispassion and cessation of craving, abandon-
beside oneself with fright,” is related to the poetic word for
ment, rejection, release of it, without attachment to it.
And this, monks, is the noble truth of the path [magga]
water, numph¯e. Similarly, in Germanic folklore the female
leading to the cessation of dukkha; just this Noble
spirits of certain springs stole children or seduced their
Eightfold Way; that is to say, proper view, proper inten-
human lovers to destruction.
tion, proper speech, proper action, proper livelihood,
proper effort, proper mindfulness, proper concentra-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
tion. (Sam:yutta Nika¯ya 5.420ff.)
Jones, Francis T. D. The Holy Wells of Wales. Cardiff, 1954.
These four noble truths (formulaically, dukkha, samudaya,
Kristensen, W. Brede. The Meaning of Religion. The Hague, 1960.
nirodha, magga) constitute a “middle way” between rigorous
New Sources
asceticism and sensual indulgence. The twin foci of truths
Angelini, Pietro. “La fontana della giovinezza.” Parolechiave 27
are craving (Skt., tr:s:n:a¯; Pali, tan:ha¯) and ignorance (avidya¯),
(2002): 175–182.
craving to hold that which is impermanent, grasping for sub-
Bouke van der Meer, L. “Flere sur un miroir et sur une pierre de
stantiality where there is no abiding substance, and not
Fonte alla Ripa (Arezzo). Réflexions sur le culte des eaux en
knowing that this orientation inevitably yields unsatisfactori-
Etrurie.” In L’eau et le feu dans les religions antiques, edited
ness (Pali, dukkha; Skt., duh:kha). Hence the twin foci draw
bt Gérard Capdeville, pp. 133–147. Paris, 2004. Useful bib-
attention to the fundamental cause (samudaya) of dukkha,
liography on the cult of water in ancient Tuscany.
and meditation on dukkha leads to a discernment that crav-
Caulier, Br. L’eau et le sacré. Les cultes thérapeutiques autour des fon-
ing and ignorance are its matrix.
taines de France du Moyen Age à nos jours. Paris, 1990.
Cocchiara, Giuseppe. “La Fontana della vita. Echi del simbolismo
The eightfold path, the fourth of the four noble truths,
acquatico nella novellistica popolare.” In Il paese di cuccagna
provides a means especially adapted to lead one into salvific
e altri studi di folklore, pp. 126–158. Turin, 1956.
insight, a way conforming completely to the Buddha’s own
Hopkins, E. W. “The Fountain of Youth.” Journal of the American
salvific realization. In this sense, the eightfold path is the
Oriental Society 26 (1905): 1–67.
proper mode of religious living, one that subsumes ethics
into soteriology.
Lurker, Manfred. “Brunnen und Quelle.” In Wörterbuch der Sym-
bolik. Stuttgart, 1983, pp. 106–107.
Although some uncertainty remains among scholars as
Vaillat, C. Le culte des sources dans la Gaule antique. Paris, 1932.
to whether the passage quoted above indeed represents the
Wadell, M. B. Fons pietatis. Göteborg, Sweden, 1969.
earliest formulation of the Buddha’s teaching, in the early
phase of the Buddhist tradition in India (the so-called
RICHARD W. THURN (1987)
Revised Bibliography
H¯ınaya¯na phase) the four noble truths played a major role
in shaping the fundamental orientation to religious living on
the part of Buddhists. Early Buddhist schools in India dif-
fered in their interpretations of the four noble truths, but
FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS. All strands of the Bud-
uniformly regarded its underlying thematic structure as one
dhist tradition recognize in the four noble truths (Skt.,
informed by metaphors of healing: symptom-disease, diag-
catva¯ry a¯ryasatya¯n¯ı; Pali, catta¯ri ariyasacca¯ni) one of the earli-
nosis-cause, elimination of cause, treatment or remedy. With
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

FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS
3179
the rise of the Maha¯ya¯na tradition the four noble truths be-
prajn:a¯), or salvific wisdom. Proper view and intention are
came less central as a fundamental statement of the life situa-
classed as salvific wisdom; proper speech, action, and liveli-
tion and one’s mode of engagement in a soteriological pro-
hood are classed as expressions of moral virtue; and proper
cess, but continued to be revered as a fundamental part of
effort, mindfulness, and concentration are classed as forms
the Buddha’s early teachings.
of meditative concentration.
THERAVA¯DA INTERPRETATIONS. The Therava¯da Buddhist
Finally, the tradition has utilized the notion of “empti-
tradition is prevalent in contemporary Sri Lanka, Myanmar,
ness” (Pali, suññata¯; Skt., ´su¯nyata¯) in the analysis of the four
and Thailand. For at least two millennia it has regarded the
noble truths. Buddhaghosa wrote:
four truths as constitutive of its central soteriological doc-
In the highest sense, all the truths are to be understood
trine. As a result, considerable effort has been expended in
as empty because of the absence of an experiencer, a doer,
the tradition on its exegesis. In an extended discussion on the
someone extinguished, and a goer. Hence this is said:
four noble truths, Buddhaghosa, in his fifth century CE clas-
For there is only suffering, no one who suffers,
sic, Visuddhimagga (The path of purity), comments at one
No doer, only the doing is found,
point on the meaning of the term sacca (“truth”):
Extinction there is, no extinguished man,
For those who examine [truth] closely with the eye of
There is the path, no goer is found.
salvific wisdom [pañña¯], it is not distorted, like an illu-
Or alternatively,
sion, equivocated, like a mirage, and of an undiscover-
The first pair are empty
able inherent nature, like the self among sectarians, but,
Of stableness, beauty, pleasure, self;
rather, it is the pasture of noble gnosis [ña¯n:a] by means
Empty of self is the deathless state.
of its actual, undistorted, authentic condition. Just like
[the characteristics of] fire, like the nature of the world,
Without stableness, pleasure, self is the path.
the actual undistorted, authentic condition is to be un-
Such, regarding them, is emptiness. (Visuddhimagga 16.90)
derstood as the meaning of truth. (Visuddhimagga
MAHA¯YA¯NA INTERPRETATIONS. Although the Therava¯da tra-
16.24)
dition applied the notion of “emptiness” in negating perma-
Among the many interpretations offered by Buddhaghosa
nence, abiding happiness, and substantiality as legitimate de-
for the existence of four, and only four, truths is the Bud-
scriptions of sentient life, it is within the Maha¯ya¯na that one
dha’s realization that the evolution of suffering, its cause, the
finds emptiness as a designation of reality in the highest
devolution of suffering, and its cause are fully comprehensive
sense. As part of the general critique of “substantiality” car-
of an analysis of the human condition and the way to libera-
ried out by the Prajn:a¯pa¯ramita¯ literature, even the four truths
tion through it. (See Visuddhimagga 16.27.) Other analyses
are declared void of real existence. In this analysis, suffering,
of the four truths suggest that the first Truth relates to the
the origin of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the
basis of craving; the second, to craving itself; the third, to the
path to the cessation of suffering are themselves “empty.”
cessation of craving; and the fourth, to the means to the ces-
In the Saddharmapun:d:arika Su¯tra (Lotus Su¯tra), the old
sation of craving. Similarly, the truths may be viewed as per-
standard formulas of the epithets of the Buddha and charac-
taining, respectively, to the sense of attachment, delight in
teristics of dharma are repeated for the Tatha¯gata
attachment, removal of attachment, and the means to the re-
Candrasu¯ryaprad¯ıpa and his preaching, but the four noble
moval of attachment. (See Visuddhimagga 16.27–28.) Ac-
truths are only mentioned by title—there is no elaboration.
cording to the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, the practi-
The Saddharmapun:d:arika proclaims that such teaching is
tioner is to cultivate a fourfold awareness of the four truths
taken up and absorbed into the one comprehensive and cen-
in which dukkha is to be fully understood; the origin of duk-
tral soteriological message (i.e., the “single vehicle”; ekaya¯na)
kha, abandoned; nirodha, realized; and magga, cultivated.
of the su¯tra.
The Therava¯da commentarial tradition has maintained that
Although the four noble truths are not featured in their
the soteriological moment arises in the simultaneity of this
earlier formulation in many Maha¯ya¯na texts, the basic theme
fourfold awareness. (See Visuddhimagga 22.92.)
nonetheless persists: Life is awry, craving and ignorance are
the cause, one’s life can be changed, and a way or means that
Although the tradition continued to elaborate analyses
brings this about is available. For example, the verse text of
of the four truths arranged according to various numerical
S´a¯ntideva’s Bodhicarya¯vata¯ra does not contain the complete
configurations (most frequently with the number sixteen), it
formula of the four noble truths. Prajn:a¯karamati, a commen-
has held to the conviction that when the truths are fully pen-
tator on this great text, even points to the one verse (chap.
etrated and soteriologically known it is by one knowledge,
9, verse 41) where he finds a contrast clearly presented be-
through a single penetration, and at one instant. This knowl-
tween the four noble truths and the “teaching of emptiness.”
edge of the four truths, they aver, is in and of itself salvific.
Yet even though a fundamental shift in the understanding
The Therava¯da has continued to interpret the Eightfold
of the path to liberation has taken place in this and other
Path as comprising three basic elements deemed integral to
Maha¯ya¯na texts, the underlying assessment as to the cause
religious living at its fullest: s¯ıla (Skt., ´s¯ıla), or moral virtue;
of suffering, that is, the basic thematic structure of the four
sama¯dhi, or meditative concentration; and pañña¯ (Skt.,
truths, remains unchanged.
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3180
FOX, GEORGE
In the Madhyamakaka¯rika¯, Na¯ga¯rjuna provides an inci-
FOX, GEORGE (1624–1691), was the chief founder
sive, penetrating analysis of the four noble truths. He main-
and early leader of the Quakers, a popular movement with-
tains that duh:kha, which evolves from the interplay of the
out clergy, ritual, or sacraments, gathered from among En-
constituents of individuality and the objects of perception,
glish Puritan Separatists. Despite frequent imprisonments,
can no longer be seen as having any fundamental ontological
he traveled throughout Britain, North America, and north-
status, even in sam:sa¯ra, the fleeting “whirl” of repeated exis-
ern Europe, calling hearers to experience directly the Spirit
tence. The same is true, for that matter, of sam:sa¯ra itself, or
of God, met as “the Light of Christ” or “Truth” within each
even of nirva¯n:a: All is emptiness (´su¯nyata¯).
person. Those who were open and obedient to the Light he
Thus, the older-formulated Eightfold Path, which pro-
called upon to gather as “Children of Light” and to bear wit-
vided the remedy for the disease (duh:kha) of undisciplined
ness to God’s power, which was to conquer the world with-
and uninformed human existence, yielded with this shift in
out outward violence in “the Lamb’s War.” Fox also gave
worldview to another formulation of the soteriological pro-
structure to gatherings, or Meetings of Friends, and wrote
cess, to another religious orientation that is also to be culti-
270 tracts and 400 “epistles.”
vated—the bodhisattva path. Although the ontological inter-
Fox was the son of a Puritan weaver of Fenny Drayton
pretation of the four noble truths underwent change in the
in Leicestershire. As a young man he was apprenticed as a
cumulative development of the Buddhist tradition, as in the
cobbler and shepherd; his sensitivity to temptations caused
case of the great Chinese Buddhist thinker Zhiyi (538–597),
him intense strain, which in 1643 drove him away from his
the fundamental theme that the inadequacy of human life
family and then from a series of prominent Puritan clergy
results from craving and ignorance, which can be eradicated
and congregations whom he had sought out in the Midlands
by following the path to enlightenment taught by the Bud-
and in London. By contacts with Separatist and Baptist
dha, has continued.
groups, and perhaps also among Ranters and Familists, he
acquired beliefs about the inward nature of heaven, the Last
SEE ALSO Eightfold Path; Soteriology.
Judgment, the sacraments, and Christ’s “heavenly body.” He
experienced in 1646 and 1647 a series of “openings,” or in-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
sights, into the Bible, much of which he knew by heart:
The text of the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta is available in En-
namely, that true ministers are not made at universities; that
glish translation in Sam:yutta Nika¯ya: The Book of Kindred
Christ within “can speak to thy condition”; that Christ too
Sayings (1917–1930), translated by C. A. F. Rhys Davids and
experienced and conquered temptation; that the source of
F. L. Woodward (London, 1950–1956). For the Visuddhi-
magga, see the reliable translation by Bhikku Ñya¯n:amoli,
temptation is the evil within human hearts. Notably, Fox saw
The Path of Purification, 2d ed. (Colombo, 1964). A related
evil in his own heart, where “there was an ocean of darkness
text, Upatissa’s Vimuttimagga, has been translated from the
and death, but an infinite ocean of light and love, which
Chinese as The Path of Freedom by N. R. M. Ehara, Soma
flowed over the ocean of darkness.”
Thera, and Kheminda Thera (Kandy, 1977). For an over-
view and analysis of the four truths from a Therava¯da per-
Having faced his dark impulses, he called others to “the
spective, see Walpola Rahula’s What the Buddha Taught, rev.
witness of God within them,” which would “judge and guide
ed. (New York, 1974).
them”—not into a vicarious righteousness but into a total
purging and obedience. When he began preaching in the
New Sources
Midlands he was jailed at Derby in 1650–1651 for blasphe-
Anderson, Carol S. Pain and Its Ending: The Four Noble Truths
in the Therava¯da Buddhist Canon. Richmond, Va., 1999.
my, having glimpsed perfect holiness as he “was come up in
spirit through the flaming sword into the paradise of God.”
Eckel, Malcolm David, and John Thatamanil. “Beginningless Ig-
He refused a captaincy in Oliver Cromwell’s army, because
norance: A Buddhist View of the Human Condition.” In
he “lived in the virtue of that life and power that took away
Human Condition, edited by Robert Cummings Neville,
the occasion of all wars.” In 1651 he preached through
pp. 50–71. Albany, 2001.
northern Yorkshire, winning his chief colleagues, Nayler,
Norman, K. R. “Why are the Four Noble Truths called ‘Noble’?”
Dewsbury, Farnworth, and Aldam. In 1652 he went north-
In Ananda: Papers on Buddhism and Indology: A Felicitation
west by way of Pendle Hill, where he had a vision of “a great
Volume Presented to Ananda Weihena Palliya Guruge on his
people to be gathered,” and he went on to win to his cause
Sixtieth Birthday, edited by Y. Karunadasa, pp. 11–13.
Columbo, 1990.
several groups of Separatists who met on Firbank Fell and
in villages around the English Lake District. Swarthmoor
Pereira, Jose. “The Four Noble Truths in Vasubandhu.” Buddhist
Hall, home of Margaret Fell and her family, became the cen-
Heritage in India and Abroad, edited by G. Kuppuram and
ter for a mass movement throughout the poorly served moor-
K. Kumudamani, pp. 129–142. Delhi, 1992.
land parishes of Westmorland and Cumberland, despite jail-
Skilling, Peter. “A Buddhist Verse Inscription from Andhra Pra-
ings and mob violence in several towns. In 1654, a “valiant
desh.” Indo-Iranian Journal 34 (1991): 239–246.
sixty” of the newly won Quaker men and women, mainly
JOHN ROSS CARTER (1987)
yeomen farmers, spread out on foot throughout Britain as
Revised Bibliography
“publishers of Truth,” announcing “the Day of the Lord.”
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

FOXES
3181
Fox recalled them that winter to plan their further work and
northwestern Germany. Fox revisited Holland in 1684 but
to have them agree to report their travels to Swarthmoor. In
spent most of his last years in or near London, where he died
1655 Fox was sent as a prisoner to London, which had al-
on January 13, 1691. Penn witnessed that “abruptly and bro-
ready become a Quaker center through casual contacts and
kenly as sometimes his sentences would fall from him . . .
earlier missions. Freed by Oliver Cromwell, Fox talked sym-
it showed that God had sent him, that he had nothing of
pathetically with him, attempting without success to per-
man’s wit or wisdom, so that he was an original, being no
suade him to end the parish system.
man’s copy. He had an extraordinary gift in opening the
Scriptures. But above all the most awful, living, reverent
While traveling through southern England to Lands
frame was his in prayer.”
End, Fox was jailed in Launceston’s “Doomsdale” dungeon
for a harsh winter, during which his colleague James Nayler
BIBLIOGRAPHY
let some women disciples stir up a breach between the two
leaders and stage in Nayler’s honor a reenactment of Palm
Works by Fox
Sunday at Bristol. Nayler was tried for blasphemy before Par-
A Battle-Dor for Teachers and Professors to Learn Singular and Plu-
ral (1660). Written with John Stubs and Benjamin Furly.
liament and savagely punished, but this episode, offending
Reprint, Menston, England, 1968. Shows that “thee &
England’s growing conservatism from 1656 through 1658,
thou,” as used by Quakers to all individuals, was true gram-
cast a shadow over the Quakers. To rally them, Fox encour-
mar in forty languages.
aged older Quakers to visit the struggling meetings already
Catechism. London, 1657. Lessons for children.
gathered for weekly worship in silence, while younger
Friends carried the Quaker message overseas to Ireland, con-
Doctrinals (originally, Gospel Truth Demonstrated). London, 1706.
Ninety-nine of his 52 previously printed tracts.
tinental Europe, and the American colonies. Fox was mainly
near London as the Puritan Commonwealth fell apart, and
Epistles. London, 1698. Four hundred letters, twenty-nine previ-
he went through weeks of doubt and exhaustion when the
ously printed.
Quakers were asked by a radical Puritan government to pro-
George Fox’s Book of Miracles. Cambridge, U.K., 1973. Henry
vide Commissioners of Militia to protect twenty years’ gains
Cadbury’s careful reconstruction of a lost Fox manuscript.
in justice and freedom. Fox’s warning against reliance on
The Great Mistery of the Great Whore Unfolded. London, 1659.
arms became a standard to which Quakers could point after
Refutes anti-Quaker tracts by Puritans, Baptists, and others.
the returning Royalists in 1660 accused Friends of plotting
Journal. Edited by Thomas Ellwood, with a preface by William
rebellion against Charles II. Fox also organized weekly meet-
Penn. London, 1694. Repeatedly reprinted in abridged form
ings of Quaker men and women leaders in London and
with prefaces by Rufus Jones, Henry Cadbury, et al.; current-
wrote piecemeal his only long theological book, The Great
ly available from Friends United Press (Richmond, Ind.,
Mistery (1659). Between and after two more long imprison-
1983).
ments for refusing the Oath of Allegiance (and all oaths) and
The Works of George Fox. 8 vols. Philadelphia, 1831. Reproduces
defying the 1664 Conventicle Act, Fox again visited Quaker
first editions of Fox’s works uncritically.
meetings throughout England and Ireland to set up a net-
Works about Fox
work of men’s and women’s monthly and quarterly meetings
Bensen, Lewis. Catholic Quakerism. Philadelphia, 1968. Presents
for local groups and for counties. At Bristol on October 17,
Fox’s ethic.
1669, he married Margaret Fell, eleven years a widow;
Braithwaite, William C. The Beginnings of Quakerism (1912). Rev.
though his letters to her were curiously formal, he began to
ed. Cambridge, U.K., 1955. Presents historical facts and set-
express to her the affection and humor others had loved in
tings of Fox’s life.
him.
Braithwaite, William C. The Second Period of Quakerism (1919).
Revised by Henry Cadbury. Cambridge, U.K., 1961.
After the 1670 Second Conventicle Act, when Fox and
thousands of “Nonconformists” to the Anglican church were
HUGH BARBOUR (1987)
again arrested, the Indulgence of 1672 freed him to sail with
twelve other Quakers to visit Quaker groups in the American
colonies. They proclaimed their Christian orthodoxy to the
governor of Barbados and gathered into regular meetings the
FOXES. The fox has enjoyed immense popularity as a
Friends of Jamaica and Chesapeake Bay and later those in
character in the fables of many cultures, from those of Aesop
New England and Virginia. Guided by Indians through the
to those of “Uncle Remus” to Leoˇs Janácˇek’s opera The Cun-
forests of New Jersey, Fox would urge Quakers to colonize
ning Little Vixen. It was once believed in Wales and Germany
there in 1675. Returning to England in June 1673, Fox was
that witches assume the form of foxes. In fact, foxes were
again imprisoned and seriously ill at Worcester in December.
sometimes burned in the midsummer fires.
Later, recovering his health slowly at Swarthmoor Hall, Fox
In the mythology of the North American Indians the
dictated to Margaret’s son-in-law Thomas Lower the text of
fox as a male animal character is well known for its craftiness
his Journal. In 1677 Fox traveled with William Penn and
and slyness. Especially among the California Indians the fox
Robert Barclay to visit small Quaker groups in Holland and
plays a prominent role in trickster and other tales. In many
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3182
FRANCISCANS
instances Fox is a trickster’s companion, and at times he de-
New Sources
ceives Coyote and eats the food that Coyote has procured for
Baird, Merrily. “Land and Sea Animals.” In Symbols of Japan: The-
himself. The fox also appears as a female animal in a cycle
matic Motifs in Art and Design. New York, 2001.
of fox tales widespread among the North American Indians.
Berlin, Isaiah. The Hedgehog and the Fox: An Essay on Tolstoy’s
A poor man, living alone, comes home at night to find his
View of History. New York, 1953; reprint, New York, 1993.
house in order and his dinner on the fire. He discovers that
Blust, Robert. “The Fox’s Wandering.” Anthropos 94 (1999):
every morning a vixen comes to his hut, sheds her skin, and
487–499.
becomes a woman. Having stolen the skin, he makes her his
Huntington, Rania. “Foxes and Sex in Late Imperial Chinese Nar-
wife. They live in happiness for many years until she discov-
rative.” Nan Nü 2 (2000): 78–128.
ers the skin, puts it on, and runs away. This scenario of the
“mysterious housekeeper” is also found among the Inuit (Es-
MANABU WAIDA (1987)
Revised Bibliography
kimo) in Greenland and Labrador, as well as among the
Koriak of northeastern Siberia.
In Inner Asia, among the Buriats, the fox is known as
FRANCISCANS is the common designation for a num-
a guide to the land of the dead; when the hero Mumonto
ber of religious communities professing to live according to
lifts up a large black stone and shouts “Come here,” a fox
the ideals of Francis of Assisi (1181/1182–1226). In 1206
appears in the opening under the stone and says, “Hold fast
Francis withdrew to the margins of society to adopt the life
to my tail.”
of a penitent hermit. His vocation received a decisive focus
Chinese folklore is rich in the motif of the fox who
in 1208, when others joined him and he was inspired to “live
transforms itself into an attractive woman and seduces young
according to the pattern of the Holy Gospel,” as he called
men. Foxes are capable of this transformation through the
it, “following the footsteps and teaching of our Lord Jesus
study of Chinese classics or through erotic tricks. Foxes who
Christ” (Testament, 14; Earlier Rule, 1.1 [Francis of Assisi:
study the classics acquire first the power to become humans,
Early Documents, I: 63-64, 125]). Within Francis’s lifetime
then immortals, and finally gods. In many stories, young
his followers organized into three distinct but related orders:
his own Lesser Brothers; communities of contemplative
foxes are depicted as sitting in a circle, listening to an old
women under the leadership of Clare of Assisi (d. 1253),
white fox at the center expounding the classics. Foxes can as-
known now as Poor Clare nuns; and the Brothers and Sisters
sume human form, if at first only briefly, through the ab-
of Penance, laypersons who wished to remain in the midst
sorption and accumulation of the semen virile of a male sex
of society, later commonly known as the Third Order. Al-
partner; by seducing humans, usually young men, foxes steal
though they differed in their manner of expression, all were
life essence and add it to their own. For example, an ambi-
based on Francis’s vision of a gospel way of life. The concrete
tious young man who has retired to a deserted cottage or
implications of this vision have often led to bitter internal
temple to prepare for the state examinations is visited at dusk
dissension over the course of Franciscan history.
by a beautiful young woman who becomes his mistress. Her
erotic skill is such that he becomes exhausted and dies. Fox-
The Order of Lesser Brothers (the literal meaning of
women sometimes sincerely love their human paramours and
Ordo Fratrum Minorum, commonly translated as Friars
help them with their studies, but they seldom return the life
Minor) began as a largely lay movement of hermits and itin-
essence they have stolen. Occasionally, the parents or friends
erant preachers. They lived on a mere subsistence level, with-
become aware of the situation in time and call in either a sha-
out any permanent residences, supporting themselves by
man or a Faoist specially trained in fox exorcism and drive
whatever trade they knew or by begging. Despite the radical
her away.
nature of this way of life, Francis and his companions re-
ceived initial papal approbation in 1209/1210. However, the
Folk belief in the fox is still alive in Japan; the fox is con-
new order underwent a rapid transformation over the ensu-
sidered to be most skillful of animals in transforming itself
ing decades. First of all, its phenomenal growth—by 1221
into human form, often female. It is feared as a wicked ani-
there were about three thousand brothers—demanded great-
mal that haunts and possesses people. But, at the same time,
er internal discipline and organization. At the same time the
the fox is respected as the messenger of inari, the beneficent
papacy recognized in the movement a potent instrument of
rice goddess Uka no Mitama, of Shinto¯ religion.
church reform and increasingly intervened to oversee and
channel its growth. Cardinal Hugolino di Segni, later Pope
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Gregory IX, played an important role in these developments.
Historians have long debated Francis’s own attitude toward
On the fox in the East Asian spiritual world, there is much useful
material in Marinus W. de Visser’s “The Fox and the Badger
this process, already evident in the definitive 1223 version
in Japanese Folklore,” Transactions of Asiatic Society of Japan
of his rule. In any event by midcentury the friars were pri-
36, pt. 3 (1908): 1–159. Gudmund Hatt discusses the fox
marily engaged in the official pastoral ministry of the church,
as a mysterious housekeeper in his Asiatic Influences in Ameri-
especially preaching and hearing confessions. The friars in-
can Folklore (Copenhagen, 1949), pp. 96ff.
creasingly abandoned their hermitages to settle down in
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FRANCISCANS
3183
urban residences attached to a church, where they adopted
various groups within the Observant branch were reunited
more traditional patterns of religious life and pursued theo-
in 1897 under the simple name of the Order of Friars Minor.
logical studies. In light of the new demands placed upon
After 1965, Franciscans experienced a period of profound re-
them, the brothers’ rigorous observance of poverty was re-
newal and transition in the wake of the Second Vatican
laxed by several papal interventions. The houses of the order
Council, which emphasized a return to the founding vision
at such academic centers as Paris and Oxford soon produced
of Francis. In 2002 there were 16,300 Friars Minor, 10,800
some of the greatest masters of Scholastic theology, such as
Capuchins, and 4,500 Conventuals. There is also a small
Bonaventure, John Duns Scotus, and William of Ockham.
community of friars, the Society of Saint Francis, in the An-
Within the order, however, there was a significant resis-
glican Church.
tance to these new directions. Toward the end of the thir-
The Poor Clares, sometimes referred to as the Second
teenth century, various minority factions, known collectively
Order, date from 1212, when Clare, of a noble Assisi family,
as Spirituals, demanded a literal observance of the rule and
renounced her social status and received the habit from Fran-
refused to submit to the modifications accepted by the ma-
cis. Under his direction, Clare and her companions followed
jority of friars. The increasingly bitter internal conflict even-
tually led to the outright persecution of the Spirituals, culmi-
a simple form of life, but Cardinal Hugolino intervened in
nating in a decision by John XXII in 1323 to brand as
1219, prescribing regulations that emphasized monastic ob-
heretical the opinion that Christ and his apostles had led a
servances, such as a strict cloister. Clare managed to gain ap-
life of absolute poverty. The Friars Minor thus gradually
proval for her own rule embodying her vision of poverty in
conformed to the practice of common ownership of property
1253. Because each monastery of Poor Clares is largely au-
that was standard among other religious orders.
tonomous, practices have varied greatly. A reform, analogous
to the Observance among the friars, was begun by Colette
During the latter part of the fourteenth century, howev-
of Corbie in the fourteenth century. In 2002 there were more
er, a reaction set in, with small groups of friars receiving per-
than eight hundred monasteries of Poor Clares with fourteen
mission to retire to remote houses to observe a more primi-
thousand nuns.
tive form of Franciscan life. This movement, known as the
Observant reform, gained momentum in the next century
Francis can be called the founder of the Brothers and
under such leaders as Bernardino of Siena, ultimately achiev-
Sisters of Penance, or Third Order, only in an analogous
ing virtual autonomy within the order. Nevertheless, rela-
sense. His preaching of gospel conversion moved many of his
tions between those friars who accepted this reform and
hearers to reform their lives, and so he sought to prescribe
those who did not, known as Conventuals (from the conven-
for these individuals a way of life appropriate to their respec-
ti, or large houses, they favored), grew increasingly acrimoni-
tive social conditions. Some became hermits, whereas others
ous, leading Leo X in 1517 to divide the order into two inde-
continued to live in their own homes but formed confrater-
pendent congregations.
nities for mutual support. Rules for these local groups were
Over the course of the sixteenth century, the contempo-
developed in 1221; the fraternities developed closer relations
rary zeal for church reform continued to spawn new move-
with the friars over the course of the century. This Order of
ments within the order, motivated by the desire for even
Penance was characterized by a simple way of life, engaging
stricter forms of Franciscan life. The largest of these, the Ca-
in works of charity, and the refusal to bear arms. The tertia-
puchins, so called because of the distinctive hood (cappuc-
ries were a potent religious and social force in late medieval
cino) of their habit, played a prominent role during the
society. In the latter part of the thirteenth century, some of
Counter-Reformation as popular preachers; they achieved
these Franciscan penitents began living together in commu-
the status of an independent congregation in 1619. Other
nities, eventually binding themselves under religious vows.
groups of stricter observance—Discalced, Recollect, and Re-
The rule of this Third Order Regular received definitive
formed friars—attained a large measure of autonomy while
form in 1521. During the nineteenth century there was a ver-
remaining under the leadership of the Observant general.
itable explosion of congregations of women following this
Despite this fragmentation, the Friars Minor prospered be-
rule devoted to teaching, nursing, and other charitable activi-
tween 1500 and 1750, a period that also witnessed a vast
ties. In 2002 there were over 450 distinct congregations of
missionary effort by Franciscans, who accompanied Spanish,
Franciscan sisters, with approximately 100,000 members and
Portuguese, and French colonial expansion. By 1760 the Fri-
about 1,500 male members of the Third Order Regular.
ars Minor had reached their peak membership, totaling
Meanwhile, the secular Franciscan fraternities continued to
135,000 in their three branches.
expand, but their countercultural way of life increasingly
Franciscans, especially the Conventuals, suffered greatly
conformed outwardly to general societal norms; they num-
during the years 1760–1880, when secularizing government
bered over one million in 2002. After Vatican II both
policies in Europe and Latin America restricted traditional
branches of the Third Order revised their rule of life, at-
religious orders. However, in the latter part of the nineteenth
tempting to return more closely to their original inspiration.
century a revival took place, accompanied by critical research
into early Franciscan sources. Also, under papal initiative, the
SEE ALSO Francis of Assisi.
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FRANCIS OF ASSISI
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Damiano, forming the order known as the Poor Clares. In
A general survey of the entire Franciscan movement is Lázaro Ir-
1215 the Fourth Lateran Council promulgated reforms
iarte de Aspurz, Franciscan History: The Three Orders of St.
championed in his preaching.
Francis of Assisi (Chicago, 1982). For the medieval period,
John R. H. Moorman, A History of the Franciscan Order:
In 1220 Francis resigned his post as head of the Francis-
From Its Origins to the Year 1517 (Oxford, 1968) is valuable.
cans. Still, with more than five thousand brothers, his in-
However, research during the late twentieth century signifi-
volvement continued. After reworking his rule, Francis sub-
cantly nuanced the understanding of early Franciscan histo-
mitted it to Pope Honorius III in 1223, and it received
ry. The biographical sources on Francis, valuable for the un-
written approval. That same year Francis presented a living
derstanding of the early movement, have been gathered in
Christmas crèche at Greccio, which encouraged the popular-
Francis of Assisi: Early Documents, ed. Regis J. Armstrong, J.
ity of that custom in subsequent centuries. At Alverna he re-
A. Wayne Hellmann, and William J. Short, three volumes
ceived the stigmata (the wounds of Christ crucified), thereby
(New York, 1999–2001. A good summary is Maria Pia Al-
reflecting outwardly that which he interiorly imitated.
berzoni et al., Francesco d’Assisi e il primo secolo di storia
francescana (Turin, Italy, 1997). David Burr, The Spiritual
Though suffering serious illness in his last years, Francis
Franciscans: From Protest to Persecution in the Century after
composed his intensely joyful “Canticle of Brother Sun.”
Saint Francis (University Park, Pa., 2001), provides an excel-
The closing strophe addresses “Sister Death,” whom he wel-
lent survey of that movement. Maurice Carmody, The Leo-
comed on October 3, 1226. Within two years Francis was
nine Union of the Order of Friars Minor, 1897 (St. Bonaven-
proclaimed a saint. In 1939 he was officially offered to Italy
ture, N.Y., 1994), presents the nineteenth-century revival.
The best introduction to the Third Order Regular women’s
as its patron; in 1979 he was recognized by Pope John Paul
congregations is Raffaele Pazzelli, The Franciscan Sisters: Out-
II as the patron saint of ecology.
lines of History and Spirituality (Steubenville, Ohio, 1993).
As Francis’s brotherhood increased in size, his work en-
DOMINIC V. MONTI (1987 AND 2005)
compassed the nurturing of followers including the Poor
Clares and the Secular Franciscans (laymen and -women who
wished to follow Francis). Franciscans were not committed
to one particular work but engaged in whatever labors their
FRANCIS OF ASSISI (Giovanni Francesco Bernar-
travel and presence brought them. Francis’s work and
done, 1181/2–1226) was a Christian saint and the founder
thought indicate a living, ecclesial faith that seeks to be for
of the Franciscans. John was Francis’s baptismal name, but
and with the poor.
a fondness for France on the part of his merchant father and
an acknowledgment of the national origin of his mother
Central to every aspect of his life was Francis’s experi-
prompted the parents to call him Francis. Endowed with a
ence of the trinitarian God. He wanted to reveal the Father
jovial disposition and the means to pamper it, Francis en-
to all by imitating the Son through the inspiration of the
joyed the good life of his times; this life was, however, inter-
Holy Spirit. Like his Lord, he was eager to make his way back
rupted when his hometown warred with neighboring Peru-
to the Father and to summon all creation to accompany him
gia. Inducted, imprisoned, and then released, Francis
on that painful but peaceful journey. An adult innocence
returned home with his military ambitions dampened. A
aided him in transcending the spirit-matter dichotomy, mak-
business career with his father held no attraction.
ing him a sublime example of both the spirituality of matter
and the materialization of spirit.
Francis’s conversion was the culmination of a period of
prayerful reflection in a local grotto, an encounter with a
Francis embraced voluntary poverty because he wanted
leper, an invitation from God to repair Assisi’s abandoned
to imitate his Lord, who had made himself poor (2 Cor. 8:9).
chapel of San Damiano, and Francis’s study of Matthew 10,
In this poverty Francis found a freedom that fostered frater-
which imparted to him a sense of irreversible dedication to
nity. The poor, in their more evident dependence on God,
the kingdom of God. Within a few months (by April 1208)
reminded Francis of the mystery of divine sympathy and of
others asked to share his life, and thus a brotherhood was
each creature’s intrinsic poverty. In the spirit of poverty he
born.
urged his brothers to renounce their desire to dominate, and
though called to minister to all, to favor labor among the lep-
In 1209 Francis journeyed to Rome to seek papal ap-
ers and farmhands.
proval for the brotherhood. After some hesitation, Innocent
III gave verbal assent to the rule authored by Francis, who
Aware that the Roman Catholic church was capable of
then returned to Assisi and remained at the chapel of the Por-
taming the gospel, Francis persisted in the belief that Christ
tiuncula; from there the brothers, two by two, preached gos-
was to be found in this institution, especially in the Eucha-
pel renewal. Intent on extending this preaching, Francis de-
rist. He sought a cardinal protector for the Franciscan order
parted for Syria, but bad weather hampered the venture.
and acknowledged the pontiff to be the final arbiter in spiri-
Later a more successful journey took him to meet the sultan
tual matters. Although Francis’s relations with the Curia Ro-
in Damietta. In 1212 Francis offered the religious habit to
mana may have weakened his project, the majority of schol-
the young noblewoman Clare, and quickly other young
ars submit that his relation to the hierarchy was loyal,
women from Assisi sought to share her way of life at San
challenging, and constructive.
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FRANCKE, AUGUST HERMANN
3185
Movements for peace and for the marginalized have in
Celano and by Bonaventure, The Little Flowers of Saint Fran-
Francis a ready patron. He sent his brothers out, not against
cis (a treasure of fourteenth-century popular literature), and
but among the Saracens, and he required that all his follow-
an extensive bibliography, though not always reliably trans-
ers (lay included) not bear arms. His pursuit of Lady Poverty
lated. Classic biographies include Omer Englebert’s astute
inspires those of every age who seek simplicity. His fondness
Saint Francis of Assisi (Chicago, 1965), and Father Cuthbert
for animals and nature has deepened humanity’s understand-
of Brighton’s accurate Life of St. Francis of Assisi (London,
1912). Paul Sabatier’s Life of St. Francis of Assisi (London,
ing of the interrelatedness of all creation grounded in a cre-
1894) is provocative. Of the more than sixty modern biogra-
ator whose richness it reflects.
phies, G. K. Chesterton in St. Francis of Assisi (London,
Francis managed to steer a course that avoided the ex-
1923) captures his heart and Nikos Kazantzakis in Saint
cesses of feudal authority and of the bourgeois pursuit of
Francis: A Novel (New York, 1962) presents a poet. A former
money. In his rule he taught his followers to use only that
mayor of Assisi, Arnaldo Fortini, in his Francis of Assisi (New
which was needed, to own nothing, and to renounce any de-
York, 1981), offers an invaluable historical appendix. Angli-
can bishop J. R. H. Moorman presents, in his new edition
sire to dominate; he insisted that authority for the minores
of Saint Francis of Assisi (London, 1976), a precise historical
(those who wished to lead a biblically inspired simple life)
life. Leonardo Boff characterizes Francis, in Saint Francis
meant fraternal service. The church, although initially cau-
(New York, 1982), as a model for human liberation.
tious, soon adopted some of his insights for its own apostolic
strategy; between 1218 and 1226 six papal bulls were issued
RAYMOND J. BUCHER (1987)
relating to aspects of his vision. The Holy See recognized that
the manner of his preaching touched the lives of the people;
it also gave the vernacular a new respectability and provided
themes for artists such as Cimabue and Giotto. Though no
FRANCKE, AUGUST HERMANN (1663–1727),
intellectual, Francis’s emphasis on humanity inspired the
was, after Spener, the major spokesman for early Lutheran
deeply incarnational systems of Bonaventure and of Duns
Pietism. Francke was born in the Hanseatic city of Lübeck
Scotus.
on March 22, 1663. Both his father and his maternal grand-
father were prominent jurists, and young August was more
Francis’s legacy to the Christian tradition was a revital-
or less expected to take up a learned career. Because the
ized gospel that clearly perceived many forms of brother-
Francke household was pervaded by the piety of Johann
hood: with superiors—once, having been denied by a bishop
Arndt (1555–1621), it was quite natural for August to pre-
the right to preach in his diocese, Francis exited, paused, re-
pare himself for the Lutheran ministry. Accordingly, he stud-
entered, and resubmitted his petition successfully; with
ied at Erfurt and Kiel, and finally received his master of arts
strangers—in his rule of 1221 he calls for a simple, non-
degree from the University of Leipzig. For religious reasons
polemical style of missionary presence; with the underclass—
he refused further academic preparation, though much of his
when a brother asked if it were proper to feed some robbers,
time continued to be spent in private study. Thus he
he responded affirmatively, for in every person he saw a pos-
emerged from his student career superbly prepared not only
sible thief and in every thief a possible brother or sister; with
in philosophy, theology, and biblical studies but with consid-
nature—he urged his brothers when establishing the bound-
erable competence in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, French,
aries of their shelters not to build walls but to plant hedges.
and English, besides his native German.
The movement founded by Francis offered the church a new
form of gospel commitment. It combined a contemplative
As the result of an experience of a conscious religious
life with an apostolic work that was mobile, diverse, and
awakening (1687), Francke joined the circle of Spener’s fol-
urban. Although it was a consecrated life, it was not removed
lowers and eventually became the leader of the Spenerian re-
from daily concerns.
newal movement of continental Protestantism. The Univer-
sity of Halle, to the faculty of which he was appointed in
SEE ALSO Franciscans.
1691, quickly became the intellectual center of Lutheran Pi-
etism. His pioneer work in establishing an imposing array of
BIBLIOGRAPHY
educational and charitable institutions attracted much atten-
Kajetan Esser, the scholar most responsible for the critical texts of
tion in Europe. His extensive system of connections included
Francis’s writings, discusses 181 manuscripts in his Opuscula
a large segment of European nobility as well as several Euro-
Sancti Francisci Assisiensis (Rome, 1978) and his Rule and
pean courts. The periodic reports of his work, such as Segens-
Testament of St. Francis (Chicago, 1977). The excellent Fran-
volle Fußstapfen (translated into English in 1706 under the
cis and Clare: The Complete Works (New York, 1982), edited
title Liber Pietatis Hallensis), spurred educational, charitable,
by Regis J. Armstrong and Ignatius Brady, offers a list for the
missionary, and ecumenical impulses not only on the conti-
first time in English of Francis’s authentic writings (twenty-
eight in all) and inauthentic writings (including the popular
nent but in England and in the English colonies of North
“Peace Prayer”). The most practical single volume for prima-
America. Under Francke’s guidance the Canstein Bible Insti-
ry sources remains St. Francis of Assisi: Writings and Early Bi-
tute, begun in 1710, satisfied the ever-increasing need for
ographies, English Omnibus of the Sources (Chicago, 1973),
cheap Bibles and devotional aids. The theological works issu-
edited by Marion A. Habig. It includes lives of Francis by
ing from Francke’s pen and from Halle were a major factor
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3186
FRANK, JACOB
in substituting biblical for dogmatic theology and ethically
Shortly after his own conversion, the Inquisition had
oriented concerns for purely theological discourses in Protes-
him imprisoned for thirteen years in the fortress shrine of
tant pulpits. At the zenith of his career Francke was widely
Cze˛stochowa under suspicion of perpetrating a hoax and an
respected as an innovative pastor, theologian, educator, orga-
attempted insurrection. His closest followers remained faith-
nizer of charitable institutions, promoter of domestic and
ful to him. While Frank promoted a combination of obedi-
foreign missions, and advocate of a new vision of ecumenical
ence to himself and disingenuous behavior towards those
cooperation.
outside his circle, many of his followers either sought their
way back to Judaism or became Christians within his own
BIBLIOGRAPHY
lifetime, excepting those who had been part of the original
Important for Francke study is still D. Gustav Kramer’s August
company of adherents or who were with him at his courts
Hermann Francke, 2 vols. (Halle, 1880–1882), though dated
in Brno and Offenbach after he regained his freedom and left
in many respects. The best biography is the scholarly, very
Poland at the time of the Russian invasion in 1773.
appreciative study by Erich Beyreuther, August Hermann
Francke, 1663–1727 (Marburg, 1956). For Francke’s theolo-
In Brno and especially in Offenbach, Frank played the
gy, Erhard Peschke’s Studien zur Theologie August Hermann
part of a noble maintaining a large court and retinue, and
Franckes, 2 vols. (Berlin, 1964–1966) is indispensable.
he sought to interfere in European politics in the West and
Peschke also edited a selection of Francke’s works titled
East. Before his conversion he had persuaded Turkish powers
Streitschriften (New York, 1981). Available in English are
that he would bring the Jews to Islam and promote the inter-
Gary Stattler’s God’s Glory and the Neighbor’s Good: A Brief
ests of the Ottoman Empire in Europe, and he had gained
Introduction to the Life and Writings of August Hermann
government support. After his entry into western lands, he
Francke (Chicago, 1982) and a small selection of Francke’s
writings in Peter C. Erb’s The Pietists: Selected Writings
sought, with the same degree of sincerity, to serve the inter-
(Ramsey, N.J., 1983).
ests of Prussia and Austria. Here his performance achieved
greater success. His daughter Ewa served as a social and sexu-
F. ERNEST STOEFFLER (1987)
al pawn to attract social prestige, and Frank gained for a time
the backing of Joseph II of Austria, among others.
FRANK, JACOB. Yakov ben Lev (1726–1791), cyno-
In the intellectual and political society of early modern
sure of the last large Jewish messiah-event, took the surname
Europe, Frank was a familiar figure. To enlightened Chris-
Frank at his baptisms in Poland in 1759 and 1760, when he
tians and proselytizing millennialists he was a Jew converted
also added the name Joseph and became Jacob Joseph Frank.
to Christianity and a freethinker typified by mysterious con-
The surname had become attached to him as an epithet that
nections and magic and secret riches. He was also seen as a
in Yiddish denoted a Turkish Jew and in Turkish denoted
herald of liberation from the oppression of gender, class, re-
a European Jew. He himself never explained which he was,
gime, religion, and mores, including sexual ones. To some
contenting himself with the ambiguity of the reference.
Jews, he augured assimilation, enlightenment, political
Frank acted out the role of a Jewish messiah in the territory
power, and millennial redemption. To other Jews, especially
of the Ottoman Empire in Poland and in Bohemia and Ger-
rabbinic figures, Frank was not just one more in a colorful
many from about 1750 until he died in a fit in Offenbach,
crew of anomians or antinomians, leaders of the gullible
to be succeeded by his daughter, Ewa.
from the time of Jesus through the contemporary movement
of Hasidism—he was a catastrophe; the ultimate false messi-
Though Frank presented himself as the inheritor of
ah; the ruin of hope, faith, and religion; the diabolic climax
Shabbetai Tsevi (1626–1676) and Barukhya Russo
of that history.
(d. 1721), his forerunners in this tradition, he did not do so
in their urban Turkish environment, nor was his doctrine
Frank served anti-rabbinic belligerents as their figure-
theirs. Frank defined both of them to his inner circle of disci-
head in two debates (Kamieniec, 1757; Lwów, 1759),
ples, the twelve Brothers and fourteen Sisters, as predecessor
though he did not seek these opportunities out; the debates
messiahs in the tradition of failed messiahs, and he discarded
were produced by the Polish Catholic authorities together
the entire qabbalistic system associated with them and their
with the remnants of Shabbatean followings. The theses ar-
messianic roles in favor of an original mythology and cult
gued in these debates—the last great public Christian-Jewish
management whose major characteristics were duplicity and
disputations, the first concluding with the last major public
a tyrannical authority shrouded in mystery. To the false con-
burning of Jewish books before the modern period—
versions to Islam of Tsevi and Barukhya in Turkey, Frank
included old themes, such as the falsity of the Hebrew Bible
added a false conversion to Roman Catholicism in Christian
in its rabbinic interpretation, as well as the blood libel and
lands. He gave his name to three separate movements known
some novelties. The Frankists sought to achieve a separate
as Frankist—the first being a community of Polish Shab-
existence and maintain for themselves many elements of Jew-
bateans who had been adherents of the Dönmeh sect in Salo-
ish culture while converting to Christianity and proclaiming
nika into which he inserted himself in Turkey and, thereaf-
the truth of the Zohar and its ostensible Trinitarianism.
ter, in Poland; the second, his personal following; and the
Frank wanted to establish the anti-rabbinic disputants as his
third in Bohemia, in which he played no active part.
own followers and gain a separate and autonomous commu-
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FRANKEL, ZACHARIAS
3187
nity. The neighboring village of Iwanie was actually granted
Scholem, Gershom. “Frank, Jacob, and the Frankists.” Encyclo-
to them by Augustus III following the first disputation. The
paedia Judaica, vol. 7, cols. 55–71. Jerusalem, 1971.
history of Frankism as Polish Shabbateanism ends here and
Scholem, Gershom. “Redemption through Sin.” Translated by
is well documented in the recent work of Pawel Maciejko.
Hillel Halkin. In The Messianic Idea in Judaism and Other
From the time in Iwanie through the years of his impris-
Essays on Jewish Spirituality, pp. 37–48. New York, 1971.
onment, the establishment of his court in Brno and then in
HARRIS LENOWITZ (2005)
the palaces of the prince of Isenburg in Offenbach, Frank
taught his own doctrine to the circle of the Brothers and Sis-
ters, and records of the history of the group were kept. A lot
of these materials remain and have received some study. The
FRANKEL, ZACHARIAS (1801–1875), was the
conduct of the sect can be studied through entries in the in-
founder, in Germany, of Historical Judaism, the forerunner
ternal history, the Chronicle; Frank’s own doctrine is found
of Conservative Judaism in America. A member of the first
in the Collection of the Words of the Lord. In these works one
generation of modern rabbis, Frankel fashioned a multifacet-
sees Frank’s talent in adapting himself to changing circum-
ed career as pulpit rabbi, spokesman for political emancipa-
stances and persuading his followers to remain steadfast. The
tion, critic of radical religious reform, editor, head of the first
Collection displays Frank’s prowess as the innovator of several
modern rabbinical seminary, and historian of Jewish law.
literary forms, including threefold (allegorical) tales. Other
Frankel was born in Prague, then still the largest Jewish
contemporary observers have left a large body of accounts of
community in Europe, into a financially comfortable family
his peculiar activities and self-presentation during this peri-
with a distinguished lineage of rabbinic and communal lead-
od, and these have been employed by later scholars. There
ers. His education combined traditional immersion in Jewish
are clear connections between this Frankism and develop-
texts with systematic exposure to secular studies in a manner
ments in Hasidism in terms of the configuration of its leader-
that was still far from typical. In 1830 he received his doctor-
ship, as well as its characteristic literary modalities.
ate from the University of Pest and in 1831 acquired the post
The third branch of Frankism in Bohemia, especially
of district rabbi of Litomeˇˇrice, becoming the first Bohemian
Prague, before, during, and after the disputations was, like
rabbi to hold a doctorate. His advocacy of changes in the syn-
the first, rooted in the continuation of Shabbateanism and
agogue service, the education of the young, and the training
can be associated with modernizing movements in Judaism,
and role of the rabbi brought him, in 1836, an invitation
including assimilation. This variety knows almost nothing of
from the government of Saxony to occupy the pulpit in
Frank, his deeds, or his teachings.
Dresden as chief rabbi of the realm. Despite several subse-
quent offers from the much larger and rapidly growing Jew-
SEE ALSO Messianism, article on Jewish Messianism; Shab-
ish community of Berlin, Frankel stayed in Dresden until
betai Tsevi.
1854, when he was called to become the first director of the
new rabbinical and teachers’ seminary in Breslau. By 1879,
BIBLIOGRAPHY
four years after his death, the seminary had instructed some
Doktór, Jan. Ksi˛ega Słów Pan´skich. Warsaw, 1997. The only com-
272 students and had placed nearly 120 teachers, preachers,
plete edition of the manuscript fragments of Frank’s dicta
and rabbis in the most important Jewish communities in
from the collection of the library of Jagiellonian University
Europe.
in Kraków. Both these works contain a fairly large number
of errors, especially in the notes.
A self-styled moderate reformer in matters of religion,
Doktór, Jan, ed. Rozmaite adnotacje, przypadki, czynno´sci i anekdo-
Frankel formulated his program of “positive, historical Juda-
ty Pan´skie. Warsaw, 1996. The only complete edition of orig-
ism” in the 1840s to stem the rising tide of radical religious
inal materials from the Łopacin´ski Library in Lublin, con-
reform. Against the Reform movement’s unbounded ratio-
taining the Chronicle and later dicta.
nalism, Frankel defended Judaism’s legal character, the sanc-
Kraushar, Alexandr. Jacob Frank: The End to the Sabbataian Here-
tity of historical experience, and the authority of current
sy. Edited by Herbert Levy. Lanham, Md., 2001. A transla-
practice. The term positive pointed to prescribed ritual be-
tion of the Polish study, Frank i Franki´sci Polscy: 1726–
havior (halakhah) as the dominant means for the expression
1816. Kraków,1895. The classic study in Polish; Levy’s pre-
of religious sentiment in Judaism, while the term historical
sentation is particularly untrustworthy in the translation of
designated its nonlegal realm, sanctified by time and
the original dicta and his introduction is preposterous, but
suffering.
this is all there is in English.
What gives Frankel’s definition its dynamic quality is
Maciejko, Pawel. “The Development of the Religious Teachings
the role of the people. Genuine reform evolves organically
of Jacob Frank.” Ph.D. diss., Oxford University, 2003. Adds
a great deal of new information and documentation to the
from below and not by fiat from above. It is for this reason
work of earlier scholars. The result is a careful restatement
that Frankel repudiated the innovations of the three rabbini-
of the movements and their histories, especially in relation
cal conferences of the 1840s; whether dictated by political
to political interests and the Christian interface. Includes the
considerations or the canons of reason, their measures did vi-
only comprehensive and up-to-date bibliography.
olence to prevailing sentiment and practice.
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3188
FRANKFORT, HENRI
On a popular level Frankel tried, as author and editor,
at the University of Amsterdam, where he studied history,
to deepen Jews’ loyalty to the past by offering them a brand
but he transferred to the University of London in order to
of heroic history that stressed cultural achievement. As a
work under Flinders Petrie in Egyptian archaeology. He al-
scholar Frankel was the preeminent modern rabbinist of his
ways preferred, however, to designate himself as a historian.
generation, and he devoted a prolific career to introducing
In 1922, Frankfort became a member of Petrie’s expedi-
the concept of the development of Jewish law over time.
tion to Egypt, and from 1924 to 1925, he studied at the Brit-
Using the method as well as the ideology of Friedrich C.
ish School of Archaeology in Athens. He obtained his M.A.
Savigny’s geschichtliche Rechtswissenschaft, Frankel tried to re-
from the University of London in 1924 and his Ph.D. from
cover and analyze the stages of legal evolution, from Alexan-
the University of Leiden in 1927. From 1925 to 1929 he
drian exegeses of scripture to medieval rabbinic responsa. In
served as director of the excavations of the Egypt Exploration
the process he left enduring contributions to the modern
Society at Tell al-EAmarna, Abydos, and Erment. In 1929 he
study of the Mishnah and the Palestinian Talmud.
accepted the directorship of the Iraq expedition of the Uni-
Frankel’s undogmatic research on the Mishnah chal-
versity of Chicago’s Oriental Institute, which he held until
lenged the traditional image of the ancient rabbis as trans-
1937, when excavations were discontinued. In 1932, Frank-
mitters rather than creators of the oral law and provoked a
fort was appointed research professor of Oriental archaeology
bitter assault in 1861 from the Neo-Orthodox camp of Sam-
at the Oriental Institute and associate professor of the an-
son Raphael Hirsch. Growing religious polarization served
cient Near East at the University of Amsterdam. He served
to clarify denominational lines and forced Frankel to occupy
as acting chairman of the Department of Near Eastern Lan-
the middle ground.
guages and Literatures at the University of Chicago during
Two institutions created by Frankel embodied, ampli-
World War II. In 1949 he accepted the post of director of
fied, and disseminated his vision of Historical Judaism. Die
the Warburg Institute in London and was appointed profes-
Monatsschrift für Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judentums,
sor of the history of preclassical antiquity at the University
which he edited for eighteen taxing years (1851–1868), pro-
of London.
vided its readers with a balance of high-level popularization
Frankfort’s first major work, Studies in Early Pottery in
and critical scholarship, setting the standard for all later nine-
the Near East (1924–1927), was of fundamental importance
teenth-century journals of Jewish studies. Similarly, the Bres-
for Near Eastern archaeology. He was the first to classify and
lau seminary, which he led for twenty-one years, transformed
date ancient Near Eastern ceramics and thus to make it a
rabbinic education by integrating modern scholarship with
basic means of periodization and relative dating. Of similarly
traditional piety and requiring its graduates to be both spiri-
fundamental importance was his later study of cylinder seals,
tual leaders and practitioners of Wissenschaft.
for which he identified characteristic features for successive
periods, thereby establishing a relative dating system for this
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Brann, Marcus, ed. Zacharias Frankel: Gedenkblätter zu seinem
important and very numerous class of objects. The resulting
hundertsten Geburtstage. Breslau, 1901.
study, Cylinder Seals: A Documentary Essay on the Art and Re-
Heinemann, Isaac. “The Idea of the Jewish Theological Seminary
ligion of the Ancient Near East (1939), is not only important
Seventy-Five Years Ago and Today.” In Das Breslauer Semi-
to archaeologists but also presents the student of religion
nar, edited by Guido Kisch, pp. 85–100. Tübingen, 1963.
with a wealth of data on mythology and ritual.
Rabinowitz, Saul Pinchas. R. Zekharyah Frankel (in Hebrew).
The results of the various expeditions directed by Frank-
Warsaw, 1898.
fort in Egypt and Iraq were published in a series of prelimi-
Schorsch, Ismar. “Zacharias Frankel and the European Origins
nary and final reports, partly by Frankfort alone, and partly
of Conservative Judaism.” Judaism 30 (Summer 1981):
by him and members of the staff. Among the former, the
344–354.
valuable volumes Sculpture of the Third Millennium B.C. from
New Sources
Tel Asmar and Khafajah (1939), More Sculpture from the Diy-
Brämer, Andreas. Rabbiner Zacharias Frankel: Wissenschaft des Ju-
ala Region (1943), and Stratified Cylinder Seals from the Diy-
dentums und konservative Reform im 19. Jahrhundert. Hildes-
ala Region (1955) should be mentioned. Of more general
heim, 2000.
purview are the important studies Archaeology and the Sume-
Goetschel, Roland. “Aux origines de la modernité juive: Zacharias
rian Problem (1932) and The Birth of Civilization in the Near
Frankel (1801–1875) et l’école historico-critique.” Pardès
19–20 (1994): 107–132.
East (1951). An overview of ancient Near Eastern archaeolo-
Horwitz, Rivkah, ed. Zachaia Frankel and the Beginnings of Posi-
gy is given in his The Art and Architecture of the Ancient Ori-
tive-Historical Judaism (in Hebrew). Jerusalem, 1984.
ent (1954).
ISMAR SCHORSCH (1987)
Of special interest to historians of religion is The Intel-
Revised Bibliography
lectual Adventure of Ancient Man (1946), which was later re-
issued under the title Before Philosophy (1963). The lecture
series on which this book is based was organized by Frank-
FRANKFORT, HENRI (1897–1954), was an archae-
fort, and he and his wife contributed the introductory and
ologist and historian of religion. Frankfort began his studies
concluding chapters, “Myth and Reality,” a penetrating and
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FRASHO
¯ KERETI
3189
clear analysis of the logic of mythopoeic thought, and “The
term derives from the expression “to make existence splen-
Emancipation of Thought from Myth,” which traces the
did.” The concept is eschatological and soteriological and,
road from mythical to genuinely philosophical thought.
already present in the Ga¯tha¯s, is at the basis of Zoroastrian
During the time that Frankfort initiated and contributed to
doctrine. With this concept Zarathushtra (Zoroaster) abol-
these lectures, he finished the two larger studies, Ancient
ished the archaic ideology of the cosmic cycle and of the eter-
Egyptian Religion: An Interpretation (2d ed., 1949), and the
nal return modeled on atemporal archetypes, proclaiming
influential Kingship and the Gods: A Study of Ancient Near
the expectation of, and hope for, an eschaton. He thus intro-
Eastern Religion as the Integration of Society and Nature
duced a linear conception of cosmic time, an innovation in
(1948). Frankfort’s method of approach is that of phenome-
religious thought that had an enormous influence on hu-
nology of religion, which respects the religious commitment
manity’s subsequent spiritual history. According to his doc-
and values reflected in the data studied. The aim of the latter
trine, the final event will be completed not because of a cos-
work is well expressed in the subtitle, and the treatment of
mogonic ritual but by the will of the creator: the resurrection
both Egyptian and Mesopotamian materials, with attention
of the body and last judgment are essential and significant
both to their characteristic similarities and to their differ-
aspects of the Frasho¯kereti.
ences, lends depth to the study. Frankfort was deeply aware
In the Ga¯tha¯s the Frasho¯kereti is felt to be near, but later
that an understanding of religious data can be gained only
Zoroastrianism developed an eschatological doctrine situat-
in terms of the general culture in which the religion in ques-
ing it further off in time, within the concept of a Great Year
tion is embedded and from which the specific meanings of
divided into three periods, each a millennium in length and
its symbols are derived. This position is given its most com-
each beginning with the coming of a Saoshyant, a savior born
plete methodological statement in his Frazer Lecture of
of the seed of Zarathushtra. The last of these will be the
1951, published as The Problem of Similarity in Ancient Near
Saoshyant par excellence, the maker of the final Frasho¯kereti.
Eastern Religions (1951), where he argues cogently against a
comparative method that would emphasize general similari-
The Frasho¯kereti is described in one of the hymns of the
ties and neglect specific differences, for it is the latter that
Avesta (Yashts 19). It declares that druj, the “lie,” the princi-
hold the true clues to understanding: “Once again, then, our
ple or deity of evil, will be brought down; the daiva Ae¯shma,
danger lies in the similarities themselves, for it is—as al-
“fury,” will be destroyed by a bloody mace; the daiva Aka
ways—the cultural context which holds the secret of their
Manah (“bad thought”) will be overcome; hunger and thirst
significance.”
will be defeated; and the great god of evil, Angra Mainyu,
deprived of his power, will be driven to flight.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Pahlavi literature of the ninth and tenth centuries
In addition to works cited in the text, see Frankfort’s lectures pub-
CE furnishes further details. The Frashgird will be announced
lished in the Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes:
by positive signs: the abolition of meat as a food for humans
“State Festivals in Egypt and Mesopotamia” (vol. 15, 1952,
and its gradual replacement by an increasingly spiritual diet,
pp. 1–12), “The Dying God” (vol. 21, 1958, pp. 141–151),
without milk, water, or plants; the progressive fading of con-
“Heresy in a Theocratic State” (vol. 21, 1958,
pp. 152–161), and “The Archetype in Analytical Psychology
cupiscence; and so forth. Finally, after the resurrection of the
and the History of Religion” (vol. 21, 1958, pp. 166–178).
body and after a test by molten metal, through which all,
For an obituary notice written by Pinhas Delongaz and me,
both just and unjust, must pass, there will take place a great,
see “Henri Frankfort, 24 II 1897–16 VII 1954,” Journal of
eschatological sacrifice of a bull. Its fat, mixed with white
Near Eastern Studies 14 (1955): 1–3; this piece is followed
haoma, will make the drink of immortality for all human-
by a bibliography compiled by J. Vindenaess.
kind.
New Sources
The three lectures mentioned above have had a seminal influence
BIBLIOGRAPHY
on the comparative study of Near Eastern religions. They
Bailey, H. W. Zoroastrian Problems in the Ninth-Century Books
have been collected together and published in a book, Henri
(1943). Reprint, Oxford, 1971.
Frankfort, Il dio che muore. Mito e cultura nel mondo preclassi-
Boyce, Mary. A History of Zoroastrianism, vol. 1. Leiden, 1975.
co (Florence, 1992), Italian translation by Gabriella Sacan-
Duchesne-Guillemin, Jacques. La religion de l’Iran ancien. Paris,
done Matthiae, with an important introduction by the arche-
1962.
ologist Paolo Matthiae.
Gnoli, Gherardo. “Questioni sull’interpretazione della dottrina
THORKILD JACOBSEN (1987)
gathica.” Annali dell’Instituto Universitario Orientale di Na-
Revised Bibliography
poli, n.s. 21 (1971): 341–370.
Humbach, Helmut, ed. and trans. Die Gathas des Zarathustra.
Heidelberg, 1959.
FRASHO
¯ KERETI. The Avestan term Frasho¯kereti
Lommel, Herman. Die Religion Zarathustras nach dem Awesta dar-
(“making wonderful” or “rehabilitation” of existence) corre-
gestellt. Tübingen, 1930.
sponds to Frashgird, the Middle Persian term for the Last
Molé, Marijan. Culte, mythe et cosmologie dans l’Iran ancien. Paris,
Judgment, or final day of humanity’s existence. The Avestan
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

3190
FRAVASHIS
Nyberg, H. S. Irans forntida religioner. Stockholm, 1937. Trans-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
lated as Die Religionen des alten Iran (1938; 2d ed., Osna-
Bailey, H. W. Zoroastrian Problems in the Ninth-Century Books
brück, 1966).
(1943). Reprint, Oxford, 1971.
Widengren, Geo. “Leitende Ideen und Quellen der iranischen
Duchesne-Guillemin, Jacques. “L’homme dans la religion iranien-
Apokalyptik.” In Apocalypticism in the Mediterranean World
ne.” In Anthropologie religieuse, edited by C. Jouco Bleeker,
and the Near East, edited by David Hellholm, pp. 77–162.
pp. 93–107. Leiden, 1955.
Tübingen, 1989.
Dumézil, Georges. “Vís:n:u et les Marút à travers la réforme zoroas-
Zaehner, R. C. The Dawn and Twilight of Zoroastrianism. Lon-
trienne.” Journal asiatique 241 (1953): 1–25.
don, 1961.
Gnoli, Gherardo. “Le fravaˇsi e l’immortalità.” In La mort, les morts
GHERARDO GNOLI (1987)
dans les sociétés anciennes, edited by Gherardo Gnoli and
Translated from Italian by Roger DeGaris
Jean-Pierre Vernant, pp. 339–347. Paris, 1982.
Hoffmann, Karl. “Das Avesta in der Persis.” In Prolegomena to the
Sources of the History of Pre-Islamic Central Asia, edited by
FRAVASHIS, beneficent and protective guardian spirits
János Harmatta, pp. 89–93. Budapest, 1979.
whose services must be secured by means of ritual offerings,
Kellens, Jean. “Les fravaˇsi.” In Anges et démons, edited by Julien
are an essential element of the religious structure of Zoroas-
Ries, pp. 99–114. Louvain-la-Neuve, 1989.
trianism. They play an important role in the frequency of
Lommel, Herman. Die Religion Zarathustras nach dem Awesta dar-
rainfall and are responsible for guaranteeing the prosperity
gestellt. Tübingen, 1930.
and preservation of the family. As the spirits of the dead, they
are the protagonists in a great feast held on the last night of
Malandra, William W. “The ‘Fravaˇsi Yaˇst.’” Ph.D. diss., Univer-
sity of Pennsylvania, 1971.
the year. They are thought to preexist human beings and to
survive them.
Narten, Johanna. “Avestisch frauuasi-.” Indo-Iranian Journal 28
(1985): 35–48.
The fravashis do not appear in the Ga¯tha¯s. In the Avesta,
the first mention of them occurs in the Yasna Haptanha¯iti,
Nyberg, H. S. Irans forntida religioner. Stockholm, 1937. Trans-
lated as Die Religionen des alten Iran (1938; 2d ed., Osna-
and an entire hymn (Yashts 13) is dedicated to them.
brück, 1966).
The conception of the fravashi has all the characteristics
Schlerath, Bernfried. “Indo-Iranisch *var- ‘wählen.’” Studien zur
of an archaic, pre-Zoroastrian belief that was later absorbed
Indologie und Iranistik (Festschrift Paul Thieme) 5–6 (1980):
and adapted by the tradition. Examples of these characteris-
199–208.
tics include their identification with the spirits of the dead
Söderblom, Nathan. “Les Fravashis: Étude sur les traces dans le
(Söderblom, 1899, pp. 229–260, 373–418) and their war-
mazdéisme d’une ancienne conception sur la survivance des
like nature.
morts.” Revue de l’histoire des religions 39 (1899): 229–260,
As the spirits of the dead the fravashis have often been
373–418.
compared to the Roman manes or to the Indian pitarah:; as
GHERARDO GNOLI (1987)
warlike beings, they have been compared with the Germanic
Translated from Italian by Roger DeGaris
valkyries or to the Indian Maruts, the company of celestial
warriors. In particular, in the context of the Indo-European
tripartite ideology, the fravashis are seen as a Zoroastrian sub-
FRAZER, JAMES G. (1854–1941), was a British an-
stitute for the Maruts (Dumézil, 1953); both are linked to
thropologist and historian of religion. James George Frazer,
the concepts and ethics of the Aryan Männerbund. Most like-
the eldest of four children, was born in preindustrial Glas-
ly, Zoroastrianism absorbed this ancient concept, typical of
gow, the son of a successful pharmacist. His parents were de-
a warrior society, through its ties to the cult of the dead and
vout members of the Free Church of Scotland, a conservative
reinterpreted the fravashis as combatants for the rule of
sect that in the 1840s had broken away from the (Estab-
Ahura Mazda¯. We find such a zoroastrianization in the myth
lished) Church of Scotland on matters of church governance.
told in the third chapter of the Bundahishn (Book of primor-
Accordingly Frazer was raised in an atmosphere of deep
dial creation), which relates that the fravashis chose to be in-
piety, which, be it noted, he later said that he did not find
carnated in material bodies in order to fight Ahriman and
oppressive.
the evil powers instead of remaining peacefully in the celes-
tial world.
Frazer early showed academic promise and entered the
The etymology of the word fravashi is uncertain. Origi-
University of Glasgow at the then not unusually early age of
nally it may have been used to designate the spirit of a de-
fifteen. There, he writes in a genial memoir composed at the
ceased hero who was endowed with *vr:ti, “valor” (Bailey,
end of his life, three important things occurred: He con-
1943, pp. 107ff.); or it may have expressed the theological
ceived his lifelong love of the classics, he came to see that the
concept, fundamental to Zoroastrianism, of choice, *fra-vr:ti
world is governed by a system of unvarying natural laws, and
(Lommel, 1930, pp. 151, 159–163) or that of the profession
he painlessly lost the religious faith of his childhood.
of faith (Hoffmann, 1979, p. 91; Schlerath, 1980,
Frazer did brilliantly at Glasgow but soon realized that
pp. 207ff.).
although Scottish education gave him a broader background
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FRAZER, JAMES G.
3191
than an English one would have, its standards were not as
The Golden Bough merits special attention because it re-
high. After taking his degree at Glasgow he therefore matric-
mains Frazer’s best-known work, but it hardly exhausts his
ulated at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1874 for a second
contribution to the historical and anthropological study of
baccalaureate. He took second place in the classical tripos of
ancient and “primitive” religion. In 1898 he published Pau-
1878. A dissertation on Platonic epistemology gained him
sanias’s Description of Greece—a translation of Pausanias’s re-
a fellowship at Trinity in 1879, which after three renewals
port of his travels—accompanied by five volumes of com-
was granted for life; he was a fellow of Trinity for more than
mentary, maps, and plates, all of which represented fifteen
sixty years.
years of work. Pausanias, who in the second century CE pre-
pared this guidebook to his country, was especially curious
In 1896 Frazer married Mrs. Elizabeth (Lilly) Grove, a
about religion and inquired ceaselessly about artifacts and rit-
French widow with two children who had become a writer
uals that had survived in the countryside but were no longer
out of economic necessity. She wrote an early and important
extant in Athens. Pausanias’s record is frequently the only
volume on the history of the dance, along with many playlets
surviving witness of many phenomena of ancient Greek folk
in French for schoolroom use. She soon became convinced
religion. His travels constituted an ideal text for Frazer, per-
that the academic world was overlooking her husband’s mer-
mitting him to use his classical as well as his comparative an-
its and strove mightily to advance his career (he was the ste-
thropological knowledge.
reotype of a research scholar, unworldly and shy). She also
arranged for his work to be translated into French, which
Among Frazer’s other major productions in the history
meant that Frazer was very well known in France after the
of religion are Lectures on the Early History of the Kingship
war. Frazer was knighted in 1914, became a fellow of the
(1905); Totemism and Exogamy (1910), which gave Freud
Royal Society in 1920, and was awarded the Order of Merit
much data as well as the idea for a title (Totem and Taboo,
1911); Folk-Lore in the Old Testament (1918), which arose
in 1925.
out of Frazer’s study of Hebrew; and an edition of Ovid’s
Frazer’s first scholarly writing, from which his interest
Fasti (1929). The Fasti is a narrative poem organized around
in anthropology can be said to date, came about through his
the cycle of the Roman holidays, and, like Pausanias, it gave
friendship with William Robertson Smith (1847–1894), the
Frazer an opportunity to employ the whole of his consider-
eminent Scottish theologian and comparative Semiticist.
able scholarly equipment.
More than any other person, Smith was responsible for dis-
The Golden Bough was noteworthy because it offered
seminating the results of German biblical scholarship in
something that had not been done before in English: a treat-
Great Britain at the end of the century. For his pains he be-
ment from the philosophical, evolutionary point of view, de-
came the defendant in the last significant heresy trials in
livered in sonorous and untechnical language, of the beliefs
Great Britain. Although he was exonerated, Smith had be-
and behavior of the ancient Greeks and Romans as if they
come too notorious for provincial Scotland and therefore ac-
were those of “primitives.” By the end of the nineteenth cen-
cepted an appointment in Cambridge. Among his many
tury, the classical world had lost much of the privileged status
other activities, he was editor of the ninth edition of the En-
it had enjoyed since the Renaissance as the origin and reposi-
cyclopaedia Britannica and as such was always looking for
tory of the greatest that had ever been thought and said. In-
likely contributors. Meeting his countryman Frazer at Trini-
deed eighteenth- and nineteenth-century classical historiog-
ty, Smith soon set him to work. Because in those days ency-
raphy was largely demythologizing in its impulse. But
clopedias were brought out a volume at a time, and because
because of the centrality maintained by the classics in the ed-
the volumes through the letter O had already appeared. Fra-
ucational curriculum and thus in the training and habit of
zer was assigned articles beginning with P and subsequent
mind of the governing classes in Great Britain, it came as a
letters. Thus it was that he came to write the important en-
shock to a cultured reader when Frazer insisted on the ways
tries “Taboo” and “Totem,” which launched him into the
in which life and thought in classical antiquity strongly re-
then sparsely populated field of anthropology.
sembled, overall and in detail, those of the “primitives” (or
“savages”) who had become well known to Europeans as a
In 1889 Frazer wrote to the publisher George Macmil-
result of the imperialist expansion of the eighteenth and espe-
lan offering him a manuscript on magic, folklore, and reli-
cially the nineteenth century.
gion in the ancient world. Macmillan accepted The Golden
Bough, and it was published in two volumes in the following
Although many scholars have disagreed with some or all
year. It was generally well received, the reviewers noting Fra-
of it, the argument of The Golden Bough may fairly be said
zer’s impressive erudition and stylistic gifts. As soon as he had
by now to have become part of the basis of modern culture
brought out the first edition, Frazer began preparing an en-
(at least on the level of metaphor), and many educated peo-
larged second edition, which duly appeared in three volumes
ple who employ its argument are unaware of its origins.
in 1900. The third and final edition, in twelve volumes,
Briefly, the work purports to be an explanation of a curious
came out from 1911 to 1915. It is this massive version that
ritual combat that took place, according to ancient sources,
Frazer himself abridged in 1922; he produced a thirteenth
in classical times in the town of Aricia outside Rome. In a
volume, Aftermath, in 1936.
grove at Nemi a “priest” stood guard at all times, awaiting
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3192
FRAZER, JAMES G.
a challenger to his supremacy. The rule of the place was that
minal message was successfully delivered: The many uses of
any runaway slave who managed to reach the grove would
Frazerian arguments and images in the literature and cultural
gain his freedom if he succeeded in killing its guardian; with
analysis of the post-World War I period (the most well-
such success, however, came the obligation to assume the
known of which is T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land) are ample
role of priest, and to kill or be killed in turn. In Frazer’s view,
testimony to that. (In addition, the Frazer papers in the li-
this combat cannot be understood solely or wholly in terms
brary of Trinity College, Cambridge, contain many unsolic-
of Roman religion; instead its elements must be analyzed
ited letters from readers, educated and otherwise, that thank
comparatively (by adducing examples of analogous behavior
Frazer for having finally dispelled the veil of illusion from be-
from other “primitive” societies). He asserts that the guard-
fore their eyes as to the “real” nature of Christianity.)
ian of the grove was a priest-king, who, like all such in primi-
As time has passed, Frazer’s affinities are increasingly
tive societies, literally incarnated the well-being of the com-
seen to be with those polymath scholars who, periodically
munity and thus had to be kept alive and well at all costs.
since the Renaissance, have had the vision and industry to
This leads to a discussion of the strategies, both actual and
attempt a description and interpretation of the entire phe-
symbolic (such as taboo, magic, sacrifice, and scapegoats),
nomenon of religion. Living when and where he did con-
that such communities undertook to keep the king from
ferred several advantages on him. First, only by the end of
weakness or death. At the heart of the work is a lengthy anal-
the nineteenth century had European imperialism gone far
ysis of the complex of myth and ritual in the religions of the
enough to open up virtually the entire tribal world. Thus
ancient eastern Mediterranean, all of which turn on death
Frazer’s was the first generation for which the data existed
and resurrection and whose themes are often played out in
to permit a credible, anthropologically based worldwide con-
seasonal combats and other fertility ceremonies. The main
spectus of religious behavior. Second, the triumph of Dar-
rites discussed are those of Attis, Adonis, Osiris, and Diony-
winism automatically promoted as self-evidently correct any
sos, all of whom Frazer understands as divine protagonists
explanatory model that was based on evolutionary premises.
in the same, ubiquitous, recurrent vegetational drama.
If mind had developed in a linear fashion, as Frazer (and
Tylor) believed, then a rigid, uniform progression from
The actual goings-on in the grove at Nemi are, Frazer
magic through religion to positive science seemed a plausible
finally admits, merely pretexts, for he is in fact interested in
description of the pathway toward understanding that hu-
something more important: nothing less than the laws that
manity had in fact taken.
describe the workings of the “primitive mind,” which by def-
inition is less well developed than the norm. Although this
From a current point of view, however, viewing Frazer
mind is inaccessible directly, it may be studied nevertheless,
from the other side of a gulf produced by a nightmarish cen-
by adopting (from the work of the pioneering German folk-
tury and by many years of anthropological fieldwork and
lorist Wilhelm Mannhardt) “the law of similarity”: when
much greater philosophical and methodological sophistica-
customs are similar in different societies, one may then infer
tion, he seems himself to be a relic of a habit of thought that,
that the motives of the people performing them are also simi-
if not exactly primitive, then is at least of long ago and far
lar. This follows from the then generally accepted idea (ad-
away. His extreme empiricism and antitheoretical inclination
vanced by E. B. Tylor) that the human race has evolved in
made him a victim, finally, of his mountains of data. At the
a uniform fashion, mentally as well as physically. Further, be-
same time, he could never have presented such a stirring pic-
cause in Frazer’s view the mentality of the primitive “Aryan”
ture of the long evolutionary struggle of humanity toward
was still extant in that of the modern European peasantry be-
self-understanding had he not been so willing to use simple
cause the peasantry still participated in a mental universe un-
categories under which to organize his data.
touched by modern thought, it was therefore appropriate to
Frazer’s professional descendants are many and various,
compare the behavior of these so-called modern primitives
as are their evaluations of his work. For English-speaking an-
(peasants and underdeveloped tribal societies) with that of
thropologists, he is seen mainly as a horrible example of the
historical societies of the ancient world in order to extract
“armchair school” of anthropology that was swept away by
laws of primitive mental functioning.
the advent of fieldwork. Historians of religion hold him in
Finally, however, Frazer was interested in even bigger
higher esteem, probably because the comparative method (of
game than primitive epistemology. For although in his sur-
which his work is the greatest exemplar) is still in guarded
vey of the dying-and-reviving gods of the eastern Mediterra-
use in that discipline. Finally, his name stands highest among
nean Frazer never mentions the name of Jesus, only the
literary critics and cultural historians, to whose field he made
slowest of his readers could have failed to make the compari-
no explicit contribution.
son between the pagan rites that result from an imperfect
It may be most reasonable to situate Frazer in a grand
(because irrational) understanding of the universe and con-
tradition—one that understands religion humanistically and
temporary Christianity. Frazer employed the “objective,” sci-
therefore regards it as a perennially appropriate subject for
entific comparative method as a weapon to finally dispatch
discourse with the educated reader—that has been eclipsed
Christianity as an outworn relic of misunderstanding, credu-
in the present day as a result of the aspirations to scientific
lity, and superstition. There can be no doubt that his subli-
status of anthropology. One may see him, then, despite his
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FREEMASONS
3193
obvious limitations, as a scholar whose vision and literary
Gee, Emma. “Some Thoughts about the ‘Fasti’ of James George
gifts ensure him a permanent place in the ranks of those who
Frazer.” Antichthon 32 (1998): 64–90.
have expanded the modern idea of the mysterious past of hu-
ROBERT ACKERMAN (1987)
manity.
Revised Bibliography
SEE ALSO Smith, W. Robertson.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
FREEMASONS. The name for members of Freemason-
For further biographical information see my J. G. Frazer: His Life
ry, the largest fraternal organization in the world, Freema-
and Work (Cambridge, 1987). Two memoirs by Robert
Angus Downie, James George Frazer (London, 1940) and
sons are linked to numerous other rites, degrees, and orders
Frazer and the Golden Bough (London, 1970), are sketchy.
collectively termed Masonic. Originally two words, Free
Theodore Besterman’s A Bibliography of Sir James Frazer,
Mason, the compound Freemason became standard by the
O. M. (London, 1934) offers a useful guide to Frazer’s com-
nineteenth century. The term stands for “free and accepted
plex oeuvre. E. O. James’s obituary notice in the Dictionary
mason,” an accepted or “honorary” mason who is both free-
of National Biography, 1941–1950 (supp. 3), R. R. Marett’s
born (not bonded in servitude) and “free” from the original
in the Proceedings of the British Academy 27 (1941): 377–492,
“operative” definition of masonry, the trade of stonecraft used
and H. J. Fleure’s in the Obituary Notices of Fellows of the
to build churches and cathedrals throughout medieval Eu-
Royal Society 3 (1941): 897–914, are helpful. See also Bronis-
rope. Although there are records of noncraftsmen or “nonop-
law Malinowski’s “Sir James George Frazer: A Biographical
eratives” joining earlier operative guilds, such as that of Elias
Appreciation,” in his A Scientific Theory of Culture and Other
Ashmole and Christopher Wren of Oxford, purely nonop-
Essays (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1944), pp. 177–221 combines
lucid criticism with appreciation of Frazer as founder of
erative “lodges” where Freemasons met were not publicly dis-
modern scientific anthropology and great humanist.
closed until the formation of the Grand Lodge of England
in London in 1717. A Freemason (or simply “Mason”) from
New Sources
Robert Ackerman, see “J. G. Frazer and the Jews,” in Religion 22
about this time, and as outlined in the official Constitutions
(1992): 135–150, and The Myth and Ritual School: J. G. Fra-
(1723 and 1738), was basically a “speculative” mason who,
zer and the Cambridge Ritualists (New York and London,
having undergone three degrees of initiation, lived a moral
1991; 2d ed. 2002), esp. chapter four: a book very informa-
life devoted both to teachings derived from a symbolic un-
tive, despite some factual mistakes and the overall inadequa-
derstanding of the stonemason’s craft and to the three great
cy from the viewpoint of history of religions. These short-
Masonic principles of brotherly love, relief, and truth.
comings are neglected in the review by Michel Despland,
Numen 50 (2003): 479–481. Scathing criticism in an article
Secrecy—and a certain mystique—has surrounded and
by another prominent representative of British social anthro-
continues to surround the Freemason rituals of initiation and
pology: Edmund R. Leach, “Golden Bough or Gilded
moral instruction, yet Freemasonry, or “the Craft,” is not in
Twig?,” Daedalus 90 (1961): 371–387. Very important for
principle a “secret society” in the subversive social or political
the religious-historical perspective is Jonathan Zettel Smith,
sense, since respect for lawful authority is a hallmark of Ma-
The Glory, Jest and Riddle. James George Frazer and the Gol-
sonic teachings. Though sometimes viewed as representing
den Bough (Ph.D. diss, Yale, 1969). Smith’s views are sum-
a specific or even “revolutionary” political agenda, Freema-
marized in the seminal article “When the Bough Breaks,”
sons have been found on both sides of major political and
History of Religions 12, no. 4 (1973): 342–371, reprinted in
social conflicts in modern times. Moreover, information re-
J. Z. Smith, Map is not Territory, Leiden, 1978,
garding the history, rituals, and proceedings of Freemasonry
pp. 208–239, and in the fourth chapter of Drudgery Divine
is readily available in public libraries, in bookstores, and on
(Chicago, 1990), pp. 85–115. Frazer is central in Smith’s re-
description of the field of comparative religious studies, a
the Internet. In certain instances, the names of members and
work characterized by painstaking erudition and unequaled
even the existence of the order in some parts of the world
acumen, although very controversial in its far-reaching con-
where Freemasonry has spread were withheld from political
clusions. See also the profile “James George Frazer” by Hans
authorities that were undemocratic, dictatorial, or generally
Wissmann, in Klassiker der Religionswissenschaft von Friedrich
inimical, such as those of Nazi Germany, Communist Rus-
Schleiermacher bis Mircea Eliade, Munich, 1997, pp. 77–89.
sia, Fascist Italy, Catholic Spain, and most Islamic countries
For the literary aspects of Frazer’s oeuvre see John B. Vick-
today. On the other hand, political groups, such as the nine-
ery, The Literary Impact of “The Golden Bough” (Princeton,
teenth-century Grand Orients in Spain and Portugal, have
1973); Robert Fraser, The Making of “The Golden Bough”
sometimes masqueraded as Freemasons.
(London, 1990) and Sir James Frazer and the Literary Imagi-
nation, edited by Robert Fraser (London, 1990).
As modern fraternal orders in secular societies, Masonic
Ackerman Robert. The Myth and Ritual School. New York, 1991.
lodges and related organizations are open to public scrutiny,
Beard, Mary. “Frazer et ses bois sacrés.” In Les bois sacrés: actes du
and membership is publicly displayed in almost all cases. Se-
colloque international organisé par le Centre Jean Bérard et
crecy aside, one of the most engaging contemporary issues
l’École pratique des Hautes Études (V Section), edited by Oliv-
is whether Freemasonry is a “religion” or not. Membership
ier de Cazanove and John Scheid, pp. 171–180. Naples,
requires a belief in a supreme being and the immortality of
1993.
the soul, and there are ample references, albeit symbolic, to
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FREEMASONS
religious symbols, personalities, and places in the rituals. Yet
the period for which authentic documents appear (c. four-
while the order testifies to its own archaic religious and even
teenth century and after).
mythical roots, Freemasonry today resists the appellation of
“religion” in the sectarian sense, encouraging only “that reli-
Legendary Masonic history. The legendary period of
gion to which all men agree.” Also, not claiming tax exemp-
Masonic history as outlined within the tradition is founded
tion as a religious body, the order aims to transcend individ-
upon a unique blend of biblical, Greco-Roman, and Afro-
ual religious differences and unite men of diverse
Asiatic personalities, places, symbols, and events. James An-
backgrounds in common cause under a symbolic notion of
derson’s Book of Constitutions of 1723 and 1738, with nearly
God as the great architect of the universe. Religious tolerance
150 pages of Masonic “history” tracing Freemasonry from
and liberty of conscience have been among the principles of
Adam right up to Anderson’s own time, was a benchmark
Freemasonry since its inception.
in establishing and perpetuating the more influential aspects
of the legendary histories, including the Temple of Solomon.
Despite the great importance of Freemasonry and other
Anderson, a Scottish Presbyterian minister, drew upon earli-
secretive societies in any accurate description of the rise of
er manuscripts known as Old Charges that were associated
Western civilization, few historians of religion have un-
with operative guilds from the fourteenth to seventeenth
dertaken a comprehensive study of the history and cultural
centuries. From the perspective of these sources, stonema-
significance of Freemasonry in its various dimensions. In re-
sonry was viewed in ancient times as nearly synonymous with
cent years, social scientists and historians of ideas (Clawson,
geometry and architecture, knowledge of which was a privi-
1989; Carnes, 1989; Jacob, 1991) have sought to understand
leged or secret possession available only through direct trans-
the significance of Masonry within the larger spheres of reli-
mission between craftsmen. The legendary origins of stone-
gious fraternalism, gendered cultural systems, and the rise of
masonry, or the “royal art,” as it was called by Anderson and
modern democracy and civil society. In addition, competent
understood by medieval craftsmen, formed the basis upon
historians within the fraternity (Hamill, 1992 and 1994;
which modern speculative Freemasonry was constructed. As
Roberts, 1961) have maintained active lodges of research
such, the following may be construed as a linear account of
with accessible archives. And as a wider net of scholars begin
the legendary history of Freemasonry as understood by mem-
to tap the formidable amount of archival material available
bers of the Craft in the eighteenth century. While also histor-
on Freemasonry worldwide, its significance as a vital factor
ically untenable, this scenario follows what the mainstream
in Western cultural history will be further appreciated. In ad-
tradition had more-or-less accepted within its ranks as repre-
dition, the rich symbolism found in Masonic rites can pro-
senting the most effective means to convey symbolic teach-
vide a treasure trove for ritual specialists, semioticians, phe-
ings pertaining to Masonic truths and virtues.
nomenologists, and gender scholars.
HISTORY. Recent scholarship has placed the historical emer-
The almighty architect (God) created the universe ac-
gence of Freemasonry either in England or Scotland between
cording to the principles of geometry, and lastly created
1600 and 1717. Yet the origin of Freemasonry is still per-
Adam in his own image. Possessing the divine knowledge of
ceived by the lay observer as a tangled web of mystery and
geometry as delivered to him, Adam built the first temple or
opacity, due partly to the institution’s use of ancient legend-
place of worship in Eden, and lived in an innocent state.
ary history in its rituals and ceremonies, and to the fragmen-
Then, despite his fall from grace, Adam retained this wisdom
tariness of the early records of Masonic meetings, many of
and taught his sons Cain, who built a city, and Seth, who
which may have been destroyed in the Great Fire of London
taught his offspring. Later, the sons of Lamech perfected the
in 1666. The confusion is heightened by a surfeit of origin
arts of metallurgy, music, and tent construction; Enoch, an-
theories—propounded by both Masons and non-Masons—
ticipating a cataclysm (flood), built two pillars and engraved
that are largely untenable, such as proposals that the order
on them the sciences of geometry and masonry. According
has roots in the Druids, Gnostics, Egyptian pharaohs, the
to the oldest manuscripts of the Old Charges, it was Hermes
mysteries of Isis and Osiris, Phoenicians, Dionysiac Artifi-
in Egypt who recovered one of the pillars and was able to
cers, Vedic Aryans, Zoroastrians, Rosicrucians, the Jewish
restore the art of geometry by passing it on to the Egyptian
Qabbalah, Hermeticism, Essenes, or the Crusades. While as-
pharaohs. But, according to Anderson, it was Noah who
pects of these traditions permeate some Masonic rites and de-
built the ark by the principles of geometry and, with his sons
rivative orders, their direct influence during the seventeenth
and their descendents, brought masonry into the postdiluvi-
century is elusive and has been difficult to document. In fact,
an world after settling on the plain of Shinar (Tigris and Eu-
the precise historical circumstances of the transition from a
phrates). Anderson refers to a mason as a “true Noachite,”
medieval operative guild system, largely Catholic in orienta-
since the universal religious principles taught to Noah by
tion, to a nonoperative, gradually de-Christianized, nonde-
God in the Bible represented important Masonic teachings.
nominational fraternity still remains to be adequately de-
The descendants of Shem built the Tower of Babel under the
scribed and analyzed. Notwithstanding these conditions, it
direction of Nimrod who allegedly presided over the first
is perhaps most useful to divide Masonic history into two
Masonic organization in Babylon. After the destruction of
parts: legendary, the period for which there is virtually no au-
the tower and the confusion of languages, the masons were
thentic documents but only myths and legends; and historic,
able to preserve their teachings by devising a system of signs
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and passwords, and Nimrod succeeded in building an empire
Historic period. The Historic period of Freemasonry
in Assyria at Nineveh, and passing on the wisdom to the
has been traced by scholars (Clawson, 1989; Jacob, 1991;
Chaldean Magis of Persia. The descendants of Ham brought
Hamill, 1992 and 1994) to these same periodic gatherings
masonry into Egypt and Canaan, and the descendants of Ja-
and confraternities of operative stonemasons engaged in the
pheth brought it into Greece, Italy, Great Britain, and Amer-
building of medieval churches and cathedrals in England and
ica. The names of Pythagoras and Euclid are also included
Europe. The earliest manuscripts associated with the work
in these legendary histories, as well as the role of the myster-
and moral symbolism of the stonemasons, the Old Charges,
ies of Osiris and Isis as prototypes for the use of symbolism
date from the late fourteenth century and are also called the
in initiatory rituals.
“Gothic Constitutions.” Besides tracing the legendary histo-
ry of the Craft of masonry, as shown above, they contain spe-
Abraham, schooled in the builders’ art in ancient Meso-
cific moral instructions that are enjoined upon members as
potamia, answered God’s call and moved his family to Ca-
apprentices, fellow craftsmen (or journeymen), and master
naan, where he taught geometry to the Canaanites, as well
masons. It is probable that secrecy dates from this period,
as to his own offspring. Their descendants, the Hebrews,
when knowledge of the building techniques of individual
were eventually enslaved in Egypt but rose up under Moses,
master masons was restricted to guild members.
who was learned in Egyptian masonry. After leading his peo-
ple into the wilderness accompanied by an ark that was de-
Freemasonry as an official public institution is normally
signed by divine geometrical instruction, Joshua and the Isra-
dated from the establishment of the first national Masonic
elites established the masonic arts once again in Canaan,
organization, the Grand Lodge of England, a result of the
where preparations were later begun under King David for
combination of four smaller lodges of nonoperative (non-
a magnificent temple to their God.
craftsmen) masons at the Goose and Gridiron Alehouse,
London, on June 24, 1717. While nonoperatives were in-
The biblical aspects of Freemasonry that relate to King
cluded in operative masons clubs or guilds, no cooperative
Solomon’s Temple reflect a closer alliance with recorded his-
network of nonoperative lodges had been formally an-
tory. Though Solomon is briefly mentioned as part of the
nounced. The history of Freemasonry during this period is
Masonic chain in the earliest manuscripts of the Old Charges,
documented primarily through publications, private diaries,
Solomon and his Temple are central to Anderson’s account
journals, minutes, and newspaper accounts. The Craft at-
in which the Masonic lodge itself becomes a symbolic replica
tracted royal patronage by 1720, and many of its early mem-
of the Temple, influencing successive generations of Freema-
bers in London were also connected to the Royal Society and
sons. Anderson portrays King Solomon as the Grand Master
the circle surrounding Isaac Newton.
of Jerusalem who was assisted in the construction of the
The Masonic lodge became a radically new blend of
Temple by “masons” and carpenters sent by Hiram, King (or
aristocrat, commoner, Catholic, Protestant, and Jew, by
Grand Master) of Tyre. Among the workers is the chief ar-
which new ideas of liberty, equality, and fraternity were cele-
chitect, Hiram Abif, a stonemason. In the biblical books of
brated. Many Masons in Europe at this time were distin-
Kings and Chronicles (1 Kgs. 7:13–50; 2 Chr. 4), there is men-
guished figures of the Enlightenment, including Voltaire,
tion of a Hiram from Tyre who is “filled with wisdom and
Edward Gibbon, Goethe, Johann Herder, Johann Fichte,
understanding” and is primarily a worker in brass and metals.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Haydn, Alexander Pope,
Building upon the biblical story, the Masonic version por-
Jonathan Swift, and John Theophilus Desaguliers, an Angli-
trays Hiram Abif as a master mason who was murdered be-
can priest of Huguenot ancestry who became the order’s
fore completion of the Temple by ruffians for not revealing
third elected Grand Master. Mozart wrote an entire set of
the secret master’s word (i.e., password and signs). The leg-
Masonic musical works for his lodge, as well as The Magic
end of Hiram Abif, including his murder and “resurrection,”
Flute (1791), an opera rich in Masonic symbolism.
became a death-and-rebirth allegory that is dramatized with-
in the third degree ritual of today’s Craft. The initiated mas-
The introduction of Freemasonry into France by 1725
ter mason is imparted with the master’s word and continues
signified the transition from a largely nonpolitical organiza-
the line of succession, protecting this “intellectual property”
tion into a body that was also identified with the Jacobite
into the future.
cause for the restoration of the Stuart monarchy in England
(King James). The descendants and followers of the exiled
After describing events surrounding the destruction of
James II, who had died in1701, found sympathizers on the
the Second Temple, and its rebuilding under Herod, Ander-
continent, especially in Catholic France, who viewed Mason-
son continues in his narration with Jesus Christ as the Grand
ry as a means of infiltrating themselves back into English so-
Master of the Christians who rose again from the dead. Then
ciety. Though the Grand Lodge of France was nominally in
he focuses primarily on the architectural achievements of the
control, there was a proliferation of new Masonic orders and
Romans and how the Royal art was then preserved through
exotic degrees that went beyond expectation. Under the di-
the Middle Ages by the patronage of the British monarchy,
rection of Chevalier Michael Ramsay, a Scottish pro-Stuart
right up until the time of the stonemasons and the first non-
Catholic Freemason, the initial three-degree ritual of the En-
operative lodges.
glish Craft tradition was enlarged into a system of hautes
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grades, or high degrees, which greatly influenced the nature
While there were some Protestant Christian advocates
of the fraternity. In order to align Freemasonry with Scot-
among the members, the order removed any requirement
land and the Stuarts, Ramsay made the claim in a famous
that its initiates be Christians with the adoption of the Con-
speech that Freemasonry really originated from the Knights
stitutions of 1723, revised in 1738 by James Anderson. Large-
Templar, a monastic order protecting the Crusades that had
ly as a result of British imperial expansion, initially among
been disbanded and persecuted by the pope in the fourteenth
the military, lodges of Freemasons were established in North
century, but which had sought asylum in Scotland until it
America, India, the West Indies, and throughout the world.
resurfaced as Freemasonry. The Templar origin theory con-
tinues today in the works of John Robinson and Michael
During the latter half of the eighteenth century, a rival
Baigent, as well as in some recently popular novels and films.
grand lodge was formed by disaffected Irish and Scottish Ma-
Appealing to the French taste for high-sounding titles and
sons that divided English-speaking Freemasonry for sixty
rituals, and the continental aversion toward building trades,
years. Calling themselves “Antients” and the others “Mod-
Ramsay initially contrived a series of three chivalric degrees
erns,” this schism was finally healed in 1813 with the forma-
that initiated the candidates into a kind of knighthood un-
tion of the United Grand Lodge of England under the lead-
known to the British lodges. Numerous degrees were later
ership of the duke of Sussex, who had been Grand Master
added that included Rosicrucian, Gnostic, qabbalistic, and
of the Moderns. This division had led to the addition of the
Hermetic elements (Knight of the Sun, twenty-eighth degree
Holy Royal Arch to the basic three-degree system. While not
in the Scottish Rite), so that by the end of the nineteenth
of the highly imaginative character of continental degrees,
century there were literally hundreds of degrees offered by
the York Rite or Royal Arch provided Freemasons with a set
various Masonic and quasi-Masonic organizations, many of
of degrees that proposed to impart the ineffable name of
which were open to women.
deity to the degree’s recipient. This rite was incorporated
into the British Masonic system and also included Knights
Regarding certain occult aspects of Freemasonry, recent
Templar and Knights of Malta degrees. Initially an Antient
scholarship has shed light on the Hermetic and possibly Ro-
invention, the York Rite won wide acceptance throughout
sicrucian influences on the historical founding of Freemason-
the Masonic fraternity in the nineteenth century.
ry. Building upon the work of Francis Yates, David Steven-
son has shown plausible connections between early
The vital contribution of Freemasonry toward the estab-
Freemasonry in Scotland, Hermeticism, Rosicrucian “invisi-
lishment of the United States is confirmed by modern schol-
ble” brotherhoods (Lutheran mystical groups), and the an-
arship. Founding fathers like George Washington, Benjamin
cient art of memory in the sixteenth century. According to
Franklin, John Hancock, and James Monroe, as well as the
Stevenson, the art of memory, originally a technique for im-
Marquis de Lafayette and a host of others, played key roles
proving the memory by visualizing rooms in a building, be-
in making the ideals of Freemasonry a reality by creating
came, under the influence of the sixteenth-century Hermeti-
America as a kind of Masonic “Temple of Virtue” that pro-
cist Giordano Bruno, a magico-religious art for the ascent of
duced model citizens. Many of the principles laid down in
the soul, and it was adapted into Masonry to fix the mind
the United States Constitution are essentially Masonic prin-
on images and symbols in the Masonic temple. As such, late
ciples: liberty, freedom of conscience, religious tolerance,
Renaissance fascinations with Egyptian hieroglyphics,
pursuit of happiness, and separation of church and state.
alchemical searches for immortality, Neoplatonism, and
Most federal and state government buildings were consecrat-
architecture were all persuasive factors in the genesis of the
ed with Masonic ceremonies. In addition, Freemasonry be-
fraternity.
came almost synonymous with patriotism toward America’s
“civil religion.” Famous patriotic Masons like Irving Berlin
The higher degrees that survived into mainstream Free-
(“God Bless America”) and John Philip Sousa (“Stars and
masonry were later grouped into two principal rites, or sys-
Stripes Forever”) wrote stirring songs and marches, while
tems: the Scottish Rite of thirty-three degrees, which was
lesser-known Masons designed the capital city of Washing-
originally derived from the French but flourished in Ameri-
ton, D.C., created the Statue of Liberty, and sculpted the
ca; and the York Rite, a system of advanced degrees said to
faces on Mount Rushmore.
originate in York, England. The Scottish Rite, built upon the
earlier Rite of Perfection of twenty-five degrees, was brought
Freemasonry in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries
to the West Indies by Stephen Morin and formally estab-
continued to develop along the lines established by the dif-
lished in the United States by 1801 in Charleston, South
fering English and French models. English, Irish, and Scot-
Carolina, where it was enlarged to thirty-three degrees. Al-
tish Freemasonry shaped the fraternity and its teachings in
bert Pike (1809–1891) rewrote all of these degrees during his
Canada, the United States, the West Indies, India, and much
term as Supreme Commander of the Ancient and Accepted
of Africa. The impact of the French tradition, with its ratio-
Scottish Rite.
nalistic and politicized emphasis, was more deeply felt in
Austro-Hungary, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Latin America.
British Freemasonry, organized into separate Irish, Scot-
By 1877, communication between these two groups had vir-
tish, and English grand lodges, remained nonpartisan during
tually ceased, when the Grand Orient of France removed the
the political-religious disputes of the eighteenth century.
requirement that its initiates declare a belief in the existence
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of God as the “Great Architect of the Universe.” In English-
illustrates and confers specific Masonic teachings and obliga-
speaking areas, Freemasonry has in general prospered as a
tions that are spoken as part of a “catechism” memorized by
support to constitutional, democratic government.
the candidate for each degree. All Masonic degrees are related
to the transformation of the human personality from a state
One notable blemish on the Craft was the anti-Masonic
of darkness to light (“light in masonry”), symbolic of a higher
episode in the United States. The abduction and suspected
level of human moral perfection destined to reach the “celes-
murder of William Morgan of Batavia, New York, in 1829
tial lodge above,” the term used for immortality beyond
caused a widespread reaction against Freemasonry through-
death.
out the country. Morgan had published an exposé of its ritu-
als and had brought considerable wrath upon himself from
Because Freemasonry has transposed a system of moral
the fraternity, yet no solid evidence of his murder has been
and noetic teaching upon a graded institutional structure, it
brought forward. Other secret societies, including Phi Beta
has often been deemed a threat to confessional and orthodox
Kappa and college social fraternities that are derived from the
religion. The basis for such assumptions is the fraternity’s use
Freemasons, were also publicly affected, largely as a reaction
of symbols that describe the change of personal moral charac-
against the perceived influence of political and social elites.
ter and human awareness by stages or degrees. These degrees
This situation also precipitated the first American political
have been interpreted as a plan for spiritual redemption with-
party convention, that of the Anti-Masonic Party in 1832.
out penance and forgiveness of sin. A study of the basic cere-
monials and teachings, however, suggests that the goal of
MASONIC TEACHINGS. Since 1717, Masonic teachings have
Masonic initiation is not actually redemption in the literal
retained a remarkable continuity and consistency. Member-
sense, but rather a shift in the initiate’s perception toward
ship in Freemasonry is comprised essentially of three steps
the betterment of his personal moral character.
or “degrees.” The prospective candidate, after initial screen-
ing and interviewing, is initiated into the first degree as “en-
The lack of central authority and the multitude of Ma-
tered apprentice,” passed to second degree as “fellowcraft,”
sonic degrees and ceremonials make it impossible to state un-
and raised to the third degree as “master Mason,” usually
equivocally that Freemasonry is religious in any final or con-
within a year. In place within Masonic ritual by 1730, the
clusive sense. Since Pope Clement XII’s encyclical In
completion of all three degrees in succession made a man a
eminenti in 1738, the Roman Catholic Church has pro-
full Mason, with all the rights and privileges of lodge fellow-
scribed Masonic affiliation for Catholics, with excommuni-
ship, but also with expectations of participation in leadership
cation as the penalty. The emancipation of Jews was one of
succession, charitable work, and submission of dues. As part
the by-products of the Enlightenment, and was ascribed to
of the transformation from operative to speculative (initiated
Masonic influence. As such, the free admission of Jews into
and living according to Masonic virtues) Masonry, each of
lodges of equal fellowship with Christians evoked further
the three degrees has employed within its structure “working
condemnation by the Roman Catholic Church. Moreover,
tools” of the operative stonemasons, transformed from raw
the identification of major southern European and Latin
implements into symbols of Masonic teachings. The entered
American revolutionary leaders, such as Giuseppe Mazzini,
apprentice degree uses the 24-inch gauge and the common
Giuseppe Garibaldi, Simón Bolívar, Bernardo O’Higgins,
gavel, the former symbolic of dividing the hours of the day
and José Julián Martí y Pérez, with Freemasonry created
into three periods of service to God, charity, and rest, and
more tension by the end of the nineteenth century, especially
the latter symbolic of removing vices and superfluities of life
during the First Vatican Council (1869–1870). More recent-
(i.e., forming the perfect ashlar out of the rough or imperfect
ly, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and the Southern
stone, itself symbolic of the new candidate). The fellowcraft
Baptist Convention in the United States and the General
degree utilizes the plumb, square, and level to symbolize
Conference of the Methodist Church in England and Wales
walking upright before God and fellow humans, honesty
have legislated claims that Freemasonry is a system of faith
(“fair and square”), and equality (“on the level”). The third
and morals outside of the Christian tradition.
degree of master Mason utilizes the trowel in order to spread
(“the cement of”) brotherly love. In this degree, the legend-
Beside suspicions of philo-Semitism, including the fic-
ary architect of King Solomon’s Temple, Hiram Abif, is por-
tional notion of a worldwide Jewish-Masonic conspiracy,
trayed in a drama whereby he is symbolically slain by ruffians
Christian opposition to Freemasonry stems from the alleged
for not revealing Masonic secrets, and then “resurrected,”
elements of deism, natural religion, and Neoplatonism in
thus serving as a paradigm for the rebirth of the candidates
Masonic rituals that suggest the perfectibility of humanity
into a new life.
rather than its sinful nature and need of redemption in
Christ (see Whalen, 1958). However, many churches that
In addition to the above tools, there are three immov-
maintain a less exclusive understanding of revelation have
able “jewels” of the lodge, the rough ashlar (unpolished state
been much more tolerant of Freemasonry’s belief in a univer-
of noninitiation), the perfect ashlar (ideal “polished” state of
sal brotherhood of humanity under the fatherhood of God.
Masonic life), and the trestleboard (the rules and designs
Many Christians today continue to enjoy both Masonic and
given by the “Great Architect of the Universe,” the symbolic
Christian fellowship. Moreover, in parts of the world where
name for God). Each implement as used in the lodge both
religions other than Christianity prevail, the volume of sa-
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FREEMASONS
cred law used in Masonic lodges corresponds to the prevalent
women members worldwide. Their rituals, utilizing a five-
book or scripture: in India, the Vedas or Bhagavadg¯ıta¯; in
pointed star, consist of five degrees drawn from the examples
Muslim countries where Masonry is permitted, the QurDa¯n;
of five biblical heroines: Adah (Jephtha’s daughter; Judges 11:
and in Israel, the Torah. As such, Freemasonry does not ad-
29–40), Ruth, Esther, Martha, and Electa (alluded to in 2
vocate deism or any other specific religious doctrine, stress-
John). Florence Nightingale was one of their famous patron
ing that members pursue their religious life outside of the fra-
members. Other Masonic orders for women include the
ternity, yet live a moral life according to universal principles
White Shrine of Jerusalem and the Order of Amaranth, with
of brotherly love, relief, and truth.
Job’s Daughters and Rainbow Girls for young women. Be-
side these, there are now several full-fledged women’s grand
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, Freema-
lodges in the United States, which are independent of male
sonry has a worldwide membership of approximately seven
Freemasonry. These groups, like most Masonic organiza-
million people. It is governed by independent national grand
tions, engage in various charitable activities. While Freema-
lodges, except in the United States, Canada, and Australia,
sonry is racially mixed, there are also independent, largely
where grand lodges are organized by state or province. All
black, grand lodges. The largest of these African American
Freemasons maintain membership in a specific lodge, yet are
lodges is Prince Hall, named after a freed slave in eighteenth-
welcomed as fellow Masons in most places of the world
century Massachusetts who received a charter from London.
where Freemasonry thrives.
Many notable African Americans, such as Booker T. Wash-
Freemasonry has also provided a working structure or
ington and W. E. B. Du Bois were Prince Hall Masons, as
model for secret organizations. During the nineteenth centu-
were jazz musicians Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington,
ry, many new fraternal orders were created that in some way
Count Basie, and Nat King Cole.
were derivative of Freemasonry. The Knights of Columbus
FAMOUS MASONS. Any assessment of the Masonic fraternity
is a Masonic-like order for Catholics only, and the Order of
must acknowledge the wide range of membership that cuts
B’nai B’rith has a Jewish clientele. There is an endless list of
across religious, ethnic, cultural, and racial lines. The list
these, including Odd Fellows, Elks, Moose, Rotary, Kiwanis,
below includes names of some Masons who have distin-
Lions, and Eagles. Even such occult groups as Gardnerian
guished themselves in service to both Masonry and the soci-
Witchcraft, the Theosophical Society, and the Hermetic
ety in which they lived.
Order of the Golden Dawn are not without Masonic
Stephen Austin, “Father of Texas”; Luther Burbank,
influence.
American naturalist; Robert Burns, Scottish poet; Marc Cha-
More closely within the Masonic fold are the groups
gall, Russian artist; Walter Chrysler, American car manufac-
that require initiation into the three Craft degrees. Beside the
turer; Winston Churchill, English statesman; Ty Cobb,
Scottish and York Rites, there is the Ancient Arabic Order
American baseball legend; Davy Crockett, American fron-
of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (Shriners), which has a
tiersman; Cecil B. De Mille, American filmmaker; Arthur
visible Islamic theme to its rituals, and, along with the Grot-
Conan Doyle, English author; W. C. Fields, American co-
to, provides a recreational dimension to fraternity life that
medic actor; John Glenn, American astronaut; Pasha Ismail,
is also strongly committed to charity in the form of burn
Egyptian viceroy and builder of the Suez Canal; Jerome
clinics and hospitals for crippled children. The Order of De-
Kern, American composer; Rudyard Kipling, English writer;
Molay is designed for young men, and Acacia is the name
Charles Lindbergh, American aviator; Charles H. Mayo,
for the Masonic college fraternity.
American physician and co-founder of the Mayo Clinic; An-
drew Mellon, American industrialist; Motilal Nehru, Indian
Freemasonry is by no means an exclusively male con-
politician and father of Jawaharlal Nehru; Norman Vincent
cern. Since ancient times, women have also bonded together
Peale, American Protestant clergyman; Pedro I, first king of
into sisterhoods, both religious and secular. The Eleusinian
Brazil; Paul Revere, American Revolutionary War hero;
Mysteries in ancient Greece, and the various women’s orders
Sugar Ray Robinson, American boxing champion; Roy Rog-
in the Roman, medieval, and Renaissance periods, are pre-
ers, American actor; Antoine Sax, Belgian inventor of the
cursors for what came to be referred to as adoptive Masonry,
saxophone; Walter Scott, Scottish novelist and poet; Jean Si-
established in France about 1775. The Adoptive Rite, de-
belius, Finnish composer; Arthur Sullivan, English compos-
signed for wives, sisters, widows, and daughters of Freema-
er; Leo Tolstoy, Russian author; Swami Vivekananda,
sons, consisted of four degrees: apprentice, companion, mis-
Hindu ascetic and philosopher; John Wayne, American
tress, and perfect mistress. Numerous Masonic rites and
actor; and Oscar Wilde, Anglo-Irish writer.
orders that included women proliferated in the nineteenth
United States presidents who were Masons include
century, including Co-Masonry.
George Washington, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, James
The most famous and successful of the adoptive or an-
Polk, James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, James Garfield,
drogynous orders (orders that include both men and women)
William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, William H. Taft,
emerged in the United States in 1868 under the guidance
Warren G. Harding, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Tru-
of Robert Morris, an active Freemason. This group is called
man, Lyndon B. Johnson, Gerald R. Ford, and Ronald
the Order of the Eastern Star, and it has over two million
Reagan.
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FREE WILL AND DETERMINISM
3199
SEE ALSO Esotericism; Rosicrucians.
Pike, Albert. Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scot-
tish Rite of Freemasonry. Charleston, S.C., 1871.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ridley, Jasper. The Freemasons: A History of the World’s Most Pow-
Anderson, James. The Constitutions of the Freemasons. London,
erful Secret Society. New York, 2001.
1723; facs. reprint, London, 1976.
Roberts, Allen E. House Undivided: The Story of Freemasonry and
Anderson, James. The New Book of Constitutions. London, 1738;
the Civil War. Richmond, Va., 1961.
facs. reprint, London, 1976.
Robinson, John J. Born in Blood: The Lost Secrets of Freemasonry.
Ars Quatuor Coronatorum: Transactions of Quatuor Coronati Lodge
New York, 1990.
No. 2076. London, 1888 onwards. Transactions of the pre-
Robinson, John J. A Pilgrim’s Path: Freemasonry and the Religious
mier lodge of Masonic research.
Right: One Man’s Road to the Masonic Temple. New York,
Baigent, Michael, and Richard Leigh. The Temple and the Lodge.
1993.
New York, 1989.
Stevenson, David. The First Freemasons: Scotland’s Early Lodges
Beck, Guy L. “Celestial Lodge Above: The Temple of Solomon
and Their Members. Aberdeen, UK, 1988.
in Jerusalem as a Religious Symbol in Freemasonry.” Nova
Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions 4,
Stevenson, David. The Origins of Freemasonry: Scotland’s Century,
no. 1 (2000): 28–51.
1590–1710. Cambridge, UK, 1988.
Bullock, Steven C. Revolutionary Brotherhood: Freemasonry and the
Walkes, Joseph A., Jr. Black Square and Compass: 200 Years of
Transformation of the American Social Order, 1730–1840.
Prince Hall Freemasonry. Richmond, Va., 1979.
Chapel Hill, N.C., 1996.
Weisberger, R. William, Wallace McLeod, S. Brent Morris, eds.
Cahill, Edward. Freemasonry and the Anti-Christian Movement. 2d
Freemasonry on Both Sides of the Atlantic: Essays concerning the
ed. Dublin, 1930.
Craft in the British Isles, Europe, the United States, and Mexi-
co. New York, 2002.
Carnes, Mark C. Secret Ritual and Manhood in Victorian America.
New Haven, 1989.
Whalen, William J. Christianity and American Freemasonry. Mil-
Clawson, Mary Ann. Constructing Brotherhood: Class, Gender, and
waukee, Wis., 1958.
Fraternalism. Princeton, 1989.
Yates, Frances A. The Rosicrucian Enlightenment. London, 1972.
Coil, Henry Wilson. Coil’s Masonic Cyclopedia. Rev. ed. Rich-
WILLIAM H. STEMPER, JR. (1987)
mond, Va., 1996.
GUY L. BECK (2005)
Dumenil, Lynn. Freemasonry and American Culture, 1880–1930.
Princeton, 1984.
Ferguson, Charles W. Fifty Million Brothers: A Panorama of Amer-
FREE WILL AND DETERMINISM. Free will is
ican Lodges and Clubs. New York and Toronto, 1937.
a moral, religious, and social concept that is central to philos-
Fox, William L. Lodge of the Double-Headed Eagle: Two Centuries
ophy and most religions. It has been argued that the basis
of Scottish Rite Freemasonry in America’s Southern Jurisdiction.
of freedom lies in the contingency of natural events. Though
Fayetteville, Ark., 1997.
this line of reasoning has been by and large abandoned, for
Hamill, John. World Freemasonry: An Illustrated History. London,
freedom to exist at all the concept of strict universal causality
1992.
will have to be suspended, at least in the moral sphere. An-
Hamill, John. The History of English Freemasonry. London, 1994.
other line of thought sees the foundation of freedom in spiri-
Henderson, Kent. Masonic World Guide. London, 1984.
tuality: The soul, as immaterial, is not subject to the deter-
Horne, Alex. King Solomon’s Temple in the Masonic Tradition.
ministic laws of nature. Whatever the explanation, belief in
Wellingborough, UK, 1972.
free will amounts to the conviction that, as individuals,
Jacob, Margaret C. Living the Enlightenment: Freemasonry and Pol-
human beings are endowed with the capacity for choice of
itics in Eighteenth-Century Europe. New York, 1991.
action, for decision among alternatives, and specifically that,
Keith Schuchard, Marsha. Restoring the Temple of Vision: Cabalis-
given an innate moral sense, humans can freely discern good
tic Freemasonry and Stuart Culture. Leiden, 2002.
and evil and choose the good, though they often do not. De-
terminism is the philosophical view that, given certain initial
Knoop, Douglas, and G. P. Jones. The Mediaeval Mason: An Eco-
nomic History of English Stone Building in the Late Middle
conditions, everything that ensues is bound to happen as it
Ages and Early Modern Times. 3d ed. New York and Man-
does and in no other possible way; thus nothing in nature
chester, UK, 1967.
is contingent, nor is there any room for human freedom. The
Knoop, Douglas, G. P. Jones, and Douglas Hamer. The Early Ma-
partisans of a “hard” determinism hold that none of one’s
sonic Catechisms. 2d ed. Edited by Harry Carr. London,
actions is free, but only appear to be so; consequently, moral
1963.
responsibility is an illusion as well; “soft” determinists, or
Mackey, Albert G. The History of Freemasonry: Its Legendary Ori-
compatibilists, believe that while one’s actions are indeed
gins. New York, 1898; reprint, 1996.
caused, one is nevertheless free, since causality does not com-
pel one’s will.
Ovason, David. The Secret Architecture of Our Nation’s Capital:
The Masons and the Building of Washington, D.C. New York,
PHILOSOPHICAL INTERPRETATIONS. In Greek antiquity the
2000.
idea of free will was clearly derived from the difference be-
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3200
FREE WILL AND DETERMINISM
tween free individuals and slaves, in modern times from the
RELIGIOUS INTERPRETATIONS. The essential presupposition
political structures of rising democratic electoral systems. A
of most major religions is that humans are born with free-
whole lineage of philosophers tried to reconcile the idea of
dom of choice. Free will is the capacity to choose among
determinism, the theological one in particular, with that of
courses of action, objectives, things, desires, and so forth, and
free will as uninhibited intentional action. Early Greek
also to assume full moral responsibility for them. For the will
thought regarded free will as the denial of all intrinsic limita-
to be free it is therefore necessary that there be no direct coer-
tions upon the pursuit of voluntary goals. Plato shows in the
cion, serious compulsion, or distortion of truth (for example,
Republic that social structures and moral conventions can be
through propaganda or brainwashing) and also that alterna-
masterminded and manipulated at will. Both Socrates and
tives for choice be at hand. A variety of conditions in society
Plato shifted the locus of freedom from the power to affect
will allow for a variety of beliefs and the free exercise of
external events to the inner exercise of will and conviction.
human choice. Classically, this idea is defined as the absence
For Aristotle the power of free will lies in the capacity of
of obstacles to the realization of various freedoms; it has a
thought to harmonize itself not only with God but with the
negative aspect, freedom from (want, fear, et al.), and a posi-
good and the good life (On Interpretation, chap. 9). To be
tive one, freedom for (worship, creativity, symbolic acts of
free meant to be rational. According to Augustine of Hippo
speech, et al.). Religious freedom, including, but not reduc-
(On Free Will), God’s foreknowledge of events does not cur-
ible to, freedom of worship, illustrates the inseparability of
tail the capacity to choose and indeed the necessity of doing
these aspects, being at the same time freedom from spiritual
so, since God’s knowledge of eternity is somewhat akin to
coercion (for example, forcibly inculcated atheism, active
that of a ubiquitous present. The will is certainly free and
proselytism) and freedom for the consciousness to believe,
there is no reason to believe that God’s knowledge of the ob-
the individual to practice, and the community to exercise the
ject of the will should impair its freedom in any way. Hu-
rules of conduct and rituals of its own tradition.
manity’s freedom is to love God and act upon its own will.
In accordance with the same line of argument, Boethius (On
The principle of determinism, which claims that the
the Consolation of Philosophy) defined eternity as “the simul-
states of the universe, including human volition, are to be
taneous and complete possession of infinite life.” Thomas
rigidly deduced from previous causes, and that nothing could
Aquinas similarly held that God’s eternal vision could in no
be other than it is or was, is a negation of free will. To the
way cause one’s actions (Summa theologiae 1.14.13).
extent that they involve moral responsibility, all religions
must recognize that a human being is a free agent. However,
Modern philosophers struggled with the dilemma of di-
the presupposition of monotheistic religions that the one
vine foreknowledge and human freedom by redefining the
God is not only omnipotent but also omniscient seems to
latter, for instance, as “lack of constraint” (Hobbes); others,
annul the power of free decision in humanity, which leads
for example, Descartes, emphasized the infinity of the will
to the contradiction of one being held responsible for some
in espousing the true and rejecting the false even though
courses of action for which one is actually not responsible.
human understanding may be limited. Spinoza conceived of
human free will as self-determination; Leibniz, as a form of
Most religions have sought a theological solution to this
uncaused spontaneity, which was later to be equated with
dilemma. In Hinduism, even though the blame for evil is
“freedom from indifference.” It followed from these views
usually cast upon the god who causes human imperfections
that God could never be blamed for human errors. Yet this
and thus dooms humanity to downfall, people are still held
concept of a mind causally undetermined, inexplicably free,
morally responsible for their woes, as they are for corrupting
was found unsatisfactory and was replaced by Locke’s con-
other human beings; parents are considered morally respon-
cept of preference as cause (opposed to the previous idea
sible for their children’s—even physical—constitution. A
about the irrelevance of judgments to one’s will), and by
concept present across the board in Asian religions, from
Hume’s argument that a free action is one that could have
Jainism and Brahmanism to Buddhism, Sikkhism, Parsi, and
been avoided. For Kant, determinism is phenomenal and
animistic religions, is karman, which mainly points to action
freedom is noumenal, since the pure practical reason upon
and reaction in the long series of reincarnations but is errone-
which one freely acts lies outside the realm of causation and
ously understood sometimes as rigid universal determinism,
makes up the essence and autonomy of moral life. Hegel and
fate, or even retributive justice. Actually karman encompass-
his left-wing followers looked upon freedom and necessity
es the unity and interrelatedness of all phenomena, their fun-
as two sides of the same coin, two ideas dialectically intercon-
damental contingency, and the acts or rituals (karman) capa-
nected through “knowledge” or “understanding”: Freedom
ble of destroying the bonds of transmigration. Under the law
is necessity understood. Other nineteenth-century idealists,
of karman an individual is essentially free to accept or to at-
called libertarians, tended to postulate a special entity, the
tempt to change the chain of cosmic events. There are many
“self,” which uses the body as a causal instrument while being
oscillations (from myth to myth and scripture to scripture)
itself immune to causation. The materialists, to the contrary,
and ambiguities concerning the status of the individual in the
had favored since antiquity an almost total subordination of
cosmos: On the one hand, he or she might be considered as
freedom to the necessary or contingent play of natural and
a passive entity subject to the laws of the universe, now weak-
social forces outside of both individual and divine control.
ened and contaminated, now strengthened and purified, by
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FREE WILL AND DETERMINISM
3201
the flow of events; on the other hand, the individual enjoys
fated is to give an easy and weak explanation to an otherwise
a certain amount of spontaneous freedom. In any case, the
inexplicable event. The argument is that while in God’s
goodness to which one should aspire is the integration and
mind everything is determined in advance, the active believer
the harmony of ambivalent features rather than their dissoci-
is wholly ignorant of this determination and therefore enjoys
ation. This is what makes the Hindu concept of free will rad-
fully the freedom to choose.
ically different from the Judeo-Christian one.
Christianity is among the major religions that empha-
There are two main concepts designating freedom in In-
size the freedom of humanity to the last consequence. Even
dian philosophy: The one is sva¯raj (self-rule), which appears
the existence of evil in face of the omnipotence of God is jus-
already in the Cha¯ndogya Upanis:ad and has definite social,
tified in terms of the supremacy of humankind’s essential
political, and moral connotations; the other is moks:a, which
freedom to adopt its own goals and to choose its own course
has the psychological and metaphysical connotations of de-
of action. The controversy between Augustine of Hippo and
liverance, emancipation, and release. There is both a tension
Pelagius as early as the fifth century set the scene for what
and a synthesis between the two, out of which the real notion
was to be an ongoing theological debate in Western Chris-
of freedom in Hinduism emerges. Moks:a is, however, the ul-
tianity. To Augustine’s almost exclusive emphasis on in-
timate goal of Hindu religion. It is freedom from karman
dwelling grace, Pelagius, a British monk who lived in Africa
and bondage, which in turn is freedom from ignorance, a
and was condemned for heresy by two synods, opposed the
freedom to be attained not after death but here and now
notion that the human, unassisted free will acts in a sovereign
through physical and mental discipline. Biological and social
way in bringing about or jeopardizing human salvation. In
freedom is a necessary yet not sufficient condition for its
the sixteenth century, Erasmus of Rotterdam defended the
achievement.
church doctrine of free will against Martin Luther’s aggres-
sive denial of it and Luther’s affirmation of humankind’s
In Judaism, a person is born free because he or she is
complete dependence upon God’s grace. Protestant theology
created in the image of God (who is free). Also, it is God’s
with Zwingli, Wyclif, Calvin, and their followers steadily up-
goodness that is reflected in human freedom. The faithful are
held the soteriological and metaphysical doctrine of predesti-
to abolish completely their will in favor of God’s. Yet, ac-
nation.
cording to the teachings of the Bible, human obligations flow
from two sources: divine law and the voice of inner con-
In Ma¯dhyamika Buddhism, freedom from pain, which
science. In the Talmud, the mitsvot appear as absolute pre-
implies a complete, blissful regeneration of humankind, is
scriptions, that is, decrees to be followed by man. Jewish phi-
achieved by the elimination of all conceptual constructions
losophers, nevertheless, and particularly those influenced by
at their very roots: the duality between “is” and “is-not.” The
Hellenism (e.g., Philo Judaeus and Josephus Flavius), insist
spiritual discipline of attaining enlightenment or achieving
on the heteronomous nature of the mitsvot, which are also
Buddhahood through the resolution of the painful conflict
an explicit expression of natural law. Judaism offers little evi-
between the private and the social good is conducive to wis-
dence for the idea that events in the life of an individual
dom, prajña¯, which is itself liberating. To achieve freedom
might have been “fated” (in the Greek sense of moira); yet
is mainly a negative process consisting in the elimination of
the major collective occurrences in the life of the people of
hindrances that obscure the real, such as attachment, aver-
Israel were commanded and predetermined by God. As lord
sion, and all mental fictional constructions. S´u¯nyata¯ as the
of history and judge, God both rules over nature and deter-
intellectual intuition of voidness is equated with freedom.
mines the end result of human deeds and conflicts. God may
sometimes be portrayed in the Hebrew scriptures (Is. 34:17)
Avowedly the relationship between free will and deter-
as a caster of lots. In the rabbinical period, the belief emerged
minism is one of paradox, that is, of mutual implication and
that God did predetermine major events such as the dates
repulsion occurring simultaneously. This paradox can more
of birth, death, and marriage in the individual’s life. Outside
or less be dissolved by relegating free will to the realms of
of these, however, there was no predetermination. Nothing
spiritual awareness, psychologically lived reality, and practi-
could abolish the free will and therefore the moral responsi-
cal (moral) action; whereas determinism and predestination
bility of the person.
would belong to the actual ontological and existential given-
ness of things and events in the world. Attempts at solving
Islam holds the belief that major events are fated and
this paradox have led some theistic process philosophers and
decreed by God; this allows one to affirm the underlying uni-
theologians (e.g., Charles Hartshorne) to want to weaken the
formity and rationality of the universe. The concept of fate,
divine attributes of omniscience and omnipotence. It is not
however, was borrowed from pre-Islamic Arabic literature,
God’s unsurpassable power but his monopoly on it that is
especially from poetry that was not necessarily religious. It
denied. This should allow for openness and indeterminacy
became subordinated in Islam to a divine predestination that
in the future in which humanity’s options can be exercised
by itself does not preclude the actual freedom of the individ-
freely. The present stage of the philosophical discussion of
ual’s will. More and more, Islamic theologians shun the attri-
free will and determinism in relation to both cosmology and
bute of fatalism bestowed upon the Muslim religion. “Fate”
individual existence involves sophisticated epistemological
is often a label given after the fact; to say that something is
arguments from the theory of explanation, causality, the
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3202
FREE WILL AND PREDESTINATION: AN OVERVIEW
symmetry of past and future, and the theory of human
FREE WILL AND PREDESTINATION: AN
action.
OVERVIEW
Free will and predestination constitute a polarity in many of
SEE ALSO Conscience; Existentialism; Fate; Free Will and
the religions of the world: is salvation determined by a divine
Predestination; Israelite Law; Karman; Materialism; Moks:a;
choice or is it a matter of personal self-determination? Free
Morality and Religion; Naturalism; Pelagianism; Prajña¯; So-
will in this article does not refer to the general philosophical
teriology; S´u¯nyam and S´u¯nyata¯; Theodicy.
problem of the will’s freedom but to the specific meaning
and function of willing and self-determination in the process
BIBLIOGRAPHY
of salvation. Some religious thinkers have sharply distin-
Campbell, Charles Arthur. Selfhood and Godhood. London, 1957.
guished between the will’s freedom in the material and civil
Hartshorne, Charles. A Natural Theology of Our Time. LaSalle, Ill.,
affairs of life and its freedom or unfreedom with regard to
1967.
the spiritual life, and it is with the latter that this article is
James, William. The Will to Believe. New York, 1921.
concerned.
Kant, Immanuel. Critique of Practical Reason. Translated by Lewis
At least two ways of thinking about the freedom of the
Beek. Chicago, 1949.
will in spiritual matters have been common: free will as a
freedom of choice, whereby one does freely what one has also
Morgenbesser, Sidney and James Walsh, eds. Free Will. Engle-
wood Cliffs, N.J., 1962.
had the power to choose to do, and free will as the absence
of compulsion, whereby one willingly does what one does
Murti, T. R. V. The Central Philosophy of Buddhism. 2d ed. Lon-
without actively choosing what is done. The latter has been
don, 1955. See especially pp. 261–269.
described as voluntary necessity. In the first of these mean-
Ryle, Gilbert. The Concept of Mind (1949). Reprint, Chicago,
ings of freedom, freedom seems incompatible with divine de-
1984.
termination; in the second, it does not, and is opposed not
Schopenhauer, Arthur. Essay on the Freedom of the Will. Translated
to causality but to constraint.
by Konstantin Kolenda. Indianapolis, 1960.
Predestination as it is treated in this article is separated
Spinoza, Barukh. Ethics. Translated by William Hale White. New
from the general consideration of providence, determinism,
York, 1949.
and fate, and refers only to the voluntary divine choice of cer-
Winter, Ernst, ed. Discourse on Free Will: Selections from Erasmus
tain groups or individuals for salvation. Sometimes predesti-
and Luther. New York, 1961.
nation is considered as a part of divine providence, namely,
Zagzebski, Linda. “Divine Foreknowledge and Human Free
that aspect of the divine determination of all things that re-
Will.” Religious Studies 3 (1985): 279–298.
fers to the supernatural end of souls, as opposed to the deter-
mination of persons with regard to all else or of the natural
New Sources
order. But predestination is to be sharply distinguished from
Barker, Eileen. “‘And the Wisdom to Know the Difference?’:
some forms of determinism and from fatalism, which do not
Freedom, Control and the Sociology of Religion.” Sociology
necessarily involve the theistic concept of a personal deity
of Religion 64 (fall 2003): 285–308.
making conscious choices. Determinism may mean any one
Dennett, Daniel C. Freedom Evolves. New York, 2003.
of a number of systems claiming that all events cannot occur
Noble, Greg, and Megan Watkins. “So, How Did Bourdieu Learn
otherwise than they do, sometimes without reference to
to Play Tennis? Habitus, Consciousness and Habituation.”
deity. Fate suggests an impersonal determining force that
Cultural Studies 17 (May 2003): 520–540.
may even transcend the gods.
O’Connor, Timothy. Persons and Causes: The Metaphysics of Free
The terms election and reprobation have meanings relat-
Will. New York, 2002.
ed to predestination. One traditional use of these terms con-
Pollack, Robert. The Faith of Biology and the Biology of Faith:
siders predestination the larger divine act, which encompass-
Order, Meaning and Free Will in Modern Medical Science.
es the separate decrees of election (predestination to
New York, 2000.
salvation) and reprobation (predestination to damnation).
Wegner, Daniel. The Illusion of Conscious Will. Cambridge, Mass.,
Reprobation, however, is seldom used now, and election is
2002.
more commonly simply substituted for predestination, be-
cause it seems more positive in its connotations. In biblical
ILEANA MARCOULESCO (1987)
Revised Bibliography
studies, election has been the preferred term for referring to
divine choice.
Predestination has been considered not inevitably con-
FREE WILL AND PREDESTINATION
tradictory to free will. Sometimes both are held together as
This entry consists of the following articles:
paradoxical, yet complementary, aspects of truth; but more
classically, free will is understood not as freedom of choice
AN OVERVIEW
CHRISTIAN CONCEPTS
but as voluntary necessity. That is, where freedom means the
ISLAMIC CONCEPTS
absence of compulsion, necessary acts determined by God
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FREE WILL AND PREDESTINATION: AN OVERVIEW
3203
nonetheless can be freely done. Almost all predestinarian the-
erature teaches that God created the spirits of men to be cast
ologies have therefore maintained that the predestined will
in the lots of either good or evil and that salvation is divinely
acts freely and with consequent responsibility for its actions,
initiated and based on God’s choice. Nonetheless, the Es-
even though it lacks the power to choose its actions. In this
senes also maintained human accountability for evil. Else-
sense of freedom, even the decree of reprobation has been
where in the Judaism of the Hellenistic age, Philo Judaeus
seen as compatible with responsibility and not as entailing
upheld the will’s complete freedom.
a divine compulsion to do evil. This compatibility of free will
Rabbinic literature taught both God’s foresight and
and predestination has historically been a commonplace of
providence directing all things and human freedom of choice
Augustinian and Calvinistic theology in Christianity, and of
with respect to the doing of good or evil. A saying of EAqivaD
Islamic theology through its doctrine of acquisition. Even
ben Yosef juxtaposes them: “All is foreseen and yet freedom
such a materialistic determinist as Thomas Hobbes thought
is granted” (Avot 3:15). Some rabbinic sayings suggest that
that necessary acts were entirely voluntary and therefore re-
everything about a person’s life is determined by God except
sponsible acts. It is this that sharply distinguishes predestina-
for the soul’s obedience to God (B. T., Ber. 33b, Meg. 25a,
tion from fatalism, which may entail compulsion to act in
Nid. 16b). This matter did not become a serious question
a certain way. Roman Catholic theology refers to any predes-
for Jewish thinkers until contact with Islamic speculations in
tinarian doctrine that proceeds without reference to the will’s
the tenth century, when SaEadyah Gaon took up the prob-
freedom as the error of predestinarianism. Only in rare cases
lem. He and all the medieval Jewish philosophers maintained
in Christian and Islamic theology has that way of under-
the will’s freedom of choice. But Maimonides alluded to the
standing predestination appeared.
view of “uninformed” Jews that God decrees that an individ-
OCCURRENCE IN THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS. The issue of
ual will be either good or evil when the infant is being formed
free will and predestination in relation to salvation arises in
in the womb (Mishneh Torah, Repentance 5.2).
those religions that believe in a personal, omnipotent God,
and thus has appeared mainly in Judaism, Christianity, and
Christianity. Predestination has had a more central
Islam. But it has also occurred in ancient Greece and India
place in Christian thought. The theme of predestination to
among certain groups that have had a similar religious under-
salvation appears strongly in the Pauline literature, especially
standing.
the Letter to the Romans. For Paul, predestination results
from the divine initiative and is grounded in grace, so that
Ancient Greece. Ancient Greek monotheism, centering
no one may boast of being saved by his own efforts. Paul also
on the figure of Zeus, came near to personal theism in Sto-
speaks of God’s hardening of the hearts of unbelievers (Rom.
icism, particularly among the later Stoics who believed in im-
9:18).
mortality. They considered Zeus a universal mind and will
determining all things, including the virtue by which good
In spite of the numerous New Testament references to
persons resigned themselves to the inevitable; through this
predestination, patristic writers, especially the Greek fathers,
providence elect souls triumphed over the sufferings of earth-
tended to ignore the theme before Augustine of Hippo. This
ly existence.
was probably partly the result of the early church’s struggle
with the fatalistic determinism of the Gnostics. Augustine,
Judaism. In Judaism, the Deuteronomic tradition espe-
writing against the Pelagians, taught that God predestined
cially accents Yahveh’s choice of Israel as his people. In the
to salvation some out of the mass of sinners, passing by the
Hebrew scriptures, the stories of Moses, Samuel, Isaiah, and
rest and thus leaving them to just condemnation for the sins
Jeremiah show God’s choice of particular persons to fulfill
they willingly committed. Augustine thought that the will
special offices. But this election, whether of persons or of the
was unable to do the good that God commanded unless
group, is grounded by the Hebrew scriptures in the divine
aided by grace. To do evil willingly was a slavery to sin from
initiative, not in the chosen object, and involves special tasks
which grace rescued those whom God had chosen. Augustine
and responsibilities more than special privileges. The will’s
had many medieval followers in this doctrine, including Got-
freedom of choice in obeying God’s commandments is clear-
tschalk in the ninth century, who stated the doctrine in an
ly asserted in many passages of the Hebrew scriptures, as, for
extreme fashion, and Thomas Bradwardine in the fourteenth
example, in Deuteronomy 30:15–20. The apocryphal book of
century, who opposed those he considered his Pelagian con-
Ben Sira asserts that God does not lead persons astray but
temporaries. Thomas Aquinas was also a predestinarian, but
created them with the freedom not to sin (15:11–17).
he treated the doctrine in the context of God’s providence
as a whole. On the other hand, such medieval Scholastics as
Josephus Flavius, in describing the Pharisees to his Hel-
John Duns Scotus and William of Ockham sought to recon-
lenistic audience, said that they considered all events prede-
cile God’s prescience with human freedom of choice.
termined but still did not deprive the human will of involve-
ment in decisions about virtue and vice. The Sadducees he
In the Renaissance and Reformation there was a revival
described as rejecting determinism altogether (Jewish Antiq-
of predestinarian thinking. Lorenzo Valla was the main rep-
uities 13.171–173; Jewish War, 2.162–166). The Essenes
resentative of determinism among Renaissance philosophers,
were the most predestinarian of the Jewish groups, if the
while almost all of the major Protestant reformers found the
Qumran texts are to be attributed to them. The Qumran lit-
doctrine of predestination useful in their insistence upon the
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FREE WILL AND PREDESTINATION: AN OVERVIEW
primacy of divine grace in salvation. Luther (and Lutheran-
twentieth century, two Reformed theologians, Emil Brunner
ism, in the Formula of Concord) soon backed away from the
and Karl Barth, have attempted reformulations of predesti-
extreme predestinarian teaching of his early Bondage of the
nation while abandoning its more unpalatable features.
Will and taught only election to life, with the possibility of
Islam. Free will and predestination have been important
falling from grace. The Reformed churches, following their
issues in Islamic thought. Basic to Muhammad’s religious ex-
teachers Huldrych Zwingli, Martin Bucer, John Calvin, and
perience was a sense of God’s power, majesty, and judgment.
Peter Martyr Vermigli, gave the doctrine an important role
The QurDa¯n exhorts submission before the divine sovereignty
in the defense of grace in salvation and also taught double
and declares even that “God leads astray whom he pleases
predestination, but still insisted on the freedom of the will,
and guides whom he pleases” (su¯rah 74:34). But the QurDa¯n
which they understood in the Augustinian sense of voluntary
also presupposes choice on the part of persons who have been
necessity. Later Scholastic Reformed theologians, such as
summoned by revelation. Early in the history of Islam, the
Theodore Beza, William Perkins, and Franciscus Turretinus,
predestinarian emphasis was reinforced by a general Arab
gave the doctrine of predestination a central role in their
cultural belief in fate, and some Muslims thought that God
theological systems. An important eighteenth-century de-
permitted Satan’s irresistible incitement to evil. But one of
fense of the Reformed view of predestination and the free-
the first groups of Islamic philosophers, the MuEtazilah, ar-
dom of the will came from Jonathan Edwards in colonial
gued that, however much other events were determined be-
Massachusetts. The Church of England adopted the predes-
forehand, there was a free human choice of good or evil.
tinarian theology of the Reformers in its Thirty-nine Articles
Later Muslim theologians, emphatically teaching predestina-
and in the first century of its existence generally taught the
tion, nonetheless tried to reconcile it with free will through
Reformed view of the matter.
varying interpretations of the doctrine of acquisition. Ac-
The Roman Catholic theology of the same period, espe-
cording to this doctrine, man is regarded as voluntarily will-
cially that of the Jesuits, stressed human responsibility in the
ing his actions and thus “acquiring” them, even though God
process of salvation, with Luis de Molina maintaining the
has created these acts so that they occur by necessity. Such
position of “congruism,” that is, of grace as efficacious ac-
a viewpoint has many parallels with Augustinianism, and
cording as the will cooperates with it. Countering this was
generally Islam is no more fatalistic than is Christianity.
a revival of Augustinian theology, represented by the Spanish
Hinduism. The main traditions of Hinduism and Bud-
Dominican Domingo Bañez and by Cornelis Jansen in the
dhism do not posit a personal deity with an omnipotent will,
Netherlands. The Jansenists in France, including Blaise Pas-
and thus the polarity of free will and predestination in rela-
cal, considered the Jesuits Pelagian. Predestination has not
tion to the salvation of souls has not been so prominent as
been an important theme in more modern Roman Catholic
in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The doctrine of karman
theology, and Catholic treatments of Augustine tend to focus
can constitute a kind of determinism whereby an individual’s
on other aspects of his thought.
lot in life is determined by his behavior in past lives, but the
In the later history of Protestantism, emphasis upon
doctrine can also imply that a soul is in charge of its future
predestination has generally declined, and freedom of choice
destiny; its modern proponents therefore sometimes consider
in salvation has frequently been asserted. From the begin-
the doctrine to imply freedom more than fatalism. But in ei-
ning, few of the Anabaptists were predestinarian. Some of
ther case, karman is usually seen not as the willing of a per-
sonal deity but as the workings of an impersonal force.
the early Protestant reformers, including Heinrich Bullinger
and Theodor Bibliander, were cautious in their treatment of
However, some schools of Hinduism maintain personal
predestination, and the Dutch Reformed theologian Jacobus
theism and an omnipotent God and consequently wrestle
Arminius (1560–1609) asserted that God predestined to sal-
with the problem of free will and predestination. For exam-
vation those whom he foresaw would believe. This assertion
ple, the Vais:n:ava sect of Madhva (1238–1317) believed that
of the will’s freedom of choice in salvation came to be known
Vis:n:u predestined some souls to blessedness and others to
as Arminianism and gained ground among English Protes-
damnation, simply for his good pleasure and not because of
tants throughout the seventeenth century. In the next centu-
the merits or demerits of the souls themselves. A more cau-
ry John Wesley adopted it as the theology of Methodism,
tious theology of predestination appeared in the interpreta-
and it generally made headway among evangelicals who
tion of the Vedanta by Ra¯ma¯nuja (fl. c. 1100). He taught
wanted to be able to make straightforward appeals for con-
that the souls of some persons were led to repentance by a
versions. Thus its avowal by the nineteenth-century Ameri-
divine initiative, but he also held that the choice of good or
can evangelist Charles G. Finney influenced many in the for-
evil nonetheless included personal acts performed by means
mally Calvinistic Presbyterian and Congregationalist
of a God-given freedom. Ra¯ma¯nuja’s followers divided over
denominations, although his contemporary, the Princeton
the extent to which divine power controlled souls. The
theologian Charles Hodge, continued to uphold double pre-
Ten˙kalai, or “cat school,” taught that God’s irresistible grace
destination in its Scholastic form. The liberal Protestant the-
saves some souls the way the mother cat carries her young
ology of the nineteenth and early twentieth century usually
by the nape of the neck, while the Vat:akalai, or “monkey
rejected any form of predestinarian theology. But in the
school,” taught that God’s grace and the human will cooper-
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FREE WILL AND PREDESTINATION: AN OVERVIEW
3205
ate in salvation the way the infant monkey clings to the
AS A PROBLEM OF RELIGIOUS THOUGHT. While beliefs con-
mother.
cerning free will and predestination may be rooted in reli-
AS A PHENOMENON OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. The notion
gious experience, they are also connected to certain intellec-
of the freedom of the will in relation to salvation arises out
tual concerns and puzzlements. One motive for such
of the everyday experience of free choice and personal re-
reflection has been the simple observation that some believe
sponsibility. There seems to be a human need to feel in con-
while others do not—is this fact the consequence of personal
trol of one’s life. Modern experience has been especially char-
freedom of choice or of divine predetermination?
acterized by a sense of autonomy, and this has abetted the
Reflection on divine omnipotence has led to the infer-
assumption of the will’s freedom of choice with reference to
ence that the divine choice must be the determining factor
salvation.
in salvation. If some things were excepted from the general
Belief in predestination, on the other hand, represents
principle that all things occur by virtue of a divine causality,
and abstracts from the experience of creatureliness before the
then God would seem to lack the efficacy to bring his pur-
majesty of the divine. It was Friedrich Schleiermacher
poses to fruition. Even the bare acknowledgment of divine
(1768–1834) who first looked at predestination as a tran-
foreknowledge seems to entail determinism, for if God
script of subjective piety, concluding that it was an element
knows what will happen from eternity, it must necessarily
in the religious person’s consciousness of dependence upon
happen in that way or else his knowledge would be rendered
God. Following Schleiermacher, Rudolf Otto attempted a
erroneous. And though it may be argued that God foresees
phenomenology of the “creature feeling” that he thought lay
actual human choices, nonetheless when the time for those
behind the doctrine of predestination. As Otto interpreted
choices arrives, they cannot be other than they are; this is pre-
it, the idea of predestination was rooted not in speculative
cisely what identifies an event as predetermined. Opponents
thought but in religious self-abasement, the “annulment of
of this viewpoint have maintained, however, that foresight
personal strength and claims and achievements in the pres-
is not a cause and that therefore a foreseen event need not
ence of the transcendent,” and thus was “an immediate and
be a determined one.
pure expression of the actual religious experience of grace.”
Still, the doctrine of predestination has probably been
The one who receives grace feels that nothing has merited
rooted primarily not in this kind of consideration but in the
this favor, and that it is not a result of his own effort, resolve,
theological need to maintain the gratuitousness of salvation.
or achievement. Rather, grace is a force that has grasped, im-
To connect this with predestination effectively rules out any
pelled, and led him. Predestination is thus a numinous expe-
possibility of human merit.
rience of awe in the face of the mysterium tremendum.
Besides being rooted in the human sense of createdness
Theologies that have asserted the will’s freedom of
and of grace, predestination as a religious phenomenon also
choice in salvation have, on the other hand, focused on dif-
depends on a sense of trust and confidence in the reliability
ferent theological needs, primarily those of preserving
of the divine and in its power to complete what has been
human responsibility in the process of salvation and God’s
begun in the creature. Such belief in an ordered world and
goodness and justice in the governing of his creation. If salva-
rejection of the sheer fortuitousness of things is an important
tion is entirely God’s gift, how can those left out be held re-
element of much religious consciousness and leads to a sense
sponsible? In the modern period, the Augustinian definition
of assurance about God’s purpose and about one’s own spiri-
of freedom as absence of constraint has not been widely per-
tual security. Ernst Troeltsch thought that it was in the inter-
suasive, in spite of the fact that many elements of contempo-
est of the assurance of salvation that predestination became
rary thought, especially in relation to heredity, have provided
such a central doctrine in Protestant theology.
some basis for considering human freedom in this way.
Belief in predestination may also be regarded as arising
The problem of theodicy, in Christian thought in par-
from the search for a purely spiritual religion, for it has the
ticular, seems almost inevitably to rely on the assumption of
effect of stripping away all concrete mediation and leaving
human freedom of choice in salvation. Even the Puritan poet
the soul alone before God. It was this that led Max Weber
John Milton, in seeking to “justify the ways of God to man,”
to consider belief in predestination as functionally related to
fell back upon an assertion of such freedom.
the process of the elimination of magic from the world. This
Several considerations may be brought forward in reli-
aspect of predestinarian religion has been greatly attractive
gious thought in order, if not exactly to solve, then at least
to religious reformers, for the doctrine can become a means
to extenuate this problem. One approach is simply to acqui-
to sweep away much accumulation of religiosity.
esce to the polarity of free will and predestination as a para-
Another aspect of belief in predestination as a matter of
dox. Another consideration is Augustine’s argument that
religious experience is that it has had the effect, not (as might
God exists not in time but in the qualitatively different state
be supposed) of giving rise to fatalistic acquiescence, but of
of eternity. Thus since for God there is no past or future,
energizing the will for the fulfillment of divinely assigned
there is no priority of time for his foresight or decree in rela-
tasks. Thus Calvinist theologians spoke of predestination as
tion to the events of salvation; priority is implied only by our
election to holiness.
inadequate language. A further Augustinian consideration is
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FREE WILL AND PREDESTINATION: CHRISTIAN CONCEPTS
that, since the evil of an evil act is a deficiency of being, it
their lifetime in relation to their own salvation. Following
requires no divine causality at all. Evil is only a falling away
Augustine and Paul, theologians and the creeds have usually
from the good (and from freedom) and hence needs no posi-
maintained that God’s decision occurred “before the founda-
tive causality.
tion of the world.” In the face of this emphasis on God’s pre-
vious power of decision, the notion of free will affirms the
SEE ALSO Election; Fate; Free Will and Determinism;
human role that might appear to be overridden thereby, and
Grace; Justification; Theodicy.
acknowledges the power of human decision within the pro-
cess of salvation. The two notions exist in a paradoxical rela-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
tionship with each other, and they turn on an understanding
There are several useful introductions to the subject: C. H. Rats-
of history.
chow, Erich Dinkler, E. Kähler, and Wolfhart Pannenberg’s
“Prädestination,” in Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegen-
A widely held but mistaken opinion identifies the no-
wart, 3d ed. (Tübingen, 1957–1965), and Henri Rondet and
tion of predestination as a concept peculiar to Calvinists
Karl Rahner’s “Predestination,” in Sacramentum Mundi: An
since the sixteenth century, asserting that Calvinist traditions
Encyclopedia of Theology, edited by Karl Rahner (New York,
have denied or rendered irrelevant the notion of free will. On
1968–1970), both of which give an extensive bibliography
the contrary, all Christian traditions that honor the ancient
in several languages; Giorgio Tourn’s La predestinazione nella
creeds have in some way affirmed both free will and predesti-
Bibbia e nella storia (Turin, 1978); and Vernon J. Bourke’s
nation. They have, however, meant very different things by
Will in Western Thought: An Historico-Critical Survey (New
these concepts and have given them different roles in relation
York, 1964).
to each other. In recent times, churches have tended to mute
Rudolf Otto’s The Idea of the Holy (1923), 2d ed. (London, 1950),
their references to predestination, allowing the discourse to
offers a classic phenomenological analysis of the problem.
continue in a new form outside of ecclesiastical and theologi-
Discussion of the general historical significance of predesti-
cal milieux as a debate about freedom and determinism.
nation appears in my Puritans and Predestination (Chapel
THE ISSUES AND THE SCRIPTURES. That the question
Hill, N.C., 1982), pp. 191–196. For the Bible and ancient
Judaism, see Harold H. Rowley’s The Biblical Doctrine of
arises—and that it persists—may be attributed to the human
Election (London, 1950), Eugene H. Merrill’s Qumran and
experience of being able to choose responsibly among real
Predestination (Leiden, 1975), and George Foot Moore’s
options while at the same time being overwhelmed by forces
“Fate and Free Will in the Jewish Philosophies according to
apparently beyond human ability to choose. Christians have
Josephus,” Harvard Theological Review 22 (October 1929):
used the doctrines of free will and predestination as their
371–389. Two rather traditional Christian theological inves-
means of expressing these contrary experiences—on the one
tigations of the problem, the first Protestant and the second
hand, the certitude of salvation as God’s act; on the other
Roman Catholic, are Gaston Deluz’s Prédestination et liberté
hand, the human responsibility to believe and do what is
(Paris, 1942) and M. John Farrelly’s Predestination, Grace,
right.
and Free Will (Westminster, Md., 1964). A more recent
Christian theological treatment is Paul K. Jewett, Election
Christians have related these two concepts to many oth-
and Predestination (Grand Rapids, Mich., 1985). For Indian
ers, including God’s sovereignty and grace, divine fore-
thought, see Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan’s Indian Philosophy,
knowledge of future human acts, divine election in relation
2d ed., 2 vols. (London, 1927–1931), pp. 659–721, 731–
to human merits, eternity and time, causation, and the pro-
751, and Rudolf Otto’s Die Gnadenreligion Indiens und das
cess of salvation. They have raised periodic warnings against
Christentum (Gotha, 1930), translated by Frank H. Foster as
trying to penetrate the mystery of salvation, against impugn-
India’s Religion of Grace and Christianity (New York, 1930).
The standard work on this subject for Islam is W. Montgom-
ing the justice or the mercy of God, and against making God
ery Watt’s Free Will and Predestination in Early Islam (Lon-
the author of evil.
don, 1948).
Advocates of all positions have appealed to the Bible,
DEWEY D. WALLACE, JR. (1987 AND 2005)
even though the biblical scriptures do not contain what one
might call doctrines or concepts of free will and predestina-
tion, nor even these words. The Latin term praedestinatione
derives from the creation of an abstract noun from the trans-
FREE WILL AND PREDESTINATION:
lation of the Greek verb proorizo, which refers to deciding
CHRISTIAN CONCEPTS
or setting limits on something beforehand. The word occurs
In an effort to explain the roles of human and divine agency
six times in four passages in the New Testament: Acts of the
in the accomplishment of salvation, Christian theologians
Apostles 4:28, Romans 8:28–30, 1 Corinthians 2:7, and Ephe-
have formulated concepts of free will and predestination.
sians 1:3–14. The King James translation of the Bible renders
The concepts entered the creeds of the churches. The notion
the Romans passage this way: “For whom he did foreknow,
of predestination introduces the matter of time-order in af-
he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his
firming that God made a decision or decree about who over
Son. . . . Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he
the course of the ages would be saved by Christ prior to any
also called. . . .” In constructing the concept, theologians
decision or action that those who are saved might take during
had to piece together the several passages in keeping of some
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FREE WILL AND PREDESTINATION: CHRISTIAN CONCEPTS
3207
sense of logic, and the ways they did this led to differences.
time (the course of the past, present, and future). In Enchi-
Commonly they linked proorizo with a time metaphor from
ridion (421) Augustine taught what came to be called “dou-
Ephesians 1 about God “choosing us” “before the foundation
ble predestination,” that God not only in his mercy predes-
of the world.” This they augmented with Paul’s references
tines some to salvation but in his justice predestines the rest
in Romans 9 to one Old Testament passage about God’s
to damnation or reprobation.
“hardening the heart of Pharaoh” and another about God
A succession of church councils culminating in the
choosing Jacob instead of Esau even before these twins were
Council of Orange (529) elevated Augustine’s position to the
conceived. Over the ages, through this process of turning
status of orthodoxy. Thereafter the view not quite accurately
verbs into nouns and metaphors into concepts, theologians
attributed to the Pelagians—that original sin has no power
have built a logical edifice of considerable magnitude. The
to keep humans from using their free will to gain their own
process has passed through four phases so far.
salvation—was deemed unacceptable. The Council of
FROM SCRIPTURE TO EARLY AUGUSTINE. Paul’s writings in
Quiercy (853), responding to the concept of double predesti-
the Bible formed the basis of all future treatments. For three
nation as elaborated by Gottschalk (848), declared that view
hundred years after Paul, theologians were content to pro-
unacceptable as well. The council held that while God surely
duce commentaries on the pertinent passages. Following the
preelects some to salvation, he merely leaves the remainder
lead of Clement of Alexandria (fl. c. 200 CE), however, they
of humanity in their freely chosen sin with its predestined
interpreted proorizo as depending upon proginosko (fore-
consequence of eternal punishment.
know)—those whom God foreknew would believe, God de-
cided upon beforehand to save. The chief concern was to
Between roughly 1050 and 1450, numerous theologians
combat the concept of fatalism and affirm that humans are
worked in Augustine’s lineage to construct logical definitions
free to do what is righteous. Thus Origen fought the Gnos-
of free will or predestination. They included Anselm of Can-
tics toward the middle of the third century, and Augustine
terbury (d. 1109), Peter Lombard (d. 1160), Duns Scotus
wrote On Free Will against the Manichaeans (c. 397). Origen
(d. 1308), William of Ockham (d. 1349?), John Wyclif
asserted that humans were created with free will in the sense
(d. 1384), Lorenzo Valla (d. 1457), and others. In his
“that it is our own doing whether we live rightly or not, and
Summa theologiae (1266–1273), Thomas Aquinas gathered
that we are not compelled, either by those causes which come
and elaborated a great array of logical distinctions to explain
to us from without, or, as some think, by the presence of
the concepts of free will and predestination: sufficient and
fate.”
efficient grace, habitual and actual grace, operating and co-
operating grace, unconditional and conditional necessity, an-
AUGUSTINE THROUGH THE 1400S. Augustine changed his
tecedent and consequent will, primary and secondary cause,
emphasis as a result of a challenge from Pelagius, who sought
and so on. According to Thomas, predestination was “the
to defend human free will against Augustine’s apparent deni-
planned sending of a rational creature to the end which is
al of it in his Confessions (400): “Grant us what you [God]
eternal life.” It “presupposes election, and election [presup-
command, and command us what you will.” In numerous
poses] love.” Thomas believed that his logic would show that
treatises written over the succeeding two decades against Pe-
none of this impairs free will.
lagius and those later called semi-Pelagians, Augustine gradu-
REFORMATION THROUGH THE 1800S. The rupture of Latin
ally created the doctrine of predestination and established the
Christendom called the Reformation led to a proliferation
terms in which virtually all subsequent discussions have car-
of positions roughly analogous to the pluralism of ecclesiasti-
ried on. He stated that God created humans with the free
cal traditions produced after the 1520s. A brief statement by
will to choose between good and evil. By choosing evil they
Martin Luther (1520) that appeared to deny free will
lost their free will fully to do God’s will, and thereafter need-
prompted Desiderius Erasmus to write On the Freedom of the
ed God’s grace to be saved and to live righteously. In On the
Will (1524) in the hope of settling the matter simply. Instead
Predestination of the Saints (428–429) Augustine claimed
of a resolution, however, the ensuing debate initiated a con-
that God’s gift of grace is prepared for by God’s prior deci-
troversy lasting four hundred years. By the time it ended,
sion from eternity to predestine some to salvation. On this
theologians in virtually all traditions had attempted defini-
view, grace then comes as the effect of that predestination.
tions of the concepts of free will and predestination, and
God supremely predestined Christ to be the Son of God and
every major church tradition had built some statement of the
called all those predestined for salvation to become members
concepts into its creed.
of Christ’s body. Those so elected do indeed choose by their
free will to believe, but since they are the elect, their “will
Erasmus picked up a concept that Thomas and others
is prepared by the Lord.” In Augustine’s view, none of this
had used about cooperating grace and brought the analogous
depends on divine foreknowledge of future human merits.
concept of cooperating will or assisting will into the discus-
In the City of God (413–426) he claims that God has “a plan
sion. Erasmus asserted that the will of God “preveniently
whereby he might complete the fixed number of citizens pre-
moves the [human] will to will.” Yet, humans do indeed will
destined in his wisdom, even out of the condemned human
and achieve something. He concluded that Philippians 2:12–
race.” God decides on the plan in eternity (an everlasting
16 “certainly teaches that both humans and God work.” Lu-
present) and foreknows in one sweeping vision the whole of
ther retorted with On the Bondage of the Will (1525), denying
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FREE WILL AND PREDESTINATION: CHRISTIAN CONCEPTS
any possibility of cooperation between God and human will.
predestination. But the council took issue with Luther and
The term free will, he claimed, applies only to God or to the
Calvin, declaring that God disposes people “through his
“lower choices” that humans make about everyday matters.
quickening and assisting grace, to convert themselves to their
All matters pertaining to salvation “depend on the work of
own justification, by freely assenting to and cooperating with
God alone,” the only power able to free the will from bond-
that grace.” Certitude about being among the predestined
age to sin. Luther adopted Augustine’s position on predesti-
came only when salvation was complete for those who perse-
nation. The Lutheran Formula of Concord (1576) stated:
vered to the end. The Jesuit Luis de Molina expanded upon
“The predestination or eternal election of God extends only
Trent in his Concordia (1588), in which he presented the
to the good and beloved children of God, and this is the
concept of the concurrence of assisting grace with free will.
cause of their salvation.” Concerning the nonelect, the for-
Predestination, for Molina, depends on a scientia media by
mula urged caution when speaking of reprobation.
which God, when preordaining some to salvation, takes into
account how each person would use free will in all possible
Caution had become necessary, the Lutherans thought,
circumstances. Cornelis Jansen wrote Augustinus (1640) to
because of John Calvin’s views. In his Romans (1540) and
combat Molina, Trent, and the logical distinctions devised
Institutes of the Christian Religion, Calvin adopted Augus-
by Thomas Aquinas and the Thomists. He proposed a revival
tine’s views and followed Luther in rejecting the notion of
of Augustine’s views in order to defeat any suggestion of con-
divine and human cooperation in salvation. By the final edi-
currence and cooperation between divine and human will.
tion of the Institutes (1559), however, he defined predestina-
A papal bull condemned Jansenism in 1653.
tion expansively to include double predestination: “By pre-
destination we mean the eternal decree of God, by which he
Among Eastern Orthodox, the Russian Orthodox Con-
determined with himself whatever he wished to happen with
fession (1643) and the Confession of Jerusalem (1673) re-
regard to every person. All are not created on equal terms,
sponded to the Lutherans, Calvinists, and Trent by reaffirm-
but some are preordained to eternal life, others to eternal
ing the pre-Augustinian belief that God predestines some to
damnation.” A succession of Reformed creeds, including the
glory and others to condemnation solely because “he
French Reformed Confession (1559), the Scots Confession
foreknew the one would make a right use of their free will
(1560), the Belgic Confession (1561), and the Second
and the other a wrong.” They affirmed synergism, the work-
Helvetic Confession (1566), adopted Calvin’s teachings, ex-
ing together of God’s prevenient grace and human free will
cepting the notion of the nonelect. On this point they urged
throughout a lifetime of perseverance.
caution or, as in the Belgic Confession, affirmed that God
was “just, in leaving others in the fall and perdition wherein
In 1784, John Wesley, founder of what became the
they have involved themselves.” Of the Reformed creeds,
Methodist tradition, prepared the Articles of Religion, a revi-
only the Westminster Confession (1647) adopted double
sion of the Anglican Thirty-nine Articles. In them he omit-
predestination. The Canons of Dordt (1619) condemned
ted reference to predestination but retained a notion of di-
the formulation presented by Jacobus Arminius and the Re-
vine “prevenience,” i.e., the human free will to believe
monstrants’ creed (1610) concerning God’s assisting or co-
depends on “the grace of God by Christ preventing [i.e.,
operating grace. Arminius had characterized predestination
going before] us.” In Predestination Calmly Considered
as God’s eternal decree by which he determines to save
(1752) and other writings, Wesley himself had affirmed pre-
through Christ “those who, through the grace of the Holy
destination in the form of what he called conditional elec-
Spirit, shall believe on this his Son Jesus” and who by cooper-
tion, God’s eternal choice of some to be saved, based on fore-
ating grace are enabled to persevere to the end. Many genera-
knowledge of their future belief. He contended that
tions later Jonathan Edwards wrote his Freedom of the Will
unconditional election not based on such foreknowledge is
(1754) against the Arminians. The mainstream of the Baptist
really the same thing as double predestination.
tradition sided with the Calvinists against the Arminians in
THE TWENTIETH AND TWENTY-FIRST CENTURIES. In 1920,
adopting the New Hampshire Confession (1833) and the
Max Weber pronounced predestination to be the cardinal
Louisville Abstract of Principle (1859).
doctrine of Calvinism and gave impetus to the view that the
In the Anglican tradition, the Thirty-Nine Articles of
attached the notion to Calvinists in particular. Throughout
the Church of England (1563, 1571) followed Calvin on
the twentieth century, however, theologians as diverse as
both free will (article 10) and predestination (article 17), but
William Temple (Anglican), Karl Rahner (Roman Catholic),
not on double predestination. The Irish Articles (1615),
Karl Barth and G. C. Berkouwer (Reformed), and Wolfhart
written by James Ussher, included double predestination.
Pannenberg (Lutheran) gave significant attention to the con-
Anglican theologians, from Richard Hooker (1590s) to J. B.
cepts of free will and predestination. Church statements
Mozley (author of Predestination, 1855) sought various ways
from Vatican II and the Lutheran-Roman Catholic dialogue
to affirm both predestination and free will.
in the United States to the Synod of the Christian Reformed
Church referred positively to both concepts. At the same
For the Roman Catholic tradition, the Council of Trent
time, many Christian thinkers let the subject drop, in keep-
treated the matter in its Decree on Justification (1547). The
ing with the declaration by the World Conference on Faith
decree spoke of God’s prevenient grace and associated it with
and Order (1937) that theories about how the truths of
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FREE WILL AND PREDESTINATION: ISLAMIC CONCEPTS
3209
God’s grace and human free will might be reconciled are not
In particular, it was believed that a person’s ajal, the
part of the Christian faith. In any case, over the ages the vast
term or the date of the person’s death, was determined or
host of Christians, not being theologians, have apparently
predetermined. A person destined to die on a certain day
had little awareness of, or concern about, what the theolo-
would die then, no matter what he or she did. It was also
gians said on the subject. As Christians have become more
believed that a person’s rizq, “provision” or “sustenance,”
appreciative of metaphor and the nuances of history, and
that is, food, was also determined. This fatalistic attitude
more wary of logical abstraction, philosophers not thinking
helped the nomads to survive in the harsh conditions of de-
as Christians have filled the void with their own concepts of
sert life. In the Arabian deserts the regularities of nature expe-
freedom and necessity, free will and determinism.
rienced elsewhere tended to be replaced by irregularities.
One who tried to take precautions against all eventualities
SEE ALSO Atonement, article on Christian Concepts; Free
would become a nervous wreck, but a readiness to accept
Will and Determinism; Grace; Justification; Merit, article
whatever happened fatalistically reduced anxiety and thus
on Christian Concepts.
was an aid to survival. It is to be noted, however, that in the
belief of the nomads it is the outcome of human actions that
BIBLIOGRAPHY
is determined, not the actions themselves.
Most of the original writings by the thinkers mentioned herein are
PREDESTINATION IN THE QURDA¯N. The belief of the pre-
readily available. The texts of many of the church creeds are
Islamic Arabs in the control of events by time is described
in Philip Schaff’s Creeds of Christendom, 6th ed., 3 vols. (re-
in the QurDa¯n (su¯rah 45:24): “There is only our present life;
print edition, Grand Rapids, Mich., 1983); and Creeds of the
we die and we live, and time [dahr] alone destroys us.” The
Churches, 3d rev. ed., edited by John H. Leith (Atlanta,
1982). Worthy studies of the doctrines are Francis Ferrier’s
conception of the ajal, or term of life, also occurs several
La Pédestination (Paris, 1990); M. John Farrelly’s Predestina-
times, but it is God who both fixes the ajal beforehand and
tion, Grace, and Free Will (Westminster, Md., 1964); and
then brings about the person’s death: “He is the one who cre-
Predestination and Free Will: Four Views of Divine Sovereigni-
ated you from clay, and then fixed an ajal” (6:2); “God will
ty and Human Freedom, edited by David Basinger and Ran-
not defer [the death of] any person when his ajal comes”
dall Basinger (Downers Grove, Ill., 1986). The many books
(63:11). There is thus a sense in which God takes over the
on particular thinkers or traditions are easily located in sub-
functions of time; indeed, there is a h:ad¯ıth that reports that
ject indexes. Of these, especially good are Dennis R. Cres-
the Messenger of God said that God said, “The sons of Adam
well’s St. Augustine’s Dilemma: Grace and Eternal Law in the
insult dahr, but I am dahr.” There are also several passages
Major Works of Augustine of Hippo (New York, 1997); John
in the QurDa¯n in which it is stated or implied that human-
M. Rist’s Augustine on Free Will and Predestination (Oxford,
kind’s fate is not merely determined by God beforehand but
1969); Fredrik Brosché’s Luther on Predestination: The An-
tinomy and the Unity between Love and Wrath in Luther’s
also written down: “No misfortune has happened either in
Concept of God (Uppsala, 1978); and Richard A. Muller’s
respect of the land or of yourselves but it was in a book before
Christ and the Decree: Christology and Predestination in Re-
we [God] brought it about” (57:22). A clear statement of the
formed Theology from Calvin to Perkins (Durham, N.C.,
uselessness of trying to avoid what has been predetermined
1984).
is given in a passage about those who criticized Muh:ammad’s
decision, when attacked in Medina by the Meccans, to go
C. T. MCINTIRE (1987 AND 2005)
out to Mount Uhud to fight: “If you had been in your hous-
es, those for whom killing was written down would have sal-
lied out to the places of their falling” (3:154). The QurDa¯n
FREE WILL AND PREDESTINATION: ISLAMIC
also speaks of God as the source of man’s rizq, or provision:
CONCEPTS
“He lavishes rizq on whom He wills, or stints it” (30:37); this
Free will and predestination has been a prominent topic in
may be regarded as a reflection of the common experience
Islamic religious thinking. For Muslims, the basis of the dis-
in desert life that one tribe might have plenty while a neigh-
cussion is found in the QurDa¯n and to a lesser extent in h:ad¯ıth
boring tribe was starving.
(reports from and about Muh:ammad often called “tradi-
Just as the pre-Islamic Arab did not believe that his acts
tions”), some of which reflect pre-Islamic Arab beliefs.
were predetermined, but only their outcome, so this seems
PREDESTINATION IN PRE-ISLAMIC ARABIA. Something is
to be all that is implied by the QurDanic statements about ajal
known of the outlook of the pre-Islamic Arabs from what has
and similar matters. All Muslims hold that human freedom
been preserved of their poetry. In this we find a strong belief
in some sense and human responsibility in acting are implied
that much of human life, especially misfortune, is deter-
in the QurDanic teaching that God judges mortals on the Last
mined by time (dahr, zaman). It has sometimes been thought
Day and that their good and bad deeds are weighed in bal-
that time here is the same as fate, but since the same determi-
ances. Human freedom is not necessarily contradicted by
nation of human life is sometimes attributed to “the days”
such verses as: “Do not say of anything, I am doing that to-
or even “the nights,” the idea of time must be uppermost.
morrow, without [adding], If God wills” (18:23); “ . . . to
Time here is not something to be worshiped but rather a nat-
him of you who wills to go straight; but you will not [so]
ural fact, not unlike “the course of events.”
will, unless God wills” (81:28). Such verses may be under-
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FREE WILL AND PREDESTINATION: ISLAMIC CONCEPTS
stood as expressing God’s control of the outcome of acts. But
began in 701, and who was executed three years later upon
a number of verses also speak of God guiding and aiding peo-
the collapse of the revolt. Many of the participants in this
ple or of leading them astray and abandoning them: “If God
revolt, however, were not among the Qa¯dir¯ıyya. Another
wills to guide anyone, He enlarges his breast for Islam”
person frequently mentioned as holding Qa¯dar¯ı views was
(6:125); “He leads astray whom He wills and guides whom
Ghaylan al-Dimashqi. For a time he was a government offi-
He wills” (16:93), so that those whom he guides become be-
cial and was friendly with more than one caliph, but his po-
lievers and those whom he leads astray become unbelievers.
litical program, while including Qa¯dar¯ı ideas, went beyond
it; in 730 the caliph Hisham became suspicious of the pro-
Other verses, however, assert that this guiding or lead-
gram and had Ghaylan executed. For the next twenty years
ing astray is, as it were, in recompense for what the people
there are many references to Qa¯dar¯ı opponents of the Umay-
in question have done previously: “Those who do not believe
yad regime, especially in Syria. After the replacement of the
in God’s signs, God does not guide” (16:104); “He leads
Umayyad dynasty by the Abbasid in 750, the Qa¯dar¯ı move-
astray none but the wrongdoers” (2:26). The phrase “leading
ment lost much of its political raison d’être and either faded
astray” might be compared with God’s “hardening of the
out or was absorbed into the rationalist MuEtazili movement.
heart” of the pharaoh and others in the Bible. One verse
(18:28) specifically points to the ability of humans to choose
Earlier scholars attributed the belief in free will to Chris-
to believe or not. It states, “The truth is from your Lord, so
tian influence; Ghaylan was indeed of Coptic origin, while
let him who will, believe; and let him who will, disbelieve.”
MaEbad was said to have derived his views from a Christian.
Verses such as 90:9–10, “Have we not created for him two
From what has just been said, however, it would appear that
eyes and a tongue and two lips and guided him in the high-
the doctrine of free will was brought into Islamic discussions
ways, but he will not attempt the steep,” and 4:31, “God
not primarily because it was held to be true but because it
wishes to explain to you and to guide you into the ordinances
served a useful purpose in internal Islamic political discus-
of those who were before you,” also suggest human choice
sions.
in responding to God’s guidance. The numerous verses in
A
the QurDa¯n that exhort humans to ponder the “signs” of na-
L-H
: ASAN AL-BAS:R¯I. The most important name connected
with these theological questions is that of al-H:asan al-Bas:r¯ı
ture around them that reflect God’s majesty and power and
(d. 728). From his own lifetime or shortly afterward scholars
to draw moral lessons from the fate of previous generations
debated whether he was a Qa¯dar¯ı or not, and both views
are also suggestive of human choice in and responsibility for
were vigorously asserted. Distinguished Western scholars
their actions.
early in the twentieth century continued the debate. In 1933,
UMAYYAD APOLOGETIC AND QA¯DAR¯I OPPOSITION. Most
however, there was published a long risa¯la, or epistle, written
modern students of Islamic history have tended to suppose
for the caliph EAbd al-Malik by al-H:asan in defense of his
that the Umayyad dynasty, which ruled from AH 41 to 132
views on this topic. From this treatise it is possible to give
(661–750 CE), was not very religious. This view is based,
an account of what he believed. The QurDa¯n is central for
however, on the acceptance of pro-Abbasid, anti-Umayyad
him and is the source of his arguments. Against the predesti-
propaganda and is not borne out by documents of the
narians who quoted verses about God’s leading astray, he re-
Umayyad period such as the poems of Jarir and al-Farazdaq.
plies with other verses that imply that those led astray were
In these it becomes clear that the Umayyads, besides justify-
already wrongdoers and had in some form chosen evil. He
ing their rule on traditional Arab lines, had a theological de-
also contends that the fact that God knows that some people
fense of their legitimacy: they held that the caliphate had
will disbelieve is only descriptive; that is, he knows that by
been bestowed on them by God in the same way as the
their own free choice they will disbelieve, but his knowledge
QurDa¯n (2:30) described the bestowing of a caliphate on
does not predetermine their unbelief. He holds that the verse
Adam. This meant taking the word Khal¯ıfah, or caliph, in
quoted above about misfortunes being in a book (57:22) ap-
the sense of “deputy” rather than of “successor,” which it can
plies only to wealth and material things and not to belief or
also mean, and from this they argued that to oppose their
unbelief, obedience or disobedience. He further holds that
decisions was to oppose God.
when the QurDa¯n speaks of people acting or willing, they
really do so, and their acts are not predetermined. He takes
It was because of this theological position of the Umay-
verse 33:38 to mean, “God’s command [amr] is a determina-
yads that some of their opponents adopted what came to be
tion [qadar] determined,” and then argues that God deter-
known as the Qa¯dar¯ı heresy. This includes various slightly
mines human behavior only by commanding certain acts and
different formulations, all asserting human free will in some
prohibiting others. In this way, he can maintain that God
form. One version held that a person’s good acts came from
creates only good and that evil comes from human beings
God and his bad acts from himself. From this it would follow
or from Satan.
that the bad acts of an Umayyad caliph were from himself
and not from God, and thus good Muslims could oppose
Politically al-H:asan al-Bas:r¯ı was critical of the Umay-
such acts without making themselves unbelievers. The first
yads. The later scholar Ibn Qutaybah (d. 889) thought him
to subscribe to the Qa¯dar¯ı heresy is usually said to have been
a Qa¯dar¯ı in some respects and told how some of his friends
MaEbad al-Juhani, who participated in an armed revolt that
would say to him, “These princes [the Umayyads] shed the
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FREE WILL AND PREDESTINATION: ISLAMIC CONCEPTS
3211
blood of Muslims and seize their goods and then say, ‘Our
It will be noticed that these predestinarian h:ad¯ıth to
acts are only according to God’s determination [qadar].’” To
some extent reflect pre-Islamic attitudes.
this H:asan would reply, “The enemies of God lie.” H:asan’s
THE MOVE AWAY FROM QA¯DAR¯I THOUGHT. In the last half-
remark must be understood in the light of his identification
century of the Umayyad period it seems likely that many of
of God’s determination with his command, but the Umay-
the religious scholars who were critical of the rulers were also
yads were doubtless taking qadar in the traditional sense of
sympathetic with at least a moderately Qa¯dar¯ı view, while
prior effective determination. Despite his critical attitude
those who supported the rulers inclined to predestinarian
al-H:asan resolutely refused to join any insurrection against
views. Among such views, however, two levels may be distin-
the Umayyads and urged his friends and disciples to do like-
guished: (1) the belief that what happens to people is prede-
wise. In view of all these facts, al-H:asan’s position might fair-
termined, but not their own acts; (2) the belief that both
ly be described as moderately Qa¯dar¯ı.
what happens to them and their own acts are predetermined.
A more extreme form of Qa¯dar¯ı doctrine may be en-
At a later period emphasis came to be placed less on God’s
countered in the positions adopted by the Kha¯rij¯ı group
predetermination of happenings and acts than on his present
known as the Shabibiyya about two decades after al-H:asan’s
control of them.
treatise. They went as far as to say that God has no fore-
Although something of the old pre-Islamic Arab predes-
knowledge whatsoever of the actions of humans and their
tinarianism was still strong among many Muslims and, be-
destinies and humans are left entirely to their own will and
cause associated with God, felt to be part of Islam, it was dif-
discretion. This kind of extreme position was attacked by the
ficult to express this sentiment under the Umayyads without
Umayyad caliph Umar II (d. 720) in an epistle he composed
seeming to approve all their actions. With the coming of the
against Qa¯dar¯ı beliefs.
Abbasids, however, all this was altered. Belief in human free
P
will lost most of its political relevance, and the expression of
REDESTINATION IN THE H
: AD¯ITH (TRADITIONS). Western
scholars formerly thought that all h:ad¯ıth were predestinarian
predestinarian views no longer suggested approval of an un-
and saw in this the reason why al-H:asan al-Bas:r¯ı based his
just government. Although those Qa¯dir¯ıyya who were pri-
arguments on the QurDa¯n and not on h:ad¯ıth. There are in-
marily political were located chiefly in Syria, the main aca-
deed a few h:ad¯ıth that express an opposite view, but the most
demic discussions took place in Basra among the followers
likely reason for the absence of h:ad¯ıth from al-H:asan’s argu-
and disciples of al-H:asan al-Bas:r¯ı, where two opposing
ments is that at the time he was writing they were not regard-
trends can be discerned, one toward more libertarian views,
ed as having the authority later ascribed to them and perhaps
the other toward predestinarianism. Just as in pre-Islamic
were not widely known and circulated. Had they been gener-
times belief in a predetermined ajal and similar matters
ally regarded as authoritative, he would surely have had some
helped to reduce anxiety, so the belief that God was in con-
argument against them. It was the jurist al-Sha¯fiE¯ı, about a
trol of all events and that no disaster could happen to one
century after al-H:asan, who gave h:ad¯ıth an assured place in
except by his will relieved anxiety and gave confidence. The
Islamic thought as one of the “roots of law,” and by his time,
trend toward predestinarianism grew stronger not only in
the study of h:ad¯ıth had become much more extensive.
Basra but throughout the Islamic world, and some form of
belief in God’s control of events became an article in Sunn¯ı
It will suffice here to mention some of the best-known
creeds.
predestinarian h:ad¯ıth. One was the report that the Prophet
As this happened and as Qa¯dar¯ı views came to be re-
had said, “The first thing God created was the pen; then he
garded as heretical, there was a rewriting of history. Those
said to it, ‘Write all that will happen until the Last Day.’”
with strong predestinarian or determinist views were unhap-
Another group of sayings of the Prophet speaks of an angel
py to think that many great earlier scholars, their intellectual
being entrusted with the child in the womb and asking God
predecessors, had been tainted with heresy. They therefore
to determine whether it is male or female, whether it is to
emphasized the role of MaEbad al-Juhami and Ghaylan al-
be fortunate or unfortunate, what is its rizq and what its ajal.
Dimashqi in the origination and spread of Qa¯dar¯ı ideas,
Again, in connection with the act of a Muslim fighter at the
since these were men who had been rebels and also under for-
Battle of Uhud, who took his own life when his battle
eign influence. A little later stories were spread to discredit
wounds became unbearable, the Prophet is reported to have
one particular member of al-H:asan’s circle, EAmr ibn
said, “One man will work the works of the people of Paradise
EUbayd, and to suggest that he was worse than his contempo-
until he is only an arm’s length from it, and then the book
raries: besides being the leader of the libertarians among
will overtake him, and he will work the works of the people
al-H:asan’s followers, he had been elevated to the position of
of Hell and enter it,” while in the case of another man the
a founding father of the MuEtazilah.
reverse will happen. Associated with such h:ad¯ıth were some
reported remarks by early Muslims to the effect that, if one
The Arabic name of the sect, Qa¯dir¯ıyya, itself bears wit-
wants to avoid hell, one must believe that God determines
ness to the struggle between the two trends among religious
both good and bad, and that what reaches one could not
scholars generally. Like most early names of sects it is a nick-
have missed one, and what misses one could not have
name, but the curious point is that it is those who hold that
reached one.
the qadar is man’s and not God’s who are called “qadar-
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3212
FREE WILL AND PREDESTINATION: ISLAMIC CONCEPTS
people.” Texts now published show that there was a time
logic, militated against the idea that God could create and
when each side in the dispute called the other “Qa¯dar¯ı.” In
condone evil or unjust acts. Such acts are rather to be attri-
his book on sectarian views, al-AshEar¯ı (d. 935) mentioned
buted solely to human choice and will. This belief was fur-
that his own party had been called “Qa¯dar¯ı,” but continued,
ther linked to God’s role as judge in the afterlife when he
“the Qa¯dar¯ı is he who affirms that the qadar is his own and
will reward or punish humans for their commission of good
not his Lord’s, and that he himself determines his acts and
and evil deeds. The MuEtazilah argued that if God sent peo-
not his Creator.” There was no Qa¯dir¯ıyya, properly speak-
ple to hell as punishment for predetermined acts for which
ing, after the Umayyad period, but some scholars used the
they were not responsible, he would be acting unjustly, and
name as an offensive nickname for the MuEtazilah.
this was unthinkable. Their position was rooted in QurDanic
verses such as 3:104: “God does not wish injustice to the
Even in the heyday of the Qa¯dir¯ıyya there was never a
worlds;” 22:10, “God is not unjust to His servants;” and
single clearly defined Qa¯dar¯ı sect. What made one a Qa¯dar¯ı
4:81, “Whatever afflicts you of bad is from yourself.”
was one article of belief, either that defined by al-AshEar¯ı or
something like it, but this belief could be combined with a
The AshEar¯ıyah met this argument with the formula
variety of beliefs on other matters. When the Abbasids came
that human acts are God’s creation and the agent’s “acquisi-
to power, many continued to believe in human free will but
tion” (kasb); this term could also be translated as “making
at the same time had views on the new political problems,
one’s own” or “having credited to one.” In effect the
and it was chiefly on the basis of these other views that sectar-
AshEar¯ıyah were saying that, although the act is God’s cre-
ian names were bestowed. As a result the name Qa¯dar¯ı grad-
ation, it is also in some unspecified way the human agent’s
ually died out, and after the first half-century of the Abbasid
act. The term kasb and the derivative iktisab hark back to
period is hardly found except as an alternative to MuEtazili.
QurDa¯n 2:286, which states, “God will not burden any soul
MUETAZILAH AND ASHEAR¯IYAH. By the time of the caliph al-
beyond its capacity. It will enjoy the good which it has ac-
MaDmun (r. 813–833), the MuEtazilah had defined their sect
quired and bear the evil for the acquirement of which it la-
as based on five principles, of which free will was only one.
bored.” The term’s usage in the context of free will and pre-
At the same time, some of the leading MuEtazilah had impor-
destination is attributed to an early figure, Dirar b. EAmr, one
tant positions at the caliphal court. Just after 847, however,
of the MuEtazilah, who is somewhat of an obscure character.
official policy changed abruptly; the MuEtazilah fell from
Other scholars, even Sunn¯ı theologians like the
favor, while the government abandoned their doctrine of the
Ma¯tur¯ıd¯ıyah, found the term kasb obscure and unsatisfacto-
createdness of the QurDa¯n and on that and other points sup-
ry and called the AshEar¯ıyah “determinists” (mujbirah). The
ported the central Sunn¯ı position. The MuEtazilah are chiefly
eponym of the Ma¯tur¯ıd¯ıyah, Abu¯ Mans:u¯r al-Ma¯tur¯ıd¯ı
remembered as the group that first developed the discipline
(d. 944) from Samarkand, Transoxiana, steered a middle
of kala¯m, that is, the use of Greek philosophical concepts and
path between the total predestinarian stance of the Jabriyya
methods of argument. Gradually, however, some scholars re-
and the total free will of the MuEtazilah, a position that be-
alized that kala¯m could be used also to defend more generally
came better known and more influential in the later period.
acceptable doctrines than those of the MuEtazilah. The cre-
He was essentially in favor of the doctrine of free will, with
ation of a nonheretical Sunn¯ı kala¯m is traditionally attribut-
the qualification that God as the sole creator of the universe
ed to al-AshEar¯ı, but it is now realized that in this he had sev-
creates all acts as well. However, according to his school of
eral predecessors. Most of our information, however, is about
thought, humans possess the freedom to choose their actions
the debates between MuEtazilah and AshEar¯ıyah.
before their commission, so that they “acquire” these actions
by virtue of the choices they make. This notion of “acquisi-
Within the discipline of kala¯m the discussions about
tion” is different from al-AshEar¯ı’s, since the latter proposed
free will took a new direction and were chiefly concerned
that humans acquire the capacity to perform their actions at
with God’s control of human acts in the present. This did
the very moment of their commission. Kasb continues to
not imply abandoning the belief that God had predeter-
have its place in general Sunn¯ı thought and fresh generations
mined these acts, since it could be held that in controlling
of scholars have introduced new subtleties.
them in the present he was acting in accordance with his
foreknowledge of what he had predetermined. The AshEar¯ı
SH¯IE¯I VIEWS. Early Sh¯ıE¯ı views tend to diverge considerably
view was that God created human acts by creating in the
from later “orthodox” points of view on free will and deter-
agent at the moment of action the power to do the particular
minism. The eighth-century Sh¯ıE¯ı theologian Hisham b. al-
act. The MuEtazilah agreed that the act came about through
Hakam (d. 795–796) maintained that human acts are creat-
a power created by God, but held that this power was created
ed by God. He also believed that God has no foreknowledge
by God before the act and was a power to do either this act
of human actions or of things because his knowledge does
or its opposite. In this way they left a place for the agent’s
not exist until the object of it exists.
choice.
An early Sh¯ıE¯ı belief attributed changeability to God’s
For the MuEtazilah in general, God’s justice (theodicy)
will, referred to in Arabic as bada D (“mutability”), which al-
was a main concern of their discussions on free will and de-
lowed for change in an earlier divine ruling. Such beliefs were
terminism. The notion of divine justice, influenced by Greek
considered by the later Imamiyya to be “extremist,” particu-
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FRENZY
3213
larly since the concept of bada D had to be squared with God’s
FRENZY. The English word frenzy comes through the
omniscience. Thus, to effect a reconciliation, mainstream
Latin phrenesis from the Greek phren, meaning the midriff,
Ima¯m¯ı thought proposed the idea that God in his dealings
the heart, the upper part of the body, the diaphragm, the
with humans is motivated by considerations of what is most
lungs or pericardium—that is, that part of the body held re-
expedient (al-aslah) and the best for humankind. Therefore,
sponsible for passions and thought. The ultimate derivation
badaD can be explained as pointing to the susceptibility of the
of the word is from the Indo-European *gwhren-, meaning
divine will to change should circumstances change, requiring
the diaphragm, the seat of intellect, understanding, and
a different determination.
thought. The term will be used in this entry in its restricted
The Ima¯m¯ıs, in general, subscribe to the doctrine of di-
sense, to refer not to mental derangement, madness, or folly
vine determination with a nod in the direction of free will;
generally but to a seizure of violent agitation or wild excite-
Isma¯E¯ıl¯ı views are not dissimilar. The Zayd¯ı Sh¯ıE¯ı are closer
ment, to uncontrollable rage or to delirious fury.
to the MuEtazilah in their views.
Although “frenzy” is not an established category in reli-
MODERNIST VIEWS. Modernist Muslim commentators insist
gious studies, the term occurs frequently in the description
that the QurDa¯n should be read holistically. Taking certain
of a number of religious states and activities, and its occur-
verses out of context and interpreting them atomistically has
rence is often interpreted in religious terms. It is related to
been conducive to the view that the QurDa¯n encourages belief
such categories as “enthusiasm,” “mania,” “fury,” “inspira-
in predestination. Read as a whole, the QurDa¯n endorses,
tion,” “intoxication,” “spirit possession,” and “ecstasy,” and,
however, the concept of human freedom in choosing one’s
like these states, it is characterized by a certain spontaneity,
belief and of human responsibility for their actions. God has
an autonomy, as if beyond the control of the individual, as
foreknowledge of human actions, but this divine knowledge
if coming from without or from deep within him. In the
does not compel humans to commit sin. MuEtazili influence
Phaedrus (244ff.), Plato distinguishes several types of frenzy
is detected in these positions, tempered by an acknowledg-
(mania) that impart gifts to humans: the frenzy of the seer
ment of God’s creative power over everything, including all
who reveals the future; that of the consecrated mystic who
human acts. Muh:ammad EAbduh (d. 1905), and Fazlur Rah-
absolves one from sin; that of the poet possessed by the
man (d. 1988), for example, were prominent exponents of
Muses; and that of the philosopher. In common parlance,
the modernist view.
however, frenzy usually has an aggressive connotation.
SEE ALSO AshEar¯ıyah; Fate; Kala¯m.
Three manifestations of frenzy will be considered here:
frenzy as the result of combat (furor), frenzy as a symptom
BIBLIOGRAPHY
of certain culturally specific psychotic syndromes (amok),
A general account of the Qa¯dar¯ı thinkers and their opponents will
and frenzy as a stage of trance understood as spirit possession.
be found in W. Montgomery Watt’s book The Formative Pe-
The juxtaposition of these three manifestations of frenzy
riod of Islamic Thought (Edinburgh, 1973)—in which see es-
should not be considered synthetic. The term frenzy should,
pecially pages 82–118, 232–242, and 315—and more briefly
in my opinion, be used descriptively in specific contexts and
in his Islamic Philosophy and Theology, 2d ed. (Edinburgh,
not isolated as a separate and separable category of religious
1985). His earlier Free Will and Predestination in Early Islam
(London, 1948) has greater detail but requires correction in
experience.
the light of later works. Since 1973 Josef van Ess has pub-
FUROR. It has been reported in both legend and history that
lished several important documents and discussions, notably,
in the heat of battle certain warriors enter into a delirious
Zwischen Hadit und Theologie: Studien zum Entstehen prädes-
fury, attacking anyone in their reach. Moroccan Arabs re-
tinatianischer Überlieferung (Berlin, 1975), Anfänge muslimis-
count, for example, that S¯ıdina¯ EAl¯ı, the prophet
cher Theologie: Zwei antiqadaritische Traktate aus dem ersten
Muh:ammad’s son-in-law, whom they regard as the ideal
Jahrhundert der Higra (Beirut, 1977), and the article “Ka-
warrior, was once in combat with the Jews. Blood flowed up
dariyya,” in The Encyclopaedia of Islam, new ed., edited by
to his stirrups, so great was his prowess. When he had killed
H. A. R. Gibb et al. (Leiden, 1960–). His earlier Traditionis-
tische Polemik gegen EAmr b. EUbaid (Beirut, 1967) is also of
all of the Jews, he turned on his own people and would have
interest. An idea of how al-AshEar¯ı argued against the
slaughtered them too, had not one of them, a beggar, asked
MuEtazilah may be gained from the translations in The Theol-
him for a crust of bread (barakah, lit., “blessing”). This re-
ogy of al-Ash Ear¯ı by Richard J. McCarthy (Beirut, 1953) and
quest cooled down his frenzy (h:ashim¯ıyah), for he knew that
Al-As Ear¯ı’s Al-Ibanah by Walter C. Klein (New Haven,
only an Arab was fool enough to beg from him in his state.
Conn., 1940). For recent discussions of free will and predes-
Roman legend has it that after one of the Horatii had defeat-
tination in the modern context, see Sarfraz Khan’s Muslim
ed three enemy brothers, the Curiatii, he turned in furor on
Reformist Political Thought: Revivalists, Modernists, and Free
his sister, who, in mourning for one of them, had revealed
Will (London and New York, 2003) and Ulrich Schoen’s
the “feminine” weakness of a lover’s grief.
Gottes Allmacht und die Freiheit des Menschen: gemeinsames
Problem von Islam und Christentum (Münster, Germany,
In an analogous Celtic tale, Cú Chulainn, the hero of
2003).
the Ulster legend, while still a child defeated the three sons
W. MONTGOMERY WATT (1987)
of Nechta, the enemy of his people, and returned to his capi-
ASMA AFSARUDDIN (2005)
tal still in a frenzy. There he spurned the queen, who tried
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3214
FRENZY
to divert him by making crude sexual advances. As he was
tear a fat calf, still bellowing with fright,
momentarily distracted, his men seized him and threw him
in two, while others clawed the heifers to pieces.
into a vat of cold water to cool him down. From then on Cú
There were ribs and cloven hooves scattered everywhere,
Chulainn kept his furor in reserve for battle. Georges
and scraps smeared with blood hung from the fir trees.
Dumézil suggests that this tale of initiatory combat relates
And bulls, their raging fury gathered in their horns,
to the domestication of savage frenzy—the ideal of prehistor-
lowered their heads to charge, then fell, stumbling
ic Italic, Celtic, and Germanic warriors—and its submission
to the earth, pulled down by hordes of women
to legionary discipline. To the psychoanalytically oriented,
and stripped of flesh and skin more quickly, sire,
the tale is concerned with the conversion into disciplined
than you could blink your royal eyes. Then,
military aggression of the warrior’s uncontrolled rage toward
carried by their own speed, they flew like birds
his mother, or toward women more generally, and, by exten-
across the spreading fields along Asopus’ stream
sion, toward his own weakness symbolized by women.
where most of all the ground is good for harvesting.
A
Like invaders they swooped on Hysiae
MOK. There are a number of culture-bound reactive syn-
dromes, the so-called ethnopsychoses, that involve frenzied
and on Erythrae in the foothills of Cithaeron.
behavior. The best known of these “hypereridic rage reac-
Everything in sight they pillaged and destroyed.
tions” is amok, which occurs primarily in Malaysia and Indo-
They snatched the children from their homes. And when
nesia. The pengamok, the person who runs amok, usually suf-
they piled their plunder on their backs, it stayed in place,
fers from neurasthenia, chronic illness, or a loss of a sense of
untied. Nothing, neither bronze nor iron,
social order and, with time, comes to experience an increas-
fell to the dark earth. Flames flickered
ingly threatening external pressure that frightens or enrages
in their curls and did not burn them.
him. Suddenly, as if to escape this pressure, he runs wild, at-
(The Bacchae, trans. Arrowsmith, ll. 736–758)
tacking people, animals, and objects around him, even him-
Euripides’ description has become a model in Western dis-
self. He then falls into a stupor and awakes depressed and
course for literary descriptions of Dionysian worship (e.g.,
without any memory of his having run amok. Amok has oc-
Thomas Mann’s in Death in Venice) and indeed for scientific
curred among warriors dedicated to self-sacrifice, and it has
description of the frenzy of the spirit possessed.
been explained as an escape from the pervasive Malay-
In many exorcistic rites the spirit-possessed moves from
Indonesian sense of fatalism and concern for propriety (alus).
a gentle, “dreamy,” somnambulistic trance into a frenzied
As the occurrence of amok peaked in the nineteenth century,
one in which he or she loses all control of behavior. Thus,
with Western contact, it has been regarded as a transitional
in Balinese folk dramas (sanghyangs) an entranced dancer will
reaction to modernization.
imitate, say, a pig, lumbering about on all fours, grunting
Similar hypereridic reactions have been reported else-
and groveling, and then suddenly, often on provocation
where, for example, in New Guinea (wild-man behavior, negi
from the audience, he will fall into frenzy, darting, leaping,
negi, lulu), in Malawi (misala), and in Puerto Rico (mal de
thrashing about, wallowing uncontrollably in the mud, shak-
pelea). Just as frenzied behavior occurs in certain hypermanic
ing in convulsions, and struggling against those who try to
disorders, so it occurs in other culture-bound reactive syn-
pin him down. Doused with water, he grows quiet. The fren-
dromes. Ainu women of northern Japan afflicted with imu
zied stage of trance possession is usually followed by torpor
burst out aggressively or flee in panic after seeing a snake and
and exhaustion. Such frenzies, as in The Bacchae, seem to be
then, within minutes, fall into catalepsy, echo those about
facilitated by group participation and excitement.
them, and execute orders automatically. Inuit (Eskimos) suf-
SEE ALSO Berserkers; Ecstasy; Enthusiasm; Healing and
fering from piblotko, or Arctic hysteria, tear off their cloth-
Medicine; Omophagia; Spirit Possession.
ing, run around, throw things, and imitate animals. North-
ern Algonquian-speaking Indians of Canada who are
BIBLIOGRAPHY
possessed of a windigo spirit are overcome with a frenzied
Belo, Jane. Trance in Bali. New York, 1960. A detailed description
craving for human flesh and are said to pounce on men,
of trance (including frenzy) in Bali.
women, and children and devour them ravenously. Frenzied
Crapanzano, Vincent. The Hamadsha: An Essay in Moroccan Eth-
behavior is often interpreted as spirit possession or as the re-
nopsychiatry. Berkeley, 1973. Discusses the frenzied state of
sult of sorcery.
spirit possession among Moroccan Arabs.
SPIRIT POSSESSION. Frenzy has often been associated with
Dumézil, Georges. The Destiny of the Warrior. Translated by Alf
spirit possession. The herdsman’s description of the Bac-
Hiltebeitel. Chicago, 1970. Discusses furor in Indo-
chantes, worshiping Dionysos, in Euripides’ The Bacchae (ll.
European thought.
677–774) is a classic example. Having himself escaped at-
Euripides. The Bacchae. Translated by William Arrowsmith. In
tack, the herdsman watches as the possessed women attack
The Complete Greek Tragedies, edited by David Grene and
Richmond Lattimore, vol. 4, Euripedes, pp. 543–608. Chica-
the villagers’ grazing cattle.
go, 1959. Contains an exemplary description of frenzy.
And then
Murphy, H. B. M. “History and Evolution of Syndromes: The
you could have seen a single woman with bare hands
Striking Case of Latah and Amok.” In Psychopathology: 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

FREUD, SIGMUND
3215
tributions from the Social, Behavioral, and Biological Sciences,
over Jewish candidates for research positions), Freud shifted
edited by Muriel Hammer et al., pp. 33–55. New York,
his career goals to the medical practice of psychiatry. He be-
1973. One of the few historical studies of amok.
came interested in hysterical patients, and began to collabo-
Pfeiffer, Wolfgang M. Transkulturelle Psychiatrie. Stuttgart, 1971.
rate with the eminent Viennese physician Josef Breuer.
A good discussion of amok and other ethnic psychoses.
Freud and Breuer discovered that the symptoms of hys-
Yap, Pow Meng. “The Culture-Bound Reaction Syndromes.” In
terical patients diminished as they were encouraged to talk
Mental Health Research in Asia and the Pacific, edited by Wil-
about the intense feelings they held toward those close to
liam Caudill and Zongyi Lin. Honolulu, 1969. General dis-
them. Freud also noticed that dreams were included in these
cussion of ethnopsychoses, including amok.
reports, and he began to evolve his theory that both dreams
New Sources
and hysterical symptoms disguised deeply felt and deeply
Simons, Ronald C., and Charles C. Hughes, eds. Culture-Bound
feared thoughts and feelings. At the end of his period of col-
Syndromes. Dordrecht, Netherlands, 1985.
laboration with Breuer, Freud began to write his first and
Spores, John C. Running Amok: An Historical Inquiry. Athens,
most famous book, The Interpretation of Dreams (1900).
Ohio, 1988.
This work contained the essence of all his major ideas about
V
the neuroses, about dreams, and about psychoanalytic treat-
INCENT CRAPANZANO (1987)
Revised Bibliography
ment—and also the essence of his theory that religious sym-
bols and myths are modeled upon dreams.
In the 1910s and 1920s, Freud’s reputation grew. New
patients came, and he continued to publish papers and to
FREUD, SIGMUND (1856–1939), originator of psy-
gather students about him. Many of these men and women
choanalysis, a method of treating those mental disorders
underwent psychoanalysis with Freud, and studied his ideas.
commonly designated as the neuroses. Psychoanalysis began
Among the more eminent were the Swiss psychiatrist Carl
as a method of healing, but became also a psychological theo-
Gustav Jung and the socialist Alfred Adler. In 1908 the first
ry of personality or mind and a general theory of culture—of
international congress in psychoanalysis was held in Salz-
morality, group life, society, history, art, and religion. When
burg, and in 1909 Freud and Jung gave lectures at Clark
treating his patients, Freud found it necessary to emphasize
University in Massachusetts. The most important of Freud’s
their unconscious feelings and thoughts, which, precisely be-
many publications during these decades were Introductory
cause they were unacknowledged, created symptoms. Freud
Lectures on Psychoanalysis (1915), which explained psychoan-
believed that dreams and dream symbolism were keys to his
alytic theory and practice to a lay audience; Group Psychology
patients’ unconscious thinking, and also to their symptoms.
and the Analysis of the Ego (1921), in which Freud analyzed
It was therefore inevitable that his method of treatment
the psychological forces beneath the group behavior of ar-
would generate theoretical concepts important for under-
mies and churches; and The Ego and the Id (1923), a theoreti-
standing the human mind, and that these in turn would lead
cal treatise on the fundamental psychological structures of
him to psychological conclusions about the cultural mean-
the human mind.
ings of the symbols found in religious myths, beliefs, and rit-
uals. Freud’s psychoanalytic theory is widely accepted by
Although Freud throughout his life created new works
scholars in many different fields, and Freud is commonly
of psychological observation and interpretation, which
ranked with Karl Marx, Max Weber, Friedrich Nietzsche,
brought him ever greater recognition, the 1920s produced
and Émile Durkheim as one of the architects of the modern
a major shift in his person and thought, one whose effects
world. But scholars of religion also acknowledge that Freud
persisted to his death. The aftermath of World War I, the
has made a lasting contribution to their understanding of the
death of a beloved daughter, and the discovery of a cancerous
religious thought and life of humankind.
growth in his jaw, all forced upon him a reflective and re-
signed attitude, which in turn fueled his most profound
LIFE AND PRINCIPAL WORKS. Freud’s personal beginnings
studies of culture and religion. Taking up arms in the time-
contain little to suggest his later achievements. Born into a
honored conflict between science and religion, Freud assert-
large Jewish family of modest means in Freiberg, Moravia
ed (in The Future of an Illusion, 1927) that psychoanalysis
(now Pribor, Czech Republic), he was four when his father,
was but the latest and most compelling scientific argument
a wool merchant, moved the family to Vienna, where Freud
against the consolations of religion. Three years later, in Civ-
spent all but the last year of his life. As a youth, he received
ilization and Its Discontents, he addressed the oppressive qual-
an excellent education that emphasized both classics and sci-
ity of contemporary social life, arguing that society itself car-
ence. For a while he contemplated a career in law or in poli-
ried within it the mechanisms that created neurotic conflict.
tics, but finally decided upon scientific work and attended
In his last major work, Moses and Monotheism (1939), writ-
medical school at the University of Vienna, from which he
ten in sections over the 1930s, Freud returned to his own
graduated in 1881. A year later he became engaged to Mar-
Jewish origins and searched for a positive estimate of that re-
tha Bernays, whom he subsequently married.
ligion, arguing—paradoxically—that Western monotheism
Partly for financial reasons and partly on account of offi-
was an ascetic force that supported the renunciations re-
cial anti-Semitism (it was customary for the university to pass
quired by scientific endeavors.
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3216
FREUD, SIGMUND
When the Nazis persecuted the adherents of psycho-
the context of culture as a whole—the social arrangements
analysis and forced Freud to leave his home, he fled to Lon-
and systems of symbols that integrate a community of peo-
don, where—aged, ill, persecuted, and famous—he died on
ple. Understood as a system of authoritative beliefs about the
the eve of World War II.
world, which includes moral guides and the consoling sense
P
of specialness that authoritativeness confers, religion is the
SYCHOANALYTIC THEORY. While Freud’s psychoanalysis is
really a threefold discipline—clinical treatment of neurotic
historical force that energizes the forms assumed by culture.
conflict, general theory of personality, and theory of culture
Freud therefore wrote about art, humor, morality, fairy tales,
and religion—it is important to realize that he generalized
legends, myths, and rituals, without always attempting to
from the first to the second and from both to the third.
make sharp distinctions among them.
Therefore, all expositions of his thought about religion
The key to Freud’s appreciative stance toward religion
should begin with the psychoanalytic method and its clinical
lies in his psychology of myth and in particular in his theory
context, usually referred to as the analytic situation.
that myths are to be understood after the fashion of dreams,
Two concepts form the foundation of the analytic situa-
although they are collective rather than individual dreams.
tion, the unconscious and childhood. All deliberate, inten-
By noting parallels between dreams and myths, Freud trans-
tional, and conscious life, for the healthy adult and the neu-
formed the model of dream interpretation into a tool for re-
rotic alike, is constantly subject to influence by an
search into the psychological character of culture. Both
unconscious dimension of feeling, willing, and intending.
dreams and myths, he felt, are imaginative structures com-
Freud often referred to the unconscious as a portion of men-
posed of symbols organized along a narrative line. Both are
tal life split off from, and existing alongside of, the system
produced by unconscious forces, for myths as well as dreams
of conscious mental processes. This separation first occurs
are experienced as given to individuals, rather than as being
during the years of childhood. Because of the prolonged and
created by them. As such, both display mechanisms of sym-
at times virtually total dependency of the infant upon care-
bol formation, whereby figures in dreams and myths take on
takers, some of the strong feelings of love, hate, envy, and
shifting roles and significances. Both are therefore creative
jealousy—in short, portions of all the fundamental wishes
activities of the human mind.
and fears of living and being—are forgotten or forced out of
But Freud also observed that dreams expressed the wish-
awareness. These thoughts and feelings, which Freud de-
es, desires, and fantasies of his patients and were closely relat-
scribed as repressed, live on in the normal activities of the
ed to their motives and intentions. He concluded that myths
adult, making their appearance symbolically in dreams, slips
are collective or group fantasies. Behind the apparent diversi-
of the tongue, jokes, and love relationships. The normal
ty of human societies and cultures there persist certain pri-
adult is capable of introspection and self-analysis when un-
mordial or typical human situations—the conflicts between
conscious wishes and thoughts press for attention.
parents and children and between the children themselves,
However, under conditions of stress produced by the
conflicts surrounding perennial human issues such as sexuali-
various tasks and responsibilities of living, even the healthy
ty, death, envy, gratitude, hate, and love. Because these psy-
adult can falter. In such cases, the mental organization of the
chological constants or universals are shared by all people,
person returns to earlier patterns of regulation, a process
and because they are so pervasive, powerful, and threatening,
known as regression, and neurotic symptoms (for example,
they are repressed to some degree by everyone, but they reap-
phobias or irrational fears, obsessional ideas, or compulsive
pear for all to see in the myths of each society. A myth, then,
acts) serve to defend against the return. Because persons in
represents the shared unconscious wishes of a group, and the
this condition can no longer control portions of their behav-
psychological interpretation of myth discloses the nature of
ior, psychoanalytic treatment is helpful for them. In the ana-
these wishes.
lytic situation the patient allows his or her thoughts and feel-
For example, in fairy tales a king and queen can repre-
ings, and especially dreams, to flow freely (in “free
sent shared unconscious ideas and fears about fathers and
association”) without moral or intellectual control and in
mothers, just as princes and princesses represent those held
doing so forms an intense, irrational, emotional bond with
by sons and daughters. A witch can symbolize a hateful, un-
the doctor. Freud called this bond “transference.” Because
empathic mother, and a savage monster may suggest aggres-
the transference relation embodies old and forgotten child-
sive wishes too powerful for individual consciousness or an
hood memories, the doctor can interpret the bond in the
individual dream to support. Of the world religions, Freud
light of dreams and fantasies, gradually bringing the re-
was especially interested in Judaism and Christianity. The
pressed wishes back under the control of conscious life.
idea of God the Father in Judaism represents shared uncon-
THEORY OF CULTURE AND RELIGION. Contrary to much
scious wishes for a totally powerful and morally perfect group
opinion on the subject, Freud recognized religion as a com-
father. Christianity’s devotion to Jesus Christ, the Son of
plex phenomenon, and his estimate of it was both apprecia-
God, expresses the Western preoccupation with the anxiety
tive and skeptical. He was more interested in religion than
sons experience in relation to their fathers. Catholicism’s ad-
he was in any other manifestation of culture. He rarely ap-
oration of the Virgin discloses an intense idealization of
proached religion in the abstract, instead always seeing it in
motherhood, which Protestant families subsequently reject-
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FREUD, SIGMUND
3217
ed. The omnipresence of explicitly sexual themes in the
unlike Tillich, Eliade turned to primitive religions and to
myths of Indian religions contrasts with their absence in
Eastern traditions and myths to renew the life of modern hu-
Western religious traditions, whose asceticism betrays anxi-
mans. Eliade wrote that Freud’s view of myth as an uncon-
ety over bodily desires.
scious imaginative structure and the links he had built be-
tween dreams and myths would enrich the dry, technical
Freud’s skeptical attitude toward religion derived from
tones of modern life, and that both could be used to reinstate
his training in physiology, neurology, and medicine, which
a religious view of humanity. In fact, Eliade described the
emphasized causality, energy, and rigorous objectivity. But
history of religions as a metapsychoanalysis, by which he
these scientific ideas also served a moral purpose for Freud.
meant that religion added a dimension to the foundations
He believed that the most profound unconscious human
supplied by Freud.
wish was for a grandiose sense of specialness, which he called
“narcissism,” and that both science and psychoanalysis could
Yet neither Tillich nor Eliade could tolerate Freud’s
reduce or modify this narcissism, or self-love. On the other
skepticism, his view that once the unconscious meaning of
hand, religion indulged and encouraged self-love by confer-
a religious myth was disclosed, then the consoling sense of
ring upon people the illusion that they were special or privi-
specialness that belief conferred would necessarily be given
leged by virtue of their relation to an all-powerful and all-
up in the interest of a broader psychological self-
loving god. Freud cited the Western discovery that the earth
understanding. The task of advancing this thought was left
revolved around the sun. As a result of that scientific insight,
to the sociologist Philip Rieff, who devised the term psycho-
people could no longer think of themselves as central points
logical man, to describe a new type of person in modern soci-
in a divine drama. The theory of evolution deprived people
ety, one who had accepted Freud’s interpretations and had
of the wish to see themselves as special beings created by an
accordingly adopted a psychological rather than a religious
omnipotent god. And Freud believed that his own discovery
ethic. Rieff’s view called attention to the roles of religion and
of the unconscious shattered the grandiose belief in the su-
psychoanalysis as competing social forces in Western history,
preme capacities of human reason. Each scientific discovery
a focus ignored by Tillich and Eliade, who had centered their
was a blow to human narcissism and to the religious doctrine
efforts on the more speculative aspects of Freud’s theories of
that supported it. Freud concluded that belief in an all-
religion.
powerful divine being with whom one had a special relation-
However, Freud’s contribution to the study of religion
ship forestalled, rather than facilitated, new knowledge about
did not end here. A new generation of scholars working with
the world—for in each case religious leaders had mounted
post-modern understandings has advanced quite different
the strongest objections to these discoveries.
readings of Freud and his contribution to the study of reli-
CONTRIBUTION TO THE STUDY OF RELIGION. Because of
gion. These scholars teach and write in universities and col-
Freud’s appreciation of the power of religious symbols, and
leges rather than in seminaries and theological facilities, as
despite his skeptical stance toward religion, his theories exer-
did Tillich and Eliade, and the topics and methods they
cised an important influence upon the religious thought of
choose belong to the humanities and the social sciences. But
post–World War II Europe and, especially, America. By this
there is also irony in these new developments. As noted, nei-
time his ideas had become widely acknowledged, and the
ther Tillich nor Eliade could tolerate Freud’s skepticism
leaders of religious communities wanted to use them and to
about religion—his theories of religion were helpful, but
respond to his challenge. In particular, Paul Tillich and Mir-
only up to a point. On the other hand, post-modern scholars
cea Eliade deserve mention here.
of religion make no such distinction and instead submit all
Paul Tillich was convinced that an overly rational soci-
of his writings to a generalized cultural critique, sometimes
ety had cut the Christian faith off from its historic depths
finding that what was “skeptical” for the theologian may be
and from its role as a shaper of culture. He hailed the secular
meaningful to the scholar of religion.
Freud’s concept of the unconscious roots of religious reality
as an attempt to restore what he called a depth dimension
BIBLIOGRAPHY
to human reason and cultural life. Even Freud’s skeptical side
Freud’s psychological writings have been collected for the English-
Tillich incorporated into theology, arguing that modern
language reader in The Standard Edition of the Complete Psy-
churches had become authoritarian and oppressive to human
chological Writings of Sigmund Freud, 24 vols., translated
depth, and that Freud’s objections to religion were in this
from German under the general editorship of James Strachey
sense well founded. Tillich likened Freud to a biblical proph-
(London, 1953–1974). Each of Freud’s publications in this
et whose attacks on the idolatry of the faithful were mounted
definitive edition is prefaced by valuable information regard-
in the service of a deeper, more transcendent reality.
ing date of composition and of first publication, relevant bio-
graphical details, and a short discussion of its leading ideas
Alongside Tillich’s theological analyses of culture, a sec-
in relation to Freud’s thought as a whole.
ond movement emerged, led by the renowned historian of
The best single book on Freud’s life, social circumstances, and
religions Mircea Eliade. Like Tillich, Eliade believed that
major ideas is Peter Gay, Freud: A Life for Our Time (New
contemporary culture was excessively rational and technolog-
York, 1988). Philip Rieff’s careful, thorough, and clearly
ical and that a renewal of a religious kind was essential. But
written book Freud: The Mind of the Moralist (1959; 3d ed.,
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3218
FREYJA
Chicago, 1979) remains the best overall discussion of Freud’s
himself. The giant Þrymr (Thrymr) steals Þórr’s hammer
social, philosophical, and religious ideas. Rieff also analyzes
Mjollnir in order to have something of enough value that the
the impact of psychoanalysis upon both the Western reli-
E
Æsir would exchange Freyja for it. The gods ask Freyja to
gious heritage and contemporary society. An excellent illus-
go to Þrymr, but she indignantly refuses, saying that such a
tration of the use of Freud’s approach to dream symbolism
journey would make everyone think that she was eager for
to interpret social and cultural symbols is Bruno Bettelheim’s
sex. Þórr retrieves Mjollnir himself by going to Þrymr
The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of
E
Fairy Tales (New York, 1977). The best theological discus-
dressed as a bride and taking his hammer when it is brought
sion of Freud’s theory of religious experience is to be found
out as part of the wedding ceremony.
in Paul Tillich’s The Courage to Be (New Haven, 1952). The
Freyja’s personality is complex: she is said to enjoy “love
many implications of psychoanalysis for the historical study
of religious myths are clearly stated by Mircea Eliade in
poetry,” an erotic genre that was forbidden in Iceland under
Myths, Dreams and Mysteries (New York, 1960). A post-
threat of banishment (Ström, 1975, p. 151). Her lustfulness
modern reading of Freud’s thought as a whole with an em-
is often stressed, not only by Loki, who denounces her as in-
phasis upon the interplay between his psychology of religious
cestuous and grossly promiscuous (Lokasenna sts. 30 and 32),
faith and his theory of femininity is Judith Van Herik’s Freud
but also in other eddic poems such as the Hyndluljóð (sts. 30–
on Femininity and Faith (Berkeley, Calif., 1982).
31), where she is described as “running through the night in
heat like [the goat] Heiðrún [Heidrun].” Her unfaithfulness
PETER HOMANS (1987 AND 2005)
to her husband is accentuated as well: “Under your apron
still others have crept” (Hollander, 1962, p. 135). Sorla þáttr,
E
a story in a late fourteenth-century manuscript, tells how she
FREYJA (“Lady”), the daughter of Njorðr (Njord) and sis-
slept with four dwarfs in order to obtain the famous necklace
E
ter of Freyr, is the main Scandinavian goddess of the group
Brísingamen, which they had forged. Such behavior is in
of gods known as the Vanir. Although no extant source tells
keeping with the personality of a fertility goddess, but the
how she came to the world of the Æsir—the dominant group
story as a whole is a Christian creation intended as a demon-
of gods—allusions to her arrival in their citadel Ásgarðr (Ás-
stration of the evils of paganism, and its depiction of Freyja
gard) suggest that there was a myth about this that has since
as a malicious near-giantess and as Óðinn’s mistress is much
been lost. According to Snorri Sturluson (1179–1241), Frey-
more likely to be the author’s invention than a reflection of
ja is the noblest of goddesses, equal in dignity to Óðinn
authentic pagan tradition. Freyja’s association with the cat
(Odin)’s wife Frigg. She lives in a grand hall, shares domin-
is another hint at her lasciviousness, since the cat was consid-
ion over the dead with Óðinn, and travels in a cart pulled
ered by Norsemen to be a most lascivious animal. In the case
by cats. People often invoke her in matters of love. Incestu-
of Freyja, the feline is the equivalent of the lions and panthers
ous marriage was usual among the Vanir, and it is likely that
associated with such ancient Near Eastern fertility goddesses
Freyja was married to her brother. The Æsir frowned on this
as the Dea Syria or Cybele.
practice, and once Freyja becomes a member of their com-
Freyja also goes under such other names as Horn, a term
munity, she takes a different husband, Óðr (Odr). The name
E
often occurring in skaldic kennings for “woman” and related
of this obscure deity is related to Óðinn, and the pair Óðr/
to the Old Norse term horr (“flax” or “linen”); it also occurs
Freyja may be a doublet of Óðinn and his wife Frigg. Freyja
E
in a few place-names and points to the worship of the god-
bore Óðr two daughters, Hnoss (“jewel”) and Gersimi
dess as deity of the flax harvest in eastern Sweden (Vries,
(“treasure”). These names are synonyms and most likely are
1967, p. 331). As Mardoll she appears in poetic circumlocu-
later poetic reflections of the goddess herself. Freyja and
E
tions for “gold” such as Mardallar tár (“Mardoll’s tears”).
Óðr’s marriage was apparently not a happy one, as Óðr dis-
E
She is also known as Gefn, a name derived from the verb gefa
appeared on long journeys, and Freyja wept tears of red gold
(“give”) and referring to the concept of the fertility goddess
in his absence. She looked for him in many countries and
as the generous dispenser of wealth, goods, and well-being.
assumed various names in her wanderings. She is said to have
This term is also preserved in the name of the Matronae Ga-
owned a garment that allowed its wearer to take the shape
biae and Dea Garmangabis, recorded in the Rhineland in
of a falcon. Like her brother Freyr, Freyja rides a boar; hers
Roman times. Freyja has therefore been connected with Gef-
is named Hildisvíni (“battle swine”). It has shining golden
jun, who plowed the island of Sjælland away from the Swed-
bristles and was made for her by the dwarves. Pigs are sacred
ish mainland with the help of her four sons. There are indeed
to her as they are to Freyr, and one of her names is Sy´r
some striking parallels between Freyja and Gefjun, as sug-
(“sow”).
gested by Loki’s reference (Lokasenna, st. 20) to Gefjun’s se-
Freyja is often in demand as a bride. The Æsir agree to
duction of a “fair-haired lad” (possibly Heimdallr) who gave
give away Freyja, the sun, and the moon to the master build-
her a necklace (presumably Brísingamen) in exchange for her
er of Ásgarðr if he finishes by the first day of summer, and
favors. Though the Eddas treat them as separate deities, Gef-
when the giant Hrungnir becomes drunk at a feast at Ásga-
jun can hardly be anything but a local incarnation of the om-
rðr, he threatens to destroy the citadel and all its inhabitants
nipresent fertility goddess. Another possible hypostasis of
except for Freyja and Þórr’s wife Sif, whom he will keep for
Freyja is the beautiful Mengloð (“necklace-glad”), who lives
E
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FREYR
3219
in the company of nine maidens on top of the Lyfjaberg (the
Turville-Petre, E. O. G. Myth and Religion of the North: The Reli-
“mount of [magical] healing herbs”), surrounded by a wall
gion of Ancient Scandinavia. New York, 1964.
of flickering flames (Vries, 1967, pp. 328–329).
Vries, Jan de. Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte, vol. 2. 2d rev. ed.
Freyja’s association with the dead has been understood
Berlin, 1967.
as an expression of the opposition between physical death
EDGAR C. POLOMÉ (1987)
and fertility. Together with her shape-changing garment, this
ELIZABETH ASHMAN ROWE (2005)
association also suggests a connection with shamanism. An-
other connection with shamanism is seiðr, a special kind of
sorcery Freyja practiced that allowed her to see the future and
do harm to others. The possession by the spirits that this en-
FREYR (Lord), the son of Njo˛rðr and the brother of Frey-
tailed was considered to be too much like sexual penetration
ja, is one of the Vanir hostages in Ásgarðr and is the main
to be appropriate to men, so Freyja taught seiðr only to the
fertility god of ancient Scandinavia. According to Snorri
Æsir goddesses and to Óðinn, who was willing to risk shame-
Sturluson (1179–1241), Freyr is said to be handsome and
ful effeminacy for its power. Sagas describe seiðr rituals per-
powerful. The noblest of the gods, he rules over rain, sun-
formed by women in a variety of Norse communities.
shine, and growing plants. People invoked him for peace,
good crops, and wealth. He made women happy and freed
Although one might expect that the goddess of love
captives (Lokasenna, st. 37). He is a courageous fighter, and
would be worshiped in private ceremonies, in fact the cult
his name occurs in poetic circumlocutions for warrior, such
of Freyja was a public one. According to the testimony of
as “spear-Freyr.” He is represented as the ancestor of the
Nordic place-names, the cult was comparatively old and was
Swedish kings under the name Yngvi-Freyr (Yngvi is the epo-
widely dispersed over Scandinavia, though it is not always
nym of the royal family of the Ynglings), a name also associ-
easy to determine whether the toponyms refer to Freyr or to
ated with Ing (Gmc. Ingw[az]) in the Old English Runic
Freyja (Vries, 1967, pp. 308–310). The greatest concentra-
Poem and the eponym of the Germanic tribal group the In-
tion seems to be along the west coast of Norway and in the
guaeones, but the relationship between Freyr, Yngvi, and In-
Swedish Uppland, and the name of the deity is joined with
gwaz is not fully understood.
terms meaning “lake,” “grove,” “hill,” “field,” and “mead-
ow,” as well as “sanctuary” and “temple.” An anecdote about
Among Freyr’s prized possessions is the dwarf-made
the tenth-century Icelandic poet Hjalti Skeggjason throws
ship Skíðblaðnir (Built of Slats; Grímnismál, st. 44); accord-
light on Freyja’s important position in heathen religion: at
ing to Snorri, it can be folded up and carried in a pouch, but,
the general assembly in 999 he composed this mocking verse,
when needed, it can carry the whole company of the Æsir,
“I don’t like barking gods; I consider Freyja to be a bitch,”
weapons and all, and always sails with a favorable wind. The
and was promptly outlawed for blasphemy.
motif of the wonderful boat is significant because of the close
association of ships with fertility cults, from their representa-
SEE ALSO Germanic Religion; Óðinn; Sagas; Snorri Sturlu-
tion on Scandinavian Bronze Age rock carvings to medieval
son.
rites. Another important present from the dwarfs is Freyr’s
golden boar, Gullinbyrsti (Golden Bristle) or Slíðrugtanni
BIBLIOGRAPHY
(Razor Tooth), who runs faster than a horse and shines
Hollander, Lee M., trans. and ed. The Poetic Edda. 2d rev. ed.
brightly at night.
Austin, Tex., 1962.
IN MYTHOLOGY. Freyr is involved in few myths. The best
Lindow, John. Scandinavian Mythology: An Annotated Bibliogra-
known is told in the eddic poem Skírnismál (The lay of
phy. New York, 1988.
Skírnir). Seeing the beautiful giantess Gerðr, daughter of
Lindow, John. Handbook of Norse Mythology. Santa Barbara,
Gymir, from a promontory overlooking all the world, Freyr
Calif., 2001.
falls deeply in love with her. Pining away, he sends his ser-
Pulsiano, Phillip, ed. Medieval Scandinavia: An Encyclopedia. New
vant Skírnir (possibly a double of Freyr, who is elsewhere de-
York, 1993.
scribed as skírr [bright, shining, pure]) to woo her. The jour-
Ross, Margaret Clunies. Prolonged Echoes: Old Norse Myths in Me-
ney to Gymir’s home is hazardous, and Skírnir reaches it
dieval Northern Society, vol. 1: The Myths. Odense, Denmark,
only because Freyr’s horse, which he is riding, can jump over
1994.
the circles of flames protecting the property. At the gate,
Rowe, Elizabeth Ashman. “Sörla Þáttr: The Literary Adaptation
Skírnir finds savage dogs and a shepherd sitting on a mound,
of Myth and Legend.” Saga-Book of the Viking Society 26
who tells him he must be either doomed or dead to have
(2002): 38–66.
come so far. Skírnir is nevertheless greeted by Gerðr, who of-
Simek, Rudolf. Lexikon der germanischen Mythologie. Stuttgart,
fers him mead. As he begins his plea for her love on behalf
Germany, 1984. Translated by Angela Hall as Dictionary of
of Freyr, he tries to entice her with presents—the apples of
Northern Mythology (Cambridge, U.K., 1993).
eternal youth, a magic arm ring, and Freyr’s invincible
Ström, A˚ke V. “Germanische Religion.” In Germanische und bal-
sword—but he meets with refusal. Switching from blandish-
tische Religion, edited by Ström and Haralds Biezais, 11–306.
ments to threats, Skírnir ominously warns Gerðr that she will
Mainz, Germany, 1975.
be exiled and will waste away, ugly and desolate and plagued
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3220
FREYR
by lust, for having incurred the wrath of the Æsir; worse still,
adds that all kinds of “lewd practices that remain better un-
he will deliver her by magic to a three-headed fiend from
mentioned” accompanied the ceremonies of Freyr’s cult.
hell, to quench her thirst with “stalings of stinking goats”
One version of the king’s saga about Olaf Tryggvason in-
(Hollander, p. 72). Intimidated, Gerðr gives in and promises
cludes a tale about a fugitive Icelander who joins the priestess
to meet Freyr after nine nights in a “trysting glade” called
of Freyr as she travels from farm to farm in Sweden in a char-
Barri.
iot with a statue of Freyr in a wagon; this was believed to
This myth seems quite archaic, and even if one sets aside
bring good harvests. The young man soon takes the place of
the interpretations associating the story with any fertility rit-
the statue, and when the priestess becomes pregnant, the
ual, there can be no doubt that sex and fertility lie at its core.
people take it as a sign of divine favor. Although this episode
The myth has also been interpreted as reaffirming the patri-
is probably intended to mock paganism, the practice it de-
archal structure of Old Norse society, depicting a male-
scribes is confirmed from other sources, such as Tacitus’s ac-
female struggle for power and providing a matrix for resolv-
count of the procession of Nerthus. A late Icelandic saga
ing conflict between different families through a system of
(Vatnsdæla saga, ch. 10) notes that one devotee of Freyr car-
exchange and intermarriage. One of the conditions imposed
ried an amulet of the god around with him in a bag, a prac-
on the Vanir hostages was that they give up their custom of
tice substantiated by the find in Rällinge, Sweden, of a small
incest, which left only giantesses for Freyr and his father to
yet phallic Viking Age statuette.
marry, as the Æsir did not want the male Vanir to marry up-
Toponymy supplies strong evidence of the spread of his
ward, into their own group. However, the incorporation of
cult: place-names incorporating Freyr are numerous in Swe-
giantesses into Ásgarðr imposed strains on the Æsir’s social
den, especially in the agricultural area of Svealand. Similarly,
hierarchy, and at the gods’ last battle at Ragnarök, Freyr is
the god’s name combines with words for fields, meadows,
killed by the giant Surtr because he did not have his sword,
and so on in agricultural regions of Norway, and it appears
contributing to the defeat of the Æsir as a whole. The loss
in a few places in eastern and southeastern Iceland. Here the
of the sword, with which Loki insults Freyr (Lokasenna, st.
traditional elements preserved in the Icelandic saga about a
42), emphasizes the separation of the fertility function from
chieftain named Hrafnkell attest to the veneration of Freyr;
the warrior function and implies the weakening effects of
he was a “priest of Freyr” (Old Icelandic Freysgoði), to whom
sexual obsession. Snorri’s Ynglingasaga calls Gerðr the wife
of Freyr and mentions their son Fjölnir, but this may be a
he had dedicated a stallion. When a servant desecrated the
post-pagan development undertaken to create a coherent dy-
horse by riding it in spite of Hrafnkell’s stern warnings,
nastic origin.
Hrafnkell killed him. However, Hrafnkell’s enemies cap-
tured the stallion and pushed it over a cliff after covering its
Besides Skírnir, Freyr has two other servants (Lokasenna
head with a bag, as if they were afraid of the power in its eyes.
sts. 43–46): Byggvir, meaning “grain of barley” (as suggested
Desecration of horses belonging to Freyr is also attributed
by the reference to the quern [a hand-turned grain mill] in
to the missionary king, Olaf Tryggvason, who destroyed a
stanza 44), and Beyla, whose name Georges Dumézil inter-
sanctuary of the god in Norway.
preted in 1973 as a diminutive of the Germanic word for
“bee,” in spite of insuperable phonological difficulties. Such
The horse is not the only animal closely associated with
names would make these figures symbolic of beer and mead,
Freyr; several sources relate the offering of a bull or an ox to
the inebriating beverages used in ceremonial activities. How-
Freyr. The boar was also considered suitable for sacrifice
ever, it may be more correct to connect Beyla with the Old
to Freyr, particularly at Yuletide, a critical period when the
Norse baula (cow) and to see the couple as representatives
forces of fertility needed to be stimulated. Adam of Bremen
of the two aspects of Freyr’s functional domain: agriculture
(IV: 27) reported that at times up to seventy-two bodies of
and animal husbandry.
men, horses, and dogs would hang together in a grove near
the temple at Uppsala, but he did not say which victims were
Freyr and Gerðr have been identified as the man and
dedicated to which gods.
woman depicted on Viking Age gold plates from Jæderen,
Norway. She holds an object that could be a branch with
The rationale for these sacrifices was presumably con-
leaves and a flower, and the man touches her cheek or her
cern for good crops; this is suggested by the story of the death
breast with his hand in a gesture of endearment. The clear
of the euhemerized Freyr related in Ynglingasaga (ch. 10).
erotic elements in this depiction seem to be entirely in keep-
When “King Freyr” succumbed to long illness he was secretly
ing with the sexual connotations of fertility cults.
buried, and people were made to believe he was still alive.
FREYR WORSHIP. Little is known directly about the worship
For three years, their tribute—first of gold, then of silver,
of Freyr, but it held a prominent place in Sweden, where he
and ultimately of copper coins—was poured into Freyr’s fu-
was the principal god as well as the divine ancestor of the
neral mound, and good seasons and peace endured. This
royal house. Adam of Bremen (IV:26), writing around 1070
story has often been compared to the occultation of the
and using eyewitness accounts, describes the triad of gods
Thracian god Zalmoxis, but as Mircea Eliade showed in Zal-
worshiped at the time in the temple at Uppsala. He notes
moxis, the Vanishing God (1972), this comparison is not
that the statue of Freyr is endowed with a huge sex organ and
valid.
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FRICK, HEINRICH
3221
SEE ALSO Boats; Eddas; Germanic Religion; Loki; Njo˛rðr;
lucidly develops his typology of religions, analyzing parallels
Sagas; Snorri Sturluson.
between historical religions of different origin, as well as their
respective “peculiarities.” He concludes his argument by pre-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
senting three fundamental typological phenomena as essen-
Dumézil, Georges. Gods of the Ancient Northmen. Berkeley, Calif.,
tially characteristic of religion: the Catholic-Protestant dis-
1973.
sension (religio-historical); the polarity of mystical and
Eliade, Mircea. Zalmoxis, the Vanishing God: Comparative Studies
believing piety (religio-psychological); and, crucial to the
in the Religion and Folklore of Dacia and Eastern Europe. Chi-
“quality” a religion has, the alternative of symbolization in
cago, 1972.
space or time (religio-philosophical). The book aims at dem-
Grimm, Jakob. Deutsche Mythologie (1835). Translated from the
onstrating that comparative religion is an “indispensable
4th edition and edited by James Steven Stallybras as Teutonic
branch of effective theology” (p. 134), in that it proves the
Mythology, 4 vols. 1966; reprint, Gloucester, Mass., 1976.
necessity of choice between several religious possibilities and
offers empirical arguments for a “clear answer to the question
Hollander, Lee M. The Poetic Edda. 2d rev. ed. Austin, Tex.,
why we cling to the gospel in spite of all the parallels and
1962.
in spite of all the attractions in non-Christian religion”
Lindow, John. Scandinavian Mythology: An Annotated Bibliogra-
(p. 132).
phy. New York, 1988.
This theological intention did not prevent Frick from
Ross, Margaret Clunies. Prolonged Echoes: Old Norse Myths in Me-
developing, here and in other publications, points of com-
dieval Northern Society, vol. 1, The Myths. Odense, Denmark,
1994.
parison between religions that have since been generally ac-
cepted. It was an approach he had already adopted in his the-
Vries, Jan de. Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte, vol. 2. 2d rev. ed.
sis comparing al-Ghaza¯l¯ı with Augustine, and again in his
Berlin, 1967.
reviews and articles on special problems, for example, “Der
EDGAR C. POLOMÉ (1987)
Begriff des Prophetischen in Islamkunde und Theologie”
ELIZABETH ASHMAN ROWE (2005)
(The concept of the prophetic in Islamic studies and theolo-
gy), in Festschrift P. Kahle (1935); and in his programmatic
writings, two examples: Das Esvangelium und die Religionen
FRICK, HEINRICH
(The Gospel and religion, 1933); and in his article “Christli-
(1893–1952), German religious
che Grundbegriffe in ihrer Besonderheit gegenueber Frem-
thinker. The term religious thinker characterizes Frick as a
dreligionen” (Fundamental Christian ideas in comparison
scholar who endeavors to combine two potentially conflict-
with other religions), Evangelische Missionzeitschrift (1944):
ing attitudes: Christian theological piety and the ability to
193–205, 233–255.
analyze in a religio-historical way his own religion and the
religions of others.
Motivated by a lifelong sensitivity to secularistic tenden-
cies and the “crisis of religion,” Frick summed up his views
Born in Darmstadt, Hesse, Frick during his childhood
on Religionswissenschaft near the end of his life in two lectures
belonged to Bible youth groups. He studied Protestant theol-
on Religionsphaenomenologie (1950) and Religionswissenschaft
ogy and Arabic in Giessen and Tübingen. He received his
(1951). Casting doubt on the moral right of neutrality in the
licentiate in theology in 1917 from the University of Giessen
field of Religionswissenschaft at a time when modern humani-
and joined the Lutheran ministry in Darmstadt. In 1918 he
ty had become more and more irreligious, Frick called upon
earned his doctorate, also at Giessen; his thesis was Ghazalis
his colleagues to search for a synthesis of the venerable re-
Selbstbiographie: Ein Vergleich mit Augustins Konfessionen
ligio-cultural traditions and modernity. In his opinion the
(Al-Ghaza¯l¯ı’s Autobiography: A Comparison with Augus-
“most important task of present Religionswissenschaft and re-
tine’s Confessions; 1919). Frick began his academic career in
lated fields in all the scholarly faculties is to fulfill its modest
1919 as privatdocent in Religionswissenschaft and missiology
but irremissible part in this.”
at the Technische Hochschule, Darmstadt. He moved to the
University of Giessen in 1921, from which he was called to
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Marburg as successor to Rudolf Otto, whose professorship
Neubauer, Reinhard. “Heinrich Frick, 1893–1952: Theologe.” In
in systematic theology was, for Frick, extended to include Re-
Marburger Gelehrte in der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts,
ligionswissenschaft and missiology. In addition, he became di-
edited by Ingeborg Schnack, pp. 75–90. Marburg, 1977.
rector of the Religionskundliche Sammlung, a collection of
Neumann, Käthe. “Bibliographie Heinrich Frick.” Theologische
religious materials from many religions of the world that had
Literaturzeitung 78 (1953): 440–442. A complete list of his
been founded by Otto in 1927.
publications is available at Religionskundliche Sammlung,
Frick’s bibliography contains more than 150 items,
Philipps-Universität Marburg.
most of them articles, reports, prefaces, lectures, speeches,
Röhr, Heinz. “Der Einfluss der Religionswissenschaft auf die Mis-
sermons, and statements. Of his few books, only one pertains
sionstheorie Heinrich Fricks.” Ph.D. diss., Marburg Univer-
to Religionswissenschaft proper, that is, Vergleichende Religion-
sity, 1959.
swissenschaft (Comparative study of religions; 1928). Here he
MARTIN KRAATZ (1987 AND 2005)
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3222
FRIENDS, SOCIETY OF
FRIENDS, SOCIETY OF SEE QUAKERS
Und Afrika sprach, 3 vols. (1912–1913; translated as The
Voice of Africa, 2 vols., 1913). He also published a series of
twelve volumes of folk tales and poems under the general title
Atlantis between 1921 and 1928; these have proved to be
FROBENIUS, LEO (1873–1938), was a German eth-
particularly rich source materials for historians of religions.
nologist and philosopher of culture. Leo Viktor Frobenius
He summarized his research in Kulturgeschichte Afrikas
was born July 29, 1873, in Berlin, where he spent his early
(1933).
years. Even in his youth he devoted himself enthusiastically
Frobenius’s impact upon the world outside his profes-
to the investigation of African cultures, collecting all avail-
sional field is demonstrated by the fact that the Senegalese
able written and pictorial material that dealt with particular
politician and poet Léopold Senghor has credited Frobenius
ethnological motifs. (Later, these materials became the ma-
with helping to foster a revitalization of self-awareness
trix for an Africa archive that Frobenius assembled.) Despite
among present-day Africans. The materials collected on Fro-
the fact that he never received a high school diploma and did
benius’s many expeditions were brought together in 1922 to
not complete a university program, Frobenius achieved ex-
be housed at the newly founded Institute for Cultural Mor-
traordinary success in his scientific pursuits.
phology in Munich. In 1925 the institute was removed to
Stimulated by the work of Heinrich Schurtz (whom
Frankfurt, where Frobenius received an honorary lectureship
Frobenius claimed as his teacher), Friedrich Ratzel, and
in the department of ethnology and cultural studies at the
Richard Andree, Frobenius was responsible for introducing
university. In 1934 he was appointed director of the Munici-
a new way of scientific thinking into the field of ethnology.
pal Ethnological Museum in Frankfurt. Shortly after his
His new concept, hinging on the term Kulturkreis (“culture
sixty-fifth birthday, Frobenius died at his residence on Lake
circle”), first appeared in his 1898 work Der Ursprung der af-
Maggiore in Italy.
rikanischen Kulturen (The origin of African civilization). Un-
SEE ALSO Kulturkreiselehre.
like other scholars, who put the term to one-dimensional
uses, Frobenius developed the concept of Kulturkreis into an
BIBLIOGRAPHY
all-encompassing cultural morphology. His method involved
For bibliographical data, see Heinz Wieschoff’s article “Das
the notion that individual elements of culture should be in-
Schrifttum von Leo Frobenius,” in Leo Frobenius, Ein Leben-
vestigated according to their placement within the organic
swerk aus der Zeit der Kulturwende, edited by Walter J. Otto
whole of which they are parts. According to Frobenius, this
(Leipzig, 1933), pp. 163–170; Afrika Rundschau (1938),
pp. 119–121; Jacques Waardenburg’s Classical Approaches to
method provides a way for understanding the complex, his-
the Study of Religion, vol. 2 (The Hague, 1974), p. 82; and
torical nature of cultures.
especially Hermann Niggemeyer, “Das wissenschaftliche
Frobenius’s primary concern was for the investigator’s
Schrifttum von Leo Frobenius,” Paideuma 4 (1950): 377–
recognition of the essence of culture in general. Frobenius
418. For biographical information, see Helmut Petri’s article
“Leo Frobenius und die historische Ethnologie,” Saeculum 4
found that cultures display “biological” characteristics similar
(1953): 45–60.
to those of living organisms. He drew parallels between a cul-
ture’s stages and the elements of an organic life cycle, using
New Sources
A very useful collection of Frobenius’s most important articles on
terms such as Ergriffenheit (“emotion,” by which Frobenius
African history, art and ethnography in English is Leo Fro-
meant to signify a culture’s youth), Ausdruck (“expression,”
benius 1873–1973: An Anthology, edited by Eike Haberland
or a culture’s maturity), and Anwendung (“utilization,” its
(Wiesbaden, 1973). It includes a foreword by Léopold Sédar
old age). Every culture, argued Frobenius, possesses laws that
Senghor, an informative “Editor’s Postscript,” a selected bib-
determine its process independently of the individual human
liography of works of and on Leo Frobenius and inspiring
beings who participate in the culture. He labeled this inher-
illustrations. For biographical information and appreciation
ent power with the Greek word paideuma (“what is acquired
by his disciples and colleagues, see Ewald Volhard, “Leo Fro-
by learning”) and devoted an entire book, Paideuma: Umrisse
benius,” Paideuma 1 (1938): 41–44; Adolf E. Jensen, “Leo
einer Kultur- und Seelenlehre (Outline of a theory of culture
Frobenius: Leben und Werk,” Paideuma 1 (1938): 45–58;
Wilhelm Mühlmann, “Zum Gedäcthnis von Leo Frobeni-
and spirit; 1921), to this theme. Paideuma is also the title
us,” Archiv für Anthropologie 25 (1939): 47–51. Hans-Jürgen
of a periodical, established by Frobenius in 1938, devoted to
Heinrichs, Die fremde Welt, das bin ich. Leo Frobenius: Eth-
the problem of cultural morphology. Although the philoso-
nologe, Forschungsreiseinder, Abenteurer, Wuppertal, 1998, is
phy of culture espoused by Frobenius has been disputed, he
a monograph that includes a bibliography. For Frobenius’s
is still considered an ethnological field-researcher of the first
virtual connections with Bachofen’s legacy and his contribu-
order.
tion to the theory of historical ethnology, see Giovanni Casa-
dio, “Bachofen, o della rimozione,” in Agathe Elpis. Studi
Frobenius went on twelve research expeditions to vari-
storico-religiosi in onore di Ugo Bianchi, edited by G. S. Ga-
ous parts of Africa to document the lives of tribal peoples.
sparro, Rome, 1994, pp. 63–78, 69–70.
In addition, he studied the most important rock-painting
OTTO ZERRIES (1987)
sites of both northern and southern Africa. The results of his
Translated from German by John Maressa
ethnological researches were presented in a work entitled
Revised Bibliography
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FRYE, NORTHROP
3223
FROGS AND TOADS. The frog or toad is a lunar ani-
Comparative Religion (New York, 1958), pp. 160ff. See also
mal par excellence. Its shape or behavior is reminiscent of the
Lutz Röhrich’s “Hund, Pferd, Kröte und Schlange als sym-
moon; it swells and shrinks, submerges under water but
bolische Leitgestalten in Volksglauben und Sage,” Zeitschrift
emerges again, and hides under the ground in winter but re-
für Religions- und Geistesgeschichte 3 (1951): 69–76.
appears in spring. The frog lives according to the lunar
New Sources
rhythm. In fact, a great many myths speak of a frog in the
Ribouli, Patricia, and Maria Robbiani. Frogs: Art, Legend, History,
moon. According to the Chinese, the moon has not only an
translated by John Gilbert. Boston, 1991.
evergreen cassia tree and a rabbit but also a frog inside it.
MANABU WAIDA (1987)
Thus the Tianwen section of the Chuzi (fourth or third cen-
Revised Bibliography
tury BCE) asks: “What is the peculiar virtue of the moon, the
brightness of the night, which causes it to grow once more
after its death? What does it advantage to keep a frog in its
belly?”
FRYE, NORTHROP. The reputation of Northrop
The frog, then, is naturally associated with all sorts of
Frye (1912–1991) as a literary theorist was originally based
aquatic elements such as water, rain, ocean, and flood. Frogs
upon his Anatomy of Criticism (1957), a book that sought to
are said to croak incessantly before it rains, or to announce
provide a structural framework for the study of literature
or bring rain by croaking. They are usually mentioned in the
through an analysis of its various modes, symbols, myths, im-
innumerable rites for inducing rain. North American Indians
ages, and genres. The Anatomy, heralded for a generation as
see in the moon the primeval toad, which contained all the
a twentieth-century Poetics, had a large following in the
waters and caused the flood by discharging them over the
1960s and 1970s, and twenty years after its publication it was
earth. According to the Kurnai of southeastern Australia,
the most frequently cited book in the arts and humanities
once upon a time all the waters were swallowed by a huge
by a writer born in the twentieth century. Seventeen transla-
frog; the other animals tried in vain to make him laugh until
tions of the Anatomy into thirteen languages (as of 2003) at-
the eel danced about, twisting itself into the most ridiculous
test to its international standing. But some thirty books fol-
contortions, whereupon the frog burst into laughter and the
lowed in the wake of the Anatomy, and the scope of Frye’s
waters rushed out of his mouth and produced the flood. The
work as a whole has come into focus with the publication
frog sometimes plays a part in the precosmogonic period
of his collected works. While Anatomy of Criticism will re-
when there is nothing but water. A Huron myth narrates
main an important twentieth-century study of literary con-
how several animals descended in vain into the primeval wa-
ventions, it seems likely that Frye’s major contribution will
ters, until the toad returned successfully with a little soil in
be defined by the books that serve as bookends of his career:
its mouth; the soil was placed on the back of the tortoise, and
at the beginning, Fearful Symmetry: A Study of William Blake
the miraculous growth of the land then began.
(1947), and at the end, his two books on the Bible and litera-
ture, The Great Code (1982) and Words with Power (1990)—
Significantly, the frog is also associated with the princi-
as well as his posthumous The Double Vision (1991).
ples of evil and death. According to Altaic beliefs, the cre-
ation of man and woman by the god Ülgen was marred by
Frye grew up in a Methodist environment in Moncton,
the devil Erlik. Consequently, the god decided to destroy
New Brunswick. Although he rejected at an early age what
them, but changed his mind when a frog proposed that hu-
he saw as the constraining features of fundamentalism and
mankind exist under the curse of mortality. In Iranian my-
the oppressive demands of Methodist moral piety, he never
thology the frog appears as a symbol or embodiment of the
abandoned his Protestant roots, particularly its low-church,
evil spirit or the most important of its creatures. In Inner
dissenting traditions and the Methodist emphasis on experi-
Asian cosmogonic myths—apparently colored by Iranian in-
ence. In 1929, at age seventeen, he entered Victoria College
fluence—frogs are among those animals that, together with
in Toronto as a “church student,” and on completing his un-
lizards, worms, and mice, come out of the hole made in the
dergraduate honors degree in philosophy, he enrolled at Em-
earth by the satanic figure. In Africa the frog emerges some-
manuel College, the theology school at Victoria University.
times as the messenger of death. At the time of beginning,
The papers he wrote at Emmanuel, collected in Northrop
say the Ekoi of Nigeria, the duck was charged by God with
Frye’s Student Essays (1997), show how deeply he immersed
a message of immortality to humankind, whereas the frog
himself in the comparative mythology of James Frazer
was given a message of death. The frog got to the earth first,
(1854–1941), Oswald Spengler’s (1880–1936) theory of the
delivered his message, and thus brought death to human-
organic rhythms of cultural history, Reformation theology,
kind.
and the Romantic cultural revolution. Several of these essays
also addressed the relationship of religion and art. Frye’s
B
basic insights came to him early, and these student essays
IBLIOGRAPHY
There is much useful material in volume 2 of Robert Briffault’s
contain an embryonic form of many of the deductive frame-
The Mothers: A Study of the Origins of Sentiments and Institu-
works he subsequently developed. At age twenty-two Frye
tions, 3 vols. (1927; reprint, New York, 1969), pp. 634ff.
wrote, “religion and art are the two most important phenom-
Mircea Eliade has discussed frog symbolism in Patterns in
ena in the world; or rather the most important phenomenon,
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3224
FRYE, NORTHROP
for they are basically the same thing” (Correspondence, 1966,
tion, becoming for him a touchstone for studying what he
vol. 1, pp. 425–426). This was an insight that Frye spent the
called “positive analogies” in nonbiblical stories and images.
next fifty-six years exploring.
His approach always moved away from the historical and
doctrinal toward the poetic. But although he was known pri-
Frye’s interest in religion is, therefore, in many ways ob-
marily as a literary critic, his lifelong project took the form
vious: he became an ordained minister in the United Church
of a religious quest and the structures he built for containing
of Canada; early in his career he wrote an extraordinary essay
his expansive vision were fundamentally religious. “I am an
on American civil religion and another one on the relation
architect of the spiritual world,” Frye wrote in his Late Note-
of the church to society; at Victoria College, where Frye
books (2000, vol. 1, p. 414).
spent his entire career, he taught a course on the Bible for
forty-four years; and he addressed religious subjects on nu-
The architecture of this world was formed by a number
merous occasions (Northrop Frye on Religion [2000] contains
of key terms that appear throughout Frye’s work—what he
forty-three texts, including a number of eloquent sermons
called his “verbal formulas.” Chief among these are (1) inter-
and prayers). But having an interest in religion would be not
penetration, an idea that developed from his reading of
be unusual for any thinker who engaged as expansive a range
Spengler, Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947), David
of literary, social, and cultural issues as Frye did. That would
Bohm (1917–1992), and the su¯tras of Maha¯ya¯na Buddhism,
be the weak claim. The strong claim would be that religion
and that, like identity, represented the erasing of the subject-
was absolutely central to practically everything he wrote, the
object duality; (2) the participating apocalypse or revelation,
base upon which he built the massive superstructure that was
which was the final stage of the reading process, opening up
his life’s work. The reasons for the strong claim have become
“myths to live by and metaphors to live in” and the gospel
more insistent and the argument more convincing with the
of love; (3) kerygma, the voice of proclamation that comes
publication of Frye’s notebooks, diaries, and other manu-
from the other side of the poetic; (4) purgatory, which repre-
scripts.
sents the pilgrimage that serves as a crucible for the purified
mind and the emancipated vision; (5) anagnorisis or recogni-
Frye remarked on several occasions that all of his ideas
tion, which Frye associates with rebirth and renewed vision-
derived from William Blake (1757–1827), a deeply religious
ary perception; and (6) the dialectic of Word and Spirit, the
poet, the code of whose “prophecies” Frye was more respon-
goal of which was to reach spiritual insight.
sible than anyone else for deciphering. The most important
thing Blake taught Frye was the religious vision of radical im-
Frazer and other comparative mythographers, including
manence. Blake insists, says Frye, that “everything God does
Carl Jung (1875–1961) and Mircea Eliade (1907–1986),
comes through man—the consciousness and imagination of
were important in Frye’s early work in helping him define
man. . . .God becomes man in order that we may be as he
the principles of myth, archetype, and ritual. In his late work
is” (Cayley, 1992, p. 54). Theologically, this is the doctrine
such thinkers are displaced by G. W. F. Hegel (1770–1831),
of the incarnation, though Frye was not inclined to speculate
whose Phenomenology of Spirit (1807) Frye saw as the great
on such paradoxes in theological terms—in what he called
philosophic statement of anabasis. Both Frye and Hegel
the second-phase language of discursive thought with its em-
climb a spiraling ladder to a higher level of being, except Frye
phasis on subjects and objects. His approach was through the
moves upward by way of the language of myth and meta-
first-phase language of metaphor. “The metaphorical ap-
phor. Frye said, “If Hegel had written his Phenomenology in
proach,” he said, “moves in the direction of the identity of
mythos-language instead of in logos-language a lot of my work
God and man” (Cayley, 1992. p. 183). This means that the
would be done for me” (Late Notebooks, 2000, vol. 1,
principle of identity, which makes the paradoxical claim that
p. 192). About the same time he wrote, “The rush of ideas
two different things are the same thing, lies behind Frye’s
I get from Hegel’s Phenomenology is so tremendous I can
speculation on both religion and art. Identity is also a princi-
hardly keep up with it” (Late Notebooks, 2000, vol. 2,
ple of myth: in our earliest stories, which are stories about
p. 631). Blake remained Frye’s guiding light throughout his
gods, the gods are themselves identified with forces in nature.
career, but Stéphane Mallarmé (1842–1898) was another
In such hyphenated words as sky-god or river-god the hyphen
important presence in his visionary poetics. In Mallarmé,
really functions as an equal mark, identifying the sky or the
Frye discovered a completely metaphoric and symbolic
river with the god. Mythos or narrative, moreover, has to do
world, a world where divinity can be expressed only by the
with the loss and regaining of identity, or recognition of self
poetic word but which ultimately moved beyond the poetic.
by both literary characters and readers, which is the general
In his various accounts of Mallarmé the distinction between
topic of The Secular Scripture (1976).
literature and religion tended to collapse.
Metaphor and myth, then, lie behind Frye’s imaginative
Frye never escaped from his Christian roots, nor did he
approach to the Bible in The Great Code and Words with
want to: the words Christian and Christianity appear more
Power and in the lectures on the Bible that he gave at Victoria
3,400 times in his work. But he had more than a passing in-
College, published in Northrop Frye’s Notebooks and Lectures
terest in Eastern religious traditions, and his notebooks reveal
on the Bible and Other Religious Texts (2003). The Bible for
that he was deeply engaged with esoteric and mystical reli-
Frye was the primary text in the Western literary imagina-
gious traditions. His library contains more than 250 annotat-
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FRYE, NORTHROP
3225
ed books that can be labeled esoterica, ranging from Alexan-
(2000); Northrop Frye’s Late Notebooks, 1982–1990 (2000;
drian hermeticism through the medieval mystics to various
2 vols.); Northrop Frye’s Writings on Education (2000); The
forms of the occult, including alchemy, astrology, Gnosti-
Diaries of Northrop Frye, 1942–1955 (2001); The “Third
cism, magic, mysticism, Rosicrucianism, channeling, the
Book” Notebooks of Northrop Frye, 1964–1972 (2001); Nor-
tarot, numerology, astral projection, New Age science, The-
throp Frye on Literature and Society, 1936–1989 (2002); Nor-
osophy, synchronicity, and qabbalism. Frye had no interest
throp Frye on Modern Culture (2002); Northrop Frye on Cana-
da (2003); and Northrop Frye’s Notebooks and Lectures on the
in these traditions as matters of belief, but they did confirm
Bible and Other Religious Texts (2003). The remaining vol-
his contention that poetic thought is schematic, and they
umes are expected at the rate of two per year.
contained grammars of literary and religious symbolism. He
Frye’s major books are Fearful Symmetry (Princeton, 1947), Anat-
was drawn to the esoteric traditions only to the extent that
omy of Criticism (Princeton, 1957), The Great Code (New
he could make imaginative use of them.
York, 1982), and Words with Power (New York, 1990). His
Frye was a schematic thinker (he could hardly put pen
essays have been collected in Fables of Identity (New York,
1963), The Stubborn Structure (Ithaca, N.Y., 1971), Spiritus
to paper without a diagram in mind), but he was also a dia-
Mundi (Bloomington, Ind., 1976), Northrop Frye on Culture
lectical thinker, his mind repeatedly moving back and forth
and Literature (Chicago, 1978), On Education (Markham,
between opposing poles of reference: knowledge and experi-
Ont., 1988), Myth and Metaphor (Charlottesville, Va.,
ence, space and time, stasis and movement, the individual
1990), Reading the World (New York, 1991), and The Eter-
and society, tradition and innovation, Platonic synthesis and
nal Act of Creation (Bloomington, Ind., 1993). His essays on
Aristotelian analysis, engagement and detachment, freedom
Canadian literature and culture are in The Bush Garden (To-
and concern, mythos and dianoia, the world and the grain of
ronto, 1971) and Divisions on a Ground (Toronto, 1982).
sand, immanence and transcendence, and hundreds of other
Other significant books include The Educated Imagination
oppositions. A second feature of Frye’s expansive body of
(Toronto, 1963), T. S. Eliot (Edinburgh, U.K., 1963), The
work was its drive toward unity—an effort to get beyond the
Well-Tempered Critic (Bloomington, Ind., 1963), The Return
oppositions that he repeatedly introduced. He always resisted
of Eden (Toronto, 1965), The Modern Century (Toronto,
1967), A Study of English Romanticism (New York, 1968),
the Kierkegaardian either/or solution. But unity was not
The Critical Path (Bloomington, Ind., 1971), The Secular
achieved at the expense of variety, and he never tires of insist-
Scripture (Cambridge, Mass., 1976), Creation and Recreation
ing that opposites are never resolved by reconciliation, har-
(Toronto, 1980), and The Double Vision (Toronto, 1991).
mony, or agreement. They are typically resolved, rather, by
His books on Shakespeare are A Natural Perspective (New
the process of the Hegelian Aufhebung, a dialectic in which
York, 1965), Fools of Time (Toronto, 1967), The Myth of De-
oppositions are, in the triple meaning of the term, canceled,
liverance (Toronto, 1983), and Northrop Frye on Shakespeare
preserved, and raised. The movement of passing through ne-
(Markham, Ont., 1986). Twenty-two interviews with Frye
gation to another level of vision is present in the conclusions
are collected in A World in a Grain of Sand (New York,
of each of the eight chapters of Words with Power, and it is
1991).
operative as well in the final pages of each of the four chap-
Secondary Sources
ters of The Double Vision.
Adamson, Joseph. Northrop Frye: A Visionary Life. Toronto, 1993.
Ayre, John. Northrop Frye: A Biography. Toronto, 1989.
Frye’s own purgatorial journey, as he called it, took the
Boyd, David, and Imre Salusinszky, eds. Rereading Frye: The Pub-
form of a quest romance. The goal of this quest—the existen-
lished and Unpublished Works. Toronto, 1999.
tial vision that came from the other side of the poetic—was
for Frye, the Everlasting Gospel, in Blake’s phrase, or the
Cayley, David. Northrop Frye in Conversation. Concord, Ont.,
1992.
gospel of love. Charity or agap¯e is the note that is sounded
in the conclusions of Frye’s last three books. But the structur-
Cook, David. Northrop Frye: A Vision of the New World. New
York, 1985.
al poetics that Frye developed in Anatomy of Criticism re-
mained with him to the end. Therefore, to see Frye as a reli-
Cook, Eleanor, et al., eds. Centre and Labyrinth: Essays in Honour
of Northrop Frye. Toronto, 1985.
gious visionary and architect of the spiritual world is to
consider his work less in revisionary terms than in expanded
Cotrupi, Caterina Nella. Northrop Frye and the Poetics of Process.
ones.
Toronto, 2000.
Denham, Robert D. Northrop Frye and Critical Method. Universi-
S
ty Park, Pa., 1978.
EE ALSO Literature, article on Literature and Religion.
Denham, Robert D. Northrop Frye: An Annotated Bibliography of
Primary and Secondary Sources. Toronto, 1987.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Denham, Robert D., and Thomas Willard, eds. Visionary Poetics:
The authoritative texts of Frye’s published and previously unpub-
Essays on Northrop Frye’s Criticism. New York, 1991.
lished writings are being issued in the Collected Works of
Northrop Frye (Toronto, 1996–), under the editorship of
Donaldson, Jeffery, and Alan Mendelson, eds. Frye and the Word:
Alvin A. Lee. As of 2003, thirteen of the more than thirty
Religious Contexts in the Criticism of Northrop Frye. Toronto,
volumes had appeared: The Correspondence of Northrop Frye
2003.
and Helen Kemp, 1932–1939 (2 vols., 1996); Northrop Frye’s
Dyrkjo⁄b, Jan Ulrik. Northrop Frye’s litteraturteori. Copenhagen,
Student Essays, 1932–1938 (1997); Northrop Frye on Religion,
1979.
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

FUDO
¯
3226
Gyalokay, Monique Anne. Rousseau, Northrop Frye, et la Bible:
formed by extending the fore- and middle fingers of both
Essai de mythocritique. Paris, 1999.
hands straight out, and curling the thumb, ring and little fin-
Hamilton, A. C. Northrop Frye: Anatomy of His Criticism. Toron-
ger into the palm. The right hand is held palm down, and
to, 1990.
the left hand palm up. This represents Fudo¯’s vajra sword
Hart, Jonathan. Northrop Frye: The Theoretical Imagination. Lon-
and its scabbard, respectively.
don, 1994.
He is considered to be the chief of the five Kings of Wis-
Kee, James M., ed. Northrop Frye and the Afterlife of the Word.
dom (Jpn. Godai Myo¯o¯, Skt. Vidya¯ra¯ja, also translatable as
Semeia 89. Atlanta, 2002.
“Mantra Kings” given the ambiguity of the Sanskrit vidya,
Krieger, Murray, ed. Northrop Frye in Modern Criticism. New
meaning both wisdom and mantra), who appear wrathful in
York, 1966.
their function as protectors of the buddhadharma. The other
Lee, Alvin A., and Robert D. Denham, eds. The Legacy of Northrop
four Kings of Wisdom are Trailokyavijaya (Jpn. Go¯zanze),
Frye. Toronto, 1994.
Kun:d:alin (Jpn. Gundari), Yama¯ntaka (Jpn. Daiitoku), and
Lombardo, Agostino, ed. Ritratto de Northrop Frye. Rome, 1989.
Vajrayaks:a (Jpn. Kongoyasha). Fudo¯ frequently appears ac-
companied by children, most commonly two (Jpn. Kongara
O’Grady, Jean, and Wang Ning, eds. Northrop Frye: Eastern and
and Seitaka), or eight children.
Western Perspectives. Toronto, 2002.
Ricciardi, Caterina. Northrop Frye, o, delle finzioni supreme. Rome,
Fudo¯ appears in both of the two man:d:alas of the Shin-
1992.
gon tradition, the Matrix Man:d:ala (Skt. garbhako´sadha¯tu
Russell, Ford. Northrop Frye on Myth: An Introduction. New York,
man:d:ala, Jpn. taizo¯kai mandara) described in the
1998.
Maha¯vairocana su¯tra, and the Diamond World Man:d:ala
(Skt. vajradha¯tu man:d:ala, Jpn. kongo¯kai mandara) described
Ziolkowski, Eric. “Between Religion and Literature: Eliade and
Frye.” Journal of Religion 71 (1991): 498–522.
in the Vajra´sekhara su¯tra. In the former, below the central
assembly is the “mansion of the mantra holders,” within
ROBERT D. DENHAM (2005)
which Fudo¯ is central.
The temple of To¯ji (“Eastern Temple,” Kyo¯to¯) as rede-
signed by Ku¯kai beginning in 839 has as its altar a sculptural
FUDO
¯ , the “Immovable One” (Skt. Acala, also Acalana¯tha
man:d:ala. One of the three groupings is that of the five Kings
Vidya¯ra¯ja), is one of the most popular esoteric Buddhist dei-
of Wisdom. Fudo¯ is in the center, with Go¯zanze to the east,
ties in contemporary Japan. Fudo¯ is most frequently colored
Gundari to the south, Daiitoku to the west, and Kongo¯yasha
black or dark blue and portrayed as sitting or standing on
to the north. These directions are symbolic, rather than liter-
a large stone which, according to the commentary by
al, and are associated with specific colors according to the
S´ubha¯karasim:ha (637–735), represents both the heaviness of
Chinese system of five elements.
the obscurations (Skt. kle´sa) and the immovability of the
Fudo¯ also appears together with the other Kings of Wis-
thought of awakening (Skt. bodhicitta). This ambiguity is
dom at the center of the man:d:ala used in the Ninno¯-kyo¯ Ho¯,
typical of tantric thought in which the obscurations are non-
an elaborate esoteric rite centering on the recitation of the
dually identical with awakening (Jpn. bonno¯ soku bodai).
Benevolent Kings Su¯tra (Jpn. Ninno¯-kyo¯). In this man:d:ala he
Fudo¯ is encircled by flames that are produced by his
is shown seated, with a vajra sword in his right hand, and
state of concentration. These flames themselves are described
a dharma wheel (Jpn. ho¯rin, Skt. dharmacakra) in his left.
as being “garuda-headed,” that is, shaped like the head of the
Much more commonly performed today, however, is the
mythic garuda bird, said to be able to eat snakes without
protective fire ritual (Jpn. sokusai goma) with Fudo¯ as the
harm. For this reason, the garuda is taken as a symbol of the
chief deity. In the training for Shingon priests this is the final
power of Buddhist teachings to transform the three poisons
ritual practiced.
of ignorance, greed, and hatred. Fudo¯’s hair is braided and
Fudo¯ is considered to be the wrathful manifestation of
hangs down on one side of his face, his eyes are crossed or
Maha¯vairocana Buddha, the central cult figure of Shingon
bulging from anger, and two fangs emerge from his mouth—
Buddhism. Under the theory of “original form, trace mani-
usually one pointed up, the other down. He holds in his right
festation” (Jpn. honji-suijaku), Fudo¯ is identified with Ama-
hand a vajra (a ritual implement representing a thunderbolt)
terasu, the sun goddess who is the ancestress of Japan’s impe-
sword that cuts through the delusions of sentient beings.
rial family.
Sometimes a dragon is coiled around the sword. In his left
hand he holds a noose which is used to pull sentient beings
Fudo¯ is linked with the widespread practice of cold
toward awakening. His mantra is “naumaku sanmanda ba-
water austerities, the practice of bathing in cold water,
zaradan senda makaroshada sowataya un tarata kan man”
thought to stimulate internal energy, during which his man-
(Skt. “namah: samanta vajra¯n:a¯m: can:d:a maha¯ros:an:a sphot:aya
tra is commonly recited; the cult of Shugendo¯, mountain as-
hu¯m: trat: ha¯m: ma¯m:”), meaning “Praise all vajras, Violent and
cetics who engage in the practice (along with other austeri-
Exceedingly Wrathful One, destroy (all delusions).” The
ties) are one vehicle for the spread of Fudo¯’s popularity.
mudra¯ (yogic hand position) used in ritual for Fudo¯ is
Shugendo¯ practitioners also construct large, outdoor fire rit-
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

FUJIWARA SEIKA
3227
uals (Jpn. saito goma) in which Fudo¯ plays a central role.
Payne, Richard K. “Firmly Rooted: On Fudo¯ Myo¯o¯’s Origins.”
Such rituals continue today, both in traditional Shugendo¯
Pacific World, The Journal of the Institute of Buddhist Studies
settings and in such new religions as Agon shu¯.
4 (1988): pp. 6—14.
The association of cold water austerities with Fudo¯ is
Teeuwen, Mark. “The Kami in Esoteric Buddhist Thought and
found in the literary record. For example, the Heike monoga-
Practice.” In Shinto¯ and History: Ways of the Kami, edited by
John Breen and Mark Teeuwen, pp. 95–116. Honolulu,
tari tells of the cold water austerities of the warrior Mongaku,
2000. Shows the interplay between the Indic Buddhist cate-
who vows to stand under the waterfall at Kumano in mid-
gory of vidya¯ra¯ja as dharma protector and indigenous Japa-
winter for twenty-one days, reciting the mantra of Fudo¯.
nese category of kami as local, territorial deities.
After eight days, Mongaku collapses a second time and is re-
vived by Kongara and Seitaku, who reassure him that Fudo¯,
RICHARD K. PAYNE (2005)
who is residing in Tus:ita heaven, has heard his invocations.
Now reinspired, he returns to the waters which, because of
the divine protection that has been extended to him, now feel
FUJIWARA SEIKA (1561–1619) was a Japanese Con-
warm, though winter gales blow around him. He is able to
fucian scholar of the early Tokugawa period. Once regarded
successfully complete the twenty-one days as he had vowed.
as the founder of Tokugawa neo-Confucianism, Fujiwara
Whereas the iconography of Fudo¯ became fairly stan-
Seika is today understood increasingly as a transitional figure
dardized in Japan, his appearance is more varied in the Indi-
in the development of an intellectually self-contained Confu-
an sources. In addition to the one-faced and two-armed form
cianism out of the Zen-flavored Confucianism that flour-
found, for example, in the Sa¯dhanama¯la¯, there is a one-faced
ished in the Gozan Zen temples of the Muromachi period.
and six-armed form and a three-faced and four-armed form
Seika was a twelfth-generation descendant of the thir-
(both found in the Nis:pannayoga¯val¯ı), and a three-faced and
teenth-century court poet Fujiwara no Teika, but his imme-
six-armed form (found in the Pin:d:¯ıkrama-Sa¯dhana). In a
diate forebears were small local lords in the Harima area
painting from central Tibet (c. 1200), Fudo¯ is the central fig-
(present-day Hyo¯go prefecture). A younger son, at the age
ure, depicted kneeling in a position that has his right foot
of seven or eight he was sent to study at a Zen temple in the
and left knee on the ground (Skt. acala¯sana), and with three
area where, it so happened, the priests were interested in
eyes.
Confucianism. When he was eighteen, his father and elder
Fudo¯ is also named Can:d:amaha¯ros:an:a (the “fierce and
brother were killed in battle, and the family’s ancestral lands
greatly wrathful one”), the main figure of the Can:d:ama-
were lost. Through the mediation of two uncles who were
ha¯ros:an:a tantra, classified in the Tibetan system as one of the
priests at important Zen temples in Kyoto, Seika, who had
anuttarayoga tantras. In this text he teaches his consort while
taken refuge in the capital, became a priest at the major Zen
they are in sexual union, and is identified as a manifestation
center of Sho¯kokuji. There, as was common practice, he pur-
of Aks:obhya, whose quality is an unshakable resolve to attain
sued the study of Confucian texts as an adjunct to his train-
awakening. It has also been suggested that Fudo¯ is related to
ing as a Zen priest. Gradually he formed a deeper commit-
S´iva, for whom Acala is an epithet. They share the attribute
ment to Confucianism, and in his mid-thirties he left the
of immovability, and the iconographic detail of dark blue or
temple and devoted himself to the study of Confucianism.
black color.
In 1596, at the age of thirty-five, Seika attempted to go
to China to study Confucianism with an authentic master.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The attempt was unsuccessful, but he was able to broaden
De Mallman, Marie-Thérèse. Introduction a l’Iconographie du
and deepen his understanding of Confucianism through
Tântrisme Bouddhique. Paris, 1986.
contact with Korean scholars captured by Japanese troops
Frank, Bernard. Le panthéon bouddhique au Japon: Collections
during Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s invasion of Korea and brought
d’Emile Guimet. Paris, 1991.
back to Japan. At his urging, the captive scholars were set to
George, C. S. The Can:d:amaha¯ros:an:atantra: Chapters I–VII. New
copying out the Four Books and the Five Classics, while he
Haven, Conn., 1974.
punctuated the copied text in Japanese according to the Song
Izutsu, Shinryu, and Shoryu Omori. Sacred Treasures of Mount
and Ming neo-Confucian commentaries. Individual classics
Ko¯ya: The Art of Shingon Buddhism. Honolulu, 2002.
had been punctuated previously by Japanese scholars using
McCullough, Helen Craig, trans. The Tale of Heike. Stanford,
the neo-Confucian interpretations, but this was the first in-
Calif., 1988.
stance in which one person systematically punctuated all the
Orzech, Charles. Politics and Transcendent Wisdom: The Scripture
central texts of Confucianism. Seika’s plan to make his punc-
for Humane Kinds in the Creation of Chinese Buddhism. Uni-
tuated edition available in published form went unrealized,
versity Park, Penn., 1998. Presents translations of the Benev-
but the plan itself and his comprehensive rather than piece-
olent Kings Su¯tra and the Benevolent Kings rite, and a discus-
meal approach to the basic Confucian texts stand as land-
sion of the vidya¯ra¯jas in Chinese esoteric Buddhism.
marks in the history of Confucianism in Japan.
Payne, Richard K. “Standing Fast: Fudo¯ Myo¯o¯ in Japanese Litera-
ture.” Pacific World, The Journal of the Institute of Buddhist
In other ways, too, Seika took steps to establish Confu-
Studies 3 (1987): 53—58.
cianism as a self-sufficient intellectual tradition independent
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3228
FULANI RELIGION
of Buddhism. For some time after leaving Sho¯kokuji Seika
from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea (Mauritania, Sene-
continued to dress as a priest, but in 1600 he formally mani-
gal, Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria,
fested the shift in his intellectual allegiance by adopting a
Chad, Cameroon, and Sudan). Also called Fulani, Fellata,
style of dress patterned after that of the Chinese scholar-
and Peul, these people (with an estimated population in the
official class. The same year he lectured on Chinese historical
early twentieth century of around twenty-five million) have
works before Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder of the Tokugawa
played a significant role in West African history and attracted
shogunate, and engaged the Zen monks present in a debate
the attention of European observers of African societies.
over the respective merits of the Confucian and Buddhist ap-
While a majority had become Muslims from the eighteenth
proaches to life. Seika refused an invitation to serve Ieyasu
century, they possess a strong cattle-herding tradition that
on a permanent basis, but he maintained informal ties as a
antedates their Islamic allegiance.
scholar with a number of daimyo.
The Fulbe speak Fulfulde (also called Pula¯r), a language
Although Seika took action that contributed to the de-
of the West Atlantic branch of Niger-Congo languages. The
velopment of Confucianism as a public teaching (in contrast
northern section of the West Atlantic branch includes
to the “secret transmission” tradition of medieval scholar-
Wolof, Serer, and Fulfulde, which are the dominant lan-
ship) institutionally independent of Buddhism, his writings
guages of Senegal but were in earlier times spoken farther
on Confucianism reveal lingering traces of Zen ideas. Seika
north, in today’s Mauritania. The early Fulbe probably left
objected to the otherworldly orientation of Buddhism, but
some of the rock paintings of cattle and herders in the area
his emphasis on “stilling the mind” so as to allow it to return
that gradually became the Sahara. In the last millennium
to its original state of good reflects the influence of the Zen
largely nomadic Fulbe have progressively migrated from this
concept of enlightenment and of the views of late Ming
location to the east, as far as Cameroon and Chad. In recent
scholars such as Lin Chaoen, who had attempted a fusion of
centuries they have spread into the Sudan. Until the eigh-
Zen, Confucian, and Daoist teachings. For this Seika was
teenth century most of these Fulbe maintained a pastoral life-
criticized by later Confucian scholars, including his disciple
style and had relatively little attachment to Islam.
Hayashi Razan.
The intensive Islamization of the Fulbe since the eigh-
SEE ALSO Confucianism in Japan.
teenth century makes it difficult to recapture pre-Islamic
Fulbe religion. However, the Malian Fulbe intellectual Ama-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
dou Hampaté Ba and the French ethnographer Germaine
Abe Yoshio. Nihon Shushigaku to Cho¯sen. Tokyo, 1965. An im-
Dieterlen, who recorded an initiation text from a Senegalese
portant reevaluation of the formation of Tokugawa neo-
informant and made a French translation and commentary
Confucianism that treats major thinkers individually and
titled Koumen, have provided a very suggestive statement.
stresses the connections between Korean Confucianism and
Koumen, the initiation ceremony, consists of twelve chap-
early Tokugawa thought.
ters, or clearings, in which the first human herder acquires
Ishida Ichiro¯. “Hayashi Razan: Muromachi jidai ni okeru Zenju
knowledge of cattle and the world. The world is governed
itchi to Fujiwara Seika-Hayashi Razan no shiso¯.” In Edo no
by the eternal and all-powerful God. God designates Canaba,
shiso¯ka tachi, edited by Sagara Toru et al., vol. 1. Tokyo,
who usually takes the form of a serpent, to be the guardian
1979. A recent study that challenges earlier assumptions
of cattle, and Koumen to be Canaba’s herder. It is Koumen,
about the discontinuity between medieval and Tokugawa
thought and instead attempts to trace the stages of develop-
often in the form of a child, and his wife Foroforondu who
ment from the Zen-oriented Confucianism of the Muro-
actually provide instruction to the novice Sile (a local varia-
machi period to the independent Confucianism of the Toku-
tion of Sulayman or Solomon). At the end of the story Sile
gawa period.
becomes the first silatigi, master of the bush and pastoral life.
The story reveals the close ties among men, cattle, land, and
New Sources
Turner, John Allen. “Art, the Ethical Self, and Political Eremit-
vegetation—the trees, vines, and creeping plants that supply
ism: Fujiwara Seika’s Essay on Landscape Painting.” Journal
the staffs, cords, calabashes, and other vital instruments, as
of Chinese Philosophy 31 (March 2004): 47–63.
well as the shrines where Sile must demonstrate his attach-
ment to God and the numerous spirits that populate the uni-
KATE WILDMAN NAKAI (1987)
verse. A rich symbolism of color and number runs through-
Revised Bibliography
out the text. Yellow, red, black, and white correlate
respectively with fire, air, water, and earth; with east, west,
south, and north; and finally with the four original lineages
FULANI RELIGION SEE FULBE RELIGION
of the Fulbe: Jal or Jallo, Bâ, So¯, and Bari. Sile gradually
learns to read the symbolism and to use the configuration of
cattle of different coats to divine the proper course of action.
FULBE RELIGION. The Fulbe are groups of pastoral-
While the Koumen ritual is quite specific to the Fulbe,
ists, semipastoralists, farmers, and city dwellers who consti-
many of its features recall the religious beliefs and practices
tute large minorities in the Sahelian countries stretching
of other people living in the region of Senegal and Mali. The
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FULBE RELIGION
3229
silatigi resembles a priest-king. His progress in understanding
tem, based on a modified Arabic alphabet, was designed to
parallels the learning process that takes place in other initia-
reach the women, pastoralists, and others who were unlikely
tions. The serpent Canaba recalls the importance of serpents
to acquire the ability to read and write for themselves. The
in Soninke and Mandinka symbolism, and his path down the
people of Fu¯ta To¯ro, the middle valley of the Senegal River,
Niger River repeats the trajectory of Mande creation myths.
became known as the Tokolor, a word that served to distin-
The story also suggests the importance of military leadership,
guish them from the Fulbe who were less committed to the
the social stratification characteristic of the Western Sudan,
establishment of an Islamic state and culture.
and through the evocation of Solomon, the influence of the
The most important revolution occurred in Hausaland,
Jewish, Islamic, and Christian heritage. A blacksmith who
or northern Nigeria. In the early 1800s Usuman (also called
is a member of an artisan caste aids Sile in his initiation. Sile
Uthman or Usman) dan Fodio, his brother EAbdulla¯h, and
is expected to demonstrate pulaaku, the Fulbe code of honor,
his son Muhammadu Bello launched the jiha¯d against the
shame, and restraint. This code is often defined in contrast
ruling class of the Hausa state of Gobir. Dan Fodio’s stu-
to the behavior of slaves, who do not have an affinity for cat-
dents and allies then carried the campaign against other states
tle and do not know how to act in general. The slave is seen
and established new settlements beyond Hausaland. By 1812
to be crude, naive, irresponsible, and dark in color; he or she
a vast new confederation had emerged with its principal cen-
resembles the other black, non-Fulbe populations of West
ter at Sokoto, in northwest Nigeria. Dan Fodio and his asso-
Africa. Pulaaku resembles the codes of a number of other
ciates wrote a large number of influential treatises that be-
stratified societies in West Africa who distinguish sharply be-
came the standard texts for the practice and spread of the
tween the conduct that one may expect of the noble and free
faith in the western and central Sudan.The last revolution
strata and the behavior that one must tolerate from slaves and
occurred in the middle delta of the Niger River, between the
the people of caste—the hereditary corporations of black-
towns of Segu and Timbuktu and created the caliphate of
smiths and other trades. In general, pulaaku and the whole
Hamdulla¯hi around 1820. The movement led by EUmar Ta¯l
ritual of Koumen are consistent with pastoral Fulbe custom
put an end to this regime in 1862.
across the Sahelian zone. In the present state of knowledge
Fulbe scholars also played an important role in spread-
they can be considered representative of pre-Islamic Fulbe
ing the Qa¯dir¯ıyah and Tija¯n¯ıyah Islamic orders, which could
beliefs and practices.
be practiced in the countryside, away from the large
Until the eighteenth century the Fulbe were not in the
mosques, schools, and courts of the towns. One can say that
forefront of forming states or practicing Islam in the western
the Fulbe supplied the most important agents of Islamization
and central Sudanic region. The Timbuktu scholars who
in West Africa in the nineteenth century.
wrote the chronicles called the Ta Dr¯ıkh al-Fatta¯sh and
Many Fulbe have remained relatively marginal to these
Ta Dr¯ıkh al-Suda¯n in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
processes of state formation and Islamization. Despite devas-
regarded some Fulbe as the enemies of Islam, agriculture,
tating droughts in the 1980s, they have tried to sustain their
commerce, and cities. Beginning in the eighteenth century
pastoral economy and lifestyle in the regions of West Africa
Fulbe in several locations took the lead in establishing specif-
that are more suited to grazing than to agriculture. For all
ically Islamic states and societies. They used the process of
public purposes they are Muslim; they observe the obliga-
jiha¯d, or war against unbelievers, to reverse regimes that they
tions incumbent on all members of the faith. In their family
considered pagan or nominally Muslim, appoint leaders who
life and relationship to cattle, they observe the customs and
were knowledgeable in the faith, and erect educational and
values reflected in the Koumen ceremony.
judicial systems in which Islamic law would be learned and
practiced. While they failed to implement all of their ideal,
SEE ALSO Dan Fodio, Usuman; EUmar Ta¯l.
they did spur, for the first time, the permanent development
of an Islamic culture in the countryside outside of the capi-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
tals and commercial centers. The leaders in this process were
The classic statement of Fulbe values is in Amadou Hampaté Ba
scholars and sedentary Fulbe who were already at some dis-
and Germaine Dieterlen’s Koumen: Texte initiatique des pas-
tance from the predominantly pastoral pre-Islamic tradition.
teur peul (Paris, 1961). A useful English statement on the
Over time they developed new genealogies where the four
Fulbe is Paul Riesman’s Freedom in Fulani Social Life: An In-
trospective Ethnography (Chicago, 1977). Marguerite Dupire
original Fulbe lineages were all descended from EUqba, usual-
provided a detailed study of the social organization of the
ly identified with EUqba ibn Na¯fiE, the Arab conqueror of
pastoral Fulbe in Organisation sociale des Peul: Étude
much of North Africa in the seventh century CE. This origin
d’ethnographie comparée (Paris, 1970). The dualism of many
is widely accepted by Fulbe of all persuasions today.
contemporary Fulbe is well described in Derrick J. Sten-
ning’s Savannah Nomads (London, 1959), while the similari-
The first two of these Islamic revolutions occurred in
ties of myth and ritual in the western Sudan are explicated
the eighteenth century in the two Fu¯tas, regions fairly close
in two articles by Germaine Dieterlen in the Journal de la So-
to the Atlantic Ocean. The leaders in Fu¯ta Jalon, the moun-
ciété des Africanistes, “Myth et organisation sociale au Soudan
tainous zone of Guinea, created an elaborate system of Islam-
Français,” vol. 25, nos. 1–2 (1955): 39–76, and “Mythe et
ic instruction in Fulfulde as well as Arabic. The Fulfulde sys-
organisation sociale en Afrique occidentale,” vol. 29, nos.
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3230
FUNCTIONALISM
1–2 (1959): 119–138. For a useful summary of the Fulbe’s
and practice in relation to a supernatural being or realm but
role in the state-formation process of recent centuries, see
rather with the generation and maintenance of involvement
David Robinson’s The Holy War of Umar Tal: The Western
in, and respect for, the society as such. He, like a number
Sudan in the Mid-Nineteenth Century (Oxford, 1985), esp.
of his contemporaries, was well aware that religion had,
chap. 2.
among other things, traditionally performed significant
New Sources
functions of legitimation. In fact, at the end of the eighteenth
Azaryá, Victor, ed. Pastoralists under Pressure?: Fulbe Societies Con-
century the leaders of the French Revolution made a great
fronting Change in West Africa. Leiden, 1999.
effort to replace traditional Catholic symbols and rituals with
DAVID ROBINSON (1987)
“secular-religious” ones.
Revised Bibliography
The awareness of crucial links between religion and pol-
itics grew in a period when, in many parts of Europe, there
was a widespread challenge to the intrinsic validity of reli-
FUNCTIONALISM is the analytical tendency within
gious belief and the traditional church (above all in predomi-
the social sciences—most notably, sociology and social an-
nantly Catholic countries). Yet despite the conviction that
thropology—that exhibits a particular interest in the func-
traditional religion had had deleterious consequences for so-
tions of social or cultural phenomena. In its most traditional
ciety, it was affirmed that the functions supposedly per-
form, functionalism has claimed that all items and activities
formed by religion still had to be met. One particularly sig-
in a system should be explained in reference to their objective
nificant version of that perspective was provided in France
consequences for the system as a whole. Thus the pivotal
by Claude Henri, Comte de Saint-Simon (1760–1825), who
meaning of function is the objective consequence of an activi-
maintained that religion was a society’s most significant po-
ty or phenomenon for the system of which it is a part. A sec-
litical institution. That idea was later developed by Alexis de
ondary—but nonetheless significant—meaning of function
Tocqueville (1805–1859), who studied the relationship be-
in social science is similar to the use of the term in mathemat-
tween religion and democracy. Tocqueville’s particular inter-
ics. When it is stated that x is a function of y, it is meant that
est was in the prospects for democracy in France, given the
x varies in direct proportion to variation in y. In social science
predominance there of Catholicism and the conviction of
this perspective on the concept of function has to do with
many intellectuals that democracy and religion were incom-
interrelatedness. The dominant and the secondary meanings
patible. Tocqueville tried to show that American evangelical
are linked as follows. The notion of function as consequence
Protestantism fostered the American democratic spirit. In so
for the state of the system suggests that all phenomena in the
doing, he sought to disprove the claim that religion necessar-
system are considered, at least initially, as being relevant to
ily inhibited or disrupted democracy, and subsequently ar-
the system’s persistence. It is then but a small move to the
gued that, with modification, Catholicism could support de-
postulate that all phenomena in a system are interrelated and
mocracy in France.
that a change in one aspect will have implications for all oth-
ers and for the system as a whole.
While Tocqueville did not argue explicitly in terms of
THE EARLY FRENCH SCHOOL. The functional analysis of re-
what came to be called functionalism, he helped crystallize
ligion played quite an important part in the development of
the sociological view that religion performs vital social func-
the functional orientation in social science as a whole. Of
tions. In the case of Saint-Simon, however, the functional
more immediate relevance, however, is the fact that the func-
orientation had been somewhat more explicit. After having
tional analysis of religion has also played a very significant
celebrated the emergent industrial order and noted its antip-
part in the development of the sociology and anthropology
athy to religion, Saint-Simon concluded that a “New Chris-
of religion. The functional orientation has a long history, but
tianity” was necessary to provide commitment and vitality
it was during the French Enlightenment of the eighteenth
to the new industrial type of society. With Saint-Simon’s
century that the seeds were fully sown for the explicit crystal-
protégé, Auguste Comte (1798–1857), an even more calcu-
lization of sociological functionalism in the second half of
lated functional orientation appears. Often spoken of as the
the nineteenth century. Many eighteenth-century French
father of sociology, Comte advocated a secular science of so-
philosophers and protosociologists were interested in the
ciety, to be based on a “positive” philosophy that had been
possibility of a form of society that would operate according
made possible by the epochal demise of theological and
to principles of rationality and enlightenment, without what
metaphysical modes of thought. Sociology should become
they saw as the impediments of religious dogma and clerical
the cognitive keystone of modern societies. Sociology and so-
predominance. On the other hand, many of these thinkers
ciology-based ethics were to take the place of religion. How-
were also concerned with what could take the place of reli-
ever, late in life Comte—in parallel with Saint-Simon—
gious faith and practice in a prospective rational-secular soci-
restructured his views and argued that a “religion of humani-
ety. Thus one of the earliest and most influential of the En-
ty” was required in order to guarantee commitment to and
lightenment philosophers, Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–
respect for society. In that regard Comte made elaborate pro-
1778), maintained that a society needed a civil religion—a
posals for France concerning festivals, rituals, functionaries,
religion concerned not with the traditional matters of faith
and symbols for the religion of humanity.
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FUNCTIONALISM
3231
SPENCER. It was the work of the English philosopher Her-
While seeking a sociological understanding of the founda-
bert Spencer (1820–1903) that gave the concept of function
tions of morality, he endeavored to show that, for moral
and the functional orientation in sociology their first fully
principles to have social weight, they must be more than logi-
explicit renderings. Spencer argued that societies are organ-
cally persuasive. Durkheim contended that the principles of
isms and that one should conceive of the former in the same
moral reason adumbrated by Immanuel Kant in the eigh-
terms as the latter. Thus he articulated the two main princi-
teenth century could be socially operative only insofar as they
ples outlined earlier: the interrelatedness of all items in a sys-
were socially imperative. He wanted to know, in other
tem (most importantly the whole society) and the referring
words, on what the obligatory character of morals rest.
of items within a system to the functioning of the system as
a whole. Spencer was, moreover, an evolutionist, which at
Durkheim eventually reached the full-fledged conclu-
that time implied, among other things, a belief that as socie-
sion that the primary function of religion lay in its distinc-
ties progressed to an advanced evolutionary condition, they
tion between the sacred and the profane. Religion, said
relied less and less on religious thought and practice. For
Durkheim, has to do with sacred things. It is “the serious
Spencer, the main institutions of an advanced society were
life.” Religion is crucial in providing individuals with free-
incompatible with religion, while the society as a whole oper-
dom from unchecked desire, in highlighting the moral char-
ated increasingly in terms of contractual relationships among
acter of the collectivity, and in binding individuals together
individuals (although Spencer did believe that the evolution-
within the latter. Durkheim is often interpreted as having
ary engine was driven by a mysterious force that gave pur-
simply emphasized the positive, integrative functions of reli-
poseful direction to societal change).
gion. That was indeed a significant aspect of his theory of
D
religion (which was at the same time a theory of society), yet
URKHEIM. Unlike Saint-Simon and Comte, Spencer never
showed signs of retreating from his own views concerning
Durkheim was also deeply concerned with the social sources,
the (unproblematic) demise of religion. And it is in terms of
the causes, of religious belief and practice, as well as with the
this difference between Spencer and Saint-Simon that the
larger ramifications of religion in human life. Although
seminal work of the French sociologist Émile Durkheim
Durkheim’s work was almost certainly the most vital contri-
(1858–1917) can best be approached. Durkheim’s work was
bution to the functionalist orientation in sociology and to
based partly on a rejection of Spencer’s highly secular con-
the functionalist analysis of religion in sociology and social
ception of modern societies, even though it maintained some
anthropology, his ideas were developed in specific reference
features of Spencer’s methodological functionalism. At the
to what he perceived as a moral crisis in modern societies.
same time, Durkheim was taken with the ways in which
This is true even though his major work on religion referred
Saint-Simon and Comte had come to appreciate the func-
mostly to the primitive religious life of Australian Aborigines
tional significance of religion. He believed, however, that
and even though he was greatly inspired by the writing of
they had erred in first seeing society as bereft of religion and
the French historian Fustel de Coulanges on religion in an-
then attempting to add religion to it. What Durkheim
cient Rome and Greece and by that of the Scotsman W.
sought, most elaborately in The Elementary Forms of the Reli-
Robertson Smith on ancient Semitic religion.
gious Life (1912), was a way in which to ground religion in
Because, in terms of Durkheim’s own definition of reli-
society itself.
gion as involving the distinction between the sacred and the
In his early methodological work Durkheim argued that
profane (rather than being defined, more narrowly, as belief
the sociologist should work with two basic explanatory con-
in supernatural beings), religion had been ubiquitous in all
cepts: function and cause. Function had to do with the gener-
civilizations, Durkheim concluded that it must have been
al needs of the societal organism that a social phenomenon
functionally essential to all societies. Yet he was acutely aware
served, while cause referred to those features of society that
that traditional religious faith had become increasingly frag-
more directly facilitated a phenomenon. Durkheim was
ile. In articulating his own theory of religion, Durkheim em-
eager to dissociate himself from those who closely related
phasized at the outset that religion, in contrast to magic, is
function to ends or purposes. He insisted that there is no
fundamentally a collective phenomenon and that, in reli-
mysterious final cause of societal patterns or change and that
gion, ritual is as important as belief. In those terms he set
one should not think of function as having to do with the
about showing how, at least in primitive societies, the basic
intentions lying behind the establishment of institutions.
categories of religious belief are established and maintained
(On the latter point Durkheim argued that social phenome-
through the collective experience of social structure. In reli-
na do not generally exist for the useful results that they pro-
gious ritual individuals experience acutely a dependence
duce.) In his early writing on the forms of social solidarity,
upon society; indeed, religious worship can be thought of as
Durkheim reacted to Spencer by maintaining that all con-
the celebration of that dependence. In his most radical terms,
tractual relationships must be based on precontractual ele-
Durkheim suggested that the real object of religious worship
ments of society. His interest in religion developed largely
is society, not God. His main point, however, was that it is
in the attempt to comprehend precisely what those precon-
from one’s experience of society that one obtains the sense
tractual elements are. From the outset, Durkheim had been
of something transcendent and authoritative. Yet Durkheim
concerned with the issue of morality in modern societies.
denied that he was making a judgment about the intrinsic
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3232
FUNCTIONALISM
validity of religious belief. Rather, he concentrated upon
boundary of human action and interaction constitute a uni-
showing both the social conditions and the social functions
versal attribute of human life. Parsons’s attempt to establish
of religion. As far as modern societies are concerned,
what for a long time he called a structural-functional form
Durkheim asserted that there is now a need for new religious
of general sociological theory has met with considerable criti-
forms that would perform the same kind of function as tradi-
cism from the late 1940s onward. One of Parsons’s most in-
tional religion but in a less spiritualistic way. In the tradition
fluential critics has been the American sociologist Robert
of Rousseau, Durkheim argued the need for new forms of
Merton (1910–2003), who has attempted to systematize
civil religion and saw religion as critical in the periodic regen-
functional analysis so as to overcome what he has regarded
eration of societies.
as its weaknesses. Religion has figured strongly in his dis-
M
cussion.
ALINOWSKI AND RADCLIFFE-BROWN. Durkheim’s writing
had a great effect on those social anthropologists of the 1920s
Merton argues that many functionalists have singled out
and 1930s who sought to redirect anthropological inquiry
the integrative functions of religion—mainly in reference to
away from speculatory evolutionism toward more analytical-
certain primitive societies—while neglecting its potentially
ly rigorous fieldwork. The two major figures in that regard
disintegrative consequences, or dysfunctions. They have also,
were the Polish-born Bronislaw Malinowski (1884-1942)
he maintains, confused two issues: whether what is indis-
and the British-born Alfred Radcliffe-Brown (1881–1955),
pensable to society is the phenomenon, such as religious be-
both of whom employed functional orientations in the study
lief, or only the function supposedly met by such a phenome-
of primitive societies, including the religious aspects thereof.
non. Merton emphasizes the dangers of viewing the
Malinowski’s functionalism centered upon two claims: first,
phenomenon itself as indispensable and suggests that sociol-
that any particular society is a unique, functioning whole,
ogists develop a clear conception of functional alternatives.
and, second, that the social arrangements and cultural forms
As an example of such an alternative, he proposes that the
obtaining in a society have functional significance in relation
positive functions of religion might well be provided by
to the psychological needs of individuals. Thus in spite of his
something other than religion in its conventional sense (e.g.,
interest in the functional interrelatedness of social institu-
secular ideology).
tions and practices, Malinowski saw their most fundamental
functional significance in their meeting the psychological
Merton also raises the question as to whether function-
needs of individuals. In contrast, Radcliffe-Brown took a
alism is—as many of its critics have charged—inherently
more self-consciously Durkheimian position. He advocated
conservative. His conclusion is that it is not. Even though
a systematic science of society, involving comparative analy-
the main modern tradition of antireligion—Marxism—
sis of the structural patterns of societies with respect both to
regards religion as a consequence of an economically exploit-
their overall cohesiveness and to the functional requirements
ative society, it also looks upon religion as performing inte-
of societies as systemic wholes. Both Malinowski and Rad-
grative functions in precommunist societies. Religion, in
cliffe-Brown wrote about religion in their respective func-
Marxist perspective, inhibits social change. Thus functional
tional terms.
analysis can be used from both conservative and radical
standpoints. Indeed, since the 1960s a clear strand of Marxist
PARSONS AND HIS CRITICS. Among those sociologists and
functionalism has concerned itself with the persistence of
anthropologists of religion who have written entirely within
capitalist societies and the function religion plays in that per-
the twentieth century, the most prolific analyst of religion
sistence.
was the American Talcott Parsons (1902–1979). Deeply, but
by no means only, influenced by Durkheim, Parsons in the
Issues arising from the long debate about the functional
1950s acquired the reputation of being the functionalist par
form of analysis have been central to the controversy con-
excellence. From Durkheim, Parsons took the basic idea that
cerning the degree to which the modern world is character-
religion is a universal feature of human life. However, he ex-
ized by secularization. For the most part, functionalists have
pressed strong reservations concerning Durkheim’s attempt
resisted the thesis of extensive secularization, on the grounds
to talk not merely about the functional significance of reli-
that the functions performed by religion are essential to all
gion but also about its social-structural bases. In the latter
societies. Thus Parsons tended to argue that even though a
regard, said Parsons, Durkheim was often a reductionist, in
society may manifest ostensibly atheistic sentiments, it is still
the sense of reducing religion to society. In contrast, Parsons
subject to the functional imperative of relating to ultimate
himself considered religion to be the pivotal aspect of the
reality. It was the hallmark of Parsons’s approach to religion
realm of cultural values, beliefs, and symbols. According to
(and here he followed Durkheim) that one should not be
Parsons, patterns of culture operate in varying degrees of in-
overly constrained by the particular, substantive forms that
dependence from social structure and certainly cannot be re-
religion has taken historically. In contrast to Spencer, Par-
duced to the latter. Culture provides meaning, general mo-
sons argued that religion does not lose significance as human
rality, expressive symbols, and basic beliefs to systems of
society evolves; rather, religion takes on increasingly general
social action and to individuals. Religion also relates systems
forms as societies become more differentiated and complex.
of human action to what Parsons called “ultimate reality.”
RECENT FUNCTIONALIST THEORETICIANS. A particularly
He maintained that questions concerning the ultimate
radical type of functionalism was proposed by the German
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FUNERAL RITES: AN OVERVIEW
3233
sociologist Niklas Luhmann (1927–1998). Luhmann argued
by me. A functionalist interpretation of religion in the mod-
that religion can no longer provide an overarching set of inte-
ern world is provided by Bryan R. Wilson in his Religion in
grative values to a society. Unlike Parsons, who maintained
Sociological Perspective (Oxford, 1982), while the radically
that religious values and beliefs become more general but still
functionalist theory of Niklas Luhmann is presented in his
remain overarching as societal evolution proceeds, Luhmann
Funktion der Religion (Frankfurt, 1982). Analyses of civil reli-
insisted that the social differentiation central to societal evo-
gion in the tradition initiated by Rousseau, with reference
also to Tocqueville, are provided in neofunctionalist terms
lution has now gone so far that religion is but one subsystem
by Robert N. Bellah and Phillip E. Hammond in their Varie-
among many. Religion is now “free” to concentrate on its
ties of Civil Religion (San Francisco, 1980).
primary function of answering purely religious—as opposed
to social, economic, political, and scientific—questions.
New Sources
Dawson, Shawn Dawson. “Proper Functionalism: A Better Alter-
Some of Luhmann’s ideas overlap with those of the Brit-
native?” Religious Studies 34 (June 1998): 119–134.
ish sociologist Bryan Wilson, an adamant proponent of the
Kippenberg, Hans G. “Religious History, Displaced by Moderni-
secularization thesis. Wilson’s argument hinges upon his
ty.” Numen: International Review for the History of Religions
claim that the historically latent functions of religion—latent
47 (2000): 221–224.
is Merton’s term for hidden, unrecognized functions—have
Krech, Volkhard. “From Historicism to Functionalism: The Rise
become increasingly manifest (i.e., consciously recognized)
of Scientific Approaches to Religions around 1900 and Their
and are now fulfilled by other social agencies, while histori-
Socio-Cultural Context.” Numen: International Review for
cally manifest functions of religion—those providing guide-
the History of Religions 47 (2000): 244–266.
lines for salvation—have been undermined. The main pro-
Lewis, D. Psychophysicalism and Theoretical Identificants: Readings
cess that has both undermined the manifest and made
in the Philosophy of Psychology. Cambridge, Mass., 1990.
manifest the latent functions of religion is the supplanting
Owens, D. Alfred, and Mark Wagner. Progress in Modern Psychol-
of communities by rationally organized, impersonal, and
ogy: The Legacy of American Functionalism. Westport, Conn.,
functionally specialized societies.
1992.
CONCLUSION. Even though functional analysis has been a
Putnam, Hilary. Representations and Reality. Cambridge, Mass.,
frequent target of hostile critique, it has been continuously
1988.
pivotal in the sociological and anthropological analysis of re-
Putnam, Hilary. “The Nature of Mental States.” In Mind and
ligion. And while there have undoubtedly been phases of
Cognition, edited by William G. Lycan, pp. 20–26. Malden,
crude functionalism—expressed in bland statements con-
Mass., 1990.
cerning the universality of religion and its beneficial conse-
Sober, Elliot. “Putting Function back into Fundamentalism.” In
quences, as well as attempts to reduce religion to its societal
Mind and Cognition, edited by William G. Lycan,
consequences—it is nonetheless impossible to address the
pp. 63–70. Malden, Mass., 1990.
topic of religion in social-scientific terms without careful at-
ROLAND ROBERTSON (1987)
tention to its functional significance vis-à-vis other aspects
Revised Bibliography
of human life. Indeed, that perspective has pervaded modern
consciousness, in the sense that religion is increasingly dis-
cussed and assessed in relation to its consequences for indi-
FUNDAMENTAL CHRISTIANITY SEE
viduals and societies.
EVANGELICAL AND FUNDAMENTAL
CHRISTIANITY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The classic work in the tradition of functionalism is Émile
Durkheim’s The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life (1915;
FUNERAL RITES
reprint, New York, 1965). An important discussion of func-
This entry consists of the following articles:
tional analysis, with particular reference to religion, appears
in Robert K. Merton’s Social Theory and Social Structure
AN OVERVIEW
MESOAMERICAN FUNERAL RITES
(New York, 1968), pp. 73–138. Anthony F. C. Wallace’s Re-
ligion: An Anthropological View (New York, 1966) contains
an extended discussion of the functions of religion in several
FUNERAL RITES: AN OVERVIEW
types of society. A flexible functionalist theory of religion is
Death is not only a biological occurrence leaving the corpse
offered in J. Milton Yinger’s The Scientific Study of Religion
as a residue that must be administered to; it is also, and more
(New York, 1970). Relevant discussions of the history of the
importantly, a sociocultural fundamental because of the be-
sociology of religion and of functionalist approaches are con-
liefs and representations it gives rise to and the attitudes and
tained in my book The Sociological Interpretation of Religion
(New York, 1970). Much of Talcott Parsons’s theory of reli-
rituals it brings about. It is of course understood that rites
gion is found in his study The Evolution of Societies (Engle-
are the immediate extension of beliefs, and that funeral rites,
wood Cliffs, N.J., 1977). For a lengthy discussion of Par-
in particular, are the conscious cultural forms of one of the
sons’s work on religion, with an extensive bibliography, see
most ancient, universal, and unconscious impulses: the need
Sociological Analysis 43 (Winter 1982), a special issue edited
to overcome the distress of death and dying.
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3234
FUNERAL RITES: AN OVERVIEW
This article will take the word rite in its anthropological
followed by rites of integration that put an end to the
sense; that is, in a larger sense, quite apart from liturgical or
mourning.
theological concerns. A rite, then, is a ceremony in which be-
haviors, gestures and postures, words or songs uttered, and
Separation rites. In most traditional societies, the pas-
objects handled, manufactured, destroyed, or consumed are
sage from decay to mineralization dictates the two chief mo-
supposed to possess virtues or powers or to produce specific
ments in the funerary ritual. The first funeral, or separation
effects. Centered on the mortal remains or its substitute, then
rite, is for the purpose of “killing the dead,” as the Mossi of
on whatever survives of those—material traces or souvenir
Burkina Faso say—in other words, killing what remains alive
relics—funeral rites may reveal three finalities. First, it is be-
in the dead person by breaking the emotional bonds that
lieved that they preside over the future of the departed, over
unite him to the community. While the corpse decays, si-
both the metamorphosis of the corpse and the destiny of the
multaneously corrupt and corrupting, it is terribly vulnerable
person, whenever death is defined as transition, passage, or
and dangerous. Two attitudes, contradictory yet comple-
deliverance. Second, they attend to the surviving close kin,
mentary, orient the conduct of the living toward the dead:
mourners who must be consoled and reassured. Finally, they
solicitude and rejection, shown in a symbolic or realistic
participate in the revitalization of the group that has been
manner according to points of view that vary with each eth-
disturbed by the death of one of its own. Very often in tradi-
nic group.
tional societies, in Africa and more often in Asia (notably in
Solicitude begins immediately after death, tinged with
China), the funeral rites are presented as a theater of renewal,
commiseration and fear: The dead person is given food,
with acted parts, mimes, dancers, musicians, and even
gongs are sounded to scare away evil spirits, the corpse is
clowns.
washed and purified, and its evolutions are watched, espe-
Funeral rites are so important that the presence of the
cially if the body lies in state for a long time (from three to
participants becomes a strict obligation, particularly in tradi-
twelve days among the Miao of Southeast Asia). It is dressed,
tional societies. In traditional Africa, funeral rites are the
its natural orifices are stopped, and, most important, the
most resistant to the pressure of acculturation. A function of
wake is organized. This can be the occasion for big reunions
the rite essential to the social group is easily seen; after all,
and a large-scale ritual. For the Maori of New Zealand it is
numerous psychiatrists affirm that many problems derive
an intensely dramatic ceremony, the key moment of the fu-
from the guilt arising when one hurries over obsequies or
neral rite, accompanied by songs, cries, lamentations, elegies,
comes out of mourning too soon.
and more or less generous meals, depending on the fortune
of the deceased. To multiple meals the Inca of Peru added
CHIEF MOMENTS IN FUNERAL RITES. Funeral rites may
games of dice with very complex symbolism. The outcome
comprise numerous ceremonies. The Toraja of Sulawesi (Ce-
of the game was supposed to orient the soul of the deceased
lebes) see four fundamental stages. During the first, the de-
so as to help him attain heaven. The dead person participated
ceased is said to be ill: Washed, dressed, and adorned, he may
by influencing the manner in which the dice fell, thereby re-
be nurtured for as long as a year. Then comes the first festivi-
vealing whether he was well or ill disposed toward the player.
ty, lasting from five to seven days, with sacrifices, lamenta-
The deceased’s possessions were divided according to the
tions, songs, and dances; this marks the difficult passage from
results.
life to death and ends with a provisional interment inside the
house. During the following intermediary period, these fes-
When respectful solicitude has soothed the dead, rejec-
tivities increase. Finally the ultimate ceremony is performed,
tion asserts itself. Once the last homages are rendered, the
requiring several months of preparation during which wind-
deceased is invited to rejoin his ancestors or to prepare for
ing-sheets, cenotaphs, and, most notably, an effigy (the fa-
his afterlife (metamorphoses, reincarnation, sojourn with
mous tau-tau) are employed, not without ostentation; it con-
God, etc.). To overcome his hesitation, a number of methods
cludes with the burial and the installation of the deceased in
are used: One may tie him down securely or mutilate him
the beyond.
(poke his eyes out, break his legs); lose him by returning sud-
denly from the cemetery by a detour; or arrange to deposit
The succession of funerary acts sometimes takes on a
him at the foot of a mountain or on the far side of a river
bureaucratic tone, particularly in Chinese Daoism, where the
he cannot cross. In compensation, sometimes an effigy re-
main part of the rite is devoted to drawing up documents and
mains at home as a substitute for him, or he may be promised
contracts with the gods. Especially noteworthy are the con-
an annual invitation. Because the decaying of the corpse con-
sultation of cosmic forces in order to determine propitious
stitutes a risk that its double will prowl in the village, the rela-
days and places for the rites; the gongde, or acquisition of
tives submit to the constraints of mourning, which puts
merits for the deceased; the pudu, or offerings for wandering
them outside the social circuit. The specific purpose of these
souls; and the ritual for liberating the soul.
interdictions is to separate all those contaminated by the
Nevertheless, to determine the chief moments of funer-
corpse’s decay. Curiously enough, in India the Toda have a
als, anthropologists use the formulation, however incorrect,
single term, kedr, which simultaneously designates the
of the double funeral, which implies rites of separation fol-
corpse, the state of mourning, and the interval between the
lowed by intervals varying from a few weeks to several years,
first and second funerals. A statement made by a dying Maori
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chief to his son likewise clarifies the problem: “For three
pletes the purification process. It is as if the earth has been
years your person must be sacred and you must remain sepa-
corrupted by the decaying body, necessitating the removal
rated from your tribe . . . for all this time my hands will be
of the purified bones to an unsullied location. Second, al-
gathering the earth and my mouth will be constantly eating
though the provisional inhumation is always individual, the
worms . . . then when my head falls on my body, awake me
final burial is very often collective. Such is the custom of the
from my sleep, show my face the light of day, and you shall
Goajiro Indians in Venezuala: Three years after death, the
be noa [free]” (Hertz, 1970, p. 33). Therefore, when miner-
bones are sorted and dried, then exposed during a funeral
alization, whether natural or artifically accelerated, sets in, it
wake. They are then transferred into a large urn, where the
is a sign that the deceased has fulfilled his posthumous desti-
remains of all the dead from the matriclan or the matriline-
ny. He has passed the initiatory tests imposed on him; he has
age are gathered together. Thus, communal reunion of the
rejoined the ancestors or the gods; or perhaps he is ready for
sublimated remains follows the isolation of impure decay.
metempsychosis or reincarnation.
On the other hand, Western ossuaries, by virtue of their
Rites of integration and the cessation of mourning.
anonymous character, have hardly any impact on an individ-
In almost all traditional societies, double funerals are held.
ualistic society. At the very most, as “display cases” they pro-
After a delay varying from a few weeks to ten years, according
vide the “exposition of the bones” as an aid to meditation.
to the ethnic group and the resources at the family’s disposal,
“Let us come to the charnelhouse, Christians; let us see the
a final ceremony takes place that confirms the deceased in
skeletons of our brothers,” says a Breton song. In any case,
his new destiny and confers on his remains a definitive status.
if inhumation in a common ditch is judged shocking and in-
Like the integration of the dead person, this ritual conse-
famous by us, the collective ossuary does not scandalize any-
crates the reintegration of the mourners into the group:
one. In fact, it can be seen as a solution to the problem of
Order is reestablished and interdictions are lifted. As a rule,
cemetery space and an orientation for a new cult of the dead.
the bones are exhumed and then treated in different ways ac-
The possibility has even been raised of reintegrating the sa-
cording to local traditions: Washed, dried, sometimes cov-
cred into cemeteries in the form of an “ossuary-necrology”
ered with ocher, they are preserved as visible relics, placed
that would reassemble the community of the dead and make
in containers, buried again, or even pulverized and mixed
the living sensitive to the bonds uniting them to the past.
with ritual beverages. In sub-Saharan Africa, the latter cus-
With the second funeral, therefore, the fate of the de-
tom is quite prevalent, especially among Bantu-speaking
ceased has been settled. To borrow the vivid language of the
peoples. Among the Bamileke of Cameroon, the inheritance
Mossi of Burkina Faso, the ritual of integration “makes the
of skulls according to rigorous rules symbolically secures the
dead live again.” From then on, grief no longer has reason
collective memory and the continuity of the clam. In Mada-
to exist. The marginal period has permitted the mourning
gascar the Famadihana (which has been wrongly translated
work to be finished. But, in any case, is not ritualization, like
as “turning over the corpses”) gives way to costly festivities:
elegance, a way of charming anguish? At this stage, interdic-
When a family decides to celebrate the cult of its dead, they
tions are always relaxed. After undergoing purifying baths
proceed from opening the tombs and changing the winding-
and multiple reparation sacrifices, the mourners are reinte-
sheets to rewrapping and reburial with great ceremony, be-
grated into the group. Thanks to the symbolic support of the
fore an audience in a state of great jollity. For two days songs,
bone, life on every level henceforth reasserts all its rights—
dances, music, processions, and festivities punctuate the ritu-
both the life of the metamorphosed deceased and the life of
al manipulations.
the group from which he emerged. Once the decaying flesh
In Borneo, the Olo Nyadju give themselves up to analo-
and the signs of death have disappeared, the imperishable
gous states on the occasion of Tiwah. Along with some de-
vestige is left with its charge of symbols. Funeral rites thus
gree of fasting, the majority of Indonesian ethnic groups do
have the capacity “to reduce any object at all to significance,
the same thing. This bone cult, which is generally referred
let it pass over to the other side of the gulf” (Maertens, 1979,
to as an ancestor cult, flourishes among the American Indi-
p. 236). This can be clearly seen in the following set of pro-
ans, in China, and elsewhere, and still has its equivalent in
cesses: decay? mineralization; excluded mourners? reinte-
Europe. There is hardly any difference between the old Chi-
grated mourners; oversignificant corpse? hypersignificant
nese who carefully brushes his ancestor’s bones and the skele-
remains.
ton washer of Neapolitan cemeteries who, two years after the
In Vietnam, ritual constitutes what is called the “trans-
burial, when the corpse has dried out, washes the bones in
fer of life”: While the body is buried in a tomb defined ac-
front of the families before putting them in a marble urn.
cording to the rules of geomancy, the soul, set on a tablet
In the French provinces, the custom of the anniversary meal
that itself is enclosed in a box covered with a red and gold
and mass is clearly a response to the same fantasies of reestab-
case, becomes the protective ancestor that one venerates and
lishing order.
prays to at the family altar.
Indeed, the ritual of secondary obsequies ending in de-
A qualifying remark must be inserted: The conditions
finitive burial has a twofold justification in the imagination.
of death (place, moment, means) orient the meaning of the
First of all, the transfer of the bones to another place com-
rite. The evil dead person, for example, can be deprived of
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FUNERAL RITES: AN OVERVIEW
a funeral, or may have the right to only a truncated or clan-
son, tied to a bier, is supported by four men, and people take
destine funeral; he will never become an ancestor or know
turns asking it questions. If the corpse moves forward when
happiness. Status, age, and sex also play a determining role
questioned, the response is positive; if it moves backward, it
in the elaboration of ceremonies.
is negative; if it wavers in the same place, it is indicating hesi-
SOME KEY RITES. Only a few fundamental rites concerning
tation. Among the Somba of Benin, “no” is expressed by a
the good death will be considered, because of their quasi-
rocking from left to right, and “yes” by a rocking from back
universality and the depth of the fantasies that they express.
to front. For the Senufo of the Ivory Coast, leaning to the
left indicates the deceased’s agreement, and leaning to the
Attendance at death, certification of death, and inter-
right, his disagreement. It sometimes happens that the dead
rogation. If to die far away from home or to die a violent
person bears down on one of those present in order to de-
death is usually equivalent to a bad death in traditional socie-
mand that questions be put to him (the Diola) or requires
ties, it is not only because uncertainty is alarming but also,
that the carriers be changed in order to pursue the rite (the
and more importantly, because the dying cannot be helped.
Lobi of Burkina Faso). Substitute objects sometimes replace
Mothering, making secure, and taking charge of the dying
the corpse at the time of the interrogation, on condition that
person, who is consoled, caressed, and helped to die for the
they participate in its vital forces. An assegai with the hair
same reason he was helped to be born, is a universal constant.
of the deceased is an adequate substitute for the Boni of Guy-
This attitude has a religious aspect. To take only one exam-
ana, while a tree trunk containing his nails and body hairs
ple, the importance to elderly and very sick people of the
suffices for the Bete of the Ivory Coast. If the death was
Christian last sacraments is known, including the purifying
willed by God or the ancestors, a frequent occurrence among
aspersion that evokes baptism and redemption through the
the E:gba of Benin and the Orokaiva of New Guinea, the
passion and the resurrection, as well as the profession of faith
group feels reassured. But if it resulted from a crime, witch-
and, when possible, the Eucharist. As for the anointing of
craft, or violation of a taboo, the fault must be immediately
the sick, recall that this new ritual, although it abandons the
atoned for and the guilty punished. In its way, by its voiceless
expiatory aspect and gives only a circumstantial role to the
word the corpse plays an important role in social regulation.
effacement of sin, nevertheless insists on help by grace.
It is important to make sure that the deceased is really
Laying out the dead: purification and mothering rit-
dead. Besides interpreting tangible signs such as the stopping
uals. The funeral rite proper begins with the laying out of
of the breath and the heart, one can call on the diviner, the
the corpse, which, in its essential aspect, is equivalent to an
priest, or the doctor. There are also other ways of making
authentic purification, a symbolic prelude to rebirth. A holy
sure: Right after the death of a Chinese, one of his close kin
task among the Jews and especially in Islam, it is a matter
climbs the roof of the house to “call back his soul”; if it does
of divine obligation, thus of Eiba¯da¯t, involving a relationship
not return, there is no doubt about his death. While for the
with God and not just a social function. Laying out the
Toraja of Sulawesi the deceased is not dead but only ill (as
corpse is universal and rigorously codified in ancient socie-
noted), among the Tibetans and the Miao (Hmong) the de-
ties. In the West Indies, especially in the Antilles and in
ceased must be informed that he is really dead because he
Haiti, this ritual is reminiscent of that of the midwife. Death,
does not know that he is: “The illness fell on the rocks and
like birth, demands a certain ceremonial that is no less than
the rocks could not bear it. Then it slid into the grass, but
the “transitory reintegration in the indistinct,” to borrow
the grass could not carry it. And that is why, O Dead One,
Mircea Eliade’s expression. By placing, for example, a vat of
the illness has come to you. The earth could not bear the ill-
water underneath the couch where the corpse is lying, one
ness, so the illness reached your soul. That is why you have
symbolically reestablishes the sources of life (amniotic fluid).
found death” (Georges, 1982, p. 183). Then, with great
One is again assured that the soul, which has just left the
kindness and consideration, they explain to him what he
body, will not disappear into nothingness, and that the de-
needs for the great journey: bamboos to communicate with
ceased, thus purified, will be reborn in another world.
the survivors or the gods, the “wooden house” (coffin), the
Among the Agni-Bora of the Ivory Coast, there is a sim-
hemp shoes, alcohol, food, and the cock that will show him
ilarity between the grooming of the newborn baby and the
the way. The announcement of the death also obeys precise
grooming of the deceased: Holding the naked body on their
rules. Women’s lamentations punctuated by cries, drums,
knees, old women wash it with three successive rinses, per-
and bells, as well as symbolic formulas and the sending of
fume it, and dress it. For the baby, the rite is always accompa-
messengers, are the most frequent practices.
nied by singing; the washing is done from the head to the
In traditional societies, another notable belief is that the
feet with the right hand. In the case of the deceased, however,
corpse is simultaneously alive and dead. It no longer has a
the rite is executed in silence with the left hand, and proceeds
voice, but in its fashion it speaks. No one hesitates to ques-
from the feet to the head. This is because birth is an arrival,
tion it in order to learn why it died or, sometimes, its desires
and rebirth a departure. In the European countryside the lay-
concerning the transmission of its possessions; only little
ing out is still the work of the “woman who helps” (the mid-
children and fools escape this rite, because “they don’t know
wife), who is also the “woman who does the dead.” The lay-
what they say.” Among the Diola of Senegal, the dead per-
ing out of the dead is again an act of mothering.
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3237
Among the Miao, the deceased is rubbed with a warm
its winding-sheets, is raised on a platform below which is
towel without being undressed; then is dressed in new cloth-
placed the tau-tau. Both then preside over the buffalo sacri-
ing finished off with a richly decorated kimono. The head
fices and receive their part of the offerings. Finally, when the
is wrapped in a turban, and—an important detail—the feet
corpse goes back to the sepulcher for the last time, its repre-
are shod in felt or leather shoes with curled tips, like those
sentative is permanently exhibited as near as possible to the
sold by the Chinese. Sometimes the duty of one of the rela-
tomb. For the Toraja, the effigy becomes more than a ritual
tives is to make these shoes. The dead must depart with good
object associated with death; it is, if not the deceased, at least
shoes for the trip about to be undertaken. A harquebusier
its visible double.
comes up to the deceased and forewarns deferentially: “Now
In the West today, the embalmed corpse lies in state in
we are going to fire a few shots that will accompany and pro-
funeral homes. It is still a matter of rendering homage to one
tect you for the whole length of your trip. Don’t be afraid.”
no longer alive, and of facilitating the mourning work by
Display of the deceased: the corpse detained. Aside
conserving a better image of the departed: The mortician’s
from punitive exhibition (desecration of the corpse) in the
work spares the dead person the stigma of death for a time
case of a bad death, when a devalued dead person is deprived
and gives the impression that the deceased is sleeping in
of a funeral, the display of the corpse reflects the noblest in-
peace. The essential thing is that the dead person should be
tentions (valorization of the corpse).
present, recognizable to his or her family (to a certain extent,
a disfigured corpse is tantamount to an absent one). The cer-
In traditional societies, where death is a public affair in-
tainty of the person’s death can be borne more easily than
volving the whole community, display of the corpse is almost
the uncertainty surrounding his or her absence and silence.
a general rule. It is stretched out on a mat, on a funeral bed,
or in a coffin, placed in the mortuary in a special case or in
In this respect, wakes have a soothing value, supposedly
the open air, or suspended at the top of a tree or on a scaffold
for the departed and certainly for the survivors. The sacred
in the middle of the village square. Sometimes it even pre-
and the profane are mixed. In Spain, rosaries and responses
sides over its own funeral. The presentation varies according
are recited. People speak of the deceased, because to speak
to places and beliefs, but most often it is done in state, with
of the deceased is to be with the deceased again. And if some-
all the symbols that recall the deceased’s social function. In
times the conversation turns to funny stories, this does not
Senegal, the dead Diola appears much as if he were alive, but
imply a lack of respect for the dead but a pleasant relation-
with his most beautiful clothes, his bow and arrows if he was
ship with the deceased. At one extreme, these wakes are al-
a good hunter, his farming implements and sheaves of rice
most feast days. Perhaps this is because in some villages, like
if he was a good farmer. The horns of cows he sacrificed dur-
the Aragonese village of Leciñena, the immediate neighbors
ing his life and heads of cattle are exhibited to emphasize his
cook the celebrated tortas, a kind of brioche made only on
wealth. The ostentatious display of belongings is frequent.
feast days (the Feast of the Virgin, a marriage) and for a death
Sometimes the dead person is displayed in the midst of his
wake.
herd, as among the Karamojong of Uganda and certain Indi-
When there are mourners, especially female ones, dis-
ans of North America. The length of time for displaying the
play of the dead facilitates the sincere and organized expres-
dead and his goods may vary according to his wealth: Among
sion of emotions through praise of the departed, invitations
the Dayak of Borneo, it ranges from one to six years. Another
to return among the living (visits, possession, reincarnation),
custom, peculiar to the Sioux, is to suspend the head and tail
reproaches or invectives concerning his cruelty in leaving his
of the dead person’s horse on the same scaffold on which he
close kin, and advice for his posthumous destiny. This is how
is exposed. Display of the dead seems to serve a double func-
the rhapsodist addresses the deceased Miao after the ritual
tion: to show the dead that he is being rendered the homage
offering of the cock: “Take it and eat. Henceforth you will
due him by offering him to view in his best light, and to show
have the cock’s soul with you. Follow it. Hurry and look for
him as a model of the role he played in the group. The dead
the silk suit you wore at birth. You will find it hidden under
person is glorified as having accomplished his mission, and
the earth [an allusion to the placenta of the newborn, which
the aura with which he is endowed is reflected on the collec-
is always carefully buried near the house in which he was
tivity, which thus reaffirms the identity and cohesion it so
born]. Now leave” (Georges, 1982, p. 187). Again dressed
needs upon losing one of its members.
in his silk garment and guided by the cock, the soul of the
dead person then sets out on the long journey the singer is
In southern Sulawesi, the Toraja still use the effigy, or
chanting about. Finally, before the final farewells, the dead
tau-tau, especially for the deceased of high rank. This figure,
person may be transported into the village and the fields, vis-
made of breadfruit wood according to strict rules, must re-
iting for the last time the places where he lived, and com-
semble the deceased as much as possible (same sex, height,
muning with himself before the altars where he made sacri-
face), though often with improvements. Dressed in the dead
fices.
person’s clothing and adorned with jewels, necklaces, and
bracelets, it is the object of numerous rites whereby it is in
Food given to the dead and in homage to the dead.
turn animated and made to die, wept over and consecrated.
This article will mention only briefly the offering of victuals
At the end of a very long ceremony, the corpse, swathed in
to the dead, whether during the funeral or at the moment
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3238
FUNERAL RITES: AN OVERVIEW
of burial. To help the deceased on the long journey, the
cophagus), forbid it absolutely (embalming and mummifica-
Aztec burned food with the deceased—usually a fat little dog
tion, incineration, cannibalistic ingestion), retard it (corporal
with a tawny coat—to help him or her cross the rivers on
attentions), or accelerate it (towers of silence; see below). A
the infernal route. This rite, common to almost all cultures,
profound need underlies all these approaches to decay: to sta-
corresponds to a widespread belief: The offerings are the in-
bilize the deceased in an indestructible medium—a stage
dispensable viaticum that permits the dead to survive the
marking the reconciliation of the community with his death.
transitory journey into the world of the ancestors. The sacri-
These remains—mummy, relic, ashes, or bones—all civiliza-
fices offered simultaneously play the same role, albeit sym-
tions, without exception, persist in preserving.
bolically.
Tamed or accelerated decay. Conditions of exposure
Better yet is the common meal that accompanies funer-
may eventually accelerate the mineralization of the corpse.
als almost everywhere. A practical necessity justifies it: Those
Sunlight and even moonlight, as well as a smoky fire, are be-
who have come to honor the dead and console the close kin
lieved to contribute, but the body is sometimes also offered
must be fed. The importance of the feast is often such that
to birds of prey and other carnivores, or to ants. In the Tibet-
it takes on the dimensions of a potlatch: In numerous ethnic
an tradition, corpses were torn apart by the ragyapas
groups, brief rites are initiated at the time of death, and the
(“dismemberers”) and thrown to the dogs, so that the bones
funeral services are deferred until sufficient reserves of rice,
would be stripped much faster. But the most spectacular ex-
palm wine, and cattle have been set out. In the view of tradi-
ample is given by the towers of silence built in the seven-
tional mythologies, it is a communal event in which the dead
teenth century, particularly in Iran by the Zoroastrians. Ac-
person participates: A seat, plate, or part of the food (often
cording to the sacred texts of the Zand, the corpse is the
the best) is reserved for the deceased, or a descendant repre-
essence of impurity. It is therefore out of the question to pol-
sents the deceased, or the table is set in the presence of the
lute “the things belonging to the good creation” by carrying
corpse—diverse customs showing an intention to intensify
out the final burial of a decomposing body. Hence the cus-
the relationship with the deceased and to persuade the group
tom of exposing the body in a remote location known to be
that he or she is not completely dead. In Western societies,
frequented by carnivorous animals. Vultures, in particular,
the funeral meal is a means of appeasing grief by reinforcing
are the purifiers that disencumber the dead person of rotting
the bonds that unite the living in the absence of the dead.
flesh, the medium of demonic infection. From this came the
The meal following the death is like a birth for the talkative
practice, which spread little by little, of building towers of
and hungry community of the living, which has been
rock especially designed to isolate corpses and avoid their
wounded, split up, and interrupted by the death.
contaminating presence during the purification process. The
But all these reasons are valid only on an obvious level.
interior of the “tower of silence,” or dakhma, consists of a
On the symbolic level, the funeral meal is a way of retaining
platform inclined toward a central pit. Cells (pa¯vis) hollowed
the dead person, and on these grounds, it is a substitute for
out in three concentric circles receive the corpses—men in
the cannibalistic meal. In Haiti, the funeral meal is appropri-
the outer zone, women in the middle zone, and children to-
ately termed a mangé-mort, just as in Quebec, where the ex-
ward the central pit. In this case, in which the custom of sec-
pression manger le mort is still in use. In fact, the manduca-
ond obsequies no longer takes the symbolic form of the com-
tion of the corpse is connected to a universal fantasy that
memorative meal, the dried bones are thrown down twice a
psychoanalysts neatly term “the exquisite corpse” (an expres-
year into the depths of the pit. There, under the combined
sion borrowed from surrealist poetry). Obeying the pleasure
effect of the sun and the lime that is spread there, the bones
principle, the fantasy mechanism of the exquisite corpse re-
are transformed into dust. The pit branches into four canals
sponds to the trauma of loss through the desire for incorpo-
for the evacuation of rainwater, which is received and puri-
ration of the lost object. Amorous fusion with the other is
fied in four subterreanean pits where carbon and sand clarify
then achieved in an exaltation that, in the real world, would
it. Formerly, the remains were removed periodically, to be
perhaps be secret. The dead person is fixed and assimilated
kept in an ossuary: Cleansed of all impurities, they testified
in their best features; one who devours the deceased makes
that the soul was ready for the final ceremonies.
the deceased one’s own in spite of all taboos. In this connec-
Decomposition accepted but hidden. Obviously, the
tion, there is a strange Mexican custom that does not even
cemetery is a place where remains are preserved and con-
disguise the necrophagic intention. On the Day of the Dead,
cealed. The feminine and maternal valence of the earth re-
an extraordinary commercial activity mobilizes the whole
sponds to a universal fantasy: “Naked I came out of the ma-
population: Superb confections are sold that represent the
ternal womb; naked I shall return there” (Jb. 1:21). In
skulls and skeletons of the dead, ravishing or burlesque in ap-
African cosmogonic thought, burial in Mother Earth, the
pearance, with first names engraved in order to help the cus-
source of fertility and dwelling place of the ancestors, takes
tomers make their choices.
on a quasi-metaphysical significance. The same symbolism
CONTROLLING DECAY. Decay is the justification for all fu-
serves for other forms of interment, such as the deposit of
neral rites. Everything is brought into play in order to tame
the corpse in grottos or in funeral jars that evoke the uterine
it (display of the corpse), hide it (winding-sheets, the sar-
cavity. The earth is indeed the place par excellence for trans-
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FUNERAL RITES: AN OVERVIEW
3239
formations. Not only does one plow seeds into it at the time
store them to life), there are three common forms of prohib-
of sowing, but it is also a mediator in all rites of passage: The
ited decay.
corpse is entrusted to it at the time of the funeral, as are neo-
Cannibalism, decay, and mineralization. Robert Hertz
phytes’ nail clippings, hair, and other fleshly remains from
(1970) has emphasized the particular function of cannibal-
initiation rites and the placenta and umbilical cord at birth.
ism that spares the dead person the horror of a slow and igno-
Burial can also, in a sense, transform the land. Thus the He-
ble decomposition and brings the bones almost immediately
brews did not begin to bury their dead until as a people they
to their final state. This is obviously true for endocannibal-
became sedentary; burial is always connected to the owner-
ism, when it is practiced on revered dead persons. There is
ship of land, that is, to the appropriation of a “promised
no doubt that the purpose of cannibalism is to prohibit rot-
land,” without doubt, a way of salvation.
ting. On the one hand, consumption of the flesh occurs as
One could go on forever describing the infinite variety
soon as possible after death, and, because the flesh is usually
of types of cemeteries (mass burial sites or scattered individu-
cooked, putrefaction does not begin in the course of con-
al crypts, as in Madagascar; at the heart of the village or far-
sumption. On the other hand, inquiries among populations
flung) and types of tombs (simple ditches to elaborate mau-
with a tradition of cannibalism clearly reveal the finality of
soleums to modern, efficient columbaria for cremated bo-
the act: “In this way, we knew where he [the dead] was and
dies). In many systems of burial the distinction between
his flesh would not rot,” said the Australian Turrbals (Hertz,
social classes is still, as it were, heavily felt.
1970, p. 24, n. 1). This is also the view expressed by the
Merina, according to a historical Malagasy document of the
The corpse’s position in the tomb is no less variable:
last century: “Our kinsman is dead; what shall we do with
seated; stretched out on its back or side; in the fetal position;
his body, for he was a man we loved?” Some answered,
even on its stomach, as was once the case in Western cultures
“Since he is dead, let us not bury him but let us eat him, be-
for adulterous women; or standing, in the manner of some
cause it would be sad to see him rotting in the ground.”
military men or heroes of the American West. The orienta-
(ibid., p. 28).
tion of the body can also be important. For some emigrant
Cannibalism promotes mineralization, but intentions
groups, it is toward the country of birth. For populations
toward the corpse in this regard differ according to whether
that traditionally ascribe birth to sunrise and death to sunset,
endocannibalism or exocannibalism is involved.
the deceased must have the head to the east in order to be
in position for rebirth. On the other hand, medieval Chris-
Endocannibalism refers us back to the traditional
tians who wanted to be buried facing the direction from
scheme of the double funeral: On the first occasion, the dead
which salvation came placed the head toward the west so that
person is buried in the earth or, similarly, in the belly, where
the deceased could face Jerusalem. Similarly, Muslims are
human digestion prepares its accelerated passage to mineral-
buried on their right side, turned toward Mecca.
ization; on the second occasion, the remaining bones are
handled with respect and receive the final obsequies. The de-
The necropolis does not exist in India or Nepal because
struction resulting from the manducation is only a mutation
ashes are thrown into the sacred rivers, nor is it commonly
of forms that symbolically achieve a kind of conservation: in-
of importance in sub-Saharan Africa. But where it does exist,
corporation. In a sense, ingestion could be interpreted as em-
the cemetery is still a symbol charged with emotion, some-
balming transferred to the oral register. As for exocannibal-
times arousing fear and melancholy, sometimes calm and re-
ism, however, the situation is different, at least concerning
flection. In this regard one must praise Islamic wisdom, by
the treatment of the remains. The cannibal feast undoubted-
which the very texture and functions of the cemetery main-
ly implies incorporation and, by its reference to myths of ori-
tain a state of relative osmosis between the living and the
gin, it can take the form of a veritable primitive mass in
dead. The cemetery (maqbarah) is often designated by the
which the bread and wine are really flesh and blood. But
more euphemistic term rawd:ah (“garden”). Certainly, its
whereas the vital force animating the enemy’s corpse is assim-
ground has often been consecrated to that use by a pious tra-
ilated, his bones and uneaten parts may be abandoned or
dition, but it is not closed. The dead rest there on the bare
held up to ridicule. The Ocaina Indians of the Peruvian Am-
ground in a simple winding-sheet, thus returning to the ele-
azon suspend the enemy’s penis from a necklace worn by the
ments. In both senses of the term, it is open to nature. But
victor’s spouse; the mummified hands are used as spoons, the
it is open to society, too. The belief prevails that bonds exist
bones as flutes, and the painted and exposed skull serves as
with the bodies of the deceased before the Last Judgment and
a ritual bell.
that for the living to visit the tombs is a praiseworthy act and,
what is more, a deed that will be considered in their favor
The cremated corpse. According to many mythologies,
then. The cemetery is also a traditional place to go for a walk:
the purifying fire is above all liberating. In Bali, as long as
Women often meet there on Fridays.
the fire has not reduced the corpse to ashes, the dead person
is impure; he continues to wait, his spirit not yet separated
Prohibited decay. Setting aside the still rare phenome-
from his body. According to many beliefs, fire is the promise
non of cryogenation (in which the deceased wait in liquid
of regeneration and rebirth. Through fire, a superior level of
nitrogen until the time when people will know how to re-
existence can be attained. According to Greek mythology,
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3240
FUNERAL RITES: AN OVERVIEW
Herakles stretched himself out on the pyre of Mount Oeta,
the great number of participants. Invocations, readings, and
while Zeus announced to the other gods that Herakles was
prayers punctuated each act of the embalmers, whose very
about to become their equal: The fire would relieve him of
gestures were strictly regulated. Afterlife was not possible un-
his human part, immortalize him, and make him divine. The
less the liturgy was observed in its minutest details. “You will
same theme is found in the Upanis:ads, the classic texts of
not cease living; you will not cease to be young, for always
Hinduism. It is therefore not the impurity of the corpse that
and forever,” cried the priest at the end of the embalming.
is implicated in the cremation ritual, but the impurity of the
Then the last ceremony could be performed: the opening of
body and the human condition. Ashes are the proof of that
the mouth. In the purification tent or at the entrance to the
impurity; if the body were perfect, it would burn without
tomb, the gestures of the officiating priest were accompanied
ashes.
by aspersions, offerings, and sacrifices, fumigations with in-
The destiny of the remains varies. In Japan, the bones
cense, and magico-religious formulas. With the end of his
are traditionally divided between two containers, one of
adz the priest touched the dead person’s face in order to rein-
which is buried at the place of cremation and the other in
troduce the vital energy.
the natal village of the deceased. In Thailand, part of the re-
In addition, mummies discovered in South America and
mains are collected in an urn kept at home, while the remain-
the testimony of Spanish chroniclers affirm that the Inca, for
der is buried at the foot of the pyre, kept in a reliquary monu-
example, embalmed their dead. The technical success of their
ment, or even thrown into a river. In India, custom formerly
mummies seems not to have been as spectacular as that of
demanded that the ashes be deposited in a tomb. Later a rule
the Egyptian mummies, especially if one remembers that the
was imposed that still persists today: Because fire is the son
Inca empire occurred relatively close to the current time (at
of the waters, funeral rites should summon first one and then
the end of the Middle Ages). The body was treated with dif-
the other. Also, the ashes and noncalcinated bones are sprin-
ferent ingredients (honey, resin, and herbs) and painted with
kled with water, and cow’s milk and coconut milk as well,
roucou (a vegetable dye); the viscera, preliminarily removed,
before being thrown into the Ganges, the sacred river that
were prepared and kept separate in a receptacle. The dry cli-
flows from S´iva’s hair. The same procedure is followed in
mate and the burial methods (a hole in a rocky wall, or a fu-
Nepal and in Thailand, where other sacred rivers conduct the
neral jar) were favorable for preservation. Like the pharaohs,
deceased downstream toward his celestial residence. In Bali,
the sovereigns were the objects of particular care. An illustrat-
the remains are thrown into the sea after having been meticu-
ed story from the sixteenth century, whose author, Huaman
lously sorted by the relatives, washed in sacred water, ar-
Poma, was of Inca origin, recounts the royal funeral ritual:
ranged on white linen, and inserted into a dried coconut
The embalmed Inca, adorned with his emblems, lay in state
adorned with flowers. Finally, there is the particular case of
for a month; at his sides were placed women and servants,
the Yanoama Indians of Venezuela, who crush the remaining
likewise embalmed, to serve him in the other world. Al-
bones after the incineration of their warriors, in order to con-
though the techniques were rudimentary, there is good rea-
sume them mixed with game dishes or beverages in the
son to assume that a very precise ritual was used to increase
course of a communal meal.
efficacy. Thus, the funeral offerings deposited next to the
Cremation can be assimilated to all other modes of pro-
body appeased the maleficent spirits that caused decomposi-
visional burial, and people who burn their dead conform in
tion. Indeed, because the life principle (the aya) remained in
many respects to the classic scheme of the double funeral, but
all parts of the corpse, rotting involved the destruction of the
with different means and a shortened duration. The first fu-
individual. On the other hand, if the body was preserved, the
neral, corresponding to the ritual of the exclusion of the
spirit of the dead could be reincarnated in a descendant. This
dead, soothes the corpse and leads it to a purification that
belief in a second birth appears to explain the fetal position
can be accomplished only by the process of decay. Those
of corpses found in tombs and funeral jars.
who cremate the dead find the equivalent of the first funeral
Whatever the modalities, one can agree with Robert
in the rites that accompany the handling of the body during
Hertz that it is legitimate “to consider mummification as a
the generally short period between death and combustion on
particular case derived from provisional interment” (Hertz,
the pyre. The second obsequies, which concern the charred
1970, p. 20). If the interval separating death from final burial
and purified remains, correspond to the rites of integration
corresponds to the duration necessary for mineralization or
of the dead in his status in the beyond, while mourning is
desiccation, then a symmetry exists between the Egyptian rite
lifted for the survivors.
and that of certain archaic ethnic groups. It is only when the
Preservation of bodies. Egyptian embalming practices
embalming is concluded “that the body, having become im-
are famous. The long, difficult techniques only make sense,
perishable, will be conducted to the tomb, that the soul will
however, in the framework of the osirification ritual that
leave for the country of Ialou, and that the mourning of the
makes the dead person a god through assimilation with Osi-
survivors will come to an end.” The waiting period, that is,
ris. Before, during, and after the technical manipulations, an
the time necessary to achieve mineralization, can be reduced
extremely complicated ceremony took place, which un-
only by a manipulative intervention; it has not changed
doubtedly explains the long duration of the treatment and
meaning at all, even if in this case the corpse is the equivalent
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FUNERAL RITES: MESOAMERICAN FUNERAL RITES
3241
of the body in its apparent totality (a mummy) or in part (a
BIBLIOGRAPHY
trophy head), rather than the residue of bones and ashes.
Ariès, Philippe. Western Attitudes toward Death: From the Middle
C
Ages to the Present. Translated by Patricia Ranum. Baltimore,
ONCLUSION. This article has, as it were, painted a compos-
1974.
ite picture of funeral rites, in which it can be seen that they
border on the stricto sensu sphere of the sacred. It may in fact
Ariès, Philippe. Essais sur l’histoire de la mort en Occident. Paris,
be argued that, thanks to rites—those of former times espe-
1975.
cially, and to a lesser degree those of today—everything is
Gennep, Arnold van. Rites of Passage. Translated by Monika B.
brought into play in order to put death (even if accepted) at
Vizedom and Gabrielle L. Caffee. Chicago, 1960. See chap-
a distance, and eventually to make fun of it or tame it by per-
ter 8.
mitting the community, when it feels concerned, to pull it-
Gennep, Arnold van. “Du berceau à la tombe.” In Manuel de folk-
self together. This is why funeral rites can shift the drama
lore français contemporain, edited by Arnold van Gennep, vol.
of dying from the plane of the real to that of the imaginary
1, pp. 111–373. Paris, 1976.
(by displacements and metonymy, symbols and metaphors),
Georges, Elaine. Voyages de la mort. Paris, 1982.
and it is in this that their efficacy resides. To reorganize the
Guiart, Jean, ed. Les hommes et la mort: Rituels funéraires à travers
society disturbed by death and to console the survivors even
le monde. Paris, 1979.
while the deceased is being served and his or her destiny ori-
ented—these are the two fundamental aims of funeral cus-
Hertz, Robert. “Contribution à une étude sur la représentation
collective de la mort.” In Sociologie religieuse et folklore, edited
toms. In all regions, then, such rites are simultaneously de-
by Robert Hertz. Paris, 1970.
fined first as liturgical drama with its places and scenes, its
actors and their scripts, and also as individual or collective
Maertens, Jean-Thierry. Le masque et le miroir. Paris, 1978.
therapies (one might recall Nasser’s moving funeral). In this
Maertens, Jean-Thierry. Le jeu du mort. Paris, 1979.
respect, traditional cultures have inexhaustible resources of
Thomas, Louis-Vincent. Anthropologie de la mort. Paris, 1975.
rich symbolism that the modern world has forgotten.
Thomas, Louis-Vincent. Le cadavre. Brussels, 1980.
Indeed, modern life, especially in an urban milieu, en-
Thomas, Louis-Vincent. La mort africaine. Paris, 1982.
tails multiple mutations that are probably irreversible on the
Thomas, Louis-Vincent. Rites du mort: Pour la paix des vivants.
level of ritual, and perhaps disquieting for the psychic equi-
Paris, 1985.
librium of one’s contemporaries. Many practices are simpli-
fied or omitted: The wake is impossible at the hospital or in
Urbain, Jean-Didier. La société de conservation. Paris, 1978.
tiny apartments; condolences and corteges are practically
Walter, Jean-Jacques. Psychanalyse des rites. Paris, 1977.
eliminated. Consider, for example, today’s laying out of the
New Sources
dead: For the impurity of former times, the pretext of hy-
Cressy, David. Birth, Marriage, and Death: Ritual, Religion, and
giene is substituted; for respect for the corpse as subject, ob-
the Life-Cycle in Tudor and Stuart England. Oxford and New
session with or horror of the corpse as object; for family def-
York, 1997.
erence, the anonymity of an indifferent wage. In the same
Holloway, Karla F. C. Passed On: African American Mourning Sto-
way, the signs of mourning have fallen into disuse—society
ries: A Memorial Collection. Durham, N.C., 2002.
has passed from “mourning clothes in twenty-four hours” to
Merridale, Catherine. Night of Stone: Death and Memory in Twen-
twenty-four hours of mourning!—and it is unseemly to show
tieth Century Russia. New York, 2001.
one’s sorrow. People care less and less about the deceased,
who sink into the anonymity of the forgotten; fewer and
Metcalf, Peter and Richard Huntington. Celebrations of Death:
The Anthropology of Mortuary Ritual. Cambridge, U.K., and
fewer masses are said for the repose of their souls, while the
New York, 1991.
scattering of ashes eliminates the only possible physical sup-
port for a cult of the dead. If, at least on the imaginary plane,
LOUIS-VINCENT THOMAS (1987)
rites once primarily concerned the deceased, today they pri-
Translated from French by Kristine Anderson
Revised Bibliography
marily concern the survivors. Thus, to take only one exam-
ple, the new Roman Catholic ritual of anointing the sick
tends to deritualize and desacralize death itself as an essential
mutation. It is truly the disappearance of death, considered
FUNERAL RITES: MESOAMERICAN FUNERAL
as a passage, that is witnessed by others.
RITES
Without a doubt, humankind today is condemning it-
Mesoamerican peoples practiced a rich variety of funeral rites
self to a dangerous cultural void concerning rites and their
based on a fundamental and widely shared vision of death
symbols. One may well ask if funerals, expedited in the
as a regenerative social and cosmic power. Several types of
“strictest intimacy,” do not dangerously deprive people of a
sacred practices associated with death existed from the Pre-
ritual that would help them to live.
classic period (2500 BCE–200 CE) until the arrival of the
Spanish. The discussion that follows will survey two general
SEE ALSO Ancestors; Ashes; Bones; Cannibalism; Dakhma;
kinds of rites associated with the dead; funerary rites and mor-
Death; Fire; Rites of Passage; Tombs.
tuary rites. Funerary rites were those actions performed after
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3242
FUNERAL RITES: MESOAMERICAN FUNERAL RITES
the death of an individual. Their goal was to dispose of the
side pots. While some burial sites contain a single individual,
body, ensure the arrival of the soul to the netherworld, and
others contain several, with articulated skeletal remains and
socialize the loss. Mortuary rites, on the other hand, equipped
disarticulated bones. This variety could be attributed to re-
individuals with an object or offering. The more common ex-
gional funerary variations and to the identity of the dead. Of-
amples are sacrificial offerings, which were performed since
ferings of varying quality were usually placed in the sites, and
very early times.
on special occasions the bodies were covered with red paint
or a green stone was placed in the mouth of the deceased.
A third type of death ritual appears in the archaeological
The latter custom lasted into later periods.
and ethnohistorical evidence during the late Postclassic peri-
od (900–1521 CE). In this ritual practice the remains of the
As for mortuary rites, the collection of “trophy skulls”
deceased were not actually present. These were divinatory
seems to begin at this time, as evidenced in the Maya region,
rites aimed at either causing the death of an enemy or rival,
the Toluca Valley, and Tlatlico. Bone fragments found at the
as well as rites aimed at protecting someone from magical ag-
latter site present evidence of cuts, showing that bodies were
gressions and bad omens. A large numbers of rites dedicated
also used for other purposes. With time, such practices
to deities associated with death and dying were also widely
would become fundamental throughout Mesoamerica.
practiced throughout Mesoamerican history.
FUNERARY RITES IN THE CLASSICAL CITIES (200–600 CE).
FUNERALS IN AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES. The first agricul-
Important cities were created during this period including
tural settlements were consolidated during the Preclassic pe-
the magnificent cosmopolitan center, Teotihuacan, which
riod. Archaeological representations of skeleton-like beings
was built as a replica of the sacred universe. During an era
in motion and images that show the duality of life and death
of splendor, known as the Classic period, Teotihuacanos
date from this period. These are the earliest references to a
practiced elaborate funerary rituals. Archaeological records
belief in life after death.
show the careful preparation of the deceased body, primarily
Tlatilco, in the central highlands, is one of the settle-
in the form of funerary bundles and offerings. Typically, in-
ments showing the most complex funerary practices. In this
dividuals were buried under the floor of homes of both com-
site, which flourished around 1000 BCE, bodies were buried
moners and elites, and the tombs included funerary offer-
under inhabited rooms, a practice that has been interpreted
ings. Cremations took place in some areas of the city, a
as an attempt at preserving the force of the deceased in the
funerary practice associated with the élite.
domestic space. The bodies of the dead were accompanied
Archaeological work in Teotihuacan has revealed that
by funerary goods of different qualities, and in some in-
it had political and cultural relations with many others parts
stances the remains of a dog were buried next to the de-
of Mesoamerica. For example, different funerary patterns ex-
ceased.
isted in various parts of the city, especially in what is referred
In western Mexico, funerary practices were unusually
to as the Oaxaca barrio. Excavations have uncovered a num-
important; most interesting is the construction of “shaft
ber of tombs placed under the floor of domestic areas. The
tombs,” which consisted of a vertical tunnel leading to one
graves, in the style of the great Monte Albán culture that
or more funerary chambers excavated in volcanic tuff. The
flourished far to the south of Teotihuacan, were character-
region has been sacked by grave robbers, and only a few in-
ized by the presence of an access with doorjambs and glyphs
tact graves have been explored, such as the one found in
carved in the stone. Precious figurines and urns done in the
Huitzilapa, Jalisco, dated to 65 CE. The excavation of that
Oaxacan style also accompanied the burials of human beings.
site revealed a seven-meter-deep shaft and two funerary
The tradition of the shaft tombs continued in the west-
chambers. Three individuals had been laid in each of them,
ern regions of Mesoamerica, while new ritual forms also
together with extraordinary pottery. Researchers have specu-
began to emerge. One example of such a change can be
lated that this was the burial shaft of an important family.
found in Loma Alta and Loma Guadalupe, funerary islands
Other findings in western Mexico are also important,
located in Michoacán. In the former, individual were buried,
such as those in Chupícuaro, in the Mexican state of Guana-
and in some instances the rites included the cremation and
juato, a settlement characterized by its funerary arrange-
subsequent pulverization of the bones. Loma Guadalupe
ments. The remains of dogs were found next to human skele-
served as a sort of cemetery, and several central tombs were
tons in excavated burial sites, suggesting that, since earlier
surrounded by a series of smaller ones. The sepulchers could
times, these animals were considered as companions in the
be used several times, and in some instances bones were re-
journey to the netherworld. Similarly, various offerings con-
moved to be transported elsewhere. An area devoted to food
sisting of garments and tools the deceased may have used
preparation has also been identified in the complex, perhaps
while living were found next to adults, while necklaces and
associated with a ceremony that complemented the burial.
musical instruments were placed in the tombs of children.
Classic Maya culture developed the elaborate practice of
In the Maya region, individuals were buried near do-
constructing royal tombs. In Calakmul, in the Mexican state
mestic spaces or ceremonial buildings. The bodies were laid
of Campeche, the tomb of the ruler known as Jaguar-Claw
in graves or funerary chambers and in some cases placed in-
was explored by a multidisciplinary team that concluded that
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FUNERAL RITES: MESOAMERICAN FUNERAL RITES
3243
the funeral bundle had been set on a wooden frame and fine-
classic period (650–900 CE) a process of decentralization in
ly decorated with marine elements. The exploration was per-
Mesoamerica led to the formation of potent, regional city-
formed so carefully that it allowed for the recovery of resi-
states such as Xochicalco, Cholula, and Tajin. Xochicalco,
dues of lime, canvas, palm, and resins that accompanied the
in the state of Morelos has yielded impressive sepulchers in-
body of the individual, which had been adorned with jadeite
side religious buildings and domestic settings. In the context
jewels and a funerary mask. Jaguar-Claw was buried with two
of sacred architecture, the persons were buried with fine an-
companions, a male child and a woman wearing a headdress,
thropomorphic plates and other green-stone jewelry, while
a funerary treatment associated with the élite.
domestic burials included ceramic offerings. The site is also
known because of an artificial terrace called “the cemetery,”
Two examples of luxurious tombs were found in Palen-
where twenty-one burial sites and a “trophy skull” were
que: the tomb of King Pacal and that of the so-called Red
found.
Queen. In the first site, the remains of the ruler were set in
a monolithic sarcophagus; the cover was carved with the
Cholula was another important city in the highlands
image of a character from whose chest grew a maize plant.
where funerals had great importance. Archaeological findings
The king was dressed in a luxurious green stone mask and
have revealed that funerary practices were carried out in rela-
was accompanied by several offerings and by the remains of
tion to age, gender, and possibly the social occupation of the
individuals sacrificed at his burial. The monumental funer-
deceased. The city showed an increment in cremation prac-
ary pyramid was built specifically to house his tomb. The
tices, as demonstrated by thirty urns filled with the remains
Red Queen was also buried in a monolithic sarcophagus with
of bones that had been exposed to the fire and placed on the
treasures made of jade, pearls, and shells. Her body was cov-
southern end of the great pyramid.
ered with cinabrio, a red mineral that colored the grave. Ac-
Another majestic city of that time was Tajín, on the
cess to the site was through a set of stairs, and several com-
Gulf of Mexico. Besides funerary sites, the evidence from the
panions were also sacrificed in her honor. The identity of the
city exemplifies the importance of sacrifice and postmortem
Red Queen still remains unknown, and she could be related
treatment, especially decapitation, which played a funda-
to King Pakal.
mental role in ritual ball games.
Oaxaca was another area where funerals played an im-
ARCHAEOLOGY, HISTORICAL SOURCES, AND FUNERALS.
portant role. Monte Albán, one of the main sites in the re-
During the Postclassic period (1200–1521 CE) war became
gion, is characterized by burial sites placed in yards or rooms.
uncommonly important, as did expansionism and sacrificial
The quality of the burials was a function of the identity of
practices. There is ample evidence of funerary practices from
the deceased, since tombs range from very simple ones to
this period, such as the ample historical record devoted to
those showing complex funerary architecture, including un-
describing the funerals of the ruling class. Just as there are
derground structures. Offerings were of great quality and in-
coincidences in the beliefs in an afterlife throughout the Me-
cluded urns with figurines representing the gods and remains
soamerican region, there are also some similarities in funer-
of dogs. The tombs were reused, and each time a new body
ary practices among the three most powerful groups of the
was placed in them the skeletal remains already there were
period: the Maya, Tarasc, and Mexica, or Aztec. For the
piled up to make more room.
three peoples, two variables determined the type of funerary
rite to be followed: the cause of death and social position.
The lavish funerary architecture developed for the rul-
In the case of the Mexica, the teyolía, or soul, of the deceased
ing Zapotec class seems to re-create the opulence of the pal-
had four basic destinations. Mictlan, the underworld, was
aces. A classic example is the tomb at the archaeological site
the destination of those who died of common illnesses or old
known as Huijazoo, an important underground complex.
age. Those who died for a reason associated with water trav-
Nine steps lead to a vestibule that opened into two chambers
eled to Tlalocan, a place of plenty that was presided over by
and a yard that culminated with the main funeral chamber.
Tláloc, the god of rain. It was believed that the soul of nurs-
Mitla is another Oaxacan city famous for its lavish funerals
ing children traveled to the place known as Chichihuauh-
and the cross-shaped tombs placed under its palaces. Centu-
cuahco, where they were fed by a nursing tree. Warriors who
ries later, in the Postclassic period, Zapotec tombs were re-
fell in battle went to the Sun Heaven, as did women who
used by the Mixtecs, who used them to inter their leaders
died giving birth. It was believed that the former received the
with offerings that are veritable treasures. Such is the case of
sun at dawn and drove it towards its zenith, where they
the famous “Tomb Seven” in Monte Albán.
handed it over to the latter. To each form of death there was
Oaxacan evidence related to domestic settings is also in-
a corresponding funerary geography and a special treatment
teresting because human burials were placed under the floors
for the corpse.
of homes that continued to be inhabited by the descendants
Those who died of common illness or old age were cre-
of the deceased. The living and the dead shared a daily com-
mated or buried, depending on their place in the social hier-
mon space linking generation with generation.
archy. Upon the death of an individual, the body was washed
REGIONAL CAPITALS AND FUNERARY RITES. Upon the fall
and a green stone was placed in its mouth to symbolize the
of Teotihuacan during what has become known as the Epi-
heart of the deceased, where the soul was located. The body
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3244
FUNERAL RITES: MESOAMERICAN FUNERAL RITES
was covered with blankets that were tied, forming a funerary
to what transpired in the central highland, the historical re-
bundle that received offerings useful in the journey to the af-
cord confirms the preparation of the body and the placing
terlife, while the geographic instructions that would allow
in the mouth of a stone or maize kernels. Also, some offer-
the soul to complete its cosmic destiny were detailed. If the
ings seem to be associated with the needs of the deceased in
deceased was a member of the élite, the body was cremated
the journey to the netherworld. Although individuals were
and placed next to offerings in a wooden funerary pyre that
usually buried, other treatments have also been documented
included a red dog. If it was a ruler, companions were sacri-
depending on the identity, occupation, or cause of death.
ficed next to him, and their hearts were cast into the fire. The
The tombs of commoners were usually dug under homes or
ashes were collected and placed in a container that was to be
behind them, and the dwellings were abandoned, unless they
buried. Archaeological evidence from the Great Temple in
were inhabited by many people. The deceased could be bur-
Tenochtitlan shows that cremated remains of the dignitaries
ied with the tools they had used in life for their occupations;
could be divided into several urns and buried in different
for example, priests were buried with their sacred books.
places. On the other hand, historical sources suggest that
when the individual was a commoner, the body was buried
Among the Maya, cremation was a late practice that ex-
with very simple offerings.
tended into colonial times and was reserved for the élites.
Friar Diego de Landa, who made a vast historical record in
The bodies of those who died by water were clad with
Yucatan during his labor of evangelization, wrote about the
paper adornments and had seeds placed in their mouths. The
cremation of the Lords of Izamal and how their ashes were
body was buried directly into the earth, as if it were a seed.
placed in pots, with temples were built above them. He also
Apparently, nursing children were also buried. It was be-
tells how the ashes of dignitaries were kept as relics inside of
lieved that the nursing tree that would care for them was lo-
statues. As for the Lords of Cocom, de Landa records an un-
cated in Tlalocan.
usual treatment for the bodies, which were decapitated,
When a woman died in labor, she received a particular
cooked, and defleshed; the ritual culminated with the model-
funerary arrangement. Her body was washed, dressed in new
ing, in bitumen, of the likeness of the deceased over its
garments, and taken to a special temple for burial. The body
bones. The archaeological record shows variation in funeral
had to be cared for, since some of its parts were believed to
practices, often associated with religion or the identity of the
have magical powers. The bodies of warriors fallen in battle
individual. Thus it is possible to find graves, caves, funeral
were also treated differently, even though their soul jour-
constructions, funerary chambers, sarcophagi, and vessels, all
neyed to the sun just like those of laboring women. Warrior
used as graves for the inhabitants of the Maya region.
funerals were collective acts and included processions and
In the powerful western state of Michoacán, funerals
dances performed by the relatives of the deceased. Usually,
were very similar to those of the Mexica. When a dignitary
the corpses were left in the battlefield, while bundles of wood
died, the body was prepared and richly clad. A second funer-
representing the deceased were built in Tenochtitlan; the
ary bundle was prepared with blankets and placed over the
bundles were cremated after receiving offerings and orations,
deceased. According to the colonial account of Friar Jeróni-
and the ashes were buried in a special place. These effigies
mo de Alcalá, during the funeral of the king some forty indi-
of the funerary bundle allowed for the socialization of the
viduals were sacrificed to serve their lord in the netherworld.
death.
The body was cremated and the ashes collected in blankets
Funerary goods offered to the deceased can be classified
and adorned with a turquoise mask and other jewelry. This
as follows: (1) objects that were part of the funerary dowry;
bundle was buried at the foot of the most important temple.
these objects signified the sacred exchange of energies be-
The ritual was very solemn, and on subsequent days a large
tween the life and death of the individual and Mexicas be-
portion of the population was in mourning. In contrast,
lieved that this items could help the soul in the journey; (2)
commoners were buried with simple offerings that reflected
offerings to be handed to the deities of the netherworld once
their social status.
the deceased arrived there; (3) goods that functioned to make
The great diversity and wealth of the Mesoamerican fu-
the ritual work effectively, such as the wood used in crema-
nerary rites contrasts with the standardization imposed by
tion. In more elaborated funerals, sacred practices such as
the Christian religion after the arrival of the Spanish. Death
music and ritual dance were common. It is also evident that
in war and epidemics, together with the imposition of funer-
some élite funerals included the sacrifice and self-sacrifice of
al taxes and the prohibition of crematory practices, were dif-
special companions of the deceased. Ethnohistorical docu-
ficult to assimilate for the indigenous population. With time,
ments relate that the immediate and extended aftermath of
syncretism developed and new funerary practices emerged.
a funeral was regulated by ritual. There were impositions of
Today, it is still possible to identify in some communities
specific periods of mourning as well as the crafting and deliv-
some elements associated with pre-Columbian beliefs, such
ery of elaborated speeches aimed at consoling the family of
as the notion of the dog as a companion to the underworld,
the deceased.
the tradition of processions and ritual games, and the offer-
Several tombs found in the Maya area had been set in
ing of food, copal, and other gifts. These elements, combined
places of worship, temples, and under living spaces. Similarly
with some that are typically Spanish, and the new ritual
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

FUSTEL DE COULANGES, N. D.
3245
forms represent the wealth of funerary customs of modern
Romano, Arturo. “Sistema de enterramiento.” In Antropología físi-
Mexico.
ca, época prehispánica, edited by Javier Romero Molina,
pp. 83–112. Mexico City, 1974.
SEE ALSO Mesoamerican Religions, articles on Classic Cul-
Ruz Lhuillier, Alberto. Costumbres funerarias de los antiguos mayas.
tures, Formative Cultures, Mythic Themes, Postclassic Cul-
Mexico City, 1989. A classic book with an exceptional in-
tures, Pre-Columbian Religions.
ventory of archaeological funerary findings, historical infor-
mation, and contemporary data on the Maya culture.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Alcalá, Jerónimo. La Relación de Michoacán. Morelia, 1980.
Sahagún, Bernardino. Historia General de las Cosas de la Nueva Es-
paña. Mexico City, 1997. Account written after the Con-
Becker, Marshall Joseph. “Caches as Burials; Burials as Caches:
quest. This book is the most important testimony of the
The Meaning of Ritual Deposits among the Classic Period
Nahua culture, including the afterlife notions and ritual life.
Lowland Maya.” In Recent Studies in Pre-Columbian Archae-
ology, edited by Nicholas J. Saunders and Olivier de Mont-
XIMENA CHÁVEZ BALDERAS (2005)
mollin, vol. 1, pp. 117–139. Oxford, 1988.
Translated from Spanish by Fernando Feliu-Moggi
Cabrero, Teresa. La muerte en el occidente del México prehispánico.
Mexico City, 1988.
Durán, Diego. Historia de las Indias de la Nueva España e Islas de
FUSTEL DE COULANGES, N. D. (1830–1889),
tierra firme, vol. 1. Mexico City, 1995. The funerals of Mexi-
was a French historian, best known as author of La cité an-
ca warriors and kings are fully described in this historical ac-
tique (1864). Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges would per-
count.
haps be surprised to find himself the subject of an entry in
García Moreno, Renata, and Josefina Granados. “Tumbas reales
this encyclopedia. He entered the École Normale Supérieure
de Calakmul.” Arqueología Mexicana 42 (2000): 28–33.
in Paris in 1850, and chafed under the strictly conventional
Lagunas, Zaíd, Carlos Serrano, and Sergio López Alonso. Enterra-
classical education imposed by the regime of Napoléon III;
mientos humanos de la zona arqueológica de Cholula, Puebla.
if the revolutionary movements of 1848 left him with a last-
Mexico City, 1976.
ing fear of civil war and violence, as expressed above all in
Landa, Diego. Relación de las Cosas de Yucatán. Mexico City,
his thesis on Polybius’s approval of the Roman conquest of
1938. Historical record written in Yucatán after the Con-
Greece (1858), the counterreaction engendered his equally
quest.
persistent anticlericalism.
López Alonso, Sergio. “Cremación y entierros en vasija en Cholula
Fustel taught in Strasbourg from 1861 to 1870, then in
prehispánica.” Anales del INAH (1973): 111–118.
Paris at the Sorbonne and the École Normale, of which he
López Luján, Leonardo, Robert Cobean, and Alba Guadalupe
was director from 1880 to 1883. He saw himself as a scientif-
Mastache. Xochicalco y Tula. Mexico City, 1995.
ic historian, examining evidence systematically and without
López Mestas, Lorena, and Jorge Ramos de la Vega. “La tumba
preconceptions. Throughout his life, the main target of his
de Huitzilapa.” Arqueología Mexicana 30 (1998): 70–71.
critical scrutiny was the belief that primitive society was dem-
Malvido, Elsa, Gregory Pereira, and Vera Tiesler. El cuerpo hu-
ocratic. In La cité antique Fustel criticized the view that the
mano y su tratamiento mortuorio. Mexico City, 1997. Topics
concept of personal liberty was born in the ancient city-state
such as death, the concept of the human body, funerary and
and that in early Greek and Roman society there was no pri-
mortuary rituals from pre-Hispanic times to contemporary
vate ownership of land. Later, in the first volume of his His-
Mexico are described in this compilation.
toire des institutions politiques de l’ancienne France (1875),
Manzanilla, Linda, and Carlos Serrano, eds. Prácticas funerarias en
Fustel asserted that the determining influence in French his-
la Ciudad de los Dioses los enterramientos humanos de la anti-
tory did not come from the Frankish invaders but from the
gua Teotihuacan. Mexico City, 1990. Remarkable compila-
Roman legacy in Gaul; finally, in his book Recherches sur
tion of Teotihuacan’s funerary practices. Includes new ar-
quelques problèmes de l’histoire (1885), he argued that the
chaeological findings and the analysis of human remains
recovered in this sacred place.
primitive, democratic village community, which held land in
common, could not be found even in Germany.
Matos Moctezuma, Eduardo. Muerte a filo de obsidiana. Mexico
City, 1980. A book extraordinarily written, focused on the
Fustel’s reputation as a founding father of the sociology
afterlife notions and funerary rituals among the Mexicas.
of religion is based largely on his assertion that religious ideas
McAnany, Patricia. Living with the Ancestors: Kingship and Kinship
could have a decisive effect in the formulation of a society’s
in Ancient Maya Society. Austin, Tex., 1995.
social and economic structure. In La cité antique Fustel ar-
Murillo, Silvia. La vida a través de la muerte. Mexico City, 2002.
gues that the practice of worshiping ancestors determined the
The author skillfully brings together ethnohistorical and ar-
form of the family and the patrilineal form of lineage (gens)
chaeological data on funerary customs from the Toluca Val-
that grew out of it. The private ownership of land was de-
ley, Mexico.
rived from ancestor worship. A man was buried in the fields
Rattray, Evelyn. Entierros y ofrendas en Teotihuacan. Excavaciones,
he had farmed, and because his descendants were obliged to
inventario y patrones mortuorios. Mexico City, 1997. Exhaus-
care for his tomb they could not allow the land that con-
tive inventory of Teotihuacan’s burial and funerary offerings.
tained it to pass out of the family. Religion tied culture 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

3246
FYLGJUR
social structure to nature. To care for family tombs was natu-
Ancient City of Fustel de Coulanges,” in his Essays in Ancient
ral and needed no explanation (or so it seemed to Fustel and
and Modern Historiography (Oxford, 1977), pp. 325–343.
his contemporaries, though the cemetery had only recently
New Sources
become a place of pilgrimage in their own time). At more
Various materials and subtle interpretations are provided by Fran-
complex levels of social organization religion was linked to
çois Hartog, Le XIX siècle et l’histoire. Le cas Fustel de Cou-
nature in a different way: People worshiped gods who were
langes. 2d ed. Paris, 2001. Fustel’s contribution to ancient
believed to control physical forces and whose rites could be
history and law history is still the object of historiographical
debate. See Arnaldo Marcone, Il colonato tardo antico nella
shared by a wide circle.
storiografia moderna: da Foustel de Coulanges ai nostri giorni,
Pagan religion thus followed the contours of social orga-
Como, Italy, 1988; and Andrea Galatello-Adamo, L’antico e
nization. The paganism of the Gauls merged easily into that
il positivo: per un commento a N. S. Fustel de Coulanges, Na-
of the Romans as the Gauls became latinized. Fustel dismiss-
ples, 1981.
es druidism as a brief interlude; he viewed the druids as pro-
S. C. HUMPHREYS (1987)
fessional religious specialists whose doctrines and practices
Revised Bibliography
did not arise naturally from social life. The power of the dru-
ids had been based on a close alliance with the native political
elite who turned away from them after the Roman conquest.
FYLGJUR are fetches and guardian spirits in Old Norse
literary tradition. The term apparently derives from the Old
Fustel’s treatment of Christianity is more complex.
Norse verb fylgja (to accompany), but it is homonymous
Early Christianity, he thought, was truly democratic in its
with, and perhaps identical to, the word for “afterbirth” or
organization. With its incorporation into the empire, the
“placenta.” The singular noun fylgja denotes two distinct
structure of the church became more hierarchical, mirroring
groups: fetches in animal form and guardian spirits in female
the structure of political society. Fustel became somewhat
form.
torn between his dislike of priestly hierarchy and his desire
to see the church as the vehicle by which Roman social orga-
Fylgjur in animal form are most often wolves or bears,
nization was preserved and transmitted to medieval France.
but many other animals are attested, such as oxen, boars, and
Because it was separate from the state and grew up initially
such birds as eagles, falcons, and hawks. These figures appear
without official recognition, the church constituted an alter-
to people primarily in dreams and warn of impending death,
native source of authority on which the conception of the
danger, or some future event. Frequently the fylgja is that of
individual’s rights against the state could be based; but con-
the doomed or threatened man’s enemy.
traposition to the state also turned the church into a political
These conceptions appear to reflect notions, common
organization. In his early Mémoire sur l’île de Chio (1856)
in Norse and later Scandinavian tradition, of the soul operat-
Fustel showed how the opposition between the Roman
ing out of the body. In their textual context they must be
Catholic and the Greek Orthodox churches became the
viewed as part of a broader tradition of portents and dreams,
focus of hostility between Greeks and Franks.
but the animal form of the fylgjur may relate to the phenome-
na of the werewolf and the man-bear. The emphasis on
Émile Durkheim and the structural-functionalists fol-
beasts of battle suggests the cult of Óðinn, the most impor-
lowed and extended Fustel’s insight into the relation between
tant shape-changer of Scandinavian myth and religion.
religion and social structure. Louis Dumont has revived his
Óðinn was known for his ability to send his soul out from
idea of a link between Christianity and individualism in his
his body and for sending his companion ravens out into the
Essais sur l’individualisme (1983). Fustel’s complex attitude
world as scouts. The animal form of Óðinn’s berserkers may
toward the priesthood and his interest in the relation be-
also be relevant.
tween church and state form part of a chapter of nineteenth-
century intellectual history that has yet to be written.
The female fylgjur share many features with ídísir and
hamingjur, and more distantly with landvættiræ, Norns, and
valkyries; there is little terminological consistency. Unlike
BIBLIOGRAPHY
the animal fylgjur, they are not the alter egos of individuals.
The English edition of The Ancient City (Baltimore, 1980) con-
Their actions are to some extent comparable to those of the
tains an introduction by Arnaldo Momigliano and myself. A
animal fylgjur in that they sometimes appear in dreams and
new French edition, with an introduction by François Har-
tog, was published in Paris in 1984. Fustel’s other work on
portend death or foretell the future, but they generally act
religion is to be found in the Histoire des institutions politiques
in sympathy with a central individual rather than in enmity,
de l’ancienne France, 6 vols. (Paris, 1888–1893), Nouvelles re-
giving counsel, good fortune, or aid in battle. These fylgjur
cherches sur quelques problèmes de l’histoire (Paris, 1891), and
may attach to a single individual or an entire family. They
Questions historiques (Paris, 1893); all were edited posthu-
may be related to the cult of the matronae, attested from the
mously by Camille Jullian. Jane Herrick’s The Historical
Roman period in Germany.
Thought of Fustel de Coulanges (Washington, D.C., 1954)
contains useful material on Fustel’s attitude to religion. Fur-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ther bibliography and information on Fustel’s intellectual
A full treatment of the literary evidence is provided in Else Mun-
background can be found in Arnaldo Momigliano’s “The
dal’s Fylgjemotiva i norro⁄n litteraturo⁄ (Oslo, 1974). Helpful
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FYLGJUR
3247
for the larger context are Dag Strömbäck”s Tidrande och dis-
ton, D.C., 2000). E. O. G. Turville-Petre”s “Liggja fylgjur
erna (Lund, Sweden, 1949) and Folke Ström’s Diser, norner,
þínar til Íslands,” originally published in 1940 and reprinted
valkyrjor (Stockholm, 1954). On the Indo-European back-
in his Nine Norse Studies (London, 1972), distinguishes be-
ground of the cult of Óðinn and the role of animals, especial-
tween the primarily concrete fylgja and the primarily abstract
ly dogs and wolves, see Kris Kershaw, The One-eyed God:
hamingja.
Odin and the (Indo-) Germanic Männerbündeäü (Washing-
JOHN LINDOW (1987 AND 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

G
GADJERI. The name Gadjeri (Gadjari, Kadjeri) is known over a wide area of northern
Australia. It means “old woman,” implying status and not necessarily age. Gadjeri is also
the “sacred mother,” or “mother of us all,” and the theme of birth, death, and rebirth
is pervasive throughout all of the myths concerning her. She symbolizes the productive
qualities of the earth—of all natural resources, including human beings. But it is people,
and not natural species, who came from her uterus in the creative era of the Dreaming.
Among a number of language groups from the Roper River westward, she is called
Kunapipi (or Gunabibi), which means “uterus,” “penis incision” (and, by extension, “va-
gina”), and “emergence” (referring to rebirth). In that same area she is also called Mu-
muna or Mumunga, a bull-roarer that, when swung, is her voice. In the northwest, on
the Daly River and at Port Keats, as in the central-west part of the Northern Territory,
she is also a bull-roarer named Kalwadi, although the term Gadjeri is more generally used;
at Port Keats her local name is Mutjingga (“old woman”). In the southeastern Kimberley
and southward into the Western Desert, she is known as Ganabuda. Mostly the Mother
is a single mythic being, but in some cultural areas she may be identified with two females
of equivalent characteristics, while the term Ganabuda may refer to a mythic group of
women.
Gadjeri is often associated with two or more of her daughters, the Munga-munga,
or Manga-manga, who play an important role in the mythic constellations of men and
women in both secret-sacred and open-sacred ritual activities. The Munga-munga are
sometimes referred to as the Kaleri-kalering, a name also used for a group of mythic men.
The Mother’s husband is Lightning or Rainbow Snake.
Baldwin Spencer (1914, pp. 162, 164, 213–218) first mentioned the term Kunapipi
as the name of a bull-roarer used by people living in the areas of the Katherine and Roper
rivers. The myth he recorded relates to a “big man” named Kunapipi who carries about
with him woven bags containing spirit children. At one place he removes male children
and places them on grass in an enclosed area surrounded by a raised mound. After decorat-
C LOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT CORNER. The Court of the Lions in the Alhambra in Granada, Spain.
[©E.O. Hoppé/Corbis]; Sixth-century BCE marble relief of Aphrodite, Artemis, and Apollo from
the east frieze of the Siphnian Treasury at Delphi, Greece. Archaeological Museum, Delphi.
[©Erich Lessing/Art Resource, N.Y.]; Eleventh-century Byzantine mosaic of the Madonna and
Child at Hosios Loukas Monastery in Boeotia, Greece. [The Art Archive/Dagli Orti]; Gan:e´sa,
twelfth to thirteenth century, from Mysore, India. De Young Memorial Museum, San
Francisco. [©Werner Forman/Art Resource, N.Y.]; The Parthenon on the Acropolis in Athens,
Greece. [©Bettmann/Corbis] .
3249

3250
GADJERI
ing them as circumcision novices, he divides the children
open her belly, and remove the children, still alive, from her
into two groups (moieties) and into subsection categories
womb. They clean them, rub them with red ocher, and give
and gives them “totemic” affiliations—instituting present-
them headbands, which signify that an initiation ritual has
day social organization. He also carries out circumcision and
taken place. Although the myth differs from the Mara ac-
subincision rituals that attract visitors from outlying areas.
count in content, it is symbolically the same. Stanner, how-
When the rituals are over he kills and eats some of the visi-
ever, interpreted it as pointing to a “wrongful turning of
tors, then vomits their bones—not whole bodies, as he had
life”; to him, the killing of Mutjingga was a kind of “imme-
expected. Two men who escape from him go in search of
morial misdirection” which applied to human affairs, and
their relatives, and together they all return to kill Kunapipi.
living men were committed to its consequences (see Berndt
When they cut open his belly, they find two of his “own chil-
and Berndt, 1970, pp. 229, 233–234). Evidence from other
dren,” who are recovered alive. Spencer recounts an addi-
cultures does not support the contention that “a primordial
tional myth relating to a woman whose Dreaming is
tragedy” took place in the myth. On the contrary, its format
Kunapipi and who possesses a Kunapipi bull-roarer: She too
is consistent with that of other Kunapipi versions: It con-
is responsible for leaving spirit children at particular places.
cerns the symbolism of ritual death and rebirth. Mutjingga
Together with a number of other women of the same mythic
is also linked in myth, but not in ritual, with Kunmanggur
affiliation, she performs rituals. These are observed by a
(Rainbow Snake), whom Stanner (1961, pp. 240–258) re-
mythic man who sees that the women have a bull-roarer and
garded as “the Father,” complementing Mutjingga as “the
takes it from them. As a result, the women lose their power
Mother.” In Port Keats, Kunmanggur dies in order to ensure
to carry out this form of secret-sacred ritual.
that fire is available to human beings.
Actually, Spencer seems not to have been referring to
This pervasive theme of birth, death, and rebirth re-
Kunapipi as a male at all, but as a female. In the Alawa lan-
ceives constant emphasis in the central-western Northern
guage group, Gadjeri is said to have emerged from the sea
Territory Gadjeri. In drawings, for instance, the Mother is
to rest on a sandbank at the mouth of the Roper River
depicted with men and women “flowing from” her into a
(Berndt, 1951, p. 188) and then to have proceeded up-
“ring place” (the sacred ground). She may also be shown as
stream. In one Mara version, Gadjeri, as Mumuna, eats men
a composite structure of poles and bushes, decorated with
who were enticed to her camp by her daughters, the Munga-
meandering designs of feather down and ocher and wearing
munga. She swallows them whole but vomits their bones; she
a pearl-shell pubic covering suspended from a hair waistband
had expected them to emerge whole and to be revived. This
(see Berndt and Berndt, 1946, pp. 71–73). Furthermore, un-
happens on a number of occasions with different men, each
like many other deities or mythic beings, she does not change
time without success. Eventually, she is killed by relatives of
shape: She is not manifested directly through a natural spe-
the men she has eaten (Berndt, 1951, pp. 148–152). A cru-
cies. Human birth is transferred to the nonhuman dimension
cial point here is the one made by the Aborigines who told
through divine intervention, made possible through human
this myth: “They didn’t come out like we do, they came out
ritual; that is, human ritual releases the Mother’s power to
half and half.” That is, in Kunapipi ritual men enter the sa-
make species-renewal possible. The central-western Gadjeri
cred ground, which is the Mother’s uterus, and leave it re-
complex is quite close to the mainstream Kunapipi cultic
born. The myth here emphasizes not cannibalism but the
perspective of the Roper River, except that the Mother’s
dangerous nature of this ritual experience.
death is mentioned only obliquely in the central-western in-
When the Kunapipi cycle entered eastern Arnhem
terpretation. For example, in regard to subincision, which is
Land, it was adapted to local mythology (see Warner, 1958,
an integral part of her ritual, it is said that the blood which
pp. 290–311; Berndt, 1951, pp. 18–32ff.). In western Arn-
results from the regular opening of the penis incision is sym-
hem Land, two mythic Nagugur men, smeared with blood
bolic of that shed by the Mother when she was killed. But
and grease, are credited with bringing the Kunapipi ritual
blood is also life-giving, and through this the Mother lives
complex. As they travel about the country they carry with
on spiritually and physically in her daughters, the Munga-
them a Rainbow Snake (Ngalyod, in female form) wrapped
munga.
in paper bark. In the rituals carried out in this area, a trench
In the northern and central-west areas of the Northern
(ganala) symbolizes the Mother’s uterus and is identified
Territory, Gadjeri is ritually dominant, with or without the
with Ngalyod; snake designs are incised on its inner walls
presence of the Rainbow Snake. In the fringes of the Western
(Berndt and Berndt, 1970, pp. 122–123, 138–142).
Desert her rituals focus mainly on other mythic beings. The
W. E. H. Stanner (1960, pp. 249, 260–266) gives a
Walbiri are a case in point. Their major mythic beings are
Murinbata (Port Keats) version of the Old Woman, or Mutj-
the male Mamandabari pair. While this mythic constellation
ingga, myth. She swallows children whose mothers have left
is classified under a Gadjeri heading and called “Big Sunday”
them for her to look after. Once the mothers return, they
(Meggitt, 1966, pp. 3ff.), and its ritual paraphernalia and
find the children missing and search without success; two
symbolism are specific to Gadjeri, there is no reference either
men, Left Hand and Right Hand, eventually find Mutjingga
to the Mother or to her daughters. She is treated almost as
hidden under the water. When she emerges, they kill her,
a presiding deity who stands some distance away from ritual
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GAGE, MATILDA JOSLYN
3251
performance. The Mamandabari are similar to the two
all species, also underlines the essential unpredictability of
mythic Nagugur (of western Arnhem Land) who act as inter-
natural phenomena and the vulnerability of human beings.
mediaries. But what the Nagugur do is carried out in the
Gadjeri’s womb is still fertile, but there are still many dangers
name of Kunapipi, and this is not the case with the Maman-
associated with the ritual (and human) implementation of
dabari. Nevertheless, an important clue to the relationship
her life-giving power.
between the Walbiri and Mara Kunapipi versions is to be
found in a number of songs they hold in common (Meggitt,
SEE ALSO Djan’kawu; Rainbow Snake.
1966, pp. 26–27).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
In the southeastern Kimberley, Gadjeri is represented by
Berndt, Ronald M. Kunapipi: A Study of an Australian Aboriginal
the Ganabuda group of women, who are included in several
Religious Cult. Melbourne, 1951. A study of the Kunapipi
of the mythic and ritual Dingari cycles. These Dingari are
cult and ritual, focusing especially on northeastern Arnhem
made up of an accretion of myths that are not necessarily
Land; includes songs of some of the major cycles, with inter-
woven into an integrated pattern. In them, the Ganabuda
pretations, and dreams reported by participants.
move from one site to another, either following or preceding
Berndt, Ronald M. “Traditional Morality as Expressed through
a group of Dingari men who are concerned with initiating
the Medium of an Australian Aboriginal Religion.” In Aus-
novices (see Berndt, 1970, pp. 216–247). In one excerpt, the
tralian Aboriginal Anthropology, edited by Ronald M. Berndt,
Munga-munga walk ahead of the Ganabuda women, who
pp. 216–247. Nedlands, Australia, 1970. This article con-
are burdened with sacred daragu boards. During the course
tains an analysis and interpretation of the Ganabuda mythol-
of their travels, they encounter a mythic man, who is aston-
ogy and ritual relating to the southeastern Kimberley.
ished to see not only what they are carrying but also that they
Berndt, Ronald M., and Catherine H. Berndt. Review of The Eter-
are swinging bull-roarers—because the men had none of
nal Ones of the Dream, by Géza Róheim. Oceania 17 (1946):
these things. At night he sneaks up and steals their power,
67–78. Includes material on Gadjeri, with some illustrations.
which resides under the armpits of the Ganabuda. In that
Berndt, Ronald M., and Catherine H. Berndt. Man, Land and
way, men obtained ritual power.
Myth in North Australia: The Gunwinggu People. Sydney,
1970. A study of Gunwinggu society and culture, which cov-
In another excerpt, Dingari men sit within their ring
ers material on religious myth and ritual, including the west-
place while the Ganabuda remain some distance away in
ern Arnhem Land Kunapipi.
their own camp. The women discover that some young men
Meggitt, M. J. Gadjari among the Walbiri Aborigines of Central
(novices) are among the older men. They meet some of the
Australia. Sydney, 1966. A detailed study of the Gadjeri cult
young men and have intercourse with them. When the older
that has been adapted to a fringe desert sociocultural perspec-
men find out about this, they become angry. They light a
tive.
bush fire, which sweeps across the countryside, burning
Stanner, W. E. H. “On Aboriginal Religion.” Oceania 30 (1960):
many of the young men to death. The Ganabuda escape the
245–278 and 31 (1961): 233–258. Focuses on the Port
fire by submerging themselves in a lake. When the fire has
Keats area, but in general terms is analytic and interpretative.
passed by, they discover what has happened. Overwhelmed
Spencer, Baldwin. Native Tribes of the Northern Territory of Aus-
by grief and anger, they go in search of the older men and
tralia. London, 1914. A classic sourcebook that, although
kill some of them in revenge.
unsystematic in the recording of Aboriginal material, pro-
Again, this last mythic incident represents, symbolically,
vides clues to a number of features of religious belief.
a typical initiatory sequence: removal of novices from the au-
Warner, William Lloyd. A Black Civilization: A Study of an Austra-
thority of their “mothers,” their seclusion from women (that
lian Tribe (1937). New York, 1958. This important study
is, their ritual death, expressed in their mythic death by fire),
of north-central coastal Arnhem Land society and culture
and the grief of the women at the loss of the young men (the
contains empirical material on the Kunapipi (Gunabibi) in
that area, and an analysis in relation to other local religious
women take revenge on the older men). In short, the Mara
constellations.
myth provides a glimpse of the Kunapipi Mother who has
not perfected the ritual process of death and rebirth. She
RONALD M. BERNDT (1987)
must therefore die in order to live spiritually in the form of
her emblematic representation. In the Mutjingga myth the
process is taken a step further, with the removal of the chil-
GAGE, MATILDA JOSLYN. Matilda Joslyn Gage
dren alive from her womb. The central-western Northern
(1826–1898), suffragist, abolitionist, and religious radical,
Territory example gives assurance that Gadjeri has perfected
was born March 24, 1826, in Cicero, New York, and spent
the ritual process of death and rebirth: She is the epitome of
her entire life within a thirty-mile radius of nearby Syracuse,
all physical and spiritual renewal.
raising her family of four with her husband, the merchant
The Ganabuda mythology, on the other hand, poses a
Henry H. Gage. Gage was the youngest member of the Na-
paradox which is not so easily explained. The answer lies in
tional Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) leadership tri-
the nature of Western Desert mythology and ritual, which,
umvirate (with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Antho-
although it emphasizes seasonal renewal and the growth of
ny), presiding over the Executive Committee of the NWSA
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GAGE, MATILDA JOSLYN
for most of the 1870s and 1880s while heading the New
nate position rendered her “dead in the law,” without rights
York State Suffrage Association. The three women, editors
or even legal identity.
of the first three volumes of the History of Woman Suffrage
The great underlying creative principle is female, Gage
(1881–1887), “will ever hold a grateful place in the hearts
reasoned, a fact recognized by all ancient nations, where god-
of posterity,” predicted the Woman’s Tribune in 1888.
desses were seated everywhere with gods, and often consid-
A prolific writer and thorough researcher, Gage edited
ered superior to them. Gage believed that returning the
a suffrage newspaper for four years (The National Citizen and
motherhood of God to the place of sacredness from which
Ballot Box, 1878–1881) and contributed as correspondent to
it had been removed by the patriarchal Christian overthrow
newspapers across the country. She wrote about the superior
was critical to elevating the position of women. Women were
position of Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) women while she sup-
not the only victims of Christianity; the authority of the
ported native sovereignty and treaty rights. Gage was a chief
Bible had been used to justify slavery and oppose science, art,
architect of the campaign of nonviolent civil disobedience in
invention, and all reform movements. Considering religious
the 1870s that saw NWSA women refusing to pay their
belief tantamount to the death of the soul, Gage celebrated
taxes, voting illegally, and petitioning Congress for relief
the greatest lesson of her life—to think for herself—given in
from their political disabilities. Gage dropped out of the suf-
childhood by her father. She embraced moral relativism, be-
frage cause after what she perceived as a conservative takeover
lieving that no absolute moral standard exists, but that what
of the woman’s movement in 1889, which she unsuccessfully
is considered right changes over time and from culture to
moved to prevent.
culture.
The greatest danger at the time, Gage believed, was an
While nominally a church member throughout her
attempt by Christian fundamentalists to place God in the
life—she joined the Baptist Church in childhood and
Constitution and prayer in the public schools. Turning to
her name stayed on the church rolls until shortly before her
what she believed was her grandest, most courageous work,
death—Gage’s religious journey took her through member-
Gage formed the Woman’s National Liberal Union (1890)
ship in the American Theosophical Society (1885) and a seri-
to challenge the religious right’s drive to merge church and
ous investigation of the paranormal.
state. The organization, which lasted only a year, also strove
A contributor to the Woman’s Bible, which Elizabeth
to free woman from the “bondage” of the church, which “en-
Cady Stanton edited (1895–1898), Gage moved from her
slaved her conscience and reason.”
interpretation of the Bible as history or mythology to a read-
Gage published her magnum opus, Woman, Church,
ing of it as an occult work of ancient mysteries written in
and State in 1893, and Anthony Comstock, the press censor
symbolic language. She suggested that the Book of Revelation,
of the United States Postal Service, immediately banned the
understood from this perspective, may be read as a work
book from public school libraries, threatening to arrest any-
about woman’s spiritual powers.
one who made the book available to children. A powerful in-
dictment of the church’s primary role in the oppression of
Gage remained hopeful about the future of women who
women, the book also exposed the institutionalized sexual
were rising up against the “tyranny of Church and State” in
abuse of women and children by the priesthood and docu-
the most important revolution the world had yet seen. It
mented gynocidal witch-burnings (nine million European
“will shake the foundations of religious belief, tear into frag-
women, Gage estimated, murdered by the church and later
ments and scatter to the winds the old dogmas upon which
the state over a 500-year period). Gage argued that the early
all forms of Christianity are based,” she predicted at the con-
church had accepted the equal feminine nature of the divine,
clusion of Woman, Church, and State. The result “will be a
and women served at the altar and administered the sacra-
regenerated world.”
ment until 824, when the Council of Paris removed women
Gage died March 18, 1898, and was buried in the Fay-
from religious duty. Women were then slowly forced out of
etteville, New York, cemetery under a tombstone blazing her
the priesthood and the female in the godhead was removed.
motto: “There is a word sweeter than mother, home or heav-
Beginning in the 1870s, Gage charged in her writing
en. That word is Liberty.”
and speeches that the foundation of the Christian church be-
SEE ALSO Gender and Religion; Politics and Religion.
came the theory that woman brought sin and death into the
world. The result was idolatry, a worship of the masculine,
Gage told the International Council of Women in 1888.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
God punished Eve’s sin by putting woman in subordination
A full-length comprehensive biography of Gage’s life and work has
yet to be written. Sally Roesch Wagner’s monograph, Matil-
and servitude to man; women’s second-class position in all
da Joslyn Gage: She Who Holds the Sky (Aberdeen, S.Dak.,
areas—political, legal, educational, industrial, and social—
2002), and Leila R. Brammer’s Excluded from Suffrage Histo-
resulted from this mythological story, Gage explained. The
ry: Matilda Joslyn Gage, Nineteenth-Century American Femi-
church required women to pledge obedience to their hus-
nist (Westport, Conn., 2000) pave the way. Several reprint
bands in the marriage ceremony. When canon law became
editions of Gage’s magnum opus, Woman, Church, and State,
the foundation for common law, married woman’s subordi-
are available, including one from Humanity Books (Am-
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GAIA
3253
herst, N.Y., 2002); the Modern Reader’s edition, published
In 2001 more than one thousand scientists signed the
by Sky Carrier Press (Aberdeen, S.Dak., 1998) and edited by
Amsterdam Declaration on Global Change, which states:
Sally Roesch Wagner, is the only one containing a bibliogra-
“The Earth System behaves as a single, self-regulating system
phy documenting Gage’s extensive research. Gage’s papers
comprised of physical, chemical, biological and human com-
are available on microfilm from the Schlesinger Library, and
ponents.” This view sees the earth as a unified whole and hu-
her woman’s rights scrapbooks from the Library of Congress,
mans as organic members of the entire community of life on
Rare Books Division. With Elizabeth Cady Stanton and
earth. There is no question of human life being external to
Susan B. Anthony, Gage edited the first three volumes
(1881–1887) of History of Woman Suffrage (reprint, Salem,
or independent of the planetary system’s self-regulatory
N.H., 1985). Gage’s important address, “Woman in the
functioning, or of its common environmental resources, cli-
Early Christian Church,” was delivered at the International
matic variables, or ecosystem constraints. That being so, we
Council of Women’s Religious Symposium (Report of the
need to take account of how we rely on and use those re-
International Council of Women, Washington, D.C.: Na-
sources and adapt to those constraints. As Lovelock himself
tional Woman Suffrage Association, 1888, pp. 401–407). In
says, perhaps the greatest value of Gaia theory lies in its meta-
addition to the newspaper she edited, the National Citizen
phor of a living earth. This reminds us that we are part of
and Ballot Box (1878–1881), Gage wrote extensively for The
it and that human rights are constrained by the needs of our
Revolution (1868–1871). Two good sources for her religious
planetary partners.
views are The Index (“The Church, Science, and Woman,”
April 29, l886) and The Woman’s Tribune (“The Foundation
Some religious implications follow from perceiving the
of Sovereignty,” April 1887).
earth and ourselves in this way. First, whatever is deemed sa-
cred or holy in life cannot be separated out in any absolute
SALLY ROESCH WAGNER (2005)
sense from whatever we understand as the whole of existence.
It may instead be seen as the internal transcendence of every
living being. But as that cannot be divorced from the envi-
ronment that supports life or from the interactions in which
GAIA theory was first proposed by the English scientist
each being is connected with all others, so we cannot reduce
James Lovelock in 1979 to explain how and why, as life ap-
the sacred to any one manifestation of being but must extend
peared on the planet and grew abundant, its evolution and
the concept to the whole dynamic system of relationships be-
the earth’s evolution merged into a single dynamic system
tween God and the world. Lovelock says that Gaia, like life,
he called Gaia. Lovelock was aware that this was the Greek
is an emergent phenomenon, one that is comprehensible in-
name for a primordial cosmic goddess who was also a primal
tuitively but difficult or impossible to analyze by reduction.
earth deity. He used the name and has continued to use it,
Similarly, sacredness is an emergent property of life, one that
in spite of criticism from some scientists, because of its meta-
cannot be analyzed reductively by separating it out or cutting
phoric power. It conveys, he says, the idea of a superorganism
it off from the interactions of daily life.
composed of all life tightly coupled with the air, the oceans,
and the surface rocks. By the end of the 1980s there existed
Second, if we accept that our species evolved in the same
sufficient evidence, models, and mechanisms to develop the
way as every other species, we cannot assume that we were
theory further through transdisciplinary scientific research in
created at a particular moment in time outside the processes
cooperative projects between those working in such appar-
or flow of evolution. Neither can we claim absolute privileges
ently disparate fields as practical ecology, ocean science, evo-
for our species in respect of our use of the earth’s material
lutionary biology, biochemistry, geology, and climatology.
resources. Nor can we assert that we alone know, through
some divine revelation extraneous to or cut off from daily
Continuing this research, Lovelock and others have
life, how our species began or what will happen to us at the
shown that Gaia self-regulates at a global scale through life-
end of time. Practically, we cannot assume that the earth and
environment interactions, and that as a result the earth has
its resources evolved and now exist solely for our use.
remained in a habitable state over billions of years. The theo-
Gaia theory therefore raises critical questions about the
ry suggests that its habitability results from three intrinsic
anthropocentrism of major Christian doctrines where they
properties and one extrinsic property of living organisms.
infer that: (1) the earth was created solely for our sake, so that
First, all organisms alter their environment by taking in free
its creatures and resources exist primarily for our benefit; (2)
energy and excreting high-entropy waste products in order
the revelation of God is fully contained in human words ad-
to maintain a low internal entropy. Second, organisms grow
dressed to and historically recorded by humans; (3) death
and multiply, potentially exponentially, thus providing an
was brought into the world as punishment for one man’s sin
intrinsic positive feedback to life (the more life there is, the
rather than being an evolutionary necessity; or (4) the life
more life it can beget). Third, for each environmental vari-
and death of Jesus is solely “for” human salvation from sin
able there is a level or range at which the growth of a particu-
and death.
lar organism is maximum. Extrinsically, the fact that organ-
isms both alter and are constrained by their environments in
It also puts in question the traditionally vertical nature
these ways means that feedback between life and its environ-
of hierarchical Christian imagery. This places God above an-
ment is inevitable.
gels, men, and women in descending order of value and im-
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GAIA
portance, so that the earth and its creatures are presumed cre-
understanding of the single, self-regulating planetary system
ated in a position of subservience to human beings because
within which we belong. Religions such as Jainism and Bud-
they are of less value to God. The metaphoric power of the
dhism have made a nonviolent ethic an inherent and coher-
religious language of dominance based on this valuation sys-
ent part of a religiously inspired worldview. Now, Gaia theo-
tem authorizes human domination over the entire household
ry is reminding Christians that Jesus—believed by them to
of life and claims it in God’s name. The intrinsic value and
be the authentic revelation of God—taught love of enemies,
sacredness of the more-than-human world in the sight of
forgiveness, and nonretaliation for insults. He claimed that
God is implicitly negated or at best reduced.
God has a direct interest in sparrows and in each flower of
the field, was renowned for healing bodies, and died on a
The practical effects of such claims to human exception-
cross erected by military power, his own body pierced and
alism are now evident in the exploitation through industrial-
broken after death by military weapons.
ization and technologization of the earth’s resources. The
scale of their extraction and the extent of their use and conse-
If, therefore, as Lovelock asserts, we each contribute, ac-
quent waste far outstrip that of their natural replacement or
cording to our kind, to the continuous and consistent rela-
disposal. Seen within the context of a relational understand-
tionships between organisms and their environments that
ing of human interactions with the environment, and of
constitute the support system of all life on earth, the adop-
human rights constrained by those of our planetary partners,
tion of as nonviolent a lifestyle as possible is a positive contri-
the implications of this exploitation for social justice are far-
bution to Gaia from a religious, ethical, and scientific per-
reaching.
spective. This nonviolence is more than the negation of
violence. It is a rational and spiritually powerful commit-
The implications are of particular concern to four classes
ment to living in a way that asserts the sacredness of Gaia.
of people singled out in the documents proceeding from the
1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and De-
SEE ALSO Ecology and Religion; Evolution; Goddess Wor-
velopment as being most at risk from environmental degra-
ship; Nonviolence.
dation, most vulnerable to its effects, and most powerless to
do anything about it: women, children, indigenous peoples,
BIBLIOGRAPHY
and the poor. Yet the dominant free-market model of devel-
Bunyard, Peter, ed. Gaia in Action: Science of the Living Earth.
opment and continuing growth presupposes that the re-
Edinburgh, 1996. A collection of papers from leading scien-
sources needed to sustain it are and will be available, and that
tists and authors, based on a series of international confer-
thanks to science and technology, together with the spread
ences on Gaia, that seeks to define what the theory means
in terms of their own disciplines.
and improvement of education, we shall be able to hand on
a better global situation than the one we inherited. The pre-
Lenton, Timothy M. “Gaia and Natural Selection” Nature 394
supposition behind this expectation is, of course, that the
(1998): 439–447. Addresses the question of how organisms
alter their material environments and how their environment
global biophysical environment will sustain this growth. Nu-
constrains and naturally selects organisms.
merous research projects into the health of that environment,
Lovelock, James E. Gaia: The Practical Science of Planetary Medi-
however, show precisely the opposite. Decline in fish stocks
cine. London, 1991. Draws attention to the similarity be-
and freshwater supplies are well-publicized examples. The
tween Gaian and physiological self-regulation.
fact too that many of the poorest human communities live
Lovelock, James E. Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth. Oxford,
in battle zones, or are refugees from territories devastated by
1995. Second revised edition of the 1979 book in which
war, offers them little hope of redress for the loss of their pas-
Lovelock proposed the Gaia theory.
tures and access to clean water.
Lovelock, James E. The Ages of Gaia: A Biography of Our Living
Yet human interdependence within Gaia means that we
Earth. Oxford, 1995. Second revised version of the 1988 edi-
are all in some way implicated in and diminished by the con-
tion; gives the background to new fields of research in Gaia
temporary expansion of militarist regimes and the conse-
theory.
quent destruction of biodiversity and loss of material re-
Lovelock, James E. “The Living Earth.” Nature 426 (2003): 769–
sources. Arms industries today use the chemical, physical,
770. Reviews the development of Gaia theory from its begin-
and biological resources of the planet to produce sophisticat-
nings as part of NASA’s planetary exploration program.
ed weapons through the expenditure of billions of dollars
Potts, Grant H. “Imagining Gaia: Perspectives and Prospects on
and massive amounts of human energy. In 1994 the amount
Gaia, Science, and Religion.” Ecotheology: The Journal of Reli-
of weapons available was computed at twenty thousand kilo-
gion, Nature, and the Environment 8, no. 1 (2003): 30–49.
grams of explosive for every person on the planet. By the year
Analyzes Gaia in relation to the writings of James Lovelock,
Anne Primavesi, and Oberon Zell.
2000 the available weapons-grade plutonium was the equiva-
lent of a million atomic bombs. This waste of planetary re-
Primavesi, Anne. Sacred Gaia: Holistic Theology and Earth System
Science. London, 2000. Develops the scientific and religious
sources is compounded by the fact that such weapons exist
implications of the theory and presents a coherent theology
solely to destroy life and its support systems within Gaia.
rooted in awe at the sacredness of the whole earth system.
Commitment to as nonviolent a lifestyle as possible is,
Primavesi, Anne. “The Wisdom of Gaia.” Irish Journal of Feminist
therefore, an obviously appropriate response to a deepening
Studies 4, no. 2 (2002): 16–31. Considers Gaia as a project
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

GALEN
3255
of contemporary wisdom that embodies the body politic and
Galen was one of the most prolific authors of classical
planetary, human, and more-than-human, and therefore
antiquity. He wrote more than four hundred treatises. Many
open to women’s ways of knowing.
of his works have been lost, including a large number of his
Primavesi, Anne. Gaia’s Gift: Earth, Ourselves, and God after Co-
philosophical treatises that were destroyed in a fire in the
pernicus. London, 2003. Continues the exploration of
Temple of Peace at Rome in 191. Nearly 140 works in Greek
human relationships with the earth in the light of the ideo-
that have survived either in whole or in part are attributed
logical revolution set in motion by Copernicus, Darwin, and
to Galen. Some are of doubtful genuineness and others are
Lovelock.
spurious. Still other works, while lost in Greek, are extant in
Ruether, Rosemary. Gaia and God: An Ecofeminist Theology of
Latin and Arabic translations. His writings are extremely di-
Earth Healing. London, 1993. Reviews from an eco-feminist
verse and include works on anatomy, pathology, therapeu-
perspective three classical creation stories that shaped the
biblical and Christian tradition: the Babylonian story, the
tics, hygiene, dietetics, pharmacy, grammar, ethics, and
Hebrew Story, and the Greek (Platonic) story.
logic, as well as commentaries on Hippocrates and Aristotle.
Volk, Tyler. Gaia’s Body: Toward a Physiology of Earth. New York,
Most of his extant works deal with medicine. Galen wrote
1998. An introduction to the field of earth physiology that
clear Attic Greek, but he was prolix and diffuse and his works
examines long-term trends in the earth’s evolution and hu-
are not easy to read. Moreover, he was vain, tactless, and
manity’s role in Gaia.
quarrelsome, and his writings are often characterized by a po-
A
lemical tone.
NNE PRIMAVESI (2005)
Galen was a brilliant student of anatomy. His exactness
in dissecting primates and other animals (from which he
GALEN (130?–200? CE, or later) was a Greek physician
drew inferences for human anatomy) was unequaled in the
and philosopher. The last and greatest medical scientist of
ancient world. His understanding of the human body and
antiquity, Galen exercised an unparalleled influence on the
medicine followed traditional lines. He admired Hippocra-
development of medicine. Galen was born in Pergamum
tes, whom he regarded as the repository of medical wisdom,
(modern Bergama, Turkey), an important city in western
and he claimed merely to reproduce his doctrines. Thus he
Asia Minor, the only son of Nikon, an architect and geome-
accepted humoral pathology, which viewed health as the
ter. He was educated by his father until the age of fourteen,
product of an equilibrium of the four humors. The basic
when he began to attend lectures in philosophy. When Galen
principle of life for Galen was the pneuma (“spirit”), which
was sixteen his father decided that he should become a physi-
he thought responsible for many vital processes. Galen’s
cian and thereafter spared no expense in his education. After
medical theory is deeply indebted to philosophy, the study
studying under prominent medical teachers in Pergamum,
of which he believed was essential to the education of a phy-
Galen traveled to Smyrna in western Asia Minor, Corinth
sician. He did not follow exclusively the teachings of any one
in Greece, and Alexandria in Egypt, to study medicine.
philosophical school, though he was deeply influenced by
At the age of twenty-eight he returned to Pergamum,
Aristotle. As an eclectic, he borrowed freely from most philo-
where he was appointed physician to the school of gladiators.
sophical schools with the exception of the Skeptics and Epi-
This position provided him with broad medical experience
cureans, whose doctrines he opposed.
that laid the foundation of his later career. In 161 Galen left
Galen’s writings reveal a strong teleological emphasis.
Pergamum for Rome, where he quickly established a reputa-
He believed that everything had been made by the Creator
tion as a successful physician and made many prominent ac-
(or Demiurge) for a divine purpose and that the entire cre-
quaintances. He returned to Pergamum in 166, claiming as
ation bears witness to his benevolence. In his treatise On the
the reason the envy of his colleagues, but more probably to
Usefulness of the Parts of the Human Body he expresses the be-
escape a severe plague. Shortly after his return, however, he
lief that true piety lies in recognizing and explaining the wis-
was summoned by the emperor Marcus Aurelius to Aquileia
dom, power, and excellence of the Creator rather than in of-
(at the head of the Adriatic), where he was engaged in prepa-
fering a multitude of sacrifices. He accepted the Aristotelian
rations for war against the Germans. Galen followed the em-
principle that nature does nothing in vain and he attempted
peror to Rome in 169 and avoided further military service
to show that every organ was designed to serve a particular
by gaining appointment as physician to the emperor’s son
function. In the minutest detail the human body exhibits its
Commodus. His position gave him the leisure to pursue
divine design.
medical research, writing, and lecturing, which he did with
great success. Not much is known of Galen’s later career. He
Although Galen believed in one god, his depiction of
continued to attend Commodus after he ascended the throne
him as a divine craftsman was drawn not from Judeo-
in 180 as well as Septimius Severus, who became emperor
Christian sources, but from Plato’s Timaeus, as was his argu-
in 193. The date of Galen’s death is uncertain. One source
ment from design. He criticized Moses for holding (in the
states that he died at the age of seventy, which would be
account of creation in Genesis) the doctrine of creatio ex ni-
about 200 CE. However, according to Arab biographers, he
hilo and the belief that nature was created as an act of God’s
lived to be more than eighty, which would place his death
sovereign will. Galen was acquainted with both Jews and
later than 210.
Christians and he refers several times in his philosophical and
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3256
GALILEO GALILEI
medical works to their beliefs. He was the first pagan writer
BIBLIOGRAPHY
to treat Christianity with respect as a philosophy rather than,
The only complete edition of Galen, with Latin translation, re-
like most educated Romans, as a superstitious sect. He ad-
mains C. G. Kühn’s Claudii Galeni Opera Omnia, 20 vols.
(1821–1833; reprint, Hildesheim, 1964–1965). While the
mired Christians for their contempt of death, sexual purity,
text is unreliable, Kühn’s edition is still useful in the absence
self-control in regard to food and drink, and their pursuit of
of critical editions of most of Galen’s works. Several of
justice: in all of which he regarded them as not inferior to
Galen’s treatises have been translated into English. See in
pagan philosophers. He criticized Christians and Jews, how-
particular Galen on the Usefulness of the Parts of the Body, 2
ever, for their refusal to base their doctrines on reason rather
vols., translated and edited by Margaret T. May (Ithaca,
than solely on faith and revealed authority. A group of
N.Y., 1968). A representative selection of extracts from
Roman Christians in Asia Minor, led by Theodotus of By-
Galen’s writings is found in Greek Medicine, edited and
translated by Arthur John Brock (London, 1929),
zantium, attempted in the late second century to present
pp. 130–244.
Christianity in philosophical terms. They are said to have ad-
Brief but reliable introductions to Galen and his background are
mired Galen and it is likely that they were influenced by his
D. E. Eichholz, “Galen and His Environment,” Greece and
philosophical works. They taught an adoptionist Christolo-
Rome 20 (1951): 60–71; and G. W. Bowersock; Greek Soph-
gy, and for this and other heresies they were excommunicat-
ists in the Roman Empire (Oxford, 1969): 59–75. Aspects of
ed by church authorities.
Galen’s life and work are explored in the composite volume
Galen: Problems and Prospects, edited by Vivian Nutton
Galen enjoyed an enviable reputation in his own time
(London, 1981). Several of Nutton’s essays that deal with
both as a physician and as a philosopher. Soon after his death
Galen’s career are reprinted in From Democedes to Harvey:
he came to be recognized as the greatest of all medical au-
Studies in the History of Medicine, edited by Nutton (London,
thorities. His eclecticism, which permitted him to take what
1988). On Galen’s theology and his attitudes to Christians
and Jews, see Richard Walzer’s Galen on Jews and Christians
was best from all medical sects, his claim to reproduce the
(Oxford, 1949); and Fridolf Kudlien’s “Galen’s Religious
ideas of Hippocrates, the encyclopedic comprehensiveness of
Belief,” in Galen: Problems and Prospects (cited above). On
his medical works, and his greatness as a scientist were largely
the influence of Galen on medical thought, see Owsei Tem-
responsible for his influence. Because his writings were volu-
kin’s Galenism: Rise and Decline of a Medical Philosophy (Itha-
minous they were summarized in handbooks, synopses, and
ca, N.Y., 1973).
medical encyclopedias. The pre-Galenic medical sects gradu-
GARY B. FERNGREN (1987 AND 2005)
ally disappeared and were replaced by an all-embracing Ga-
lenic system that united medicine and philosophy and came
to dominate medicine for over a millennium. As anatomical
GALILEO GALILEI (1564–1642) is considered to be
and physiological research ceased in late antiquity, medicine
the father of modern science. Born at Pisa, Italy, Galileo re-
became increasingly scholastic and was taught from a selec-
ceived some of his early schooling there. He then was sent
tion of Galen’s works.
to the ancient Camaldolese monastery at Vallombroso,
where, attracted by the quiet and studious life, he joined the
Galen’s direct influence was initially greater in the By-
order as a novice. His father, however, wished him to study
zantine East, where his ideas were relayed by medical ency-
medicine and took him to Florence, where Galileo continued
clopedias, than in the Latin West. In the ninth century many
his studies with the Camaldolese monks until he matriculat-
of his works were collected and translated into Arabic and
ed at the University of Pisa in 1581. During his student years
Syriac by Hunayn ibn Ishaq, a Nestorian Arab physician, and
at Pisa, Galileo is said to have made his celebrated observa-
his school. In the course of the eleventh century they were
tion of the sanctuary lamp swinging like a pendulum from
translated from Arabic into Latin and Hebrew and came to
the cathedral ceiling and to have thereby discovered that the
dominate medicine in the West just as they had dominated
time taken for a swing was independent of the size of the arc,
Byzantine and Arabic medicine. The authority of Galen was
a fact that he used later for measuring time in his astronomi-
regarded as second only to that of Aristotle. Although a
cal studies.
pagan, he appealed equally to Jews, Muslims, and Christians,
Finding that his talents for mathematics and philosophy
who found his teleology and monotheism compatible with
were increasingly being recognized, Galileo gave up his med-
their own faiths. The appearance of his collected Greek
ical studies and left the university in 1585, without a degree,
works in the sixteenth century spurred new interest in Galen
to begin lecturing at the Florentine academy. There he pub-
and led to a revival of medical experimentation. It was during
lished an account of his invention of the hydrostatic balance
the Renaissance that his reputation reached its apex, but it
(1586) and then an essay on the center of gravity in solid bo-
soon began to be challenged by new discoveries, particularly
dies (1588), which won him a lectureship at Pisa. In 1592
in the fields of anatomy and physiology. Nevertheless, ideas
he was appointed professor of mathematics at the renowned
championed by Galen (particularly humoral pathology) con-
University of Padua, where he remained for eighteen years.
tinued to influence medical theory until the nineteenth
There, in 1604, he published his laws of motion of falling
century.
bodies in his book De motu.
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GALILEO GALILEI
3257
In 1597 Galileo wrote to Johannes Kepler that he had
had quipped, “The Bible tells us how to go to Heaven, not
been a Copernican “for several years.” Having heard in Ven-
how the heavens go.”
ice of the newly invented telescope, Galileo immediately con-
The appearance of the great comets in 1618 stirred up
structed one of his own and in 1610 announced many astro-
much controversy, which Galileo joined by writing his Dis-
nomical discoveries. These included his discovery that the
course on Comets, annoying the philosophers still further be-
Milky Way is made up of innumerable stars and his observa-
cause of his anti-Aristotelian bias. In 1623, Galileo published
tion of the satellites of Jupiter. He also made observations
The Assayer, which he dedicated to Urban VIII, the new
of sunspots and of the phases of Venus. Thus he vastly ex-
pope, who was much more favorably disposed toward intel-
panded astronomical knowledge and challenged the estab-
lectuals and their work than his predecessor had been. In
lished natural philosophy, which was based on Aristotelian
1624, Galileo visited Rome and had six audiences with the
ideas that had been reconciled with Christian doctrine by
pope. In 1632, Galileo published his Dialogue on the Two
Thomas Aquinas. Shortly after the publication of these dis-
Great World Systems. Having intended this book to be “a
coveries, Galileo was appointed philosopher and mathemati-
most ample confirmation” of the Copernican opinion, Gali-
cian to the grand duke of Tuscany.
leo in effect had ignored the spirit of the instructions given
In 1613, Galileo’s Letters on Sunspots was published. Its
him by the church in 1616. Nevertheless, during the trial
preface claimed that Galileo had been the first to observe
that followed the publication of the Dialogue, Galileo main-
sunspots, an assertion that generated bitter resentment
tained that he had obeyed the instructions to the letter.
among some Jesuit scholars (who had an arguable claim to
Galileo’s trial in 1633 marked the beginning of what has
priority of observation) and that eventually had serious con-
since become a cliché—namely, the idea that science and re-
sequences for Galileo. In this book, he first stated in print
ligion must inevitably be in conflict. Also, Galileo is often
his unequivocal acceptance of Copernican astronomy, chal-
seen as science’s first martyr in the perennial battle between
lenging a basic postulate of the Aristotelian view by insisting
the church and the spirit of free inquiry. There is no question
that all celestial phenomena should be interpreted in terms
that the church took a wrong position (contrary to its own
of terrestrial analogies. Furthermore, Galileo wished to make
tradition in such matters as established by Augustine and
science independent of philosophy by his assertions that the
Thomas Aquinas); this much was acknowledged by a state-
essence of things cannot be known and that science should
ment made by John Paul II in 1979, and it was underscored
concern itself only with the properties of things and with ob-
by the Vatican’s publication, in 1984, of all documents from
served events. It was the philosophers rather than the theolo-
its archives relating to Galileo’s trial. However, a consider-
gians who were the early opponents of the Copernican sys-
able amount of blame for Galileo’s persecution must also fall
tem and, insofar as he supported it, of Galileo’s work. No
on the philosophers. Indeed, the decree of sentence issued
doubt they were also put off by Galileo’s extremely high
by the Holy Office was signed by only seven of the ten cardi-
opinion of himself, and they exploited personal jealousies
nal-judges.
and resentments against him and tried to enlist the aid of
theologians in condemning both Copernican ideas and Gali-
Unlike innumerable martyrs who have accepted torture
leo’s advocacy of them.
or even death for the sake of their convictions, Galileo chose,
most unheroically, to abjure his beliefs. (The myth that he,
Not until 1616, seventy-three years after the publication
on leaving the tribunal, stamped his foot and said, “Yet it
of Copernicus’s De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the
[i.e., the earth] does move,” was invented by Giuseppe Baret-
revolution of the heavenly spheres), did the Theological
ti in 1757 and has no basis in fact.) Galileo’s sentence was
Consultors of the Holy Office declare it “false and contrary
then commuted; there was no formal imprisonment. He was
to Holy Scripture” and recommend that Copernicus’s book
allowed to move back to his country estate near Florence,
be “suspended until corrected.” Cardinal Roberto Bellar-
where he resumed his writing. His Discourses concerning Two
mino had earlier written to Galileo warning him to confine
New Sciences, regarded by many as his greatest scientific con-
himself to the realm of hypothesis until demonstrative proof
tribution, was published in 1638.
could be produced. When Galileo went to Rome to defend
his position, he was officially cautioned neither to hold nor
SEE ALSO Bellarmino, Roberto; Copernicus, Nicolaus.
to defend the Copernican ideas. And Galileo, good Catholic
that he was (and remained), agreed.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Throughout, Galileo maintained that the purpose of
The best scientific biography of Galileo, tracing the historical de-
scripture is not to teach natural philosophy and that issues
velopment of his thought, is Stillman Drake’s Galileo at
Work (Chicago, 1978). A knowledgeable presentation of
of faith and issues of science should be kept separate and
Galileo’s philosophy is Ludovico Geymonat’s Galileo Galilei:
should be settled on different grounds. He quoted Tertullian
A Biography and Inquiry into His Philosophy of Science (New
approvingly: “We conclude that God is known first through
York, 1965). For Galileo’s theological views and accounts of
nature, and then again, more particularly, by doctrine; by na-
his trial, the following three books are indispensable: Giorgio
ture in his works, and by doctrine in his revealed word.” He
de Santillana’s The Crime of Galileo (New York, 1955), Je-
also cited Cardinal Cesare Baronius, a contemporary, who
rome J. Langford’s Galileo, Science and the Church (Ann
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3258
GALLICANISM
Arbor, Mich., 1971), and Stillman Drake’s Galileo (New
church, and the popes surrendered many ancient preroga-
York, 1980). The play by Bertolt Brecht, Galileo (New York,
tives. In some countries the process of realignment of power
1966), is tendentious and historically unreliable. Galileo’s
culminated in the total control of the church during the
own views and remarks concerning the relationship between
Protestant Reformation; in other countries it could promote
science and religion are scattered throughout his many letters
or retard Catholic reformation. In Roman Catholic countries
and other writings. Among these the most important are his
the doctrine of the state’s ascendancy over the church re-
Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina (1615) and The Assayer
ceived a variety of names: Gallicanism in France, Febronian-
(1623); both of these have been translated by Stillman Drake
and are published in his Discoveries and Opinions of Galileo
ism in the German states, cameralism or Josephism in the
(Garden City, N.Y., 1957). The latest, and perhaps the final,
Habsburg lands, and regalism in Mediterranean countries.
effort made by the Roman Catholic church to repair its
Generically, this swing back to lay dominance in public
wrong decision in the case of Galileo is represented by the
affairs was a corollary of the growth of modern state power.
publication, by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, of I docu-
menti del processo di Galileo Galilei (Rome, 1984), which
An early formulation in a decree of the French king Charles
contains transcriptions of documents relating to Galileo’s
VII—the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges, 1438—contains
trial that had been held in the Vatican archives.
the major elements that subsequently would be emphasized
first, the supremacy of the king over the pope in the temporal
New Sources
affairs of the French church, with a rejection of the pope’s
Drake, Stillman. Essays on Galileo and the History and Philosophy
of Science. Toronto, 1999.
right to intervene in these matters; second, the supremacy of
regularly convened general councils over the papacy; and
Feldhay, Rivka. Galileo and the Church: Political Inquisition or
third, the cooperation of the crown and the episcopacy in set-
Critical Dialogue? Cambridge, U.K., 2003.
tling French ecclesiastical issues.
Gingerich, Owen. “How Galileo Changed the Rules of Science.”
Sky and Telescope 85 (March 1993): 32.
Because the boundary between temporal and spiritual
Shea, William, and Mariano Artigas. Galileo in Rome: The Rise and
is never unambiguous, and because various interest groups
Fall of a Troublesome Genius. Oxford, 2003.
interpreted these “Gallican liberties” to meet their specific
needs, it is proper to distinguish several Gallicanisms. Royal
RAVI RAVINDRA (1987)
Revised Bibliography
Gallicanism sought the extension of state power over ecclesi-
astical appointments and properties, generally through nego-
tiation. Academic Gallicanism usually enlisted a majority of
Sorbonne doctors, who strongly defended the independence
GALLICANISM. The political dominance of the papa-
of the church and the dignity of the papacy but saw the need
cy during a period of the high Middle Ages was necessarily
for some limitations to papal power. The episcopal Gallican-
a temporary phenomenon. In central Europe the political
ism of the bishops insisted on the control of their dioceses
fragmentation that followed Charlemagne’s attempt at impe-
while accepting the crown’s full temporal sovereignty in
rial restoration was not reversed by the efforts of successive
church affairs and the pope’s full sovereignty in spiritual mat-
German dynasties to establish hegemony and to extend their
ters. Finally, the parliamentary Gallicanism of the superior
power beyond the Alps. But in western Europe, territories
courts claimed that the Pragmatic Sanction represented the
were consolidated that would ultimately become national
constitution of the French church and that they were its
states. Their growth in size and complexity, together with de-
guardians and interpreters; hence no papal document or
velopments in secular education, favored the employment of
agent could enter France without prior approval of the Parle-
laity rather than ecclesiastics in public office. As the opportu-
ment of Paris, which could also declare its jurisdiction over
nity to build larger state units increased, so did the state’s de-
all church issues (appel comme d’abus).
termination to assert its power over agencies within its terri-
The classic statement of Gallicanism appeared in a con-
tory. On the international level this would limit the papacy’s
flict between King Louis XIV and Pope Innocent XI involv-
capacity to intervene in temporal conflicts; within states, it
ing royal financial control over vacant dioceses. The assem-
led to a tightening of lay control over the church’s tangible
bly of the French clergy in 1682 sought to reestablish peace
assets.
by clearly defining the respective powers of pope, king, and
These changes in the relations of power inevitably
bishops. The Four Gallican Articles, drawn up by the very
brought conflict. In England tensions between crown and
orthodox bishop Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet of Meaux, were
church are visible in the twelfth century; in France the ha-
intended to be conciliatory. In substance they declared that
rangue of King Philip IV (the Fair) before the first meeting
(1) kings are not subject to any ecclesiastical power in tempo-
of the Estates General in 1302 is a dramatic statement of the
ral matters; (2) the reservations of the Council of Constance
rights of the crown over against the church. In the aftermath
(1414–1418) on the spiritual supremacy of the pope still
of the schism that split the papacy between popes and anti-
apply; (3) the pope is obliged to heed the customs and can-
popes, Charles VI spoke of “the traditional liberties of the
ons of the Gallican church in the exercise of his functions;
French church.” The fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Span-
and (4) the pope is supreme in matters of faith, but his deci-
ish monarchy combined centralization with control of the
sions are not final unless they are confirmed by the judgment
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GAMBLING
3259
of the episcopacy. Although the popes ignored these decrees,
1, “The Intellectual and Religious Opposition to Reform,”
Gallicanism retained considerable influence in eighteenth-
includes a useful sketch of Gallicanism.
century France and was generally taught in the seminaries.
Van Kley, Dale. The Jansenists and the Expulsion of the Jesuits from
The Civil Constitution of the Clergy (1790), so decisive in
France, 1757–1765. New Haven, 1975. The best explana-
fixing the religious pattern of the French Revolution, had a
tion in English of the use made by the Jansenists of the Galli-
strong Gallican flavor, as did the seventy-seven Organic Arti-
can attitudes of the Parlements. Particularly helpful in distin-
cles unilaterally appended to the Concordat of 1801 by Na-
guishing the varied forms Gallicanism assumed in the
eighteenth century. And it makes an exciting story.
poléon.
JOSEPH N. MOODY (1987)
The clearest example of parliamentary Gallicanism was
its use by the Jesuits’ Jansenist enemies, who employed it
skillfully in securing the suppression of the Society of Jesus
GAMALIEL OF YAVNEH SEE GAMLIDEL OF
in France in 1764. Although many factors contributed to
YAVNEH
this condemnation, it could not have happened without the
strong Gallican—and hence anti-Jesuit—orientation of the
judicial bodies.
GAMALIEL THE ELDER SEE GAMLIDEL THE
Gallicanism reached the flood tide of its political influ-
ELDER
ence in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic eras; thereafter its
strength ebbed. The sufferings and occasionally the heroism
of the popes during this prolonged crisis evoked wide sympa-
GAMBLING. The religious significance of gambling is,
thy, not exclusively among the Roman Catholic populations.
in effect, twofold. Many religious traditions, especially the
The disappearance or weakening of the Old Regime mon-
great religions, in their works of legislation and codification,
archs, who had been friendly to Catholicism while striving
promote as their orthodox norm a prohibition against, or at
to control it, created a new political atmosphere in which iso-
least discouragement of, gambling. On the other hand, in
lated or persecuted Catholics turned to the papacy for pro-
many cultures gambling takes on religious significance in
tection. Improvements in communications and other fea-
connection with myths and rituals.
tures of modernization assisted. Nearly everywhere in the
This twofold simplification, however, addresses gam-
nineteenth century, ultramontanism, the antithesis of Galli-
bling only insofar as it takes on overt religious significance.
canism, triumphed. It is ironic that during the century when
No discussion of gambling would be complete, however,
European nationalism reached its culmination, official Ca-
without acknowledging its covert religious significance, par-
tholicism moved toward greater accent on its international
ticularly in cultures that prohibit it or, having adopted a sec-
features. Although the early stages of the modern national
ularized attitude, look upon it as something nonreligious or
state system favored the development of Gallicanism, the
merely “cultural.” Although beyond the main focus of this
maturation of the national state saw its virtual disappearance.
essay, it is evident that much of what goes on in the name
SEE ALSO Ultramontanism.
of secular, cultural, or even legalized gambling is both en-
hanced by the flaunting or circumvention of traditional pro-
B
hibitions and heightened by ritualized procedures too nu-
IBLIOGRAPHY
Martimort, A.-G. Le gallicanisme de Bossuet. Paris, 1953. Traces
merous to mention, by special “sacred” and “liminal” times
the development of Gallican ideas among the bishops, the
(the American Superbowl) and places (casinos in remote or
magistrates, and the ministers of the crown. The best account
international spots), and by a cast of mythological characters
available of the Extraordinary Assembly of the Clergy of
and aspirations (the cool, passionate, roving, or desperate
France, 1681–1682.
gambler; the jackpot winner).
Martimort, A.-G. Le gallicanisme. Paris, 1973. The best introduc-
In definitional terms, religious gambling is not easily
tion to this complicated topic, with the most up-to-date bib-
separated from games and divination. Because gambling can-
liography currently in print. Although brief, it covers an im-
not be discussed without reference to games, this article shall
mense span, from Phillip II to the First Vatican Council,
deal with games only where they are the focus of wages and
with particular attention to the late medieval period. Chapter
stakes. As for divination, the use in certain cases of similar
7 is useful for its distinctions among the types of Galli-
canism.
implements (lots, bones, dice) and the occurrence of similar
attitudes to unseen forces are not sufficient to support the
Martin, Victor. Les origines du gallicanisme. 2 vols. Paris, 1939.
frequently aired view that gambling derives from divination
Martin apparently intended to encompasss the whole move-
ment but ended his work after reaching the Pragmatic Sanc-
(Tylor, 1871). One does not, in fact, need implements or
tion of Bourges. It is an immense mobilization of sources for
games at all to gamble. This article shall, however, refer to
the earlier period, with an exhaustive index.
the drawing of lots and other forms of divination where their
use is similar or related to that of gambling practices.
Rothkrug, Lionel. Opposition to Louis XIV: The Political and Social
Origins of the French Enlightenment. Princeton, 1965. A
GAMBLING IN TRADITIONAL CULTURES. Unless one adopts
broad perspective on seventeenth-century conflicts. Chapter
a diffusionist perspective and attempts to derive all forms of
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3260
GAMBLING
gambling from ancient Near Eastern or other Asian proto-
They usually consist of a series of contests in which the
types, the prevalence of gambling rites and myths in archaic
demiurge, the first man, the culture hero, overcomes
cultures strongly suggests that the origins of religious gam-
some opponent, a foe of the human race, by exercise of
bling are irretrievable. Archaeologists have suggested that the
superior cunning, skill, or magic. Comparison of these
myths . . . discloses the primal gamblers as those curi-
painted pebbles found in the Mas d’Azil caves in the Pyre-
ous children, the divine Twins, the miraculous off-
nees, from the Mesolithic period, are gambling implements.
spring of the Sun. . . . They live in the east and the
The earliest known dice and board game is that found in the
west; they rule night and day, winter and summer. They
Sumerian royal tombs at Ur, from about 2600 BCE. Gam-
are the morning and evening stars. Their virgin mother,
bling can only be assumed here, as with Indus Valley dice
who appears also as their sister and wife, is constantly
from about 2000 BCE and Egyptian (1990–1780 BCE), Cre-
spoken of as their grandmother, and is the Moon, or the
tan (1800–1650 BCE), and Palestinian (c. sixteenth century
Earth, the Spider Woman, the embodiment of the fem-
inine principle in nature. Always contending, they are
BCE) finds, some of which resemble cribbage boards. Evi-
dence of ball games and gaming boards from Mesoamerican
the original patrons of play, and their games are now
played by men. (Culin, 1907, p. 32)
cultures, of types that continue to be played in that area
today, is also traceable to about 1500 BCE. And R:gveda 10.34
In Culin’s Zuni example, the emblems of the Twin War
provides the first gambler’s lament in its “Hymn to Gam-
Gods, their weapons, are classified fourfold in accord with
bling” (c. 1200 BCE). The games of ancient cultures appear
the four directions and are interchangeable with their gaming
not only to be similar to those found in recent and contem-
implements. Thus, for example, stick dice are arrows, shafts,
porary field contexts but to have had in some cases—such
or miniature bows (ibid., p. 33). A correlation between dice
as the Mesoamerican—remarkable continuity from past to
and weapons is also made in the Hindu Maha¯bha¯rata epic.
present. As the religious significance of gambling is clearly
It is not, in fact, difficult to advance the principle that
more in a state of living “expression” than belated “applica-
every game, ancient or modern, creates a miniature cosmos,
tion” (Jensen, 1963, pp. 59-64) in contemporary tribal cul-
its arena, rules, apparatus, and players comprising a unique
tures, such cultures present the best evidence for understand-
spatiotemporal world that reflects and symbolizes aspects of
ing the religious dimensions of gambling in general.
known and accepted cosmological structures. This is as true
Unfortunately, ethnographic discussion of “sacred”
of Monopoly, football, or cricket as it is of more traditional
gambling is uneven. There is sufficient documentation to be
games such as snakes and ladders, which in its Indian context
confident that it is found on all continents and probably
symbolized a difficult ascent to heaven (Grunfeld, 1975,
among most, if not all, tribal communities. Many games and
pp. 131–133). There are many examples from American In-
implements have been described and collected from around
dian cultures of counting boards, playing boards, and ball-
game courts having “gateways” or quadrants that correspond
the world, but few studies have examined the cultural and
to the four directions; to the alternating seasons; to the equi-
religious significance of gambling at the field level in any de-
noctial points; to tribal divisions such as men versus women,
tailed way. The only thorough field research on gambling
married women versus single women, old men versus young
seems to be Geertz’s study of the Balinese cockfight, and in
men; and to moiety divisions identified with heaven and
that situation its rather covert religious significance is tied in
earth, changes in the seasons, or other cosmological referents
with the Balinese version of popular Hinduism (Geertz,
(Culin, 1907, pp. 34–208 passim). In his careful study of the
1973). Nonetheless, Geertz’s findings and insights are illu-
Mesoamerican ball game, Humphrey (1979) thus allows that
minating with respect to a wider view of religious gambling.
“there seems to be no question” that it “was based on a kind
Generally, one finds two models for understanding the
of cosmic symbolism.” He suggests that the movement of the
archaic religious significance of gambling: Geertz’s notion of
ball represented the course of heavenly bodies through dual-
“deep play,” a consuming passionate involvement drawing
istically conceived upper and lower worlds, the two sides thus
on deeply ingrained cultural codes and strategies, and the
enacting the struggle between light and darkness, summer
pervasively cited notion that gambling games draw on “cos-
and winter, life and death. The ancient Chinese game of
mic symbolism,” or have “cosmic significance.” Because
pitchpot (see Yang, 1969, pp. 138–165) may rely on cosmo-
Geertz mentions calendrical and cosmological ideas that bear
logical notions of the pot (or, sometimes, the gourd) as a con-
upon the choice and placement of cocks (p. 427), it is evi-
tainer of the world and symbol of primal chaos. Also striking
dent that the two approaches are not antithetical. In fact, the
in this connection is the ancient Aztec board game of patolli,
“cosmic significance” clearly lends itself to the “deepening”
which has evident formal similarities with the South Asian
of the play.
game of pachisi. Arguments over whether the similarities are
due to diffusion or independent use of similar cosmological
The cosmological significance of gambling games was
structures have remained unresolved since the late nine-
maintained by Culin, author of several monumental works
teenth century. In any case, Beck (1982, pp. 199–205) has
on games. In his book on North American Indian games, he
argued cogently for the cosmological significance of pachisi.
summarizes the common pattern of references to gambling
The pieces move around the four-armed board, representing
games in the origin myths of numerous tribes:
the world quarters, in a way that follows the reverse (counter-
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GAMBLING
3261
clockwise) movement of the sun through the houses of the
phrey (1979, pp. 141–146) has applied Geertz’s categories
zodiac. The four-sided dice are identified with the four Indi-
to the aristocratic patronage of the Mesoamerican ball game.
an ages (yugas). The goal of returning to the center thus sug-
But still better confirmation for such an analysis comes from
gests a triumph over spatiotemporal conditions.
descriptions of the North American Huron Indian dice
games collected by Culin (1907, pp. 105–110). Sacrificial of-
Geertz’s discussion of the Balinese cockfight draws its
ferings of tobacco to the spirits of the game precede the ac-
concept of deep play from Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832),
tion. Sometimes whole townships and even tribes contend.
the English economist and philosopher, who uses the term
In one eight-day game between townships, every inhabitant
to refer to situations in which stakes are so high that partici-
of each party threw the dice at least once. Players with lucky
pation is irrational. At the cockfight, two kinds of bets are
dreams were sought out for the casting:
made: even-money center bets between the two cock owners
and their allied supporters, and side bets on odds made
At this game they hazard all they possess, and many do
among the assembled crowd. As a rule, the larger the center
not leave off till they are almost stripped quite naked
bets, the more even are the odds reached in the crowd. Inter-
and till they have lost all they have in their cabins. Some
est and “depth” are thus enhanced by making the outcome
have been known to stake their liberty for a time. . . .
appear as unpredictable as possible. But the size of the center
The players appear like people possessed, and the spec-
tators are not more calm. They all make a thousand
bet also “deepens” the stakes for the cock owners. For the
contortions, talk to the bones [i. e., throw the dice],
stakes here are not just material, but are matters of honor,
load the spirits of the adverse party with impreca-
esteem, status, and, also, delight in bringing oblique affront
tions. . . . They quarrel and fight, which never hap-
to the opponent. Except for addicted gamblers, who are
pens among [them] but on these occasions and in
drawn—usually to their ruin—to the small center bet and
drunkenness. (ibid., pp. 105–106)
long odds matches, real status remains largely unaffected, be-
Women and girls play the same game, but only separately
cause victories and losses tend to balance out. But the deep
and under inferior conditions: with different numbers of
play at status reversals and reclamations of status is real
dice, and throwing by hand on a blanket rather than with
enough in its psychological and social impact. Only men
a dice box or basket as the men do (ibid., p. 107).
play, while on the periphery of the cockfight, roulette and
other gambling games of sheer chance are operated by con-
Gambling on one’s freedom is an ultimate status wager
cessionaires for women, children, the poor, and others who
and is a type of bet instanced in many cultures. Another sug-
find themselves excluded.
gestive feature of deep play that emerges here is the signifi-
cance of “stripping,” for being willing to gamble all one pos-
“Deep-play” cockfighting is thus for “the solid citizen-
sesses may both literally and figuratively involve such an
ry” and resembles an “affaire d’honneur” (Geertz, 1973,
outcome. Loss of status is thus potentially far more than just
pp. 435–436). Moreover, it pits not merely individuals
loss of face. As Geertz remarks, there is both a literal and a
against each other, but corporate groups—most notably,
metaphoric significance—sustained by the Balinese language
whole villages and patriarchal descent groups. Support
as in the English—to the Balinese cockfighter’s identification
money for the central bet comes from other members of the
with his cock (Geertz, 1973, pp. 417–418). I shall note im-
group, and even side-betting against the cock of one’s group
portant recurrences of this gambling-stripping correlation,
is considered disloyal. The cock owners thus have not only
which has a wide range of effects, from deep humiliation to
their own status at stake, but their status within their respec-
eroticism. Obviously, strip poker is a “secular” example of
tive groups and that of the groups themselves.
the latter orientation.
All of this is displayed “in a medium of feathers, blood,
Ritualized gambling thus seems to rely on both its cos-
crowds, and money” (ibid., p. 444) that arouses the deepest
mological significance and its character as deep play. The
passions but is rounded off with furtive payments that affirm
forces of chance draw the contestants into deep involvement
a cultivated embarrassment at such personal identification
in a context that allows for both the regulated breakdown
with the world of demonic and animal violence. For the
and the creative redefinition of the structural roles by which
cockfight is also, fundamentally, an encounter with the de-
society and cosmos operate—a context that the games reflect.
monic: “a blood sacrifice offered, with the appropriate chants
The games thus have the character of liminal passage rites,
and oblations, to the demons in order to pacify their raven-
or ordeals (Humphrey, 1979, p. 144), as well as of reitera-
ous, cannibal hunger” (ibid., p. 420). The fights are regularly
tions of the cosmogony, the reestablishment of cosmos out
performed in connection with temple festivals and as collec-
of chaos. Such initiatory and cosmogonic overtones have
tive responses to such natural evils as illness, crop failure, and
been detected in the dice match that concluded the ancient
volcanic eruptions.
Indian sacrifice of royal consecration, or rajasuya. In playing
A correlation between status—in the largest sense—and
dice on even terms with members of different castes, the king
deep-play gambling can certainly be found. The importance
overcomes the forces of chance, chaos, and confusion by his
of status is reflected in the fact that gambling is frequently
triumph (Heesterman, 1957, pp. 140–157). As is often the
the province of kings, heroes, and aristocrats: the models of
case in ritual gambling, the game is rigged to assure the de-
what comes down to the present as the genteel bettor. Hum-
sired outcome. But the important point is that the partici-
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3262
GAMBLING
pants submit to the principles of the game. Similar initiatory
Lord results in the salvation of Jerusalem and Sennacherib’s
and cosmogonic overtones are found in contexts where gam-
death by the sword (Is. 36–37).
bling is performed for the sick, over the dead, or at turning
If gambling was denounced in the Bible, however, the
points in the seasons (for examples, see Culin, 1907,
casting of lots was not. The throwing of lots with the Urim
pp. 108–115; Hartland, 1924–1927, pp. 168–169; Jensen,
and Tummim (Yes and No), articles kept in the priest’s
1963, p. 60).
apron, was accepted as a means of discerning the divine will.
PROHIBITIONS ON GAMBLING. The principles by which dif-
Thus Saul was chosen by lot to be king (1 Sm. 10:20–21);
ferent religions have denounced or prohibited gambling are
rural priests were chosen by lot to serve in Jerusalem (1 Chr.
revealing on two fronts. First, they reflect the axiomatic theo-
24–25); and Matthias was selected by lot to become Judas’s
logical and cultural values operative in the respective tradi-
successor as the twelfth apostle (Acts 1:26). In these instances,
tions. Second, they often provide theologically and culturally
the casting of lots cannot be called gambling. But it is also
attuned indications of what it is that is so appealing about
evident that Israel knew of the use of lots for gambling,
what they seek to oppose. Not surprisingly, cosmological sig-
though the references suggest that it was only other nations
nificance and deep-play involvement are among the con-
that so employed them. In Joel 3:1–3, Yahveh speaks of
demned attractions.
bringing judgment upon the nations for “having divided up
my land” and “cast lots for my people.” And in Psalms
In Isaiah 65:11–12, gambling is thus one of the ways
22:16–18, the psalmist, seeing himself dead, describes the
by which Israel provokes the Lord: “[You] who set up a table
“company of evildoers” who “divide my garments among
for Fortune and fill cups of mixed wine for Destiny, I will
them, and for my raiment cast lots.” It is this latter passage
destine you to the sword.” Gad (Fortune) and Meni (Desti-
that is taken in John 19:23–24 as a prophecy of the scene at
ny) were gods of fortune, possibly of Syrian or Phoenician
Jesus’ crucifixion, where the Roman soldiers divide up the
origin. The polemic against gambling is thus made in the
crucified Christ’s garments and gamble for his seamless
same terms as that against idolatry, which in turn is a polem-
tunic. Here the symbolism of stripping and gambling accen-
ic against involvement in false cosmologies ruled by false
tuates the deepest humiliation and suffering (see Mk. 15:16–
gods. The context also suggests that such gambling was, at
20, 25; Mt. 27:28–29, 36).
least to the mind of the prophet, one of the alluring vices of
Early Christian canon law condemned gambling in no
acculturation besetting Israel. This attitude persists in Tal-
uncertain terms. Two of the so-called Apostolic Canons (41,
mudic and rabbinic prohibitions against a variety of games,
42) prohibited both laity and clergy, under pain of excom-
from the Greek Olympics to cards and chess, which Jews re-
munication, from engaging in games of chance. And at the
garded themselves as having adopted from their neighbors.
Council of Elvira (306
But it is particularly those games that involve gambling that
CE), the seventy-ninth canon decreed
a year’s banishment from communion for anyone guilty of
are singled out for condemnation. The Mishnah declares
gambling. But restrictions of later councils were directed to-
twice that dice players and pigeon racers are disqualified
ward the clergy, and only certain games (especially cards and
from appearing as witnesses in a court of justice (R. ha-Sh.
dice) were forbidden (Slater, 1909, pp. 375–376). Such re-
1.8; San. 3.3), and the medieval Sefardic philosopher
laxing of restrictions on lay gambling has facilitated church
Mosheh ben Maimon (Maimonides, 1135/8-1204) extends
sponsorship of bingo and lottery games in fund-raising ef-
the ban to include those who play chess for money (Com-
forts. The same is true in Orthodox churches.
mentary on Sanhedrin 3.3). This disqualification rests on the
principle that gamblers are guilty of facilitating acts of rob-
Christian condemnations of gambling gather their ful-
bery and are thus, in effect, criminals. Curiously, gamblers
lest force in Puritan writings. According to the doctrine of
are similarly disqualified in Hindu law books, joined to
predestination, because every action is foreordained, matters
thieves, assassins, and other dangerous characters for being
of so-called chance are in the hands of God alone. To invoke
“incompetent on account of their depravity” and persons in
God in the name of fortune is to offend him “by making him
whom no truth can be found (Narada Smrti 1.159, 1.178;
the assistant in idle pleasures” (Knappen, 1939, p. 439). Sim-
Br:haspati Dharma´sa¯stra 7.30).
ilarly, man is but a steward of his goods, which ultimately
belong to God. Thus he must not wager what is truly God’s
The passage from Isaiah also introduces another strain
(Paton, 1924, p. 166). Furthermore, losers at gambling tend
of condemnation: Using the same Hebrew root in two
to express themselves in curses.
words, Yahveh “destines” to the sword those who tempt
“Destiny.” Such a scene is, in fact, played out in another pas-
A rather practical Islamic stance is expressed in the
sage from Isaiah, where the rabshakeh (field marshal) of the
QurDa¯n when Muh:ammad discourages wine and a form of
Assyrian king Sennacherib challenges Israel to a wager over
gambling with arrows in which the loser pays for a young
horses, and to an additional (though implied) theological
camel that is slaughtered and given to the poor: “In both
wager—expressed by boasts referring to Yahveh as a fallible
there is sin and profit to men; but the sin of both is greater
god like those of the surrounding nations—that Yahveh can-
than the profit of the same” (Palmer, 1880, p. 32).
not deliver Israel. The wager over the horses is ignored, but
The Hindu law books are full of cautionary remarks on
the arrogant theological presumption of the affront to the
gambling. As noted already, gamblers are judged incompe-
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GAMBLING
3263
tent witnesses in matters of law. There are statements that
the larger time unit of the kalpa. The dice play of the divine
gambling makes one impure, and that the wealth obtained
couple thus represents the continuity of the universe and
by gambling is tainted. Most significant, however, is a pas-
their absorption with and within it. This “deep play” is one
sage from the Laws of Manu concerning the duties of kings:
expression of the theological concept of l¯ıla¯, literally “divine
Of the royal vices, ten are born of pleasure and eight of anger,
play” or “divine sport.” The game’s disruption holds the im-
and all end in misery; of the ten that “spring from love of
plication of the end of the universe (the maha¯pralaya), while
pleasure,” the most pernicious are drinking, dice, women,
its resumption holds the implication of the recreation (the
and hunting (7.45–50). This list of four vices recurs in the
cosmogony). But insofar as the game is associated with the
Maha¯bha¯rata (3.14.7) in the mouth of the divine Kr:s:n:a
rise and fall of the yugas, it is played ritually at liminal tempo-
when he denounces the epic’s famous dice match. Kr:s:n:a adds
ral junctures in which the continuity of the universe is imper-
that gambling is the worst “desire-born” vice of all. Thus one
iled. S´iva and Pa¯rvat¯ı thus provide the mythic model for
seems to have here a condemnation of gambling as deep play.
those who play dice ritually at the festival of D¯ıva¯l¯ı
This correlation between gambling and desire is at the very
(D¯ıpa¯val¯ı), which marks a traditional new year. And it is at
heart of the Indian meditation on gambling, for actions born
the mythic juncture of the Dva¯parayuga and the Kaliyuga
of desire are binding to this world. Yet in Hindu terms it is
that the great dice match of the Maha¯bha¯rata occurs.
also the things of desire—including the four just men-
tioned—that draw people to the divine. Thus, whereas Kr:s:n:a
One of the most important themes that unites the dice
here warns of gambling’s dangers, when he reveals his “super-
play of S´iva and Pa¯rvat¯ı with the dice match of the
nal manifestations” in the Bhagavadg¯ıta¯ he claims to be iden-
Maha¯bha¯rata is that of stripping. The stakes for which S´iva
tical with the game of dice itself: “I am the gambling of
and Pa¯rvat¯ı play are their clothes and ornaments. When S´iva
rogues” (10.36).
loses his loincloth, he gets angry, goes off naked, or refuses
to pay up. Pa¯rvat¯ı points out that he never wins, except by
Buddhist tradition sustains the same critique of gam-
cheating (O’Flaherty, 1973, pp. 204, 223, 247). Thus it
bling without such accent on the ambiguity. In the sixteenth
never comes to pass that both of them are reduced to naked-
chapter of the Parabhava Sutta, the Buddha includes addic-
ness, which would imply their merger as S´iva and S´akti,
tion to women, strong drink, and dice as one of eleven com-
Purus:a and Prakr:ti, at the maha¯pralaya. What is striking
binations of means whereby men are brought to loss. The
about the dice match in the Maha¯bha¯rata is that after the five
text contrasts these eleven roads to ruin with the one path
Pan:d:ava brothers have gambled away everything, even their
to victory: loving the dhamma, the Buddha’s teaching. Else-
freedom and their wife-in-common, Draupad¯ı, the culmi-
where, monks are warned that numerous games and specta-
nating act is the attempt by the winners (the Kauravas) to
cles—including combats between elephants, horses, buffalo,
disrobe the heroine in front of her husbands and the whole
bulls, goats, rams, and cocks; various board games; chariot
assembly. As Draupad¯ı is an incarnation of the Goddess, the
racing; and dicing—are addictive distractions and detrimen-
miraculous intervention by Kr:s:n:a that prevents her stripping
tal to virtue (Tevijja Sutta, Majjhima S¯ılam 2–4).
is a sign that the dissolution of the universe will not occur
GAMBLING GODS, DEMONS, AND HEROES. Yet even the
in untimely fashion during the intra-yuga period in which
gods—not to mention their demonic adversaries—are wont
the story is set.
to gamble. Yahveh makes an implied wager with Satan that
It is seen, then, that divine gambling involves persistent
Job will remain blameless and upright when deprived of all
encounters with the demonic. Hindu materials carry this
he has (Jb. 1:6–12). In Christian traditions, the devil contin-
theme to great depths, accentuating a continuum between
ues to gamble for the human soul, as in Stephen Vincent
demonic possession and divine rapture. In South Indian
Benét’s story The Devil and Daniel Webster (1937). In Tibet,
terukku¯ttu (“street-drama”) folk plays that enact the epic
an annual ceremony was performed in which a priest repre-
story, the attempts by the Kaurava Duh:´sa¯sana to disrobe
senting a grand lama played dice with a man dressed as a de-
Draupad¯ı result in his demonic possession, while Draupad¯ı
monic ghost king. With fixed dice, the priest won, chasing
at the same time experiences the most sublime bhakti
the demon away and confirming the truth of the teaching
(“divine love”). On the divine-demonic turf of gambling, in
(Waddell, 1895, p. 512). In India, the two lowest of the four
fact, no hero can hope to win without recourse to the powers
dice throws are demonic. Thus in the epic story of Nala and
that hold the demonic in check. The hero is thus the one
Damayant¯ı, one demon (Dva¯para) enters the dice, and the
who is willing to take the risk, even against the seemingly
other (Kali) “possesses” the hero, dooming him to lose all he
highest odds. It is striking how many epics include episodes
has won (Maha¯bha¯rata 3.55–56). But the Hindu gods play
of gambling, and even more striking how frequently the
anyway, and are even, as we have seen, identified with gam-
“good” hero loses, awaiting final triumph or vindication else-
bling. This is true not only of Kr:s:n:a but, more decisively,
where. This occurs not only in the Maha¯bha¯rata but in Indi-
of S´iva, who is from very early times the lord of gamblers,
an folk epics as well. In the Tamil folk epic The Elder Broth-
and who plays dice in classical myths with his wife Parvati.
er’s Story, the twin brothers play six games of dice with Vis:n:u
As noted, Indian dice are named after the four ages
at intervals preceding dramatic turns of fortune, the last of
(yugas), which “roll” four by four a thousand times within
which is their death (Beck, 1982, p. 143). In the Telugu epic
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3264
GAMES
The Heroes of Palna¯d:u, a cockfight wager divides irreparably
pology 6 (1950): 369–387, which evaluates Tylor’s views and
the two camps of half brothers, and a game of tops and a dice
various opposing views (including those of Robert Stewart
match between another set of younger brothers in the heroic
Culin). On “play” in different aspects, see Adolf E. Jensen’s
camp foreshadow the events that lead to their death. In re-
Myth and Cult among Primitive Peoples, translated by Mari-
cent years, actual cockfights have been outlawed at the festi-
anna Tax Choldin and Wolfgang Weissleder (Chicago,
vals at which these stories are recited (Roghair, 1982, pp. 30
1963), pp. 59–64, and, especially, Clifford Geertz’s The In-
terpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays (New York, 1973),
and 62–295 passim). In the Tibetan epic of Gesar of Ling,
pp. 412–453, on the Balinese cockfight. Recent proceedings
the hero repeatedly plays mo¯s (see Waddell, 1895,
of the Association for the Anthropological Study of Play
pp. 465–474), a game of divination using colored pebbles,
(ATASP) are worth consulting, especially for the following:
before his adventures. Here the lots fall out in the divine
Bernard Mergen’s “Reisman Redux: Football as Work, Play,
hero’s favor. In the Mwindo epic of the Nyanga people of
Ritual and Metaphor” and Robert L. Humphrey’s “Sugges-
the Congo Republic, the hero Mwindo plays wiki, a gam-
tions for a Cognitive Study of the Mesoamerican Ball
bling game with seeds. Mwindo plays in the underworld
Game,” in Play as Context (ATASP Proceedings, 1979), ed-
against the supreme divinity of fire, first losing everything
ited by Alyce Taylor Cheska (West Point, N.Y., 1981), and
and then winning it back, in an effort to reclaim his antago-
Pierre Ventur’s “Mopan Maya Dice Games from the South-
nistic father from the underworld with a view toward their
ern Peten,” in Play and Culture (ATASP Proceedings, 1980),
edited by Helen B. Schwartzman (West Point, N.Y., 1980).
reconciliation.
On documentation, see Frederic V. Grunfeld’s Games of the World
Yet there is another dimension to the stance of the hero-
(New York, 1975), for informed discussion with illustra-
ic gambler that figures, at least metaphorically, in all the great
tions. On American Indian games, see the classic study by
religions of faith: that of the person who may lose everything,
Robert Stewart Culin, Games of the North American Indians,
or be stripped like Job or Draupad¯ı, but will not gamble
“Bureau of American Ethnology Report,” no. 24 (1907; re-
away salvation. In positive terms, this is the wager that God
print, Washington, D. C., 1973). See also Rafael Karsten’s
exists, the famous wager that Pascal set forth with such preci-
“Ceremonial Games of the South American Indians” (in En-
sion in his Pensées (1670):
glish), Societas Scientarum Fennica: Commentationes Huma-
narum Litterarum, vol. 3, pt. 2 (Helsinki, 1930); Jan C. He-
But here there is an infinity of infinitely happy life to
esterman’s The Ancient Indian Royal Consecration (The
be won, one chance of winning against a finite number
Hague, 1957); Liansheng Yang’s Excursions in Sinology
of chances of losing. That leaves no choice; wherever
(Cambridge, Mass., 1969); L. Austune Waddell’s The Bud-
there is infinity, and where there are not infinite
dhism of Tibet, or Lamaism (1895; reprint, Cambridge,
chances of losing against that of winning, there is no
1958). On prohibitions of gambling, see the articles by Hart-
room for hesitation. You must give everything. And
land, Paton, and Slater mentioned above; M. M. Knappen’s
thus, since you are obliged to play, you must be re-
Tudor Puritanism (Chicago, 1939); and The Qur Da¯n, trans-
nouncing reason if you hoard your life rather than risk
lated by E. H. Palmer in “Sacred Books of the East,” vol. 6
it for an infinite gain, just as likely to occur as a loss
(1880; reprint, Delhi, 1970).
amounting to nothing. (Krailsheimer, 1966, p. 151)
On gambling in myths and epics, see Wendy Doniger
Pascal is thus at pains to show that the central bet, as in the
O’Flaherty’s Asceticism and Eroticism in the Mythology of Siva
Balinese cockfight, is for even money.
(Oxford, 1973); Brenda E. F. Beck’s The Three Twins: The
Telling of a South Indian Folk Epic (Bloomington, Ind.,
S
1982); Gene H. Roghair’s The Epic of Palnadu: A Study and
EE ALSO Chance; Divination; Games.
Translation of Palnati Virula Katha (Oxford, 1982); Alexan-
dra David-Neel’s The Superhuman Life of Gesar of Ling,
BIBLIOGRAPHY
translated by Violet Sydney, rev. ed. (London, 1959); and
A good bibliography, mainly on the history and legislation of Eu-
Daniel P. Biebuyck and Kohombo C. Mateene’s The Mwin-
ropean and American gambling, is found in Stephen Powell’s
do Epic (Berkeley, Calif., 1969). On Pascal’s wager, see Blaise
A Gambling Bibliography, Based on the Collection, University
Pascal’s Pensées, translated by A. J. Krailsheimer (Harmonds-
of Nevada, Las Vegas (Las Vegas, 1972). Valuable encyclope-
worth, 1966).
dia articles include those by J. L. Paton on “Gambling,” E.
New Sources
Sidney Hartland on “Games,” and G. Margoulith on
Handelman, Don, and David Shulman. God Inside Out: Siva’s
“Games (Hebrew and Jewish),” in the Encyclopaedia of Reli-
Game of Dice. New York, 1997.
gion and Ethics, edited by James Hastings, vol. 6 (Edinburgh,
1913); T. Slater’s “Gambling,” in Catholic Encyclopedia, vol.
ALF HILTEBEITEL (1987)
6 (New York, 1909); and R. F. Schnell’s “Games OT,” in
Revised Bibliography
The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, edited by George Ar-
thur Buttrick (New York, 1962).
For theoretical discussion, see Edward Burnett Tylor’s Primitive
Culture, vol. 1, The Origins of Culture (1871; reprint, New
GAMES are analytically distinguished from other forms of
York, 1958), pp. 78–83, emphasizing diffusion and divina-
contest by being framed as “play” and from other forms of
tion, and Charles John Erasmus’s “Patolli, Pachisi, and the
play by their competitive format and the institutional—
Limitation of Possibilities,” Southwestern Journal of Anthro-
public, systematic, and jural—character of their rules. The
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GAMES
3265
American anthropologist Gregory Bateson (1972,
therefore, an essential aspect of the religious imagination
pp. 177–193) has described the universal semantic process
itself.
by which behaviors are framed as play. Conventionalized sig-
Among Western humanists, Huizinga has perhaps been
nals create a “metamessage” that instructs players not to take
the boldest in this regard. In Homo Ludens, he argued for
the behaviors they engage in as denoting what those behav-
“the identity of play and ritual” and even claimed, on the au-
iors would denote in other, nonplay, contexts. In this sense,
thority of Plato, that the sacred can be comprised in the cate-
game actions are “untrue.” A nip is not a bite, a bullfight is
gory of play (pp. 18–19). “God alone is worthy of supreme
not a hunt, a checkmate is not a regicide, a soccer match is
seriousness,” so Huizinga translated Plato (Laws 7.803), “but
not a war, a wrestling bout or footrace is not a cosmogony
man is made God’s plaything, and that is the best part of
or theogony, regardless of overt similarities in the words, ob-
him. . . . What then is the right way of living? Life must
jects, gestures, emotional states, or social categories of per-
be lived as play, playing certain games, making sacrifices,
sons involved. The framing of contests as play makes them
singing and dancing, and then a man will be able to propiti-
self-referential in several ways, shifting attributed motivation
ate the gods, and defend himself against his enemies, and win
to intrinsic enjoyment and sociability, turning means into
the contest.” Whether Plato really meant to identify “play
ends in themselves, and understanding extrinsic outcomes as
and holiness” so thoroughly can be disputed. Moreover, as
“mere” contingencies.
the final clause of Huizinga’s reading of Plato suggests, classi-
Yet, paradoxically, as Bateson and many other theorists
cists have found reason to doubt that the “for-their-own-
of play have noted, the prior and consensual assertion of un-
sake” character Huizinga believed crucial to “true play and
truth, in the sense of disconnection from standard meanings,
games” was really present or developed in classical Greek ide-
makes assertions of truthful correspondences between the
ology.
worlds of nonplay and play possible, likely, and even pre-
From the famous stadium games to the isomorphic ago-
dominant over a discourse of “set-apartness.” Like other play
nistic ethos and format in other cultural domains, elements
forms, games are about boundaries and the boundaries be-
that together comprise what historians and sociologists from
tween boundaries. Games create, in the phrases of the En-
Jakob Burckhardt (1898–1902) to Alvin W. Gouldner
glish psychoanalyst D. W. Winnicott (1971), a world of
(1965) have styled the “Greek contest system,” functional re-
“transitional objects,” a realm of the “not-not-true.” Free-
quirements, inextricably civic and religious, do not appear
dom from denotation makes rich freedom for connotation,
to have been culturally “bracketed off” as contingencies in
for human individuals and groups to re-represent their lives
the classical world, as they have been in that stream of Euro-
to themselves in “experimental” ways. Alternative or virtual
pean thought that Huizinga so well represented. In Greek
realities, including those asserted by religion, can thus be
mythology and theology, in notable contrast to Christianity,
tested against what the phenomenologist Alfred Schutz
the gods themselves played games, chartered the games of
termed “the paramount realities of everyday life.”
human beings, and intervened in them as “co-players.” In
P
athletic games—as the poetry of Pindar makes evocatively
LAY IN CULTURE: THE RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF GAMES.
Contest and representation are basic aspects of play, argued
plain—individual fate, the polity, and the divine world
the Dutch historian Johan Huizinga in his manifesto Homo
found a preferential idiom of communication in archaic and
Ludens, and they may “unite in such a way that the game
classical Greek culture, such that an axis mundi, in the sense
discussed by Mircea Eliade, could be created in the person
‘represents’ a contest or else becomes a contest for the best
of the victorious athlete.
representation of something” (1955, p. 13). The materials
of games are drawn from the sociocultural world and at the
The Olympic games, the Delphic oracle, and Homeric
same time stand in figurative relations—metaphoric, analog-
poetry emerged together in the eighth century BCE as pan-
ical, symbolic—with it. “The more profound, double sense
Hellenic institutions, just as the segmentary and rivalrous
of ‘social game,’” said the German sociologist Georg Simmel,
city-state was arising as the dominant form of social organiza-
“is not only that the game is played in a society (as its external
tion within the Greek world. Relations among these key in-
medium) but that, with its help, people actually ‘play’ ‘soci-
stitutions are apparent in the traditions of the ancient Olym-
ety’,” including the society of the gods (1950, p. 50). Particu-
pic games. Homeric theology and hero cults came to inform
larly where enjoyment, competition, and gambling supply
the charter myths of the games at Olympia, and a famous
strong motivations to attend to the progress and outcome of
oracle at Delphi (where crown games were also celebrated)
games, this setting of the empirical world in juxtaposition
“renewed” the sanction from Zeus, to whose worship the
with “another” world can lead to an interrogation of their
Olympic festival was devoted. The great games gave rise to
relationship sufficient to involve ultimate epistemological
practices seeking to distinguish Greek from non-Greek (bar-
questions and functional necessities of human existence. On
baroi were not to compete at Olympia) and to mediate be-
this general ground, the appearance of game forms in the re-
tween Greek mythic and human time. Though its signifi-
ligious mythologies and cults of various peoples has been ex-
cance is much debated, the reckoning of dates according to
plained by writers and scholars, some of whom have gone on
the formula “in the second year of the Olympiad in which
to find in the ludic process a mode of transcendence and,
so-and-so won the stade” provided Greece with her main cal-
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GAMES
endar of historical time beyond city-state and regional limita-
complished. The Spanish philosopher Ortega y Gasset like-
tions.
wise argued for the “sportive origin of the state” out of primi-
tive institutions of ritual contest involving both cosmological
One mythic tradition ascribes the foundation of the
and social sanctions.
Olympic games to Idean Herakles, another to Pelops’s victo-
ry over King Oenomaus in a chariot race for the latter’s
The ethnology of nonliterate “primitive” societies pro-
daughter Hippodamia (“horse woman”). Here, as in the re-
vided further rich material for such humanistic speculations.
lated story of Atalanta in the Greek corpus and in other
In his elaborate compendium Games of the North American
Indo-European contexts, comparative mythologists such as
Indians, Stewart Culin observed the common occurrence of
James G. Frazer, Georges Dumézil, Eliade, and Bernard Jeu
game motifs in the origin myths of a wide variety of linguisti-
have recognized a repeated pattern associating sacred mar-
cally and culturally unrelated tribes. The complementarity
riage (hieros gamos), an implicit theogony (often of newer
in rivalry of the “divine twins”—associated with oppositions
gods over older ones), the acquisition of transforming tech-
between night and day, winter and summer, east and west,
nology (fire, the horse, metallurgy, the chariot), the domesti-
morning and evening stars, consanguinal and affinal kin—or
cation of invader kings (“Dorians” in the Greek case), and
of a demiurgic First Man or First Woman with monsters, na-
the athletic race that embodies, mediates, and “resolves”
ture, or each other is a widespread motif. In folklore, culture-
these generative contests between vigorous and dying god-
creating heroes—Coyote, Raven, or Spider—are frequently
kings, male and female, earth and heaven, nature and cul-
trickster beings whose fondness for games, as with other su-
ture, cosmos and history.
pernaturals, is both a source of their power and a means by
which they can be manipulated for human moral or material
Games transform ambiguous, perturbed, or disputed
purposes. As to adult human games, which he divided into
potentials and conditions into certain outcomes, and this is
those of “chance” and those of “dexterity,” Culin concluded
one reason for their widespread association, in myth or in
that “In general, [they] appear to be played ceremonially, as
practice, with such ritualized natural and social transitions
pleasing to the gods, with the object of securing fertility,
as seasonal cycles, birth, initiation, marriage, funerals, and
causing rain, giving and prolonging life, expelling demons,
warfare. Furthermore, games necessarily incorporate a dialec-
or curing sickness” (Culin, 1975, p. 34).
tic between hierarchy and equality, two central organizing
T
principles of human social arrangements and cognitive func-
HEORIES REGARDING THE “DESACRALIZATION” OF
G
tioning. From an (at least asserted or presumed) equality be-
AMES. This stress on the religious character of games in the
fore the rules of the game results a ranked hierarchy of out-
cultures of exotic or prestigiously ancestral “others” was gen-
comes. Societies and theologies differ in the relative valuation
erated by and contributed to those broader evolutionist
placed on hierarchy and equality in human and divine affairs
trends of European thought variously styled “rationaliza-
and, thus, differentially emphasize one or the other pole in
tion,” “modernization,” and “secularization.” Huizinga and
games. Yet for all known social types, games appear, in the
other philosophers of history, while seeking to show the es-
expression of the French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss,
sential unity of humankind in play, nevertheless saw games
to be “good to think with” and, as the present-day Olympic
as becoming progressively “secularized” through “universal
games forcefully illustrate, may permit highly diverse and ri-
cultural history.” British classicists, most notably Jane E.
valrous social formations to compete cooperatively. If games
Harrison, proposed the view that games—like such other
have been seen as “the moral equivalent of war,” it is because
forms of cultural expression as theater, dance, music, and po-
warfare and other means of political and ideological domina-
etry—had separated from an original religious ritual matrix
tion, including religion, have their moral dimensions.
in the primitive and ancient worlds. Where games were seen
to retain magical or religious elements, such as peasant
Ingomar Weiler (1981) finds the “contest system” not
Shrovetide football matches in the “folk cultures” of early
limited to Greece but widespread in the ancient Mediterra-
modern France and England or the grand sumo¯ tournaments
nean world, and scholars like Huizinga emphasize parallels
of Shinto¯ Japan or the various martial arts competitions in
to the Greek and Roman materials in non-Western warrior-
monastic communities of the Near and Far East, these were
states. In the Hindu Maha¯bha¯rata, the world is conceived as
interpreted as backward “survivals” of an archaic past in “fos-
a game of dice between S´iva and his queen (8.2368, 8.2381),
sil” social structures still partially attuned in cult to cosmo-
and a dice match for the kingdom sets off the conflict be-
logical and agricultural rhythms. Such views fit well with the
tween the Kauravas and the Pa¯n:d:avas that organizes the epic.
nineteenth-century development of Western social science,
“I am the dicing of tricksters,” says Kr:s:n:a in the
centered around a purported evolutionary passage—“of po-
Bhagavadg¯ıta¯ (10.36), and forms of l¯ıla¯, or sacred play, are
tentially universal significance,” as Max Weber put it—from
widely associated with this god and his worship. According
“traditional” to “modern” societies under the impact of the
to Marcel Granet (1930), the Chinese cosmic duality of yin
industrial revolution and modern science. From important
and yang replayed important social dualisms; festal, magical
means by which communities represented their ultimate
competitions of many sorts were both the central agencies
concerns to themselves and engaged in imitative worship,
for regenerating life in the early “tribal” period and a means
games became associated, in such Western eyes, with the
by which the later transformation to state institutions was ac-
sphere of secular leisure, recreation, mass entertainment:
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3267
“mere games” of undoubted commercial or social value but
tionary theory of world history and the place of games within
of little sacred or spiritual significance.
it. Again in the Judeo-Christian context, home of such theo-
ries, present-day developments—from a skiing pope, deco-
While still very influential, the “modernization” point
rated with the Olympic Order, to the incipient interlock be-
of view has been criticized as Eurocentric and imperialist.
tween the directorates of the World Council of Churches
Moreover, social history has shown that in the West itself re-
and the International Olympic Committee, to the wide-
ligion has not regularly and inevitably declined and that the
spread activity of Christian athletes in domestic and foreign
cultural history of forms like games has not followed any
missionizing—further illustrate the labile relations between
simple unilinear pattern. As symbolized by the emperor The-
religion and games. Nor are such relations limited to practi-
odosius’s suppression of the Olympic games as a “pagan
cal and institutional exigencies. The recent “theology of
rite,” early Christianity did indeed oppose itself to Greek
play” movement in Christian religious circles (see Molt-
(and certainly Roman) traditions of public games, save in the
mann, 1972), with its rebellious attempt to reshape the
appropriation of athletics as an ascetic metaphor by canoni-
image of the deity and its arguments that in the freedom and
cal writers like the apostle Paul. A centuries-long tradition
joy of games and festivity humans achieve a foretaste of the
culminating in continental and English “puritanism” did
kingdom of heaven, suggests how the potentials for transcen-
seek to suppress games, gambling, and other forms of folk
dence in play must ever draw religion into a dialogue with
amusement as “works of the devil” that turned the Christian
ludic form and experience. Even religions whose orthodox
away from sober religious duty, the social predominance of
or mainstream versions may find less explicit place for play
the churches, and disciplined labor. Through much of the
in their theophanies, cults, and ethics—Judaism, Christiani-
twentieth century, religious leaders and sociologists alike
ty, and Islam, perhaps in contrast to Hinduism, Buddhism,
have attributed declining church attendance, where it has oc-
and many tribal religions—must preoccupy themselves with
curred, in part to the increasing popularity of sports events
what comparative religionist David L. Miller (1970, p. 14)
and other kinds of mass recreation on the Sabbath.
calls “the game game,” that effort to discover, articulate, and
conform to an “ultimate reality” that sets a limit to divine
Yet contrary trends are everywhere in evidence. In the
and human manipulation.
Middle Ages, the church may have turned against the cult
of the body in athletic games, but it attached itself to the me-
GAMES AND SOCIAL LIFE. Dissatisfaction with evolutionist
dieval tournament. In the contemporary palio horse race of
or modernization perspectives has led to closer attention by
Siena, Italy, which dates back to the eleventh century, the
theorists to the types and internal properties of games. The
cult of the Virgin Mary and priestly blessings of the rival con-
French sociologist of religion Roger Caillois suggested in
trade are central features of the ritual contest. In nineteenth-
Man, Play, and Games (1961) that games can be usefully
century England, devout Anglican schoolmasters and Chris-
placed along a continuum from paidia (relatively unstruc-
tian socialists, like Thomas Hughes and Charles Kingsley,
tured, spontaneous, labile forms typified by many children’s
played the central role in elaborating the ideology of “muscu-
games) to those of ludus (more conventionalized, jural, and
lar Christianity,” that combination of athletic games, virility,
elaborated forms). All true games, however, minimally in-
fair play, courage, and defense of the weak associated with
volve specification of a goal for action, delimitations of space
a new imitatio Christi, on the one side, and with English co-
and time, selection of some subset of possibilities in a total
lonialism, on the other. Many contemporary English soccer
action field as relevant and permissible (the “moves” of the
clubs are descended from church organizations, and mis-
game), rules for the initial apportioning of resources and
sionaries in the British Empire sought not only to suppress
roles and their reapportioning in the course of play, and
the indigenous games of conquered peoples, particularly
criteria for evaluating the outcomes (success or failure, win-
those with overt sexual and magical content, but to replace
ning or losing). By selectively emphasizing features of this
them with cricket, soccer, hockey, and running as “schools
core structure of games, a number of classification schemes
of Christian character.” Upon decolonization in “new na-
have been generated to reveal dominant metaphysical as-
sumptions and to model theoretically how individuals and
tions”—as East African long-distance running, Trobriand
groups “play society.”
and Caribbean cricket, and Indian field hockey indicate—
these game forms have often been retained, but transformed
Like most continental game theorists, Caillois focused
to reaccommodate indigenous cultural values or to serve
on the experiential aspects of game types. Seeking not merely
“civil” or “national” religion, whether in the form of an ex-
a sociology of games but a “sociology derived from games,”
plicit cult of the state or a more diffuse “functional equiva-
Caillois subsumed all games under four categories: agon
lent” of traditional religious institutions. In dialectical con-
(competition), alea (chance), mimicry (simulation), and ilinx
cert with enduring ludic forms bent to “nativist” purposes—
(vertigo). This scheme is helpful in parsing the religious
West African wrestling, Native American running (see
functions associated with types of games: cosmological, es-
Nabokov, 1981), central Asian buzkashi, Japanese sumo¯, or
chatological, moral contests; divination; imitative magic and
the Balinese cockfight made famous by the anthropologist
ceremonial; altered states of consciousness. But it has gener-
Clifford Geertz (1972)—such transformations of imposed
ated little insight of a truly comparative nature. Actual games
forms illustrate the inadequacies of any unilineal or evolu-
contain combinations of these aspects—all games are in
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3268
GAMES
some sense competitive, for example—and all religions ac-
been seen by recent anthropologists as speculative enterprises
commodate these functions. The insights of psychoanalysis,
as well, means by which human communities discover their
which sees in play and games the disguised representation of
dominant values in the first place and formulate alternatives
unconscious conflicts and a compulsion to repeat “primitive”
to them. Victor Turner—who like Huizinga saw cultural life
traumas so as to master them, have been limited by inatten-
as a process of passage from institutional structure to ludic,
tion to cultural context and to the complexity and variety of
“antistructural” recombination, to the incrustations of struc-
game forms. Continental structuralism of the psychological
ture once again—extended analysis of religious ritual to un-
sort associated with Piaget finds an important place for chil-
derstand play forms in this way (1974). Clifford Geertz
dren’s games in characterizing mental development, and the
(1972), who sees the interpretation of experiences as in and
anthropological sort associated with Lévi-Strauss (1966,
of itself a human necessity, argues that the Balinese cockfight
pp. 30–33) has revealed much of the symbolic “logic of the
is a form of “social metacommentary,” a “story the Balinese
concrete” that connects games to myth, ritual, and kinship.
tell about themselves,” a function likewise ascribed to reli-
Yet in the search for universal structures of mind these theo-
gious ritual. Other anthropologists (Don Handelman and I,
ries also overlook social and historical context, and their con-
for example) find it important to stress the differences be-
tributions have been largely methodological.
tween games and ritual as collective hermeneutics. On the
Batesonian level of metacommunication, ritual does seem to
British and North American social scientists, on the
be framed differently from play. Ritual asserts a priori that
other hand, have largely focused on the strategic and role-
all statements within it are true and not untrue and creates
playing aspects of games, exploring them from the functional
a world of “let us believe” rather than of “let us make be-
standpoint of social integration, decision making, and value
lieve.”
transmission. “Game theory” in the social and information
sciences has produced taxonomies of rational calculation and
Such distinctions make it possible to recognize complex
strategic choice among individual actors seeking to maximize
performance types that incorporate both rite and game, like
their payoffs in the face of uncertainty and limited resources.
the palio or the Olympics, and depend for their power on
Critics, however, have found “game theory” to be a funda-
moving actors and audiences back and forth from frame to
mental misnomer, since play, under its aspects of intrinsic
frame. Then too, activities are reframed through the course
motivation and Batesonian framing, is missing or unac-
of a people’s history. Alexander Lesser (1978) has shown how
counted for in such understandings of social action. “Game
the Pawnee hand game passed from a form of amusement
theory” has contributed little to the analysis of specifically
to a religious salvation ritual and back again between 1865
religious institutions.
and 1930, a process reminiscent of athletics in nineteenth-
century England. What is discovered as possible (or impossi-
Social psychologists have focused on the role playing
ble) in play and given organized display in games may be as-
and socialization features of games to construct fundamental
serted by ritual as undeniable. Whether this is the essential
questions about the organization of the self itself. George
relation between games and religion we will not know until
Herbert Mead pointed to the youngster’s ability to play a sin-
greater conceptual clarity and theoretical sophistication are
gle position in a baseball game while articulating that role
brought to bear on the vast new findings in the ethnology
with all of the others on the field as a sign of and a means
and social history of games, such that a ludic equivalent to
toward development of a “reflexive self,” incorporating the
Max Weber’s comparative “economic ethics of the world re-
expectations of others in the context of the “generalized
ligions” is achieved.
other” represented by the total game. Erving Goffman
(1967, 1974) still further stressed the aspects of role-playing,
SEE ALSO Gambling; Martial Arts; Play; Reflexivity.
mimicry, dissimulation, and the “rules for breaking the
rules” in building an explicit theory from the now popular
BIBLIOGRAPHY
metaphorical utterance, “social life is a game.” The human
The charter discussion of the Greek “agonistic” system is found
self is seen by Goffman to be endlessly preoccupied with “the
in Jakob Burckhardt’s Griechische Kulturgeschichte, 4 vols.
arts of impression management,” ludic yet ever-watchful to
(Berlin, 1898–1902), translated by Palmer Hilty in abridged
define situations so as to prevent embarrassment to oneself
form as History of Greek Culture (New York, 1963). On the
classical world, see also Alvin W. Gouldner’s Enter Plato
and others. Like formal “game theory,” social psychologies
(New York, 1965). In the soundest scholarly guide to athletic
built from the model of games have contributed less to the
games in the ancient Mediterranean world, Sport bei den
understanding of social institutions per se, including reli-
Völkern der alten Welt (Darmstadt, 1981), Ingomar Weiler
gious ones, than they have to understanding individual and
argues against the uniqueness of Greece in this area, a posi-
small-group processes of negotiation. At the same time, such
tion taken by Johan Huizinga as well. Huizinga’s Homo Lu-
theories do implicitly challenge authoritative ontologies and
dens (Boston, 1955) remains the essential manifesto on the
conventional understandings of divine affairs in Western cul-
role of play in culture, including relationships between games
tures.
and religion. Victor Turner extends his discussion of reli-
gious ritual to include the role of play in culture in “Liminal
While games undoubtedly serve to reproduce or to rebel
to Liminoid, in Play, Flow and Ritual,” Rice University
against dominant social structures and ideologies, they have
Studies 60 (Summer 1974): 53–92.
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GAMLIDEL OF YAVNEH
3269
Roger Caillois presents a taxonomy of games, intended both to re-
ple destroyed, a nation that lacked clear leadership. To ad-
fine Huizinga’s insights and to organize cross-cultural mate-
dress this challenge, GamliDel supported the religious
rial in more useful fashion, in Man, Play, and Games (New
ascendency of the Yavneh academy and the political and reli-
York, 1961). Among ethnological compendia on games in
gious authority of a Sanhedrin reconstituted under his lead-
“primitive” societies, Stewart Culin’s Games of the North
ership. He was later believed to have had a hereditary claim
American Indians (1907; Washington, D.C., 1975) has been
on the patriarchate.
the most widely cited. On running as practiced by Native
Americans, see Peter Nabokov’s Indian Running (Santa Bar-
It it reported that GamliDel sometimes conducted this
bara, Calif., 1981). Anthropological case studies of special
campaign in an undiplomatic manner, but he won the sup-
value include Alexander Lesser’s The Pawnee Ghost Dance
port of contemporary rabbinical authorities. To assure a cen-
Hand Game (Madison, Wis., 1978) and Clifford Geertz’s
tralized authority, he insisted on the power of his court to
“Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cock Fight,” Daedalus
fix the calendar for all of Jewry, to ensure the consistency of
101 (1972): 1–38. On China, see Marcel Granet’s Chinese
Civilization (London, 1930).
observance. To similar ends he demanded that individuals
bow to the decision of the collective rabbinate in disputes,
David L. Miller’s Gods and Games (New York, 1970) is indicative
an insistence that in one instance is believed to have led to
of the Christian “theology of play” movement and contains
the ban on EliEezer ben Hyrcanus (B.T., B.M. 59b) and in
valuable discussions of the role of games in contemporary ex-
istential, linguistic, and mathematical philosophy. Also see
another caused YehoshuEa ben H:ananyah to transgress what
Jürgen Moltmann’s Theology of Play (New York, 1972).
by his reckoning was Yom Kippur (R. ha-Sh. 2.8–9). Never-
theless, he is described as declaring that this demand was not
Gregory Bateson’s fundamental contribution to understanding
play and games as forms of metacommunication is contained
to assure his own honor, but to assure that “disputes not be
in “A Theory of Play and Fantasy,” in his Steps to an Ecology
multiplied in Israel” (B.T., B.M. 59b).
of Mind (New York, 1972). Erving Goffman develops the
In response to the vacuum left in the wake of the Tem-
view of social life as a game in several works, including Inter-
ple’s destruction, tradition bears witness to GamliDel’s activi-
action Ritual (Garden City, N.Y., 1967) and Frame Analysis
ty in establishing ritual and prayer norms. His academy for-
(New York, 1974). Also see Georg Simmel’s discussion on
malized the eighteen-benediction prayer (Shemoneh EEsreh)
social reality as play in The Sociology of Georg Simmel, trans-
lated and edited by Kurt H. Wolff (Glencoe, Ill., 1950). On
that has been employed in various forms to this day. Perhaps
the role of play in human development, see D. W. Winni-
to facilitate its acceptance as the core of Jewish daily worship,
cott’s Playing and Reality (London, 1971). Claude Lévi-
he allowed formal representatives to recite the prayer for un-
Strauss’s discussion of the different logics of games and ritu-
tutored individuals. In addition, GamliDel contributed signif-
als is found in his The Savage Mind (Chicago, 1966). Don
icantly to the formulation of a post-Temple Passover Seder.
Handelman considers related problems in his “Play and Rit-
ual: Complementary Forms of Metacommunication” in It’s
Appropriately to the image of patriarch, GamliDel is de-
a Funny Thing, Humour, edited by A. J. Chapman and H.
scribed as having had extensive exchanges with “philoso-
Foot (London, 1977), pp. 135–192. Complex performance
phers” and others outside the Judaic tradition. GamliDel’s son
forms joining games and rites are the subject of my “Olympic
ShimEon reports that “in my father’s house five hundred
Games and the Theory of Spectacle in Modern Societies,” in
[children] studied Greek wisdom . . . because they were
Rite, Drama, Festival, Spectacle (Philadelphia, 1984),
close to the authorities” (B.T., Sot. 49b; Tosefta, Sot. 15.8).
pp. 241–280.
Sources relate that Roman authorities were sympathetic to
JOHN J. MACALOON (1987)
GamliDel and the Judaism that he taught, and that GamliDel
occasionally reciprocated their sympathy.
GamliDel’s status is enhanced by the stories of his exten-
GAMLIDEL OF YAVNEH,
sive travels, including a trip to Rome. He is also described
also known as GamliDel II,
as wealthy and spoiled, and his relationship with his righ-
was a Palestinian tanna, rabbi, patriarch (nasi D), and head of
teous slave, Tabi, is legendary.
the academy at Yavneh in the late first and early second cen-
tury. In contrast to contemporary authorities, who either
GamliDel was apparently a person of great piety and sen-
bear no title or, more often, are referred to by the title rabbi,
sitivity. He was strict with himself, even when lenient with
GamliDel was accorded the apparently honorific title rabban,
others, and he refused to excuse himself from his responsibil-
which he shares with other leaders of the patriarchal house
ities to heaven for even one moment. To alleviate the im-
(see Avot 1.16, 1.18). His traditions are recorded in the
mense burden put upon surviving relatives who had to see
Mishnah and related texts.
to the burial of their deceased, GamliDel had himself buried
in simple shrouds, a practice followed by Jews to this day.
GamliDel bore major responsibility for the centralization
of rabbinical authority at Yavneh following the war with the
GamliDel’s traditions are outstanding for the relatively
Romans in 66–70. Succeeding the apparent founder of that
high proportion that are set down in narrative form. This is
academy, Yoh:anan ben ZakkDai, GamliDel was in a position
probably connected to his patriarchal authority at a crucial
to guide the rabbinical effort in the reconstruction of a na-
period in history. He came to serve as a model for the rabbin-
tion that had seen its spiritual center in the Jerusalem Tem-
ic community. Also notable is the absence of significant con-
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3270
GAMLIDEL THE ELDER
tributions to criminal statutes, reflecting perhaps the dimin-
the testimony of one witness to the death of her husband,
ished authority of the early patriarchate in this area.
rather than the two generally required by Jewish law (Yev.
16.7). Of special interest are the letters that GamliDel is re-
SEE ALSO Sanhedrin; Tannaim.
ported to have dictated on the steps of the Temple (Tosefta
San. 2.6 and parallels). Those sent to “our brethren” in the
BIBLIOGRAPHY
upper and lower south (Daroma) and in the upper and lower
The most comprehensive review of GamliDel’s traditions is Sham-
Galilee contained reminders pertaining to tithes. Another di-
mai Kanter’s Rabban Gamaliel II, the Legal Traditions
(Chico, Calif., 1980). On GamliDel’s deposition from leader-
rected to “our brethren” in Babylonia and Media and to all
ship of the Yavnean academy, an event central to his struggle
other exiles of Israel announced the leap year. It was said (Sot:.
for authority, see Robert Goldenberg’s “The Deposition of
9.15) that “when Rabban GamliDel the Elder died, the glory
Rabban Gamaliel II: An Examination of the Sources,” Jour-
of the Torah ceased and purity and abstinence perished.”
nal of Jewish Studies 23 (Autumn 1972): 167–190. For a bi-
In Acts (5:34ff.), GamliDel (Gamaliel) pleads with fellow
ography that also examines the nonlegal traditions, see “Ga-
members of the Sanhedrin to free the apostles. Elsewhere in
maliDel ben ShimEon ha-neherag” in Aaron Hyman’s Toledot
tanna Dim ve-amoraDim (1910; reprint, Jerusalem, 1964).
Acts (22:3), Paul states that he was brought up “at the feet
of” GamliDel from whom he gained knowledge of the “ances-
New Sources
tral law.” The tendency has been to view these traditions in
Habas-Rubin, Ephrat. “Rabban Gamaliel of Yavneh and His
the context of Luke’s apologetic. The later, apocryphal
Sons: The Patriarchate before and after the Bar Kokhva Re-
volt.” Journal of Jewish Studies 50 (1999): 21–37.
Christian tradition transformed GamliDel into a secret Chris-
tian (Ps. Clement. Recog. 1:65–67) and into a martyr who
Hanna, Ralph, and David Lawton, eds. The Siege of Jerusalem. Ox-
died in the process of trying to defend and protect Stephen
ford, 2003.
(Discourse of Gregory, Priest of Antioch). There is also an apoc-
Neusner, Jacob. “Die Pharisäer vor und nach der Tempelzer-
ryphal, Gospel of Gamaliel, which relates events pertaining to
störung des Jahres 70 n.Chr.” In Tempelkult und Tempelzer-
störung: Festschrift für Clemens Thoma zum 60 Geburtstag, ed-
Good Friday.
ited by Simon Laur and Hanspeter Ernst, pp. 71–104. Bern
SEE ALSO Jewish Religious Year; Pharisees.
and New York, 1995.
DAVID KRAEMER (1987)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Revised Bibliography
The references to Rabban GamliDel the Elder in Talmudic litera-
ture are collected and analyzed in volumes 1 (pp. 341–376)
and 3 (pp. 272f., 314f.) of Jacob Neusner’s The Rabbinic
GAMLIDEL THE ELDER (fl. first half of the first cen-
Traditions about the Pharisees before 70, 3 vols. (Leiden,
tury
1971). Neusner questions GamliDel’s association with Beit
CE), properly Rabban (“our teacher”) GamliDel the
Hillel and regards him as more of a “public official” and lead-
Elder; the first Jewish teacher with this title. GamliDel was a
er within the Pharisees than a “sectarian authority” of that
son or grandson of Hillel and likewise was regarded in rab-
party. A discussion of GamliDel and some of the earlier assess-
binic tradition as a nasi D (head of the court). He is designated
ments of him appears in Alexander Guttmann’s Rabbinic Ju-
“the Elder” in Talmudic literature apparently to distinguish
daism in the Making: A Chapter in the History of the Halakhah
him from GamliDel of Yavneh (GamliDel II) with whom he
from Ezra to Judah I (Detroit, 1970), pp. 177–182. Informa-
is often confused, and he is referred to as a Pharisee and
tion on GamliDel in the Christian tradition can be found in
“teacher of the Law” in Acts of the Apostles (5:34).
volume 2 (pp. 367ff.) of Emil Schürer’s The History of the
Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ, 175
GamliDel appears frequently in tannaitic sources, where
B.C.–A.D. 135
(1901–1909), a new English version revised and edited by
his various taqqanot (enactments) are recorded. The follow-
Géza Vermès, Fergus Millar, and Matthew Black (Edin-
ing examples from Mishnah Gitt:in (4.2–3) were considered
burgh, 1979). Morton S. Enslin questions whether Paul ac-
“for the general welfare”:
tually “sat at Gamaliel’s feet” and the extent of his rabbinic
1. A man who wishes to invalidate a divorce document
training, in “Paul and Gamaliel,” Journal of Religion 7 (July
that he has already sent to his wife must convene a court
1927): 360–375. On GamliDel and the apologetic of Luke,
in her town rather than elsewhere. Otherwise she may
see Jeffrey A. Trumbower, “The Historical Jesus and the
Speech of Gamaliel (Acts 5:35–39),” New Testament Studies
mistakenly believe the document is still valid and re-
39.4 (1993): 500–517. For an in-depth discussion of the his-
marry.
torical issues pertaining to GamliDel and Paul, see Bruce Chil-
2. Both parties to a divorce are required to use all of the
ton’s dicussion in The Anchor Bible Dictionary, II (1992),
names by which they are known when signing the docu-
904–906.
ment.
STUART S. MILLER (1987 AND 2005)
3. All witnesses to the delivery of the document must sign
it.
These taanot were especially intended to benefit women.
GA¯N:APATYAS are a sect of Hindus who regard Gan:e´sa
Similarly, GamliDel permitted a woman to remarry based on
(Ganapati) as their supreme object of devotion. They view
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GANDHI, MOHANDAS
3271
Gan:e´sa, the elephant-faced son of S´iva and Parvati, as the
and the tradition of living deities in the shrine at Cincvad
form of ultimate reality (brahman) that is accessible to the
contributed largely to its religious significance in the region.
senses, the mind, and (through devotional practices)
In 1651 Moraya¯ Gosa¯v¯ı underwent j¯ıvansama¯dhi, or en-
the heart. Most Hindus worship Gan:e´sa along with other de-
tombment while alive, in a chamber beneath the shrine, and
ities because he is the god who overcomes obstacles and
thereby passed out of visible existence. Devotees believe he
makes rites and other undertakings effective. Ga¯n:apatyas
attained release (moks:a) from rebirth and that his presence
share this view but extend it to make Gan:e´sa their central
continues to endow the shrine with sacred significance. Sev-
deity, either as their family or clan patron-god (kuladevata¯)
eral of Moraya¯ Gosa¯v¯ı’s descendants are likewise enshrined
or their personal lord (is:t:adevata¯). Devotion in the first case
at Cincvad. Devotees come there both to honor the image
tends to be more formal and take place during specific cere-
of Gan:e´sa and receive its auspicious sight (dar´sana), and to
monies and festivals, while the second form of devotion is
worship the shrines of Moraya¯ Gosa¯v¯ı and his descendants.
more likely to be personal, informal, and intense.
Twice each year the priests at Cincvad, along with thou-
Although Ga¯n:apatyas may be found in many parts of
sands of devotees, take an image of Gan:e´sa from this shrine
India and from many castes, the sect has found its most artic-
to the temple at Moragaon, where Moraya¯ Gosa¯v¯ı received
ulated cultic expression in western India, in the Marathi-
his visions, about a hundred kilometers to the southeast. The
speaking region of Maharashtra, among high-caste Hindus.
second annual pilgrimage coincides with the intensely popu-
The sect rose to prominence in the region between the seven-
lar Gan:e´sa festival that is celebrated particularly in the towns
teenth and nineteenth centuries CE, during the rule of the
and cities of Maharashtra in August and September.
Marathas. Gan:e´sa worship is also important in South India,
Many Ga¯n:apatyas make periodic pilgrimages to receive
where a number of temples are dedicated to him.
the auspicious viewing of Gan:e´sa at his eight shrines. Devo-
Ga¯n:apatya groups first appeared between the sixth and
tees maintain that it is particularly salutary to visit all eight
ninth centuries CE, and worshiped their deity in various
shrines in a single pilgrimage.
forms according to the prevailing Brahmanic and Tantric
practices. Two Sanskrit Pura¯n:as, the Gan:e´sa and the Mud-
SEE ALSO Gan:e´sa; Marathi Religions.
gala, date from the twelfth and fourteenth centuries CE, re-
B
spectively. These Pura¯n:as recount and celebrate the myths
IBLIOGRAPHY
The works by Ga¯n:apatyas remain almost entirely untranslated
of Gan:e´sa’s triumphs over demons on behalf of the gods and
into Western languages. Part of the Gan:e´sa Pura¯n:a has been
his devotees. They also include instructions for ritual perfor-
translated and edited by Kiyoshi Yoroi in Gan:e´sag¯ıta¯: A
mance and hymns of praise. Since the seventeenth century
Study, Translation with Notes, and a Condensed Rendering of
there has been a steady flow of devotional literature in both
the Commentary of Nilakan:t:ha (The Hague, 1968). The most
Sanskrit and Marathi.
complete collection of Ga¯n:apatya literature and lore in
Marathi is Amarendra L. Gadgil’s S´r¯ı Gan:e´s Ko´s (Poona,
In Maharashtra, devotion to Gan:e´sa has centered
India, 1968). A survey of the Ga¯n:apatyas in the context of
around eight shrines (as:t:avina¯yakas) clustering around the
the myth and ritual traditions of Gan:e´sa can be found in my
city of Poona (Pune) and the nearby village of Cincvad, and
book Gan:e´sa: Lord of Obstacles, Lord of Beginnings (New
associated with Gan:e´sa’s most famous devotee, Moraya¯
York, 1985). Excellent discussions of the sect and its political
Gosa¯vi (d. 1651). For the past three centuries Cincvad has
significance appear in G. S. Ghurye’s Gods and Men (Bom-
served as the administrative center for the sect in the region.
bay, 1962) and in Laurence W. Preston’s “Subregional Reli-
The Ga¯n:apatya tradition enjoyed the patronage of Hindu,
gious Centres in the History of Maharashtra: The Sites Sa-
and at times Muslim, kings. The brahman Peshwas, the he-
cred to Ganesh,” in Images of Maharashtra: A Regional Profile
reditary rulers of the Maratha empire after the death of its
of India, edited by N. K. Wagle (Toronto, 1980).
founder, S´ivaj¯ı, contributed substantially to the construction
PAUL B. COURTRIGHT (1987)
of shrines and financing of rituals during the eighteenth and
early nineteenth centuries. That patronage continued for a
while under British rule, but gradually diminished and has
GANDHI, MOHANDAS (1869–1948), political
been replaced by contributions from the faithful. As
leader, social reformer, and religious visionary of modern
Gan:e´sa’s popularity among the masses of Hindus has in-
India. Although Gandhi initially achieved public notice as
creased in contemporary times, the Ga¯n:apatya shrines have
a leader of India’s nationalist movement and as a champion
prospered.
of nonviolent techniques for resolving conflicts, he was also
The sect regards Moraya¯ Gosa¯v¯ı as its spiritual progeni-
a religious innovator who did much to encourage the growth
tor. Tradition holds that Moraya¯ migrated from southern
of a reformed, liberal Hinduism in India. In the West, Gan-
India to the Gan:e´sa shrine at Moragaon (70 kilometers
dhi is venerated by many who seek an intercultural and so-
southeast of Poona), where he experienced a series of visions
cially conscious religion and see him as the representative of
of Gan:e´sa. In one vision Gan:e´sa told him that he would in-
a universal faith.
carnate himself in his devotee and remain in his lineage for
RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES ON GANDHI. Mohandas Karam-
seven generations. Moraya¯ Gosa¯v¯ı’s own religious charisma
chand Gandhi was born into a bania (merchant caste) family
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3272
GANDHI, MOHANDAS
in a religiously pluralistic area of western India—the Kathia-
ing that morality and spirituality are ultimately the
war Peninsula in the state of Gujarat. His parents were
same. This concept is the bedrock of Gandhi’s approach
Vais:n:ava Hindus who followed the Vallabha¯ca¯rya tradition
to conflict, satya¯graha, which requires a fighter to “hold
of loving devotion to Lord Kr:s:n:a. His father, Karamchand
firmly to truth.” While Gandhi did not further define
Uttamchand, the chief administrative officer of a princely
the term, he regarded the rule of ahim:sa¯ as the litmus
state, was not a very religious man, but his mother, Putalibai,
test that would determine where truth could be found.
became a follower of the region’s popular Pra¯na¯mi cult. This
2. Ahim:sa (“nonviolence”). This ancient Indian concept
group was founded in the eighteenth century by Mehraj
prohibiting physical violence was broadened by Gandhi
Thakore, known as Pra¯nan:a¯th (“master of the life force”),
to include any form of coercion or denigration. For
and was influenced by Islam. Pra¯nan:a¯th rejected all images
Gandhi, ahim:sa was a moral stance involving love for
of God and, like the famous fifteenth-century Hindu saint
and the affirmation of all life.
Narsinh Mehta, who came from the same region, advocated
a direct link with the divine, unmediated by priests and ritu-
3. Tapasya (“renunciation”). Gandhi’s asceticism was, in
al. This Protestant form of Hinduism seems to have been ac-
Max Weber’s terms, “worldly” and not removed from
cepted by Gandhi as normative throughout his life.
social and political involvements. To Gandhi, tapasya
meant not only the traditional requirements of simplici-
Other enduring religious influences from Gandhi’s
ty and purity in personal habits but also the willingness
childhood came from the Jains and Muslims who frequented
of a fighter to shoulder the burden of suffering in a con-
the family household. Gandhi’s closest childhood friend,
flict.
Mehtab, was a Muslim, and his spiritual mentor, Raychand-
bhai, was a Jain. Early contacts with Christian street evange-
4. Swaraj (“self-rule”). This term was often used during
lists in his home town of Porbandar, however, left Gandhi
India’s struggle for independence to signify freedom
unimpressed.
from the British, but Gandhi used it more broadly to
When Gandhi went to London to study law at the age
refer to an ideal of personal integrity. He regarded swa-
of nineteen he encountered forms of Christianity of quite a
raj as a worthy goal for the moral strivings of individuals
different sort. Respecting vows made to his mother, Gandhi
and nations alike, linking it to the notion of finding
sought meatless fare at a vegetarian restaurant, where his fel-
one’s inner self.
low diners were a motly mix of Theosophists, Fabian Social-
In addition to these concepts, Gandhi affirmed the tradition-
ists, and Christian visionaries who were followers of Tolstoi.
al Hindu notions of karman and dharma. Even though Gan-
These esoteric and socialist forms of Western spirtuality
dhi never systematized these ideas, when taken together they
made a deep impression on Gandhi and encouraged him to
form a coherent theological position. Gandhi’s copious writ-
look for parallels in the Hindu tradition.
ings are almost entirely in the form of letters and short essays
When, in 1893, Gandhi settled in South Africa as a law-
in the newspapers and journals he published. These writings
yer (initially serving in a Muslim firm), he was impressed by
and the accounts of Gandhi’s life show that he had very little
a Trappist monastery he visited near Durban. He soon set
interest in what is sometimes regarded as emblematic of Hin-
up a series of ashrams (religious retreat centers) supported by
duism: its colorful anthropomorphic deities and its reliance
Hermann Kallenbach, a South African architect of Jewish
upon the rituals performed by Brahmanic priests.
background, whom Gandhi had met through Theosophical
It is not his rejection of these elements of Hindu culture
circles. Gandhi named one of his communities Tolstoi Farm
that makes Gandhi innovative, however, for they are also
in honor of the Christian utopian with whom he had devel-
omitted by the leaders of many other sects and movements
oped a lively correspondence. While in South Africa Gandhi
in modern India. What is distinctive about Gandhi’s Hindu-
first met C. F. Andrews, the Anglican missionary to India
ism is his emphasis on social ethics as an integral part of the
who had become an emissary of Indian nationalist leaders
faith, a shift of emphasis that carries with it many conceptual
and who eventually became Gandhi’s lifelong friend and
changes as well. Gandhi’s innovations include the use of the
confidant. It was through Andrews that Gandhi met the In-
concept of truth as a basis for moral and political action, the
dian poet Rabindranath Tagore in 1915, after Gandhi had
equation of nonviolence with the Christian notion of selfless
returned to India to join the growing nationalist movement.
love, the broadening of the concept of karmayoga to include
Tagore, following the practice of Theosophists in South Afri-
social service and political action, the redefinition of un-
ca, designated Gandhi a mahatma, or “great soul.”
touchability and the elevation of untouchables’ tasks, and the
GANDHI’S RELIGIOUS THOUGHT. Although the influences
hope for a more perfect world even in this present age of
on Gandhi’s religious thought are varied—from the Sermon
darkness (kaliyuga).
on the Mount to the Bhagavadg¯ıta¯—his ideas are surprising-
Gandhi’s religious practices, like his ideas, combined
ly consistent. Gandhi considered them to be Hindu, and in
both social and spiritual elements. In addition to his daily
fact, they are all firmly rooted in the Indian religious tradi-
prayers, consisting of a simple service of readings and silent
tion. His main ideas include the following.
contemplation, he regarded his daily practice of spinning
1. Satya (“truth”). Gandhi equated truth with God, imply-
cotton as a form of mediation and his campaigns for social
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GAN:ES´A
3273
reform as sacrifices more efficacious than those made by
scribed in Lloyd I. Rudolph and Susanne Hoeber Rudolph’s
priests at the altar. After Gandhi retired from politics in
Gandhi: The Traditional Roots of Charisma (Chicago, 1983),
1933, he took as his central theme the campaign for the up-
and his image as a universal saint is discussed in my essay “St.
lift of untouchables, whom he called harijans (“people of
Gandhi,” in Saints and Virtues, edited by John Stratton Haw-
God”). Other concerns included the protection of cows,
ley (Berkeley, 1986).
moral education, and the reconciliation of Hindus and Mus-
MARK JUERGENSMEYER (1987 AND 2005)
lims. The latter was especially important to Gandhi during
the turmoil precipitated by India’s independence, when the
subcontinent was divided along religious lines. It was opposi-
tion to Gandhi’s cries for religious tolerance that led to his
GAN:ES´A (“lord of the group”) is the elephant-headed
assassination, on January 30, 1948, by a fanatical member
Hindu deity. Also called Vina¯yaka (“leader”), Gaja¯nana
of the Hindu right wing.
(“elephant-faced”), Gan:a¯dhipa (“lord of the group”), Eka-
G
danta (“one-tusked”), Lambodara (“potbellied”), Vighnara¯ja
ANDHI’S LEGACY. Since Gandhi’s death, neither Indian so-
ciety nor Hindu belief has been restructured along Gandhian
(“lord of obstacles”), and Siddhada¯ta (“giver of success”), he
lines, but the Gandhian approach has been kept alive in
is the son of S´iva and Pa¯rvat¯ı, and leader of S´iva’s group of
India through the Sarvodaya movement, for which Vinoba
attendants (gan:as). His special province within the Hindu
Bhave has provided the spiritual leadership, and Jaya Prakash
pantheon is to remove and create obstacles to various under-
Narayan the political. Gandhi has provided the inspiration
takings. His images are found both in temples dedicated ex-
for religious and social activists in other parts of the world
clusively to him and, more frequently, as doorway guardians
as well. These include Martin Luther King, Jr., and Joan
of temples to other deities, especially S´iva and Pa¯rvat¯ı.
Baez in the United States, E. M. Schumacher in England,
Gan:e´sa enjoys widespread devotion from Hindus of various
Danilo Dolci in Sicily, Albert Luthuli in South Africa, Lanza
sectarian affiliations and ranks. Hindus who regard him as
del Vasto in France, and A. T. Ariyaratna in Sri Lanka.
their principal deity of devotion are called Gan:apatyas; they
are located primarily in southern and western India.
Over the years, the image of Gandhi has loomed larger
Gan:e´sa’s historical origins are obscure. Early Vedic liter-
than life, and he is popularly portrayed as an international
atures refer to a Gan:apati (“lord of the group”) and to Hasti-
saint. This canonization of Gandhi began in the West with
mukha (“elephant-faced”), and devotees regard these refer-
the writings of an American Unitarian pastor, John Haynes
ences as evidence for Gan:e´sa’s Vedic roots. It is more likely
Holmes, who in 1921 proclaimed Gandhi “the greatest man
that these epithets refer to Br:haspati, Indra, or S´iva. Numis-
in the world today.” It continues in an unabated flow of
matic evidence suggests that Gan:e´sa originated in the first
homiletic writings and films, including David Attenbo-
century
rough’s Gandhi, one of the most widely seen motion pictures
CE. Sculptural evidence places his entry into the
Hindu pantheon about four centuries later. Literarily and
in history. At the core of this Gandhian hagiography lies the
iconographically, Gan:e´sa is well established in myth and cult
enduring and appealing image of a man who was able to
by the fifth century within the general framework of Saivism,
achieve a significant religious goal: the ability to live simulta-
although he receives worship by Hindus of various devotion-
neously a life of moral action and spiritual fulfillment. For
al and sectarian orientations for his general role as the over-
that reason Gandhi continues to serve as an inspiration for
comer of obstacles.
a humane and socially engaged form of religion in India and
throughout the world.
Gan:e´sa’s mythology centers on several themes: his birth,
beheading and restoration, lordship over the gan:as, associa-
SEE ALSO Ahim:sa; Bhave, Vinoba; King, Martin Luther, Jr.;
tions with demons, and powers as creator and remover of ob-
Tagore, Rabindranath.
stacles. Stories in the Pura¯n:as and vernacular folklore tradi-
tions tell of occasions when Pa¯rvat¯ı created Gan:e´sa out of
BIBLIOGRAPHY
the substance, sometimes called mala (“dirt”) or lepa
Gandhi’s own writings are assembled in his Collected Works, 89
(“rubbing”), rubbed off the surface of her body and formed
vols. (Delhi, 1958–1983). Many briefer anthologies are
into the shape of a handsome youth. Once, while S´iva was
available, however, including The Gandhi Reader, edited by
absent and deep in meditation, Pa¯rvat¯ı commanded this
Homer Jack (New York, 1961). A reliable biography is Ju-
young man to guard her private quarters from all intruders.
dith Brown’s Gandhi: Prisoner of Hope (New Haven, Conn.,
When S´iva returned and sought entry into Pa¯rvat¯ı’s pres-
1989). The religious ideas of Gandhi are best explored in
ence, the young man barred the door. During the battle that
Margaret Chatterjee’s Gandhi’s Religious Thought (Notre
followed, S´iva beheaded the youth. Pa¯rvat¯ı became angry
Dame, Ind., 1983) and Raghavan Iyer’s The Moral and Polit-
and demanded that S´iva restore him at once. S´iva sent out
ical Thought of Mahatma Gandhi (New York, 1973). The
concept of satya¯graha is explicated and put into comparative
his group of attendants (gan:as) to find the first available
perspective in Joan Bondurant’s Conquest of Violence: The
head, which happened to belong to an elephant. S´iva re-
Gandhian Philosophy of Conflict, rev. ed. (Berkeley, 1965),
stored the youth with the elephant’s head and gave him com-
and my Gandhi’s Way: A Handbook of Conflict Resolution
mand over his group of gan:as, thus naming him Gan:apati
(Berkeley,Calif., 2003). Gandhi’s saintly politics are de-
or Gan:e´sa, Lord of the Group. S´iva also told all gods and
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3274
GANGES RIVER
brahmans that Gan:e´sa must be worshiped first before all
all, she is the symbol par excellence of purity and the purifying
other undertakings, ritual or otherwise, or else their efforts
power of the sacred. These affective and symbolic values of
would come to ruin.
the Ganges hold true for all Hindus, irrespective of sectarian
Gan:e´sa is also called Vina¯yaka, meaning “leader.” The
differences.
early Dharmasu¯tra literature, predating the above-
CELEBRATION OF THE GODDESS-RIVER. According to
mentioned myths of Gan:e´sa, describes rituals prescribed to
Hindu belief, the Ganges purifies all that she touches. Her
ward off vina¯yakas, evil demons who possess their victims
entire course is a pilgrimage route for the faithful. Millions
and cause them to act in strange and inauspicious ways.
of Hindus visit the preeminent t¯ırthas (“crossings,” places of
Gan:e´sa’s dwarfish torso resembles the iconography of these
pilgrimage) that mark her path: the source at Gangotri;
vina¯yakas. Some scholars have suggested that Gan:e´sa may
Hardwar (also called Gan˙ga¯dva¯ra, “gateway of the Ganges”),
originally have been a member of this class of demons but
where the river enters the plain; Praya¯g (present-day Allah-
gradually achieved brahmanical recognition and gained ad-
abad), where she joins both the holy Yamnua¯ (Jumna) and
mittance into its pantheon as the son of S´iva and Pa¯rvat¯ı.
the mythical river Sarasvat¯ı, thus earning the name Triven:¯ı
In receiving the head of the elephant, Gan:e´sa also takes
(“river of three currents”); Ka¯´s¯ı (Banaras), abode of the god
on some of the symbolism associated with elephants in Indi-
S´iva and the holiest city of the Hindus; and Gan˙ga¯sagar,
an culture. Elephant motifs frequently are found at the bases
where the Ganges enters the sea. Pilgrims go to these places
of temples, appearing to hold up the massive edifices. Ele-
to bathe in the Ganges, to drink her water, to worship the
phants guard the doors of temples and serve as the vehicles
river, and to chant her holy name. Especially in Banaras,
for deities and royalty. Gan:e´sa also serves in these protective
many come to cremate their kin, to deposit the ashes of the
capacities as the remover and placer of obstacles.
dead in the river, or to perform religious rites for their ances-
tors. Some come to spend their last days on the banks of the
SEE ALSO Elephants; Gan:apatyas.
river, to die there and thus “cross over” the ocean of birth
and death. Holy men, widows, and others who have dedicat-
B
ed themselves to the contemplative life live in numbers in
IBLIOGRAPHY
Courtright, Paul B. Gan:e´sa: Lord of Obstacles, Lord of Beginnings.
the sacred places along the Ganges. They in turn attract mil-
New York, 1985. A detailed survey of the myths and rituals
lions who congregate at periodic festivals and fairs, the great-
surrounding the figures of Gan:e´sa in classical Sanskrit
est of which is the Kumbha Mela¯, celebrated every twelve
sources and contemporary western India (Maharashtra).
years in Praya¯g. All who come to the Ganges come in the
Getty, Alice. Gan:e´sa: A Monograph on the Elephant-Faced God.
firm belief that bathing in this river, even the mere sight of
Oxford, 1936. A study of the myth and iconography of
Mother Gan˙ga¯, will cleanse them of their sins, taking them
Gan:e´sa in India, Southeast Asia, and East Asia.
a step nearer to final release (moks:a). Those who cannot make
the trip can partake of the river’s sacred water from the sealed
New Sources
Ganesh: Studies of an Asian God. Robert L. Brown, editor. Albany,
jars that pilgrims carry home. Ganges water is given to partic-
1991.
ipants and guests at weddings, as well as to the sick and the
dying; it validates Hindu oaths; and in an ancient daily rite,
Ganesh, the Benevolent. Edited by Pratapaditya Pal. Bombay,
every devout Hindu invokes the Ganges, along with the
1995.
other sacred rivers, to be present in the water in which he
Grewal, Royina. The Book of Ganesh. New Delhi; New York,
bathes. The purifying powers of the Ganges are great indeed.
2001.
T
Grimes, John A. Ganapati: Song of the Self. Albany, 1995.
HE GANGES IN MYTHOLOGY AND ICONOGRAPHY. The
Vedic Aryans celebrated the Indus, not the Ganges, and her
Karunakaran, Rankorath. The Riddle of Ganesha. Bombay, 1992.
tributaries as their “seven sacred rivers.” It is in the epics
Nagar, Shanti Lal. The Cult of Vinayaka. New Delhi, 1992.
Maha¯bha¯rata and Ra¯ma¯yan:a (roughly fourth century BCE),
Shakunthala Jagannathan. Ganesha, the Auspicious, the Beginning.
which reflect Aryan settlement in the Ganges Plain, that the
1992.
Ganges takes her place at the head of seven holy rivers that
P
are now geographically spread over all of India. The principal
AUL B. COURTRIGHT (1987)
Revised Bibliography
myths of the Ganges are found in the epics and the Pura¯n:as
(mythological texts that include the lore of sacred places),
and in Sanskrit hymns of praise such as the Ga¯n˙ga¯lahar¯ı
(The waves of the Ganges) by the seventeenth-century poet
GANGES RIVER. The Ganges (Gan˙ga¯), considered the
Jaganna¯tha. The central myth of the Ganges is the story of
holiest of India’s rivers, is 1,560 miles long. Rising at Gan-
her descent (avata¯ra, avataran:a) from heaven to earth, a story
gotri in the Himalayas, this great river flows through the
narrated with variations in several texts (Ra¯ma¯yan:a, “Ba¯la
North Indian plain and into the Bay of Bengal. To Hindus,
Ka¯n:d:a” 38–44; Maha¯bha¯rata 3.104–108; Skanda Pura¯n:a,
the Ganges is the archetype of all sacred waters; she is a god-
“Ka¯´s¯ı Khan:d:a” 30). In response to the great and steadfast
dess, Mother Gan˙ga¯ (Gan˙ga¯ Ma¯ta¯), representative of the life-
penance of King Bhag¯ıratha, the sky-river Ganges agreed to
giving maternal waters of the ancient Vedic hymns; above
descend to earth in order to purify the ashes of the sixty thou-
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

GANJIN
3275
sand sons of Bhag¯ıratha’s ancestor Sagara, who had been
BIBLIOGRAPHY
burned by the wrath of a sage (Kapila) whom they had of-
Diana L. Eck’s essay entitled “Gan˙ga¯: The Goddess in Hindu Sa-
fended. The great ascetic god S´iva caught the falling stream
cred Geography,” in The Divine Consort: Ra¯dha¯ and the God-
in his matted hair in order to soften the blow on earth; the
desses of India, edited by John Stratton Hawley and Donna
Ganges followed Bhag¯ıratha to the sea, whence she flowed
M. Wulff (Berkeley, Calif., 1982), pp. 166–183, is the best
into the netherworld to fulfill her mission. This myth ex-
introduction to the religious significance of the Ganges in
Hinduism. The same author has a good discussion of the
plains several of the Ganges’s names, including Bha¯g¯ırath¯ı
Ganges in the context of Ka¯´s¯ı, the holy city of the Hindus,
(“she who descended at Bhag¯ıratha’s request”) and
in chapter 5 of Banaras: City of Light (New York, 1982).
Tripathaga¯min¯ı (“she who flows through the three worlds”).
Spectacular visual images of the Ganges and the life along her
The descent of the Ganges is the subject of a famous seventh-
banks, accompanied by a highly informative and readable in-
century rock sculpture at Mahabalipuram in South India.
troductory text, may be found in Gan˙ga¯: Sacred River of
India, photographs by Raghubir Singh, introduction by Eric
In the Vais:n:ava version of the descent myth, the Ganges
Newby (Hong Kong, 1974). Steven G. Darian’s The Ganges
is said to have descended when Vis:n:u, as Trivikrama who
in Myth and History (Honolulu, 1978) is a solid, well-
measured heaven and earth, pierced the vault of heaven with
written, well-illustrated historical study of the many dimen-
his upraised foot. The association of the river with both great
sions of the Ganges. Finally, Heinrich von Stietencron’s
gods of Hinduism points to the universality of the Ganges
Gan˙ga¯ und Yamnua¯: Zur symbolischen Bedeutung der Flussgöt-
in Hinduism. In minor myths the river is portrayed as the
tinnen an indischen Tempeln (Wiesbaden, 1972) is an excel-
mother of the Maha¯bha¯rata hero Bh¯ıs:ma and the mother of
lent scholarly work on the symbolism of the iconography of
Skanda-Ka¯rttikeya, who was born from S´iva’s seed flung into
the great river-goddesses in Hinduism.
the Ganges.
INDIRA VISWANATHAN PETERSON (1987)
The Ganges’ most sustained association is with the god
S´iva himself. Not only does she flow through his hair, she
is considered to be his wife, along with Pa¯rvat¯ı, the other
GANJIN (Chin., Jianzhen; 688–763) was a Buddhist
daughter of the god of the Himalaya, Himavat. As powerful
Vinaya master from China who introduced procedures for
river and goddess-consort, the Ganges is ´sakti, the feminine
ordaining Buddhist clergy into Japan and who established
energy of the universe, and the female aspect of the androgy-
the Risshu, or Vinaya school, of Buddhism there. Ganjin’s
nous S´iva. Like S´iva and the ambrosial moon on his head,
birthplace was Yangzhou, a prosperous shipping town in
the Ganges—whose life-sustaining ambrosial waters flow
eastern China. There he underwent tonsure at a local temple
from the realm of the moon—is connected with both life and
in 701. Four years later he received the bodhisattva precepts,
death.
a set of vows administered as a sign of devotion to Maha¯ya¯na
Buddhist principles.
The themes of purification, life, and death that appear
At the age of nineteen, Ganjin traveled to China’s tradi-
in the myths and rites associated with the Ganges are also
tional capitals of Luoyang and Chang’an to study at the
expressed in her iconography, especially in the representation
major centers of Buddhist learning. His primary field of
of the Gan˙ga¯ and Yamnua¯ as goddesses carved on either side
training was Vinaya, the ancient rules and procedures gov-
of the entrances of Hindu temples of the medieval period
erning the life and behavior of Buddhist priests and nuns.
(roughly from the fifth to the eleventh century CE). Ancient
Interest in the Vinaya had peaked in China a century earlier,
symbols of fertility (trees, vegetation, overflowing pots, the
and a formal school, the Lüzong, was established to preserve
female herself) appear in these images; yet the Ganges rides
and promote clerical practices based on the Sifenlü (T.D. no.
on a makara (“crocodile”), who represents the dangers of
1428), the version of the Vinaya inherited from the Dhar-
death as well as the abundance of life. As “goddess of the
maguptaka school of India. This Vinaya, which lists 250 pre-
threshold” the Ganges no doubt initiates, purifies, and bless-
cepts for priests and 348 for nuns, was H¯ınaya¯na in origin,
es with worldly prosperity the devotee who enters the sacred
but it became the basis for ordination and clerical discipline
realm of the temple; at the same time, in the esoteric symbol-
in the overwhelmingly Maha¯ya¯na schools of China and
ism of Yoga and Tantra, the river-goddess is said to represent
Japan. Ganjin himself took the 250 precepts at the time of
id:a¯, one of the na¯d:¯ıs (subtle channels) through which one’s
his full ordination in 708, a year after his arrival in Chang’an.
energy is activated in order to achieve the supreme realization
In 713, at the age of twenty-five, he returned to Yangzhou
of the self—final release from worldly existence. However,
and began his own career as a Vinaya master. Over the next
in the last analysis, for the average Hindu it is not a matter
thirty years Ganjin distinguished himself as one of the most
of esoteric interpretation but of simple faith—reinforced by
eminent Buddhist teachers in central China. He is said to
popular texts—that the goddess-river Ganges is the most ac-
have ordained more than 40,000 priests during his career
cessible and powerful agent of salvation available to him or
and to have conducted formal lectures on the Vinaya on 130
her in the kaliyuga, the present dark and degraded age of hu-
occasions.
mankind.
In 733 the Japanese imperial court sent two Buddhist
SEE ALSO Banaras; Kumbha Mela¯; S´iva.
priests, Eiei and Fusho¯, to China to enlist Vinaya masters to
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3276
GARDENS: AN OVERVIEW
administer ordinations in Japan. There was great concern in
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Japan that all the ordinations performed up to that time were
The most important work in Western languages on Ganjin is a
not valid, because the requisite number of duly ordained
French study by Takakusu Junjiro¯, “Le voyage de Kanshin
priests prescribed by the Vinaya had never been present to
en Orient, 742–754,” Bulletin de l’École Française d’Extrême-
Orient 28 (1928): 1–41 and 29 (1929): 47–62. This is a
officiate. The Japanese felt it important to rectify this breach.
translation of a biography written in 779 by the Japanese
Authentic ordination, they believed, made the clergy legiti-
scholar Mabito Genkai entitled To¯ Daiwajo¯ To¯sei den (T.D.
mate heirs of the Buddha’s teachings and endowed them
no. 2089). In Japanese there are numerous studies of Ganjin,
with religious and worldly power to act in behalf of Bud-
including Ishida Mizumaro’s Ganjin: Sono shiso¯ to sho¯gai
dhism. Eiei and Fusho¯ first succeeded in recruiting a young
(Tokyo, 1958) and Ando Ko¯sei’s Ganjin Wajo¯, “Jinbutsu
Vinaya master named Daoxuan from Luoyang. He arrived
sosho,” no. 146 (Tokyo, 1967).
in Japan in 736, but was hampered in conducting ordina-
JAMES C. DOBBINS (1987)
tions for lack of the required number of ordained partici-
pants. In 742 they went to Yangzhou to seek Ganjin’s assis-
tance. He too was sympathetic, and he resolved to travel to
Japan himself to oversee ordinations. But the path leading
GARDENS
Ganjin to Japan was long and treacherous, involving five un-
This entry consists of the following articles:
successful voyages thwarted by pirates, shipwreck, and arrest
AN OVERVIEW
GARDENS IN INDIGENOUS TRADITIONS
by civil authorities. During the course of these events Ganjin
ISLAMIC GARDENS
lost his eyesight and Eiei lost his life. Finally, in 753, on his
sixth attempt, Ganjin reached the shores of Japan accompa-
nied by twenty-four disciples whose participation would vali-
GARDENS: AN OVERVIEW
date ordination ceremonies. Ganjin was sixty-five years old
Gardens are enclosed spaces, distinguished from the fields
at the time.
where staple crops are grown and from the rocks, forests,
marshes, and tundra of the wilderness. There are zoological
In early 754 Ganjin and his entourage were welcomed
gardens, and parks for animals, but plant gardens do not usu-
into the Japanese capital of Nara with great fanfare. Within
ally find room for more than a few colorful birds and fish.
weeks he set up a temporary ordination platform at the
The transcendental feelings inspired by ornamental gardens
To¯daiji, the imperial temple in the capital, and performed
may be divided into Western and Eastern categories, with
the first proper ordination on Japanese soil. The following
“Western” understood broadly as encompassing traditions
year he established a permanent ordination platform at the
associated not only with Christianity but also with Islam,
To¯daiji, all according to the meticulous specifications of the
and with the geographical line dividing Western from East-
Vinaya tradition in China. The establishment of specific lo-
ern running through the subcontinent of India. In the West,
cations for ordination had the effect of tightening control
nature has traditionally been conceived of as something to
over the clergy, because entrance into the priesthood could
be conquered, and religious thought runs to extremes: the
be regulated by those overseeing ordination. This centraliz-
Day of Judgment, the triumph of the good, and the annihila-
ing of authority, as well as the Vinaya’s emphasis on strict
tion of evil. In the East, many religious traditions have
discipline, suited the government’s desire to harness Bud-
sought to accommodate human beings to the world around
dhism for its own interests. Ganjin, as the preeminent figure
them and to comprehend dualisms within an overarching
in this ordination process, was named to the So¯go¯ council,
whole. These differences find expression in the formal gar-
the ecclesiastical body responsible to the government for
dening of the West and in the landscape gardening of the
Buddhism’s activities. He served in this capacity from 756
East, and perhaps also in the fact that Western gardens are
until his resignation in 758. A year later Ganjin was granted
made for walking in, while Eastern ones are for sitting in,
land on which to build his own temple. He constructed the
with separate pavillions for painting, composing poetry,
To¯sho¯daiji and spent the remaining four years of his life
practicing one’s calligraphy, and (in recent centuries) drink-
there instructing priests in the intricacies of the Vinaya.
ing tea.
These followers formed the core of the Risshu in Japan. Gan-
WESTERN RECREATIONAL GARDENS. The religions that in-
jin died at the To¯sho¯daiji in 763 at the age of seventy-five.
herited the traditions of the Old Testament, namely, Islam
His great contribution to Japan was the institution of ordina-
and Christianity, were founded in the desert. Their scrip-
tion procedures and the delineation of clerical discipline.
tures dwelt on the life-giving properties of water, foliage that
This model of discipline was later challenged by Saicho¯, who
was refreshing to the eye, and shade that was restful for the
sought to substitute the bodhisattva vows of Maha¯ya¯na for
body. A man was blessed by being told he would be “like a
the clerical precepts of H¯ınaya¯na. Nonetheless, Ganjin’s sys-
watered garden” (Isa. 58:11) and cursed with the prospect
tem persisted alongside Saicho¯’s as the traditional path of or-
of becoming “as a garden that hath no water” (Isa. 1:30).
dination in early Japanese Buddhism.
Wells and fountains quickened plant growth, and the trees
that water brought to life provided both nourishment and
SEE ALSO Saicho¯; Vinaya.
fuel. Christians valued green herbs for their medicinal prop-
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

GARDENS: AN OVERVIEW
3277
erties, and in seventeenth-century England Andrew Marvell
from God’s wrath. In both Islam and Christianity this kind
envisaged paradise as “a green thought in a green shade.”
of imagery led writers like Ra¯biEah al-EAdaw¯ıyah (d. 801 CE)
Green became the color of Islam itself, and a just king, as
to speak of “the real gardens and flowers” being “within.” It
the Mughal emperor Akbar said when he invaded Kashmir
was only when people’s stonelike nature had been broken
in 1585 BCE, enabled his subjects to sit in the shade of tran-
down into dust by affliction that their hearts could become
quillity. Above all, the influence of the desert environment
gardens blessed by rain and have roses grow out of them.
appeared in the way in which, in the West, the garden was
The early symbolism of the garden in Islam ran parallel
seen as an oasis, in stark contrast to the barren wastes outside.
to that in Christianity, though the Muslim Paradise, with its
The sense of the faith, or of the church, as an enclosure, a
h:u¯r¯ıs, its green brocades, and its nonintoxicating wines, was
refuge from a hostile environment, was paramount (though
painted in more literal detail than the Christian Heaven.
a missionary church might be described as a garden without
Where Christian tradition diverged from Islam was in the
walls). Confusingly, there was another more puritanical tra-
identification of the garden with specific occasions in the life
dition in which the roles were reversed, and the garden, with
of Christ. The “garden enclosed” of the Song of Songs was in-
its luxury, was condemned as the scene of temptation, while
terpreted to refer to the Virgin Mary, whose womb was an
the wilderness was celebrated as the true garden.
oasis so select that none but the Holy Spirit could enter in.
Gardeners, inspired by the supposition of a Garden of
Adam had been a gardener. Through Adam, death came into
Eden at the beginning of history, aimed to re-create the con-
the world. Christ, who had conquered death, therefore made
ditions thought to have existed in the original garden, with
his first appearance after the resurrection dressed in a garden-
its mild climate and its never-failing supply of flowers and
er’s clothes.
fruit. The gardener brought order out of chaos, and gardens
EASTERN COSMIC GARDENS. In China and Japan, both the
were laid out in regular patterns, with right angles and
awesome mountains and the streams that issued from them
straight lines to extend humankind’s dominion over fallen
were thought to be possessed by spirits, and they were con-
nature. Both the Garden of Eden and the future Heaven
sidered to be alive, like plants, animals, and human beings
were commonly conceived of as formal gardens. The tradi-
themselves. Space was organized from the center outward,
tion that Eden was watered by four rivers led Muslim garden-
and gardens were designed by professional geomancers, who
ers from Persia to Spain tenaciously to reproduce the chahar
surveyed the spiritual contours of the sites according to the
bagh, a rectangular enclosure divided into four quarters by
science of feng-shui. The selection of rocks was a matter for
two streams crossing at right angles. It was an approach that
the connoisseur. Everything was conceived within a mindset
combined easily with humanist ideas—derived from the clas-
that has been called universisme, and the primary objective
sical civilizations of Persia, Greece, and Rome—of the regu-
of landscape gardening was to raise people’s understanding
lar pattern as the triumph of human intelligence and of ab-
to the level of the cosmos. This was achieved through the art
stract principles of mathematics and law. In Europe, plans
of shan shui. Rocks, pools, and streams were said to represent
of grounds attached to a Roman villa, to a medieval monas-
the physical geography of a region, such as the mountains
tery, or to a Renaissance palace are not dissimilar, and it is
of Central Asia and the seas of the eastern coast, or (in Daoist
not always easy to disentangle spiritual influences from secu-
philosophy) the skeleton of the whole earth and the arteries
lar ones, though it seems safe to say that the inspiration be-
that nourished it. To the Buddhist, the garden furnished a
hind the greatest of all geometrical gardens, at Versailles, was
lesson on time. The flowers opened and withered within in
at least half worldly.
a month. The seasons revolved. But stone decayed on a far
longer time scale that turned the present into a moving infin-
Where religious influences predominated every plant
ity. The symbolism was as varied and extensible as the clouds
was imbued with symbolic spiritual meaning. Trees opened
that gathered around the mountain peaks.
their arms in the gesture of the prayer of supplication, and
the branches of an orchard bowed toward God. The silver
The garden contained both friendly and unfriendly spir-
on the topside of the leaves of the poplar reflected the light
its. But threatening spirits were not persecuted as they might
of heaven, while the dark side beneath served as a reminder
have been in the West: they were either left undisturbed (for
of earth—or hell. The cypress (represented in so many cen-
example, by not digging the ground too deeply) or frustrated
tral Asian carpets) stood both for mortality, because it did
(as in the case of the demons who traveled in straight lines,
not sprout when felled, and for everlasting life, because it was
who were thwarted through the construction of zigzag brid-
evergreen. The violet genuflected. The lily epitomized the
ges). The universe, like the garden, was influenced by rival
purity and the pomegranate the fruitfulness of a woman.
but related forces. The Chinese spoke of the yin and the yang,
Muslims believed that the rose, which enjoys primacy of es-
the Japanese of the in and the yo. Yin was female, passive,
teem among Western gardeners, had been created from a
and weak; yang was male, active, and virile. In China, moun-
drop of perspiration that fell from the Prophet’s forehead as
tains were male, pools female; hence a mountain stood for
he was carried up into Heaven. The rosebush prayed stand-
intelligence, a lake for feeling. In Japan the more stylized gar-
ing upright, and the fragrant flowers budding among its
dens sometimes contained both male and female rocks—five
thorns were interpreted as tokens of God’s mercy emerging
erect, four recumbent. In both countries, gardens expressed
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3278
GARDENS: AN OVERVIEW
conceptions about youth and age, growth and decay.The
was to imitate the Hang painter Wu Daozi, who is said to
trunk of the tree upon which the “youthful” plum blossom
have entered into the scene he had created, merged with his
hung resembled an old person’s body, crooked and bent.
masterpiece, and been seen no more.
Flowers were esteemed for being “as lovely in their withering
SUBSISTENCE GARDENS. In recreational and cosmic gardens,
as in their first florescence,” and the samurai were compared
long-lived trees, graceful foliage, and fragrant flowers have
to the blossom of the cherry—having a short life and an ex-
provided abundant material for religious symbolism. Or-
quisite end. The Yuan Ye (a treatise on gardening, dating
chards and fruit gardens, in which beauty and utility are
from the end of the Ming period) records that “when a re-
combined, have also inspired their share of spiritual imagery,
markable tree was about to bloom,” people moved their beds
and the Bible contains many allegories concerning vines, figs,
outdoors in order that they might be able to observe how the
olives, and palms. Herb gardens and physic (medicinal) gar-
flowers expanded “from childhood to maturity and finally
dens have contributed their quota. But the kitchen garden,
faded and died.”
which supplies so much, does not seem to feed the imagina-
tion, and the Bible includes only one reference to the cucum-
Nowhere is the contrast between East and West more
bers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic that the Israelites re-
apparent than in their respective attitudes to night and
membered having eaten in Egypt (Num. 11:5). The planting
moonlight. In the West, day was connected symbolically
at Villandry shows how even the dominant tradition of clas-
with good, night with evil. The creatures that moved by
sical French parterre gardening can be reinterpreted in terms
night, such as bats, owls, and foxes, were repellent, ominous,
of the potager. But this is an exception. In both West and
or crafty, and the moon was contemned as a second-rate lu-
East, class values have prevailed. The norm among aristocra-
minary. In China, on the other hand, day and night were ac-
cies, and even among the middle classes, has been to place
corded equal status, and night was said to raise men and
the vegetable garden out of sight. Historically, priests of all
women to the stars. Pavilions were built and furnished for
religions have kept their hands clean and been supported
the contemplation of the moon, Chinese poets sang of the
from the surplus created by the population at large. Monastic
moonlight “washing its soul” in the garden pool, and the
communities, withdrawn from the world, are the only ones
Yuan Ye encouraged its readers to look forward to the day
to have embraced manual labor as a providential discipline.
when they might even “dig in the moon[light] on the top
In both West and East, Benedictine and Zen Buddhist
of a mountain.”
monks have placed gardening upon a par with prayer and
In the East a miniature garden might be esteemed as
meditation and supported themselves by growing their own
highly as an estate, and (as in the West) it was sometimes said
food. Much of the virtue lies in the humble nature of the
that it was not necessary to own a property at all. Fictive gar-
work.
dens were held in high regard, and the most perfect garden
Real-life peasants and laborers, on the other hand, with
of all was “the garden that isn’t really here”—the one that
families to feed, know that in temperate latitudes the skills
existed only in the imagination. Real or imaginary, the gar-
involved in planning and maintaining a subsistence garden
den was recognized as a representation of people’s own lives
are greater than those called for in a recreational or cosmic
containing symbols of the qualities respected in a human
garden, because most of the edible plants are annuals. There
being. The cedar, resisting the storm, represented the be-
is little time to compensate for failures, and sowings must
holder’s own struggle with adversity, and the chrysanthe-
succeed or the family will go without. The labor is unremit-
mum, which braved the autumn frosts, was admired for its
ting, and, understandably, the rewards are associated with
courage. Death itself lost some of its terrors when understood
the satisfaction of the stomach rather than the refinement of
in the context of a continuous cycle of decay and regrowth.
the soul. Things are different in parts of the tropics where
Much of Chinese gardening sought to encourage acceptance
three crops may be harvested in a year and the division be-
of humanity’s lot. But gardens in the East could also express
tween extensive fields and intensive gardens breaks down.
a yearning for transcendence. Daoists spoke of the Blessed
There, the subsistence garden may assume an idealized form.
Isles of the Eastern Sea, and many Buddhists have believed
All over Southeast Asia, where high levels of light, heat, and
in a land, presided over by the Amida (Amita¯bha) Buddha,
moisture; the rapid growth of plants; and recycling of vegeta-
where lotus flowers holding the souls of the faithful bloom
ble and animal waste allow a family to produce all their own
upon the waters of a brilliant lake—paradisal concepts for
food and fuel upon a tiny holding, there are self-reliant peas-
which there have been parallels in the West. More often than
ants living in ecological harmony with a bountiful nature. In
not, however, Buddhists have thought in terms of nirva¯n:a,
Melanesia a twentieth-century study of the Trobriand Is-
or a release from the cycle of reincarnation, and for this there
landers found that even their staples (yams and taro) were
is no Western equivalent. The Indian youth of the Matsya
grown in aesthetically pleasing gardens, and that skill in gar-
Pura¯n:a (c. 500 CE), who had passed through lives by the
dening determined social rank. Every stage from the clearing
thousand and who had in his time been a beast of prey, a
of the land, through the sowing, weeding, and thinning, to
domestic animal, grass, shrubs, creepers, and trees, looked
the gathering and display of the produce was carried out with
forward not to a better world but to release from self. In
the aid of the appropriate magic, and the spirits of the dead
China the highest aspiration open to a landscape gardener
were invited to attend the harvest feast.
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

GARDENS: GARDENS IN INDIGENOUS TRADITIONS
3279
ALTERNATIVES. Sensuality has always wrestled with spiritual-
Medieval Art,” written for the Gardens of the Middle Ages
ity for the soul of the garden. In the West, Priapus and Venus
exhibition organized by the Spencer Museum of Art, Univer-
presided over Greek and Roman gardens, and remain better
sity of Kansas, Lawrence, in 1983, and Teresa McLean’s Me-
known, to this day, than Saint Phocas and Saint Fiacre, the
dieval English Gardens (London, 1981). The “garden en-
patron saints of gardening. No amount of Marian imagery
closed” of the Song of Songs is the subject of Stanley N.
Stewart’s study The Enclosed Garden: The Tradition and the
could conceal the erotic meaning of the Song of Songs, and
Image in Seventeenth-Century Poetry (Madison, Wis., 1966).
in the thirteenth century the Roman de la Rose contraposed
Some effects of the discovery of America on European gar-
a garden of courtly manners and passionate love to the eccle-
deners’ attempts to re-create the Garden of Eden are outlined
siastically approved one of lowered eyes and chaste thoughts.
in John Prest’s The Garden of Eden: The Botanic Garden and
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Voltaire chal-
the Re-Creation of Paradise (New Haven, Conn., 1981). Os-
lenged and Darwin overthrew the concept of gardening as
vald Sirén’s China and Gardens of Europe of the Eighteenth
an innocent activity. The struggle for survival is every bit as
Century (New York, 1950) traces the influence of Chinese
wasteful, and as blind (or cruel), in a garden as it is in the
garden design upon the adoption of the landscape garden in
wilderness. The difference is that there are more human in-
Europe, particularly in England. The distinctive features of
terventions. Even these do not appear, since Freud, as blame-
the successive periods of Japanese gardening are best con-
less as they once did. Gardeners are autocrats who draw arbi-
veyed in Teiji Ito’s The Japanese Garden: An Approach to Na-
ture (New Haven, Conn., 1972), and Norris Brock John-
trary distinctions between plants and weeds. Except, perhaps,
son’s article “Geomancy, Sacred Geometry, and the Idea of
in India, they wage chemical warfare and carry out mass ex-
a Garden; Tenryu-ji Temple, Kyoto, Japan,” Journal of Gar-
terminations. Many—like the Chinese mandarins who were
den History 9, no. 1 (1989): 1–19. One of the earliest works
encouraged, when they fell from favor, to retire and take up
written in English about Chinese gardening ideals, Dorothy
gardening—are in denial, working off their frustrations by
Graham’s Chinese Gardens (London, 1938), still contains
philosophically rationalizing the pleasures of an enforced
valuable insights. More recent studies include Jan Stuart’s
rural retreat.
“Ming Dynasty [1368—1644] Gardens Reconstructed in
Words and Images,” Journal of Garden History 10, no. 3
In addition to its literal sense, the word garden has fre-
(1990): 162–172, and David L. Hall and Roger T. Ames’s
quently been used as a literary term, to mean an anthology.
“The Cosmological Setting of Chinese Gardens,” Studies in
More than one collection of improving stories or homilies
the History of Gardens and Designed Landscapes 18, no. 3
has been titled A Garden of Flowers, and others in this vein
(1998): 175–186. Rolf A. Stein’s The World in Miniature:
have been titled gardens of “consolation,” “repose,” or “con-
Container Gardens and Dwellings in Far Eastern Religious
tentment.” But the word has become detached from its reli-
Thought, translated by Phyllis Brooks (Stanford, Calif.,
gious context. Many people no longer agree with Dorothy
1998), continues the great tradition of French Far Eastern
Frances Gurney that they are “nearer God’s Heart in a gar-
studies. A special issue edited by Léon Vandermeersch,
“L’Art des jardins dans les pays Sinisés: Chine, Japon, Corée,
den than anywhere else on earth.” J. M. Brinnin, who began
Vietnam,” Extreme-Orient, Extreme-Occident 22 (2000), cov-
writing poetry when he was a student at Harvard in the
ers the whole region and is invaluable. Bronislaw Malinow-
1930s, thought of “garden” as “tragedy up to its generous
ski’s Coral Gardens and Their Magic. A Study of the Methods
eyes.” Faced with the rise of the Fascist dictators, “even the
of Tilling the Soil and of Agricultural Rites in the Trobriand
illiterate snake,” he wrote, must know “the garden is politi-
Islands, 2 vols. (London, 1935), is a classic anthropological
cal” (the title of a collection of his poems published in New
study. Michael Niedermeier’s “ ‘Strolling under Palm Trees’:
York in 1942). Within the last half-century others have of-
Gardens—Love—Sexuality,” Journal of Garden History 17,
fered readers gardens of disorder, evil, ignorance, illusion,
no. 3 (1997): 186–207, touches on the garden as a setting
lies, malice, poisons, and scandal. At the beginning of the
for erotic love.
twenty-first century, the meanings and associations of the
JOHN PREST (1987 AND 2005)
word are still being contested.
SEE ALSO Flowers; Geomancy; Paradise.
GARDENS: GARDENS IN INDIGENOUS
TRADITIONS
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Gardens are of economic importance and also of aesthetic
Few books on gardening pay sufficient attention to the signifi-
and social significance for indigenous peoples who sustain
cance of religious symbolism. Among those that do, the best
themselves by the cultivation of vegetables and grains. They
general history remains Marie Luise Gothein’s A History of
may be the subject or locus of myth, and they are regularly
Garden Art, 2 vols. (1928; New York, 1966). Islamic gardens
the focus of ritual. Where subsistence gardening is the major
may be studied in Elizabeth B. Moynihan’s Paradise as a
economic activity, people usually have some food gardens
Garden in Persia and Mughal India (New York, 1979) and
close to their homes and others farther afield. In many socie-
in a collection edited by Elizabeth B. MacDougall and Rich-
ties, gardening is complemented with hunting and/or
ard Ettinghausen, The Islamic Garden (Washington, D.C.,
fishing.
1976), one of the publications arising out of the colloquia
held annually at Dumbarton Oaks since 1971. For medieval
Among the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) of North Ameri-
European gardens see Marilyn Stokstad’s essay “Gardens in
ca, cultivation of the “Three Sisters” (corn, beans, and
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3280
GARDENS: GARDENS IN INDIGENOUS TRADITIONS
squash) provided vegetables, while the hunting of deer and
in the ritual processes performed for the benefit of gardens.
other animals provided meat. Moreover, the Iroquois grew
In many parts of Oceania and Africa, Christians include
sacred tobacco for use in ceremonies. Like the Three Sisters,
prayers for gardens in their church services, and they pray to
sacred tobacco is said to have first grown from the body of
God as they plant, weed, and harvest. The understanding
the Corn Mother, the woman who died after giving birth to
that both practical work and religious work are necessary for
Right-Handed Twin (the Creator) and the Left-Handed
successful outcomes continues to pervade the practice of sub-
Twin. Iroquois gardening and hunting were supported by
sistence gardeners around the world, whether they rely on
and celebrated in an annual ritual cycle that attended to the
their indigenous religion, on an introduced religion, or on
sun and moon and seasonal changes and gave thanks for both
both. Their welfare depends upon engaging the powers of
wild and domesticated fruits. These calendrical ceremonies
garden fertility.
included Bush Dance, Maple, Seed Planting, Moon, Sun,
Probably the best-known ethnographic account of gar-
After Planting, Strawberry, Blackberry, Bean, Thunder, Lit-
tle Corn, Green Corn, Our Sustenance, Harvest, End of
dening is Bronislaw Malinowski’s Coral Gardens and Their
Summer, and Midwinter (Sturtevant, 1985, p. 147). (Some
Magic (1935), which describes the gardening techniques and
of these ceremonies continue to be celebrated in Iroquois
rituals of the matrilineal people of the Trobriand Islands,
communities.) Iroquois ceremonies acknowledged the thun-
whose livelihood depends on gardening and fishing. In the
der spirits. In the American Southwest, among the Hopi,
communities Malinowski studied from 1915 to 1918, the
Zuni, and Navajo, the rain spirits were even more signficant.
garden magician is an hereditary specialist who coordinates
They were entertained in festivals and were encouraged to
a series of rituals that parallel stages in the gardening cycle
provide the moisture that the land and the people needed.
and encourages people in the communal labor necessary for
Ceremonies for rain spirits remain an important focus in the
the gardens. “Gardening,” Malinowski writes, “is associated
agricultural cycles of the Southwest.
with an extremely complicated and important body of
magic, which, in turn, has its mythology, traditional charters
In colonial and postcolonial situations, subsistence
and privileges. Magic appears side by side with work, not ac-
economies have coexisted with cash economies, and garden-
cidentally or sporadically as occasion arises or as whim dic-
ing is no longer the only means of obtaining the food neces-
tates, but as an essential part of the whole scheme” (vol. 1,
sary for life. People may have income from wage labor or
p. 55). He continues, “Gardening, and effective gardening
from an introduced form of gardening—cash cropping. Cash
at that, with a large surplus produce, lies at the root of all
cropping often destroys traditional subsistence, because land
tribal authority as well as of the kinship system and commu-
once used for subsistence gardens may be taken over for the
nal organization of the Islanders. The gardens of the commu-
growing of crops such as coffee and tea to the detriment of
nity are not merely a means to food; they are a source of pride
a people’s self-sufficiency. As well as being a primary source
and the main object of collective ambition” (vol. 1, p. 66).
of food, the garden is also a metaphor for the meeting of life’s
needs. In Papua New Guinea, for example, a worker refers
Throughout Oceania the vegetables that make up the
to his or her pay packet as gaden bilong mi (my garden). Simi-
daily diet are grown by the family. Gardens are devoted to
larly, gardening may be seen as homologous with other cul-
yams, taro, bananas, green leafy vegetables, beans, corn, and
tural domains such as marriage, exchange, speech, and weav-
other crops. Flowers, which are used for body decoration, as
ing. Metaphors from gardening may be used to discuss sexual
part of traditional rituals, and to decorate churches for Chris-
relations, and the maintenance of social alliances may be de-
tian services, may be grown at the border of the vegetables
scribed in terms of planting and weeding.
or in separate plots. Tobacco is frequently grown at the edge
of gardens. In general, agricultural labor is divided between
Gardening includes not only practical endeavors such
the sexes so that a man does the work of clearing land (e.g.,
as clearing land, tilling soil, planting, and weeding, but also
felling trees, breaking up the soil), making drainage ditches,
symbolic processes: rituals performed at crucial stages in the
and fencing, whereas his wife plants and weeds. In many
gardening process, spells or prayers recited to encourage
places a woman uses a digging stick for planting, weeding,
plant growth and to ward off pestilence, and festivals to cele-
and harvesting. Before planting, the couple performs a ritual
brate the harvest. Both the manual labor and the ritual activi-
to ensure a good crop. For example, in parts of the Papua
ties are “work” for gardens. Rituals usually accompany the
New Guinea highlands it is common to bury egg-shaped fer-
seasonal cycle of the crops, and ritual interventions to address
tility stones in the garden and to rub digging sticks with pig
crises such as disease or drought are made as warranted. Some
fat. In some places a couple may have sex in a new garden
societies employ garden specialists to carry out rituals; in oth-
before planting takes place, and for some communities the
ers the gardeners themselves perform the necessary rituals or
garden is the regular place for sexual activity. Generally,
there may be a sharing of rituals. The practical side of gar-
women plant, tend, and harvest the sweet potatoes and green
dening in indigenous societies has changed over time with
leafy vegetables, and men care for trees that provide fruit and
the introduction of new crops, implements, and gardening
nuts and tend the sugarcane and corn. In some areas men
techniques. Similarly, the spread of religious traditions such
are also responsible for taro and yams. Women need to work
as Islam, Christianity, and Buddhism has occasioned changes
in their gardens every day and to harvest tubers each day to
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GARDENS: GARDENS IN INDIGENOUS TRADITIONS
3281
feed their families and pigs; men’s crops require less atten-
and then back from west to east. On each line eight feet are
tion. It is common for crops to be designated as male or fe-
planted and the square has eight lines recalling the eight an-
male according to who cares for them and in relation to their
cestors and the eight seeds” (Griaule, 1965, p. 77). “More-
physical characteristics.
over,” says Griaule, “weaving is a form of speech, which is
imparted to the fabric by the to-and-fro movement of the
Writing of the Kuma of the Wahgi Valley in the New
shuttle on the warp; and in the same way the to-and-fro
Guinea highlands as they were in the 1950s, anthropologist
movement of the peasant on his plot imparts the Word of
Marie Reay describes how during preparations for a major
the ancestors, that is to say, moisture, to the ground on
ceremony, a small rite is performed with the overt intention
which he works, and thus rids the earth of impurity and ex-
of promoting garden fertility. The men and boys carry toy
tends the area of cultivation round inhabited places” (p. 77).
bows and arrows, of the kind used in rites expressing tradi-
The original French title of Griaule’s work, Dieu d’Eau: en-
tional hostilities, and give them to a sorcerer, who holds
tretiens avec Ogotemmêli (Water god: Conversations with
them against a bundle of fresh leaves from the sweet potato
Ogotemmêli), points to the central importance of moisture
vine. An orator announces that the fathers and grandfathers
in the world of Dogon gardeners.
of all who are present are to be honored in the dance about
to begin. Then the sorcerer returns the bows and arrows to
Food and fertility are foci of all religions. Supplicants
the owners, each with a piece of sweet potato vine, which is
ask for their daily bread and pray for the fruitfulness of the
later planted. Garden fertility is expressed both verbally and
land, the fecundity of flocks, and the flourishing of human
in the handling of sweet potato leaves. Traditional hostilities
beings. The emphasis on food and fertility is most obvious
are implied in the use of toy bows and by the presence of the
among those who tend gardens for their livelihood. Their
sorcerer. Thus, the rite for garden fertility is linked not only
myths and their rituals tell of their dependence on the powers
to the physical environment but also to the social situation.
of fertility, and through practical work and symbolic work
The Kuma expect their clan to prosper if they continue their
they assert what control they can over their garden-world.
fathers’ and grandfathers’ hostilities (Reay, 1959, p. 158).
SEE ALSO Agriculture; Ecology and Religion, overview arti-
In much of sub-Saharan Africa, gardens are dedicated
cle; Food.
to staple grain crops and tubers. Flowers may be grown either
within the vegetable or grain garden or in separate plots.
B
Flowers are cultivated for medicinal or culinary use or, less
IBLIOGRAPHY
Dieter, Michael, and Brian Hayden, eds. Feasts: Archaeological and
often, for decoration. Depending upon the particular culture
Ethnographic Perspectives on Food, Politics, and Power. Wash-
and its contemporary religious patterns, prayers for gardens
ington, D.C., and London, 2001.
may be addressed to God, to nature spirits, or to spirits of
the dead. In southern Africa among the Nguni, the myth of
Griaule, Marcel. Conversations with Ogotemmêli: An Introduction
Inkosazana yase zulweni (the Princess of the Sky) describes
to Dogon Religious Ideas. Introduction by Germaine Dieter-
len. Translated by Ralph Butler. Oxford, 1965.
a mythological figure who personifies vegetation and fertili-
ty. She is goddess of the corn and presides over the growth
Kahn, Miriam. Always Hungry, Never Greedy. Cambridge, U.K.,
of the grain. It is said that from her the people learned how
1986.
to brew beer. Moreover, she has the power to bring rain. She
Krige, Eileen Jensen. The Social System of the Zulus. (1950) Pieter-
is said to visit the earth in the spring, and her visit is celebrat-
maritzburg, South Africa, 1988.
ed with festivals. People appeal to her for alleviation of mis-
Malinowski, Bronislaw. Coral Gardens and Their Magic. 2 vols.
fortune and for protection from disease. In the summer (De-
London, 1935.
cember) the Nguni hold a first fruits ceremony when the
corn and other vegetables are ready to eat (Krige, 1950,
Mbiti, John S. Introduction to African Religion. 2d ed. London,
pp. 197–200).
1991.
Meigs, Anna S. Food, Sex, and Pollution: A New Guinea Religion.
Rain-making specialists are common in Africa, where so
New Brunswick, N.J., 1984.
much of the country is dry and the lives of people and crops
depends upon rain (Mbiti, 1991, p. 134). As in Oceania,
Reay, Marie. The Kuma: Freedom and Conformity in the New
there are rituals for making new fields, for planting and
Guinea Highlands. Melbourne, Australia, 1959.
weeding, for first fruits and for harvest (Mbiti, 1991,
Sillitoe, Paul. Roots of the Earth. Kensington, Australia, 1983.
pp. 135–136). African gardening, like Oceanian gardening,
Sturtevant, William C. “A Structural Sketch of Iroquois Ritual.”
is part of a total way of life and is related to other cultural
In Extending the Rafters: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Iro-
processes. The Dogon cultivate land in squares following the
quoian Studies, edited by Michael K. Foster, et al.,
pattern of the flat roof of the celestial granary of Dogon
pp. 133–152. Albany, N.Y., 1985.
myth. Traditional cultivation, according to Ogotemmêli, the
Young, Michael. Magicians of Manumanua: Living Myth in
wise man who related his understanding of the Dogon world
Kalauna. Berkeley, Calif., 1983.
to the French anthropologist Marcel Griaule, “is like weav-
ing; one begins on the north side, moving from east to west
MARY N. MACDONALD (2005)
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GARDENS: ISLAMIC GARDENS
GARDENS: ISLAMIC GARDENS
of the garden’s inhabitants are peace, reunion with families
Islamic gardens represent cultivated spaces across the diverse
and communities, security, intimacy, luxury—and over-
span of Muslim history and geography, created and set apart
whelmingly, the joy of knowing that they have pleased God
from wilderness of various kinds. They were designed to en-
and that he is pleased with them. According to the QurDa¯n,
hance the humanly constructed environment, to ornament
the return to God is the supreme joy of the righteous.
the landscape, and to symbolize cultural and religious values
and aspirations. As such, they are together with architecture
ISLAMIC GARDENS IN HISTORY. Muslim rule and territorial
and the arts among the most significant and enduring of
control expanded rapidly during Islam’s first two centuries,
Muslim expressions of the role and relationship of nature in
eventually encompassing significant areas around the Medi-
its broader sense to human beings. Gardens and landscape
terranean Sea as well as former Byzantine and Sassanian-
architecture in Muslim societies have been an important ex-
ruled territories in North Africa, Spain, the Middle East and
pression of ethical assumptions about stewardship, ecology,
Central Asia. This diversity of landscapes, climates, and geo-
and beauty. This heritage of spaces and values has in recent
graphical settings influenced the utilization and development
times come under increasing pressure because of very high
of land. Patterns of existing use and the availability of water
levels of demographic change, desertification (the degrada-
were major factors in transforming the landscape to mirror
tion of formerly cultivated land), burgeoning urban growth,
the changes in control, settlement, and cultural values.
and general neglect.
Persia had a long history of gardens that predated Islam,
GARDENS IN THE QURDA¯N. The Arabic word for garden (jan-
a tradition that Muslims adopted and continued. Many of
nah) is used in the QurDa¯n for paradise, the reward of the
the earlier examples of Persian gardens have not survived; re-
hereafter. There are a number of other references to the no-
cent excavations, however, provide evidence of the extensive
tion of the garden in the QurDa¯n: al-firdaws (Q 23:11) origi-
development of gardens under successive dynasties. The
nating from the Old Persian (paridaiza), and al-rawda (Q
original Persian garden (ba¯gh) was irrigated by canals divert-
30:15 and 42:22), with reference to the lush greenery of the
ed from a river or stream. The new towns and cities under
garden. One of the settings in the QurDanic narrative of cre-
Muslim rule, including capital cities like the Baghdad of the
ation (Q 2:34, 7:19) is the primordial garden where the first-
Abbasids, contained several gardens influenced by the Per-
created pair of human beings is placed. The garden is there-
sian pattern. Rulers continued to build gardens in newly es-
fore also among God’s creations and the theater in which the
tablished population centers, using existing water installa-
initial human drama unfolds. On one level it represents the
tions or creating new channels for irrigation. Muslim
ideal environment in which the first humans can subsist,
travelers’ accounts from the medieval period describe a pro-
close to God and in balance and harmony with nature. In
fusion of richly endowed gardens, public and private, with
an Arabic term referring to a QurDanic verse, the word ayah
fountains and pavilions. One of the patterns that came to
also signifies a sign from nature. The human trespass, the act
dominate the design of these gardens, though not exclusively,
of disobeying God’s command, results in dismissal from the
was the chaha¯r-ba¯gh—the foursquare garden, often linked to
garden and a sojourn on earth. The promise of the return
the QurDanic allusion to the four rivers of paradise. The Sa-
to the garden—that is, the promised abode of the hereafter—
favid gardens, particularly in Isfahan, are a fine example and
is held out as the goal of human life; but until the return,
extension of this foursquare style.
the garden remains an aspiration and expectation, even a
memory, that human imagination might be able to recreate
The Muslim Umayyad rulers of Andalusia continued
on earth. Among the main features of the garden in paradise
Roman and local Spanish traditions in order to develop ex-
is water, an oft-repeated reference. The QurDa¯n refers to the
quisite gardens, some of which survive in the early twenty-
four rivers that flow in paradise (47:15)—rivers of water,
first century, as in the Alhambra. The excavations of the
milk, honey, and wine. Springs are mentioned and named,
Umayyad palace city, Mad¯ınat al-Zahra, destroyed in the
the best-known being kawthar (108:1) and tasn¯ım (83:27),
eleventh century, reveal the presence of gardens, fountains,
from which the righteous may drink. Trees with fruit are to
and pavilions. Most of these structures were created to reflect
be found in abundance. Among the trees specifically desig-
a symmetrical design, organized to present dramatic vistas,
nated is the lote-tree, a symbolic reference, which in Muslim
and also to afford a sense of privacy, intimacy, and leisure.
tradition signifies the tree of life and knowledge marking the
It has been suggested that these gardens were framed within
boundary of the “garden of refuge” (53:14–15); the tu¯ba¯, the
a geometrical pattern intended to reflect order, authority,
tree of blessing; and fruit-bearing trees producing grapes,
and symmetry in nature as well as in society, thus simulta-
pomegranates, and other fruits.
neously evoking religious, aesthetic, and political meanings.
This evocative, subtle, and richly symbolic historicized
Another historical example of extensive garden construction
garden is the promised home of the righteous; in it the once-
is that of the Mughal period in Central and South Asia. Sev-
living share eternal joy among beings of great beauty, male
eral of these gardens have survived in Afghanistan, India, and
and female. The latter, which are called houris, are compared
Pakistan. They illustrate connections with new landscapes
to pearls and are eternally virgins, providing companionship,
combined with visions of spaces that mark transitions to the
solace and love. The dominant themes that mark the lives
afterlife and the rich imagery of the QurDa¯n.
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GARIFUNA RELIGION
3283
The QurDanic image of the garden and the rich enhance-
GARIFUNA RELIGION. The Garifuna are an ethnic
ment of landscape throughout Muslim history have made
group numbering roughly 300,000 with communities in
these concepts a fertile source for Muslim poetry and litera-
some 40 villages dotting the Caribbean coasts of Nicaragua,
ture. Two of the classics of Persian literature, Sa’di’s Rose
Honduras, Guatemala, and Belize. Their traditional ances-
Garden, or Gulistân (c. 1256 CE), and his Fruit Orchard, or
tor-focused religion presents a multilayered confluence of
Bustan (c. 1257), are inspired in their form as well as their
Amerindian, African, and Roman Catholic influences.
imagery by garden motifs. Much of Muslim mystical poetry
HISTORY. The Garifuna are descendants of Africans and
builds on the symbolic meanings of the garden, its geometri-
Amerindians (Carib and Arawak) who shared the island of
cal design, water, profusion, greenery, the budding of the
Saint Vincent beginning in the second half of the seven-
rose, the bee among the flowers, the harmony of form and
teenth century. Garifuna is properly the name of their lan-
essence, and the transient and created nature of the earthly
guage, which is affiliated with the Arawak linguistic family.
garden. The archetypal space is the site of the meaning of
The term is derived from Kalinago, the ethnic title used by
human life, its exalted destiny as well as the focus of its mem-
Island Carib Amerindians to describe themselves but misre-
ory. The garden may represent both the place of transition
cognized by Christopher Columbus as “Carib.” Europeans
as well as arrival, and of ultimate repose in the world or an
called the Garifuna “Black Caribs” because of the group’s ap-
anticipation of the hereafter.
parent African ancestry. That appellation was in common
ISLAMIC GARDENS IN MODERN TIMES. Pressures resulting
usage until the shift to Garifuna as a standard ethnic name
from population growth, urbanization, climate change, and
after the middle of the twentieth century.
economic underdevelopment have led to the neglect, degra-
The African presence on Saint Vincent derived in part
dation and even extinction of public and private green spaces
from survivors of a slaver shipwreck near the island dated to
across the Muslim world. Many of the emerging Muslim na-
1635. Most probably, then, their African origins derived
tion-states and societies have sought to restore and revive
from the slave trade out of the ports of west central Africa.
their gardens through local initiatives or assistance from
The African presence also derived from Carib raids that car-
global organizations committed to preservation, restoration,
ried slaves from European colonies and from the arrival of
and recreation. The erosion of the heritage is now balanced
fleeing African maroons from neighboring Barbados and
by such new efforts as the landscaping around the airport in
elsewhere. By 1674, according to accounts from the Jesuit
Jakarta, the Bagh-e-Ferdowsi in Tehran, the reforestation
missions, the “Black Carib” numbered as many as the “Red”
project on the campus of a university in Ankara, and the Al-
Island Carib on Saint Vincent. Reports from 1700 indicate
Azhar Park project in Cairo. There are many other cases that
that they had already founded settlements separated from the
need to be addressed to repair both natural and human-made
Island Carib Amerindians.
disasters. The heritage of gardens is inseparable from the vi-
tality of culture in the Muslim world and the ecological aspi-
After 1783 Saint Vincent became a permanent British
rations of human beings that transcend time and space.
colony and was slotted for sugar production. Following a pe-
riod of military resistance in the Second Carib War (1795–
S
1797), a British naval convoy deported approximately five
EE ALSO Architecture; Geometry; Islam, overview article;
Paradise.
thousand Garifuna to Roatan, an island just off the coast of
Central America. Though half of those deported died in
transit, their survivors settled the Central American coast
BIBLIOGRAPHY
early in the 1800s. This became the new homeland, the site
The following studies provide useful resources for the study of Is-
of their reconstitution as a distinct ethnic group with its own
lamic gardens and their broader relationship with Muslim ar-
specific set of religious practices.
chitecture and cultures: John Brookes, Gardens of Paradise:
R
The History and Design of the Great Islamic Gardens (London,
ELIGIOUS TRANSCULTURATION. Garifuna religion provides
1987); Richard Ettinghausen and Elisabeth Macdougall,
a stunning example of the religious transculturation that oc-
eds., The Islamic Garden (Washington, D.C., 1970); Valérie
curred throughout the Caribbean Basin during the colonial
Gonzalez, Beauty and Islam: Aesthetics in Islamic Art and Ar-
period. Seventeenth-century missionary accounts of the Is-
chitecture (London, 2002); and D. Fairchild Ruggles, Gar-
land Carib Amerindians describe religious leaders known as
dens, Landscapes and Visions in the Palaces of Islamic Spain
piaye or boyé. These were shamans who used gourd rattles
(University Park, Pa., 2000). On architecture in particular,
and tobacco to cure patients of illnesses attributed to malig-
the reader is referred to Azim Nanji, ed., Building for Tomor-
nant spirits through their mastery and mediation of tutelary
row (London, 1994), and Modernity and Community: Archi-
ancestral spirits. They are also recorded as performing divina-
tecture in the Islamic World (London, 2001), a publication of
tion. The “Black Caribs” adopted this religious office and
the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. For visual resources
techniques from their Saint Vincent hosts. Garifuna religion
on gardens see the web-site, http://archnet.org, developed by
the Harvard MIT School of Architecture and Planning in co-
continues to rely upon the leadership of such shamans, still
operation with the Aga Khan Trust for Culture.
called by the similar title of buyei. They orchestrate and di-
rect sophisticated ritual performances under the influence of
AZIM NANJI (2005)
the helping spirits of benevolent ancestors (hiuruha). Other
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3284
GARIFUNA RELIGION
aspects of early Island Carib Amerindian religion, like the be-
sporic consciousness, a means of looking back to a paradise
lief that a person is constituted by multiple souls, including
lost.
the “heart-soul” (uwani) as the seat of agency and will and
Insofar as the ritual obligations to the dead are not ade-
the “spirit double” (afurugu) that may wander during dreams
quately performed by the living, ancestors register their com-
and after death, remain a vital part of contemporary Gari-
plaints through signs experienced by the living as night-
funa religion as well. These bear witness to the legacy of Is-
mares, bad luck, accidents, and unexplained illnesses.
land Carib Amerindian societies, many of them now nearly
Garifuna religion is in this sense rigorously this-worldly. It
assimilated or extinct, in Garifuna religious life.
is concerned with alleviating concrete material problems by
Traditional west central African religious practices also
contemplating them and acting upon them as ruptures in the
left their mark on Garifuna religion. The most elaborate ritu-
relations between of the living and the ancestors. These crises
al performances, called dügü, utilize three drums to guide
are addressed through a sequence of ritual interventions that
dances that culminate in spirit possession by returning ances-
demand progressively more serious investments. The ability
tors, called gubida, who are feted as they dance and consult
to prosper in the material world is therefore understood as
with the living. Drummers’ use of polyrhythmic meter for
directly related to and contingent upon the attention devot-
dances like the punta, once a funerary dance, and the junkun-
ed to the family ancestors’ “advance” through the spirit
nu, a mask dance, punctuate and offset the use of mono-
world.
rhythms like the amalihani. These complex drumming pat-
Veluria. When a member of the community dies, the
terns recall in music and dance the west central African
corpse of the deceased is placed in a coffin and laid out in
legacy.
his or her house for public viewing. Candles are lit and
Catholicism also played a key role in Garifuna religion
placed at each corner, and near the coffin a simple altar is
as it assumed its current form after 1797. All traditional
erected on a low table, including holy water and statues of
Garifuna religious actors also consider themselves to be
Catholic saints. Crepe-paper streamers are hung in a canopy
Catholic, and Catholicism provides the overall mythic struc-
over the body. Friends and relatives arrive at the wake and
ture within which the ancestor religion is maintained. Malig-
hold vigil through the night, drinking coffee and rum
nant (mafia) spirits, for example, typically associated spatially
(aguardiente or guaro), playing cards, and talking. At dawn
with “the bush” (el monte), are considered manifestations of
the corpse is interred in a graveyard that is nearby yet spatial-
the devil, while positive spirits are regarded as agents of the
ly removed from the village. The burial is accompanied by
high God (Bungiu). Postmortem rituals (see below) begin
wailing laments and the pouring of rum into the grave by
with “masses” (lemesi) adapted from official Roman Catholic
family members and friends.
liturgy and continue with novenas (ninth-night masses) and
Amuidahani. Between six months and several years
anniversary masses performed to remember and appease the
after the death, the family “bathes” the deceased. A small pit
dead. Catholic saints are prominent on Garifuna altars, and
is dug immediately adjacent to the home, and a fresh change
specific saints like Esquipula and Anthony are called upon
of clothes for the departed is suspended above it. Family
as sources of solace and assistance.
members and intimate friends pour liquids into the pit, vari-
SMALL-SCALE RITUAL EVENTS. Since the overall mythic and
ously including freshwater, saltwater, strained cassava water,
ethical structure of Garifuna religion is provided by Roman
herbal infusions, and favored beverages like coffee and rum.
Catholic Christianity, the distinguishing characteristics of
Tobacco and favorite foods may be offered as well. Following
Garifuna religion are found in its sophisticated complex of
the “bathing” of the deceased, the pit is closed. The ritual
ritual practices. Moreover since specific beliefs and ethical
is small and intimate in nature, of short duration, and does
postures vary widely in relation to popular adaptations of Ca-
not require the presence of the buyei as officiant.
tholicism, correct ritual practice is particularly crucial to
Lemesi. Around a year following death, as well as later
Garifuna religious identity. Myths and belief remain largely
if called for by the ancestor through divination by the buyei,
implicit, embedded in ritual performance.
a “mass” is held for the spirit of the deceased (ahari), who
In general, rituals are focused on the problem of death
is viewed as still present in the village. The occasion marks
and the transfer in status from living human being to exalted
the end of a period of mourning for the spouse who survives
ancestor (gubida). Though the dead remain a source of
the dead and, as an occasion marking the return to everyday
power for the living, they must also be helped by living fami-
life, is conspicuously festive. Food and beverages are served,
ly members as they take the steps from this world to their
and the celebrative punta dance is drummed and danced in
status as recently departed spirits (ahari) and then to one of
the yard. The punta is typically comprised of a circle into
finally becoming gubida in the otherworld. The otherworld
which a man and a woman enter in pairs, two at a time. The
is called Sairi, the home of the ancestors, and is often physi-
dance entails the rhythmic oscillation of the hips while hold-
cally located on Saint Vincent. The postmortem journey is
ing the upper body perfectly still and the facial expression
simultaneously one of progressive spiritual advance and one
calm. It celebrates both the life of the deceased and the ongo-
of geographic traverse, or return, to the lost homeland. The
ing force of the community despite the loss of one of its
ritualization of death is therefore in part an expression of dia-
members.
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GARIFUNA RELIGION
3285
Women gathered for the purpose sing “women’s songs”
and men’s songs are performed at length, and the spirit may
(abaimahani), standing in a line with little fingers linked and
also be celebrated with punta dancing. Much rum is con-
thrusting the arms forward in rhythmic concert, a gesture
sumed to create the atmosphere of exuberance and generous
suggestive of shared labor. The song lyrics recall the struggles
abundance believed to be favored by the ancestors.
of family life and loyalty and sometimes speak from the per-
spective of the ancestors, pleading to not be forgotten. Men’s
At the conclusion of the day’s events, the buyei concocts
songs (arumahani) are ideally presented in similar fashion,
a nog of beaten eggs and hot rum (furunsu). Each participant
though since the twentieth century it has become increasing-
places his or her full cup upon the altar while making re-
ly challenging to find a choir of males able and willing to per-
quests of the ancestor before exchanging the cup with anoth-
form the old songs. This is because of a common male pat-
er participant. The exchanged communal drink unites the
tern of leaving the village for long durations in order to find
group. Finally, the buyei “burns the table,” pouring rum over
work. The lyrics of men’s songs often recall the necessity and
its surface and igniting it in flame. A strong blue flame reveals
dangers of travel for labor far from home and the longing to
the ancestor’s approval of the offering and indicates that the
return.
precipitating symptoms of bad luck or illness that evoked the
chugu should subside.
In addition traditional tales (úruga) may be told, often
humorous trickster-like narratives. The festivities continue
Dügü. Just as the chugu contains all the elements of the
until dawn.
“mass,” the dügü contains all the elements of the chugu, such
that the larger ritual encompasses the smaller in the style of
MAJOR RITUAL EVENTS. While the foregoing are required
Chinese boxes. Dügü is short for adugurahani, “mashing
in all cases, the most elaborate postmortem rituals, the chugu
down the earth,” perhaps referring to the long periods of
and the dügü, are called for only when specifically requested
dance that are required of participants. It is regarded as the
by an ancestral spirit. When a family member suffers unusual
fullest expression of Garifuna religion and is a major ritual
misfortune, recurring nightmares, or unexplained illnesses or
event that is prepared for a full year and performed over a
pains, he or she may consult a shaman (buyei). With the pa-
week’s duration. It typically occurs many years after the
tient seated before the buyei’s altar (gule), the buyei lights a
death of a family member and only when mandated by a
candle, smokes his or her pipe, and summons his or her tute-
buyei and his or her spirit helpers. Announcements about the
lary spirits (hiuruha) by blowing the vapor of rum from the
dügü circulate for at least a year to insure that sufficient funds
mouth over the altar. This activates it. Blowing smoke over
can be raised for sacrifices of roosters, pigs, and sometimes
the head of the patient, he or she consults with his or her
a cow and to feed a crowd of participants that may number
spirits to “read” the nature of the problem at hand, depend-
in the hundreds for a week’s time. All family members, even
ing on the movement of the smoke and the insights granted
those residing in the United States, are obligated to attend.
by tutelary spirits (hiuruha). This ritual act is called ar-
Indeed the ritual’s efficacy depends on a complete demon-
airaguni, “bringing down the spirits.” If the problem is one
stration of family unity to resolve the perceived crisis. It is
caused by the ancestors (hasandigubida), he or she negotiates
arguably the emotional dramatization of family unity itself
with the afflicting spirit to decipher what it requires. This
that provides in part the experience of the ritual as a healing
may be a misa, a chugu, or in the most serious of cases, a dügü.
cure.
Together with the patient, and taking account of the family’s
financial resources, the shaman then plots the course of
First, a ceremonial house (gayunere or dabuyaba) must
action.
be constructed in “traditional” palm-thatch style on the
beach. The dügü formally begins with the “return of the fish-
Chugu. The chugu, literally the “feeding” of the dead,
ermen,” a group sent three days prior to catch fish in the “tra-
is a one- to two-day ceremony officiated by a buyei. In addi-
ditional” way in the offshore cays. They arrive at dawn, at-
tion to all of the elements included in a “mass,” it entails the
tired as Garifuna ancestors wearing helmets of woven palm,
assembly of a greater number of relatives and the preparation
and are greeted with exuberant songs by family members at-
of large quantities of food offerings, including roosters (gayu)
tired in matching red-dyed uniforms. They are given rum
offered for sacrifice. Since a more intimate communication
and cigarettes and are laid in hammocks, just as the ancestors
with the dead is required than in a “mass,” the buyei erects
will be later in the ritual when they are incorporated in living
his or her personal altar (gule) in the house where the chugu
bodies of dancers through spirit possession.
will take place. There he or she places the symbols of his or
her key helping spirits as well as the implements of the sha-
Over the next two days follows a sequence of dances
man’s vocation: the maracas (sirisi) used to call the spirit, the
both to honor the ancestors and create the conditions for
wand (murewa) used to communicate with and control the
their arrival in possession. First are the amalahani, dances to
spirit should possession trance occur, and bottles of rum and
honor the ancestors. These continue for up to four hours at
tobacco used to purify the room and to activate, or “heat,”
a time, brought to crescendo by the shaman, who exhorts the
the altar. Traditional foods are prepared, including most im-
large group until some are possessed by ancestors. Trans-
portantly the sacrificed roosters (gayu) and cassava bread
formed into known figures from the past, they make requests
(ereba), to present an abundant table to the dead. Women’s
and are soothed with rum and food. Living family members
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3286
GARIFUNA RELIGION
may ask questions, in response to which the ancestors give
quired to be present. When evangelicals refuse to attend such
counsel.
events, they are accused of jeopardizing the rituals’ efficacy
and therefore also the physical safety of everyone in their kin
Throughout the second and third day, the food offering
group. While such disputes are divisive, they also serve as ex-
(chugu) is prepared. Roosters—one required from each at-
planations of future accidents, bad luck, and illnesses. The
tending nuclear family—are sacrificed, massive amounts of
disputes therefore incite ritual as much they compromise it.
rum assembled, and tables loaded with the most traditional
Garifuna foods. The food is piled high on a wooden table
BIBLIOGRAPHY
and left for the ancestors’ consumption. After the spirits
Bianchi, Cynthia Chamberlain. “Gubida Illness and Religious
“eat,” the assembled participants also take their fill, rejoicing
Ritual Among the Garifuna of Santa Fe, Honduras: An Eth-
in the luxurious abundance far exceeding that of everyday
nopsychiatric Analysis.” Ph.D. diss., Ohio State University,
life. At the close of the day, what remains of the spirits’ food
1988. This dissertation goes to great lengths to show the rich
is buried in the ground or returned to the sea, taken by canoe
detail of Garifuna postmortem rituals framed by an ethno-
and deposited in the deeps.
psychiatric approach to healing.
Coelho, Ruy. “The Black Carib of Honduras: A Study in Accul-
Finally, the shaman guarantees the ancestors’ acceptance
turation.” Ph.D. diss., Northwestern University, 1955.
of the offerings. Pouring rum on the table, he or she feeds
Chapter 5 provides an important mid-century look at Gari-
the flame and tips the table to all sides, as in the chugu. There
funa religion in Honduras. Much of the literature gives at-
is great joy, and all rush to wipe the sacralized liquor on their
tention to English-speaking Belize, giving added distinction
bodies as a balm for all pains. Reunited family groups run
to this source.
to enter the sea together in a temporary moment of com-
Conzemius, Eduard. “Ethnographical Notes on the Black Carib
munitas.
(Garif).” American Anthropologist 30, no. 2 (1928): 183–205.
Possibly the earliest “modern” ethnographic description of
As the dügü summons and placates ancestors, it also re-
Garifuna ritual.
inforces family bonds among the living. This has become in-
creasingly important as a third of the Garifuna have emigrat-
Flores, Barbara. “The Garifuna Dugu Ritual in Belize: A Celebra-
tion of Relationships.” In Gender, Ethnicity, and Religion, ed-
ed to the United States since the middle of the twentieth
ited by Rosemary Radford Ruether, pp. 144–170. Minneap-
century. The dügü takes on new import and meaning for
olis, 2002. A sympathetic and accomplished essay on the
those residing abroad, serving the purpose of communicating
dügü ritual with special attention to the issue of gender.
the experience of home through the dense, compact form of
Gonzalez, Nancie L. Sojourners of the Caribbean: Ethnogenesis and
ritual performance. Territoriality, or consciousness of place,
Ethnohistory of the Garifuna. Urbana, Ill., and Chicago,
is fortified above all in this central ritual performance. With
1988. This is an important resource on Garifuna history and
increased migration, the dügü appears to be gaining in the
archaeology written by the preeminent Garifuna ethno-
frequency of its performance rather than suffering a decline.
grapher.
N
Hulme, Peter, and Neil L. Whitehead, eds. Wild Majesty: Encoun-
EW DEVELOPMENTS. Migration to cities like New York has
sparked a new identity consciousness of the Garifuna’s Afri-
ters with Caribs from Columbus to the Present Day. Oxford,
1992. This is a selection of descriptions of the Caribs, both
can roots. Religious leaders in New York have begun to con-
Island Carib Amerindians and the “Black Carib,” as repre-
ceive of their traditional practices within the purview of other
sented by Europeans since the seventeenth century.
African diaspora religions like Cuban Santería and Haitian
Jenkins, Carol L. “Ritual and Resource Flow: The Garifuna
vodou. This new form of indigenous syncretism justifies a
Dugu.” American Ethnologist 10 (1983): 429–442. An im-
view of the Garifuna as a dramatically innovative religion,
portant interpretation of the relationship between economic
especially as it is reshaped in the new contexts of U.S. urban
resources and ritual performance.
centers. As Garifuna religious leaders in the United States re-
Johnson, Paul Christopher. “Migrating Bodies, Circulating Signs:
turn periodically to perform rituals in Honduras, Belize, and
Brazilian Candomblé, the Garífuna of the Caribbean, and
Guatemala, they carry with them a new identity conscious-
the Category of ‘Indigenous Religions.’” History of Religions
ness. This will likely have transformative effects on homeland
41, no. 4 (2002): 301–328. The essay compares types of reli-
religious performance as well.
gious dislocations and creative responses for the cases of Bra-
zilian Candomblé and the Garifuna of Honduras and in New
The second key contemporary issue of Garifuna religion
York City. The essay begins to elaborate and theorize the re-
is the rise of evangelical Christian sects since around 1980
lation between migration and contemporary religious
in homeland villages. Converts to the new churches disavow
change.
all connections to traditional practices, which are regarded
Kerns, Virginia. Women and the Ancestors: Black Carib Kinship and
as diabolical. The use of dance, tobacco, rum, and altars are
Ritual. 2d ed. Urbana, Ill., and Chicago, 1997. A valuable
vehemently rejected, leading to the dismissal not only of Ca-
text on Garifuna religion and ritual performance for its atten-
tholicism but of virtually all traditional rites. This creates
tion to women as the primary carriers and transmitters of tra-
friction within families and between village factions and gen-
dition.
erates new conundrums for traditional practices like the
Melendez, Armando Crisanto. “Religious Elements of the Gari-
dügü, since in that ritual all members of the family are re-
funa Culture and Their Connotations in the Americas.” In
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GARVEY, MARCUS
3287
African Creative Expressions of the Divine, edited by Kortright
binding oratory. The popularity of Garvey and his move-
Davis and Elias Farajajé-Jones, translated by Dorothea Lowe
ment grew exponentially after he launched his project to pur-
Bryce, pp. 121–128. Washington, D.C., 1991. A short, de-
chase ocean steamers to trade with Africa and take black
scriptive account of Garifuna beliefs from an important
people back to Africa. Blacks purchased stocks in his compa-
Garifuna choreographer, historian, and cultural activist.
ny, the Black Star Line, at five dollars per share. Over half
Sanford, Margaret. “Revitalization Movements as Indicators of
a million dollars was raised, and the first ship was purchased
Completed Acculturation.” Comparative Studies in Society
in the first year. The UNIA’s first international convention,
and History 16 (1974): 504–518. A provocative essay arguing
attended by thousands of delegates from every part of the
that religious revitalization, including the Garifuna case, is
world, was held at Liberty Hall and Madison Square Garden
correlated with general acculturation or assimilation such
in August 1920. The convention proclaimed Garvey the pro-
that revivals are possible indicators of cultural distress.
visional president of the Republic of Africa and adopted a
Suazo, Eusebio Salvador. Irufumali: La doctrina esotérica garífuna.
Declaration of the Rights of the Negro Peoples of the World.
Tegucigalpa, 2000. A bilingual (Spanish and Garifuna) ac-
count of the buyei’s knowledge from a Garifuna writer, ac-
Garvey’s movement also had a religious component.
quired through interviews with practicing shamans.
Garvey did not think blacks could ever acquire a strong sense
of self-esteem while worshipping a white God and a white
Taylor, Douglas. The Black Carib of British Honduras. New York,
Savior. He argued that God, Christ, and Mary were black.
1951. The text offers several important chapters on Garifuna
beliefs in relation to the soul and Garifuna ritual practices.
In 1921 the UNIA’s chaplain general, George Alexander
Taylor brought rare linguistic depth to his descriptive task.
McGuire, formed the Good Shepherd Independent Episco-
pal Church and authored The Universal Negro Catechism and
PAUL CHRISTOPHER JOHNSON (2005)
The Universal Negro Ritual. McGuire and Garvey disagreed
over forming a separate denomination, and McGuire then
formed the African Orthodox Church.
GARVEY, MARCUS. Marcus Mosiah Garvey (August
The Black Star Line’s financial difficulties contributed
17, 1887–June 10, 1940), the founder of the Universal
significantly to Garvey’s demise and the decline of his move-
Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), led the largest
ment. The ships purchased were unsound, and the organiza-
mass movement among African Americans and can be re-
tion lacked the resources to repair them after two disastrous
garded as one of the founding fathers of Pan-Africanism and
ventures. By 1921 two of Garvey’s ships were inoperable. Af-
the Black Consciousness movement.
rican American critics of Garvey’s movement, including the
leader of the National Association for the Advancement of
Garvey was born in Saint Ann’s Bay, Jamaica. During
Colored People, W. E. B. Du Bois, instigated Garvey’s arrest
the first decade of the twentieth century, he was involved in
for mail fraud. Garvey was tried and convicted in 1923; he
the labor movement and advocated for labor reforms in his
was sentenced to five years in prison and fined $1,000.
paper, the Watchman. But he quickly became disillusioned
and grew skeptical about the ability of unions to bring about
Garvey was pardoned by President Calvin Coolidge in
meaningful improvements in the lives of blacks, and about
1927 and was deported to Jamaica, where he tried unsuccess-
the willingness of whites to cooperate in achieving such a
fully to rebuild his movement. In 1935 he moved to London
goal. After a brief stint working for the United Fruit banana
and published a periodical, the Black Man. He died of a
plantation in Costa Rica, he moved to London, where he
stroke in June 1940. Even though he achieved few of his
came under the influence of Duse Muhammad Ali and wrote
goals, Garvey’s name is still revered among black nationalists.
articles for his paper, Africa Times and Orient Review. While
he was in London, Garvey was inspired with a new vision
BIBLIOGRAPHY
after reading Booker T. Washington’s Up from Slavery.
Burkett, Randall K. Garveyism as a Religious Movement. Metu-
When he returned to Jamaica in 1914, Garvey quickly
chen, N.J., 1978.
formed the UNIA, whose purpose was to unite Africans from
Garvey, Amy Jacques, ed. The Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus
all over the world in a common purpose of uplift.
Garvey. 2 vols. New York, 1923–1925; reprint, Dover,
Mass., 1986.
Following Washington’s Tuskegee model, Garvey’s first
program was the establishment of a trade school. This effort
Hill, Robert A., ed. The Marcus Garvey and Universal Negro Im-
never enjoyed success, however, due primarily to lack of fi-
provement Association Papers. 9 vols. Berkeley, Calif., 1983–.
nancial resources. Washington invited Garvey to visit Tuske-
Martin, Tony. Race First: The Ideological and Organizational
gee but died a few months before Garvey arrived in New
Struggles of Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improve-
York City in March 1916. Garvey began introducing himself
ment Association. Westport, Conn., 1976; reprint, Dover,
at different churches and sharing his vision. By 1918 he had
Mass., 1986.
started a weekly, the Negro World that grew in circulation to
Martin, Tony. Marcus Garvey, Hero: A First Biography. Dover,
fifty thousand. By 1919 Garvey had raised enough funds to
Mass, 1983. Published by the Majority Press as part of the
purchase an auditorium on West 138th Street in Harlem
New Marcus Garvey Library.
called Liberty Hall, where throngs came to hear his spell-
JAMES ANTHONY NOEL (2005)
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GASTER, THEODOR H.
GASTER, THEODOR H. Theodor H. Gaster
tional. In 1942 he began teaching part time in the graduate
(1906–1992) was a renowned Semiticist and follower of
school at Columbia University, and in 1945 he also began
James G. Frazer. He was born in England, the son of the
teaching part time at Dropsie College, in Philadelphia. From
folklorist Moses Gaster, who was Romanian by birth and a
1946 to 1950 he was a lecturer on Semitic civilization at
legendary linguist and scholar of Judaica. When the family
New York University. From the mid-1940s until the mid-
immigrated to England, Moses Gaster became chief rabbi of
1960s, he was a visiting professor at many colleges and uni-
the Sephardic Jewish community in London. He was also a
versities in the United States and three times at the Universi-
leading Zionist, and Theodor “recalled that the first draft of
ty of Leeds.
the Balfour Declaration [which announced the British aim
Gaster’s first full-time American post came in 1945,
of creating a homeland for Jews] was prepared in his father’s
when he served for a year and a half as chief of the Hebraic
home. For a time, Theodor, along with his young friends
Section of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. In
Abba Eban and Isaiah Berlin, would go from door to door
1951 and 1952, he was a Fulbright Professor in the history
in London soliciting donations on behalf of this future
of religions at the University of Rome, and in 1961 he was
homeland” (Hiers and Stahmer, 1995, p. 64).
a Fulbright Professor in biblical studies and history of reli-
Theodor Gaster was educated in private schools in Lon-
gions at the University of Melbourne.
don. He received an undergraduate degree in classics from
Most of the books for which Gaster is best known were
the University of London in 1928 and a master’s degree in
published in the 1950s, including his translation of the Dead
Near Eastern archaeology, also from the University of Lon-
Sea Scrolls, widely admired for its felicitousness; Thespis, his
don, in 1936. His master’s thesis, a preview of his key work,
application of the Frazerian myth-and-ritual theory to the
was titled “The Ras Shamra Texts and the Origins of
ancient Near East and beyond; and his abridgment and up-
Drama.” His mastery of languages was extraordinary, and he
dating of James Frazer’s The Golden Bough (The New Golden
was “one of the last generation of scholars equally at home
Bough [1959]), in which he retained the theory but updated
in Classical, Ancient Near Eastern, and multiple modern lan-
the data. This abridgment was of Frazer’s third twelve-
guages” (Hiers and Stahmer, 1995, p. 65).
volume edition of his opus, which Frazer himself had
With few academic positions open to Jewish scholars,
abridged into one volume in 1922. Gaster’s final major
Gaster held a series of museum and library appointments for
work, the two-volume tome Myth, Legend, and Custom in the
the first part of his professional life. His first major appoint-
Old Testament (1969). was similarly an abridgment and up-
ment came in 1928, as curator in the Department of Egyp-
dating of Frazer’s Folk-lore in the Old Testament.
tian and Semitic Antiquities at the Wellcome Research Insti-
Only in 1966, at the age of sixty, did Gaster secure a
tution and Museum in London. He served there until 1932
permanent full-time academic post, as professor of religion
and again from 1936 to 1939. In 1935 he became literary
at Barnard College, the women’s undergraduate division of
editor of the Jewish Daily Post, contributing an array of schol-
Columbia University. He helped revamp the curriculum and
arly and popular articles almost daily during the nine months
served a term as chair. He continued to lecture widely, and
of its existence.
from 1971 to 1981 he was professor of religion and director
In 1937 Gaster became lecturer on biblical and Near
of ancient Near Eastern studies at Dropsie College, by then
Eastern archaeology at New College and Institute of Arche-
renamed Dropsie University. Upon his retirement from Bar-
ology of the University of London, where he served until
nard, he was once again a visiting professor at many Ameri-
1939. In the 1930s he published innumerable scholarly arti-
can universities. He relocated to Florida to teach for several
cles on Ras Shamra and the Bible.
years at the University of Florida. He died in Philadelphia,
where he had moved in 1988.
In 1939 or 1940 Gaster moved from London to New
York and began work on a Ph.D. at Columbia University.
As a theorist, Gaster’s main contribution was his dis-
While pursuing his doctorate he continued to publish prolif-
tinctive brand of myth-ritualism—the theory that connects
ically. In 1941 and 1942 he was editorial secretary for the
myth to ritual. Gaster assumed that existing versions of the
Institute of Jewish Affairs of the American Jewish Congress,
theory downplayed myth in favor of ritual, and he strove to
and in 1943 he was executive secretary for the Conference
accord myth the same importance as ritual. Certainly the
on Jewish Relations. From 1943 to 1945 he was managing
original version of myth-ritualism, that formulated by Wil-
editor of Jewish Social Studies and frequently contributed ar-
liam Robertson Smith, made myth secondary to ritual, but
ticles on Judaica, the Bible, and the ancient and modern
it is debatable whether succeeding versions of the theory did.
Near East. In the mid-1940s he also began contributing to
Gaster’s myth-ritualist scenario, which he painstakingly
Commentary, and in the mid- to late 1940s he published arti-
sought to reconstruct for the ancient Near East, derives from
cles on the Bible in the Jewish Quarterly Review.
Frazer, whose dual and ultimately incompatible versions of
In the early 1940s Gaster apparently missed securing a
myth-ritualism Gaster sought to combine. In Frazer’s first
professorship in Jewish learning at Duke University because
version, the king is human and merely plays the role of the
his comparativist bent was considered insufficiently tradi-
god of vegetation, who dies and, through the imitation of
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GAUD:APA¯DA
3289
his rebirth, is magically reborn. In Frazer’s second version the
Gaster, Theodor H. “Mythic Thought in the Ancient Near East.”
king is himself divine and is killed outright and replaced,
Journal of the History of Ideas 16 (1955): 422–426.
with the soul of the god of vegetation thereby automatically
Gaster, Theodor H. New Year: Its History, Customs and Supersti-
transferred from the incumbent to his successor. For Gaster,
tions. New York, 1955.
the king either is god or merely represents god. It is simply
Gaster, Theodor H. The New Golden Bough. New York, 1959.
not clear which he is asserting. On the one hand, according
Gaster, Theodor H. “Myth, Mythology.” In Interpreter’s Dictio-
to Gaster, the king is literally or symbolically killed and re-
nary of the Bible, edited by George A. Buttrick, vol. 2,
placed annually. Here Gaster is using Frazer’s second ver-
pp. 481–487. New York and Nashville, 1962.
sion. On the other hand, according to Gaster, the killing and
Gaster, Theodor H. Myth, Legend, and Custom in the Old Testa-
replacing of the king parallels the death and rebirth of the
ment. 2 vols. New York, 1969.
god of vegetation and, by magical imitation, causes the re-
birth of the god. Here Gaster is using Frazer’s first version.
Grimes, Ronald L. “Ritual Studies: A Comparative Review of
Theodor Gaster and Victor Turner.” Religious Studies Review
Followers of Frazer other than Gaster have also become con-
2 (1976): 13–25.
fused in trying to reconcile actual regicide (king as divine)
with magical imitation (king as human).
Hiers, Richard H., with Harold M. Stahmer. “Theodor H.
Gaster, 1906–1992: A Biographical Sketch and a Biblio-
For Frazer, the myth of the death and rebirth of the god
graphical Listing of Identified Published Writings.” Ugarit-
of vegetation explains the ritual. It is the script of the ritual.
Forschungen 27 (1995): 59–114. The key source on Gaster’s
For Gaster, the myth does more than explain the ritual. By
life and much relied on for this entry.
itself, the ritual operates on only the human plane. Myth
Hiers, Richard H., with Harold M. Stahmer. “Theodor H.
connects ritual to the divine plane. The renewal sought
Gaster: Biographical Sketch and a Bibliography: A Supple-
thereby becomes spiritual and not merely physical. Rather
mental Note.” Ugarit-Forschungen 28 (1996): 277–285.
than simply explicating the inherent, physical meaning of rit-
Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society of Columbia University
ual, as Frazer did, Gaster saw myth as giving ritual its spiritu-
5 (1973). Festschrift to Gaster with essays by 46 contribu-
al meaning. In this sense he accords myth a status at least
tors. Includes a select bibliography.
equal to that of ritual. To do so, he must in fact be confining
ROBERT A. SEGAL (2005)
himself to Frazer’s first myth-ritualist scenario, for only here
is the myth of the god to be found.
SEE ALSO Frazer, James G.; Myth; Myth and Ritual School;
GATEWAYS
Ritual.
SEE PORTALS
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Gaster, Theodor H. “Divine Kingship in the Ancient Near East:
GAUD:APA¯DA,
A Review Article.” Review of Religion 9 (1945): 267–281.
Indian philosopher, was the reputed
para-ma-guru (“teacher’s teacher”) of S´an˙kara. Information
Gaster, Theodor H. Passover: Its History and Traditions. New
about Gaud:apa¯da is scant and has been subject to scholarly
York, 1949.
controversy. In what is now regarded as a fantastic thesis,
Gaster, Theodor H. “Semitic Mythology.” In Funk & Wagnalls
Max von Walleser professed in his Der ältere Vedanta: Gesch-
Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, and Legend, ed-
ichte, Kritik und Lehre (Heidelberg, 1910) that Gaud:apa¯da
ited by Maria Leach, vol. 2, pp. 989–996. New York,
1949–1950.
never existed at all. However, both V. Bhattacharya (1943)
and T. M. P. Mahadevan (1969) have argued convincingly
Gaster, Theoodor H. Thespis: Ritual, Myth and Drama in the An-
cient Near East. New York, 1950; rev. ed., Garden City,
that Gaud:apa¯da was a real person, the author of what is
N.Y., 1961.
called A¯gama S´a¯stra or Gaud:apa¯d¯ıyaka¯rika¯, or simply
Ma¯n:d:u¯kyaka¯rika¯.
Gaster, Theodor H. Purim and Hanukkah in Custom and Tradi-
tion: Feast of Lots, Feast of Lights. New York, 1950.
The name Gaud:a indicates that he must have come
Gaster, Theodor H. “Errors of Method in the Study of Religion.”
from Gaud:adesá (“Gaud:a country”), or Bengal. On the au-
In Freedom and Reason: Studies in Philosophy and Jewish Cul-
thority of the S´a¯r¯ırakam¯ıma¯m:sa¯bha¯s:ya-va¯rttika of Ba¯la-
ture, in Memory of Morris Raphael Cohen, edited by Salo W.
kr:s:n:ananda Sarasvat¯ı (seventeenth century CE), it is known
Baron et al., pp. 372–382. Glencoe, Ill., 1951.
that in the country of Kuruks:etra (north of present-day
Gaster, Theodor H. The Oldest Stories in the World. New York,
Delhi), near the H¯ıravat¯ı River, there lived a group of people
1952.
who had migrated from Bengal (and hence were called
Gaster, Theodor H. Festivals of the Jewish Year: A Modern Interpre-
Gaud:as); the most eminent among them was one
tation and Guide. New York, 1953.
Gaud:apa¯da. Exactly when Gaud:apa¯da lived has also been a
Gaster, Theodor H. “Myth and Story.” Numen 1 (1954):
matter of controversy. Some scholars place him in the fifth
184–212.
century CE, but this theory contradicts the traditional belief
Gaster, Theodor H. The Holy and the Profane: The Evolution of
that he was S´an˙kara’s teacher’s teacher, for S´an˙kara is gener-
Jewish Folkways. New York, 1955; 2d ed., New York, 1980.
ally assumed to have flourished somewhere between 788 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

3290
GAUTAMA
820 CE. Another assumption is that Gaud:apa¯da was a con-
New Sources
temporary of Apollonius of Tyana, who traveled to India in
King, Richard. Early Advaita Vedanta and Buddhism: The
the first century CE. This, however, is highly conjectural, and
Mahayƒana Context of the Gaudapadya-karika. Albany, 1995.
would place Gaud:apa¯da at an earlier, and even less likely
BIMAL KRISHNA MATILAL (1987)
date.
Revised Bibliography
According to A¯nandagiri (a pupil of S´an˙kara),
Gaud:apa¯da lived the final part of his life in Badarika¯´srama,
GAUTAMA S
the holy residence of Nara-Na¯ra¯yan:a, and spent his time in
EE BUDDHA
deep meditation on the lord (Na¯ra¯yan:a-Kr:s:n:a). Greatly
pleased with Gaud:apa¯da, the lord thus revealed to him an
insight into the quintessence of Upanis:adic wisdom, which
GE HONG (283–343) was a Chinese writer on alchemy
he recorded in his Ma¯n:d:u¯kyaka¯rika¯. Commenting on
and Daoism. Although a number of works have been attri-
Gaud:apa¯da’s A¯gama-S´a¯stra, a certain S´an˙kara (perhaps iden-
buted to Ge Hong, the only incontestable source for his
tical with the great S´an˙kara) remarked that nondualism had
thought is his Baopuzi (The master who embraces simplici-
been recovered from the Vedas by Gaud:apa¯da in order to re-
ty). This consists today of twenty “inner chapters” on Daoist
fute the dualism of the Sa¯m:khya masters.
themes, fifty “outer chapters” on more Confucian topics, and
an account of his own life. In both portions of his work Ge
The A¯gama S´a¯stra is divided into four prakaran:as, or
demonstrates an encyclopedic eclecticism that has caused
chapters. It is regarded as a commentary on the brief, enig-
later scholars a certain amount of difficulty in assessing his
matic Upanis:ad called Man:d:u¯kya. Only in the first chapter
ideas.
are the mantras of the Man:d:u¯kya discussed. Then the author
goes on to establish the Advaita (“nondual”) doctrine by ar-
To understand Ge Hong’s intellectual orientation, it is
guing against the dualists, such as the Sa¯m:khya philosophers,
necessary to know his cultural situation. Ge was a member
and the pluralists, such as the Nya¯ya philosophers. His doc-
of the old aristocracy that had lived in the lands south of the
trine is called the aja¯tiva¯da, or the “theory of nonorigina-
Yangtze since the Han dynasty and had served in the separat-
tion.” The paradox of permanence and change is invoked to
ist kingdom of Wu that in 222 succeeded the Han in South
show that causation or origination of new things is unintelli-
China. The Wu state was conquered from the north by the
gible. The Sa¯m:khya philosophers who say that the cause per-
Jin in 280, but the expulsion of the Jin court from North
sists in, and is identical with, the effect (satka¯ryava¯da), and
China by barbarian invasions in the early fourth century
the Nya¯ya philosophers who say that the cause creates the
forced this new regime to transfer its capital to present-day
effect, which was nonexistent before (asatka¯ryava¯da), oppose
Nanjing. This demoralizing cultural invasion further accen-
each other and both, thereby, are refuted; this then points
tuated the southern aristocrats’ loss of independent political
toward the truth of the view of nonorigination, that is, that
power, for the southerners saw themselves as the true heirs
nothing can originate. Creation is only an illusion; the diver-
of Han civilization, unlike the northern immigrants, who
sity of the world has only a dreamlike existence, for the ulti-
had abandoned much of the Han heritage. Ge at first had
mate reality is a nondifferential unity.
some hopes of a political career under the Jin, but the prema-
ture death of his patron forced him to turn increasingly to
It is believed that Gaud:apa¯da was strongly influenced
a life of scholarship. As a consequence, his writings manifest
by Buddhism, especially by the Yoga¯ca¯ra school. It has even
an urge to collect the various strands of the old culture of
been suggested that the A¯gama S´a¯stra is actually a Buddhist
pre-Jin times and make from them a compendium of south-
text. But while the influence of Buddhist doctrines and argu-
ern intellectual conservatism. Dominant in this is a defense
ments upon Gaud:apa¯da is undeniable, it would be wrong to
of local occult traditions against introduced religious and
conclude that he was a Buddhist. The fourth chapter of the
philosophical ideas.
A¯gama S´a¯stra undoubtedly includes much Buddhist materi-
al. But it is still safe to conclude that Gaud:apa¯da was an early
To what degree Ge, the political outsider, managed to
Veda¯ntin who must have influenced S´an˙kara in the develop-
compensate for his disappointments by becoming a master
ment of his celebrated nondualism.
of the occult is not clear. Recent scholarship has preferred
to see him as an enthusiast who derived his knowledge from
written sources more than from initiation into secret lore.
SEE ALSO Nya¯ya; Sa¯m:khya; S´an˙kara.
But Ge used this knowledge to the full to defend his thesis
that any person may become a genuine immortal. In arguing
BIBLIOGRAPHY
against those who interpreted immortality as a symbol of lib-
Bhattacharya, Vidhushekhara. The A¯gama´sa¯stra of Gaud:apa¯da.
eration from human limitations and against those who be-
Calcutta, 1943. An indispensable sourcebook containing ed-
lieved that immortals where born, not made, Ge provides a
ited text, annotated translation, and introduction.
treasure trove of information on ancient techniques for
Mahadevan, T. M. P. Gaud:apa¯da: A Study in Early Advaita. Ma-
achieving immortality. Ge’s references to the alchemical
dras, 1969.
preparation of elixirs of immortality have attracted the atten-
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

GEIGER, ABRAHAM
3291
tion of modern historians of science, but he provides infor-
Lopez, D. S. Religions of China in Practice. Princeton, 1996.
mation on much else besides: sexual and other physiological
T. H. BARRETT (1987)
practices, the use of talismans, herbal aids to longevity, lists
Revised Bibliography
of occult texts, and heterodox cults to be avoided. Because
by the end of the fourth century, the religious situation in
south China had been transformed totally by outside influ-
ences and internal developments, the Baopuzi constitutes vir-
GEIGER, ABRAHAM (1810–1874), rabbi, foremost
tually the only source for this type of lore at an earlier period.
exponent and idealogue of Reform Judaism in nineteenth-
Although the exact date of the Baopuzi is unknown, it
century Germany and outstanding scholar of Wissenschaft des
would appear to have been substantially completed by 317.
Judentums (the modern scholarly study of Judaism). Geiger
The Jin court bestowed on Ge honorary, politically power-
was born in Frankfurt, where he received a distinguished, tra-
less appointments in the following decade, but thereafter Ge
ditional Talmudic education. He was also attracted to secular
seems to have sought to distance himself from court life in
studies and in 1833 received his doctorate from the Universi-
favor of alchemical pursuits. He managed eventually to ob-
ty of Bonn for a work entitled Was hat Mohammed aus dem
tain a posting to the far south (present-day North Vietnam)
Judenthume aufgenommen (What did Muh:ammad take from
in order to search for the ingredients of the elixir of immor-
Judaism?), a study that measured Judaism’s influence on
tality. He was detained en route in present-day Guangdong
early Islam. In 1832 Geiger became rabbi in Wiesbaden, and
and remained there, on Mount Luofu, until his death. His
there he set out to rescue Judaism from medieval rabbinic
contemporaries readily believed that this was a feigned death
forms that he regarded as rigid, unaesthetic, and unappealing
and that he had in fact reached his goal of immortality.
to Jews of contemporary cultural sensibilities. He did this by
initiating reforms in the synagogue service and by calling, in
Despite the philosophical Daoist underpinnings that he
1837, for a conference of Reform rabbis in Wiesbaden.
provides for his repertory of techniques, Ge Hong’s contri-
Moreover, he hoped to show how the academic study of the
butions to the development of Daoism were in a sense negli-
Jewish past could be enlisted as an aid in the causes of Jewish
gible. His approach to the beliefs that he recorded remained
political emancipation and religious reform through the pub-
a purely individual one, and his writings, in all their contra-
lication of the Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift für jüdische Theolo-
dictory richness, can in no way be taken as representative of
gie (1835–1847).
the religion of any particular body of believers. Indeed, the
group religious practices of his day seem to have fallen largely
Geiger became embroiled in controversy in 1838 when
outside the scope of his research. Nonetheless he may be seen
the Breslau Jewish community selected him as dayyan (reli-
as the first of a number of southern aristocrats with similar
gious judge) and assistant rabbi over the strong protests of
concerns. Such later figures as Lu Xiujing (406–477) and,
the Breslau Orthodox rabbi, Solomon Tiktin. Indeed, be-
especially, Tao Hongjing (456–536), though priests in the
cause of this opposition, Geiger could not accept the position
mainstream of Daoist belief, maintained Ge’s emphasis on
until 1840. Upon Tiktin’s death in 1843 Geiger became
broad erudition and surpassed him in critical scholarship.
rabbi of the city. There he continued his activities on behalf
But for Daoists and non-Daoists alike, the Baopuzi remained
of Reform, playing an active role in the Reform rabbinical
one of the most widely cited apologies for the pursuit of im-
conferences of 1845 and 1846, held respectively in Frankfurt
mortality.
and Breslau.
Geiger’s undiminished commitment to the academic
SEE ALSO Alchemy, article on Chinese Alchemy; Daoism,
study of Judaism and his belief in the need for a modern rab-
article on Daoist Literature.
binical seminary to train rabbis in the spirit of modern West-
ern culture and Wissenschaft des Judentums led, in 1854, to
BIBLIOGRAPHY
the creation of the Jüdisch-Theologisches Seminar in Bres-
James R. Ware’s Alchemy, Medicine, and Religion in the China of
lau. Geiger was bitterly disappointed, though, when the
A.D. 320: The Neipian of Ge Hong (Cambridge, Mass., 1967),
board of the seminary decided to appoint as principal the
provides a complete translation of the “inner chapters” of the
more conservative Zacharias Frankel instead of himself. It
Baopuzi and of Ge’s autobiography. Jay Sailey’s The Master
was not until 1872, two years after Geiger had come to Ber-
Who Embraces Simplicity: A Study of the Philosopher Ge Hong,
lin as a Reform rabbi to the community, that his dream of
A.D. 283–343 (San Francisco, 1978) translates the autobiog-
directing a modern rabbinical seminary came to fruition. For
raphy, plus twenty more of the “outer chapters”; a lengthy
in that year the Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Juden-
study of Ge Hong and his thought is also appended. Neither
tums was established, with Geiger at its head. He remained
volume is beyond criticism, but taken together they give a
good picture of the diversity of Ge Hong’s work.
director of this center for the training of Liberal rabbis until
his death.
New Sources
Lai, Chi-tim. “Ko Hung’s Discourse of Hsien-Immortality: A
Geiger’s scholarship was prodigious and profound. His
Taoist Configuration of an Alternative Ideal Self-Identity.”
most influential work, Urschrift und Uebersetzungen der Bibel
Numen 45, no. 2 (1998): 183–220.
(The original text and translations of the Bible; 1857), advo-
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3292
GELUGPA
cated the methodology of biblical criticism, and a host of
GELUGPA SEE DGE LUGS PA
other scholarly and polemical articles and books displays his
broad knowledge of all facets of Jewish history and culture.
These publications reveal his determination to make Judaism
an integral part of Western culture and indicate both his
GE MYTHOLOGY. Before Brazilian expansion dimin-
theological bent and his ability to employ historical and
ished their territories, the widely scattered, generally inde-
philological studies in the cause of religious reform.
pendent and isolated groups that speak languages of the Ge
family occupied a large expanse of the Brazilian interior,
Geiger’s work, carried out in the context of Religions-
from approximately 2° to 28° south latitude, and from 42°
wissenschaft, pointed to the evolutionary nature of the Jewish
to 58° west longitude. They are usually grouped into three
religion and, under the influence of Schleiermacher, allowed
branches on the basis of linguistic similarities: the northern
him to focus on the inwardness of the Jewish religious spirit.
Ge (the Kayapó, Suyá, Apinagé, and the various Timbirá
Having thereby mitigated the force of tradition, Geiger was
groups in the Brazilian states of Pará, Mato Grosso, Goiás,
able, in terms borrowed from Hegel, to view Judaism as a
and Maranha˜o), the central Ge (the Xavante and Xerente,
universal religion identified with the self-actualization of the
in the states of Mato Grosso and Goiás), and the southern
Absolute. He therefore downplayed nationalistic elements in
Ge (the Kaingán and Xokleng, in the states of Sa˜o Paulo,
the Jewish past, denied them any validity in the present, and
Santa Catarina, and Rio Grande do Sul).
justified Jewish separateness in the modern world by speak-
ing of Judaism’s theological uniqueness and spiritual mis-
In addition to their language affiliation, the Ge-
sion. Nevertheless, Geiger, unlike his more radical colleague
speaking groups share a tendency to occupy savanna or up-
Samuel Holdheim, represented a moderate approach to Re-
land regions away from rivers, to live in relatively large semi-
form. He refused to serve a Reform congregation that sepa-
permanent villages, and to subsist on extensive hunting and
rated itself from the general Jewish community, he observed
collecting and some degree of horticulture. Compared with
Jewish dietary laws, and he urged the retention of traditional
other lowland groups in South America, the Ge have a fairly
Jewish laws of marriage and divorce. In addition, he favored
simple material culture and very complex forms of social or-
the observance of the second day of the festivals and, like his
ganization involving moieties, clans, and name-based groups.
more conservative peer Frankel, spoke of “positive-
Their rites of passage are long and elaborate. Several non-Ge-
historical” elements in Judaism.
speaking groups on the Brazilian central plateau also have
some of these traits. Among the most important of these are
BIBLIOGRAPHY
the Boróro and Karajá.
The best English introduction to Geiger’s life and writings appears
The French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss has
in Abraham Geiger and Liberal Judaism, compiled and edited
convincingly demonstrated that similarities among the
by Max Wiener and translated by Ernst J. Schlochauer (Phil-
adelphia, 1962). David Philipson’s The Reform Movement in
myths of the Americas do exist. Ge mythology is, however,
Judaism (New York, 1967) also contains a great deal of infor-
significantly different in content and emphasis from that of
mation about Geiger’s career and thought. Geiger’s own
other large language families in lowland South America (the
views of Judaism are summarized in a series of lectures he de-
Tupi, Arawak, Carib, and Tucanoan). The complexity of Ge
livered in Frankfurt that have been translated by Charles
and Boróro social organization, the elaborateness of their
Newburgh as Judaism and Its History (New York, 1911).
rites of passage, and the apparently secular nature of many
Jakob J. Petuchowski provides interesting insights into Gei-
of their narratives have challenged scholars to explain the im-
ger’s approach to Judaism and contrasts him with Samuel
portance of their myths. Lévi-Strauss uses Ge and Boróro
Holdheim in the article “Abraham Geiger and Samuel Hold-
myths as a point of departure in his four-volume
heim: Their Differences in Germany and Repercussions in
Mythologiques (1964–1971; translated as Introduction to a
America,” Leo Baeck Institute Yearbook 22 (1977): 139–159.
Finally, Petuchowski has edited a series of essays by several
Science of Mythology, 1969–1981), and some of his most care-
eminent scholars on the meaning and significance of Geiger’s
ful critics have used those myths to discuss his work or to
career and scholarship in a work entitled New Perspectives on
investigate the sociological context of myths in general. Ge
Abraham Geiger (Cincinnati, 1975).
mythology thus occupies an important place in the study of
New Sources
South American mythology both because of the challenges
Heschel, Susannah. Abraham Geiger and the Jewish Jesus. Chicago,
the narratives themselves present and because of the ways a
1998.
number of distinguished scholars have confronted them.
Koltun-Fromm, Kenneth. “Historical Memory in Abraham Gei-
NARRATIVE STYLES. Most anthropologists who write about
ger’s Account of Modern Jewish Identity.” Jewish Social
lowland South American mythology use the word myth to
Studies 7 (2000): 109–126.
refer to any narrative, be it cosmogonic, historical, or appar-
Mack, Michael. German Idealism and the Jew: The Inner Anti-
ently anecdotal, because genre distinctions are difficult to es-
Semitism of Philosophy and German Jewish Responses. Chica-
tablish for cosmologies that have no deities. The Ge have
go, 2003.
many different styles of oratory, formal speech, and song; the
DAVID ELLENSON (1987)
narration of myths constitutes only a small part of this reper-
Revised Bibliography
toire. The word myth covers a number of distinct narrative
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

GE MYTHOLOGY
3293
styles, which vary from the relatively fixed chanted texts of
gle, although some myths relate a visit to the sky or to a level
some Xokleng myths to fairly flexible narrative forms that
below the surface of the earth. Because the subject of the
closely resemble the European folktale in style and content.
myths is the tension between correct social behavior and in-
The definitions of genre differ from group to group. Among
correct or animal-like behavior, rather than the establish-
the Xavante, story, history, and dreams are apparently equat-
ment of a given character as a deity or ancestor, the actors
ed; other groups separate events of the distant past from
of one myth very rarely appear in another. Recurrent features
those of the more recent past and again from the experience
are not individuals but rather relationships (brothers-in-law,
of dreams.
siblings, parents and children, formal friends), settings (the
villages or the forest), and animals (deer, jaguars, tapirs, wild
With the exception of some ritualized performances
pigs). All these appear regularly in the myths. An exception
among the southern Ge, myths are neither secret nor restrict-
to this singularity of character is a series of stories about Sun
ed as to the time or place they may be told. They are often
and Moon found among the northern and central Ge.
recounted at night, by men or women, to children or adults,
and mix adventure, humor, ethics, and cosmogony in a way
TRANSFORMATION MYTHS. The central event in a Ge myth
that delights the audience regardless of its age. The narrator
is usually a transformation, involving, for example, the
imitates sounds and the voices of the characters with consid-
change of a continuity into discontinuity, as in the origin of
erable musicality, and his or her gestures often add dramatic
night and death; or the acquisition of an object that trans-
impact. Many myths have parts that are sung. Questions are
forms society, such as fire, garden crops, and ceremonies that
often interjected by the audience, and in response the narra-
humans are said to have obtained from animals.
tor may expand upon some point or another.
The origin of fire. A good example of a transformation
Ge myths published in collections are almost exclusively
myth is that of the origin of fire, versions of which have been
in the third person, but in performance they are not restrict-
collected from most Ge communities. Lévi-Strauss (1969)
ed to that format. Performance style varies greatly, which re-
and Turner (1980) have analyzed it extensively. The follow-
flects the difference between an oral narrative and a written
ing version was recorded among the Suyá; for the complete
text. Many performances are almost entirely in dialogue form
version, see Wilbert (1984).
with a minimum of narrative explanation; the context is
A long time ago the Suyá ate meat warmed in the sun
largely implicit, and the narrator presumes the audience has
because they had no fire. One day a man takes his
previous knowledge of the story. Members of the society
young brother-in-law into the forest to look for fledg-
have heard the stories from birth, and any given performance
ling macaws to take back to the village, where they will
is an ephemeral event and so not preserved.
be raised for their feathers. The two walk a long way.
The man sets a pole against a rock ledge, and the boy
CONTENT AND SETTING. Compared with the mythology of
climbs up to look at a nest. When the man asks the boy
the other major language groups in Brazil, Ge mythology ex-
what the young birds in the nest look like (i.e., whether
hibits in its subject matter little elaboration of the spirit
they have enough feathers to survive in the village), the
world, an absence of genealogical myths about ancestors, and
boy shouts down, “They look like your wife’s pubic
little cosmological complexity. Here Ge cosmology must be
hair.” (This insulting response is a very funny moment
distinguished from Ge mythology. Ethnographies of the Ge
for Suyá audiences, who always laugh heartily and re-
societies report beliefs in several types of spirits, in an afterlife
peat the question and response several times for effect.
in a village of the dead, and in shamans who travel to the
The exact incident that results in the boy’s being left in
sky. Ge mythology, however, rarely describes either these be-
the nest varies among the different Ge groups.) An-
liefs or their origins.
gered, the man throws aside the pole and leaves the boy
up in the nest, where he grows very thin and is gradually
One of the difficulties scholars have had in interpreting
covered with bird excrement. After some time a jaguar
Ge myths is their apparent unrelatedness to other aspects of
comes walking by. Seeing the boy’s shadow, the animal
society, including the elaborate Ge ceremonial life. Some
pounces on it several times, then looks up and sees the
South American societies explain the present by referring to
boy. The boy tells the jaguar of his difficulty, and the
the way the ancestors behaved; but among Ge speakers
jaguar asks him to throw down the fledglings. The boy
does so, and the jaguar gobbles them up. Then it puts
myths rarely make direct reference to the present in their de-
the pole against the cliff and tells the boy to descend.
scription of events that involve ethical dilemmas and social
Although terrified, the boy finally climbs down and
processes central to the society. No detailed native exegesis
goes with the jaguar to its house. When they arrive, the
of the stories has been reported; the Ge rarely use a myth to
boy sees a fire for the first time. It is burning on a single
interpret anything other than the narrative itself.
huge log. The jaguar gives the boy roasted meat to eat.
A threatening female jaguar arrives. (The degree of
Ge mythology generally focuses on the relationships be-
threat varies among the different Ge groups.) The jag-
tween the social world of human beings and the natural do-
uar gives the boy more meat and shows him the way
main of the animal and the monstrous. The main actors are
home. When he arrives at the village, he tells the men
humans, animals, and beings that are both human and ani-
that the jaguar has fire. They decide to take it from the
mal. The setting is usually the village and surrounding jun-
jaguar. Taking the form of different animal species, the
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3294
GE MYTHOLOGY
men go to the jaguars’ camp where they find the jaguars
ten. (Here the narrator usually sings the rest of the man-
asleep. They place hot beeswax on the eyes and paws of
deer’s song.) Then the husband becomes a forest deer.
the jaguars, which then run screaming into the jungle.
He still lives there at the lake. People have seen him
The men-animals pick up the fire log and run with it
there recently. Today the Suyá sing his songs in the Sa-
back to the village, in the style of a burity-palm log relay
vanna Deer ceremony.
race. First a rhea carries the fire log, then a deer, then
THE ANALYSIS OF GE MYTHOLOGY. Early collections of Ge
a wild pig, then a tapir. The frog wants to carry the log
myths were usually appended to ethnographic accounts of
and in spite of objections is allowed to do so. The log
the societies, with little commentary. With the appearance
is so hot the frog runs with it to the water and drops
it in. The fire goes out. “The fire is dead!” everyone
of Lévi-Strauss’s Mythologiques, however, scholarly interest in
shouts in consternation. Then the toucan, the curassow,
Ge mythology increased dramatically. These four volumes
and other birds run up, their head and neck feathers
have engendered tremendous controversy, but they nonethe-
bright red because they have been swallowing the live
less provide an entirely new perspective on the mythology
coals that have fallen from the log. They vomit the coals
and cosmology of the Americas.
onto the ashes, and the fire starts up again. The tapir
picks up the log again and runs with it all the way to
Lévi-Strauss argues that certain empirical categories,
the village. When they arrive, the men return to human
such as raw and cooked, fresh and decayed, and noisy and
form and divide the fire among all the houses. Ever
silent, are conceptual tools that the native populations of the
since then the Suyá have eaten roasted meat.
Americas use to elaborate abstract ideas and to combine these
ideas in the form of propositions. Amerindian mythology is
The origin of the Savanna Deer ceremony. The myth
thus a kind of philosophical speculation about the universe
of the man who is turned into a savanna deer by a jealous
and its processes, but one that uses principles quite foreign
rival, representative of another type of transformation story,
to Western philosophy. These propositions are best discov-
is cited as the origin myth of a ceremony still performed
ered through an analysis that treats myths as elements of a
today by the Suyá; for the complete version, see Wilbert
nearly infinite body of partial statements, rather than
(1984).
through an analysis that isolates individual narratives. Ac-
Once, before the Suyá had learned the Savanna Deer
cording to Lévi-Strauss, myths should be interpreted only
ceremony, they were painting and preparing for a
through other myths, to establish similarities or differences.
Mouse ceremony. In this ceremony the adult men take
He further argues that the myths of one society can be inter-
a few young women for collective sexual relations.
preted through the myths of surrounding societies, or even
While some of the men leap, dance, and sing, others
through those of distant societies on the same or another
choose the women who will take part in this activity,
continent.
and take them to the men’s ceremonial camp. One man
is very possessive about his young wife. To prevent her
Lévi-Strauss’s work must be evaluated in two distinct
from being taken as a sex partner for the ceremony, he
ways. First, one must consider his comparative method.
sings standing next to her in the house. He does not
While the debate on structural analysis in anthropology and
leave her to sing in the men’s house. Another man
literature is extensive, much of the criticism of Mythologiques
wants to have sexual relations with the woman and is
has centered on Lévi-Strauss’s removal of myths from the
angered by the husband’s attentiveness. The angry man
contexts of the societies in which they are told, and on his
is a witch who can transform people or kill them. He
preferring instead to compare them with the myths of very
decides to transform the woman’s husband. The hus-
different societies. Lévi-Strauss (1981), writing in defense of
band begins to sweat as he dances. His dance cape sticks
his method of analyzing the native cosmologies of the Ameri-
to his head and will not come off. He tries to pull it off,
cas as a whole (rather than what he claims are individual
but it has grown on and has begun to stick to his neck
and back as well. “Hey!” he shouts, “I am being trans-
manifestations, i.e., the myths of a particular society), defines
formed into something bad!” He leaves his wife and
his objective as being that of attempting to understand the
goes to the men’s house, where he sings all night along
workings of the human mind in general.
with the other caped singers. The next morning the
Second, one must consider whether those categories
singers’ sisters strip them of their capes, and so the men
that Lévi-Strauss highlights as central to cosmologies across
stop dancing and singing, but the husband keeps on (he
cannot stop, for his cape will not come off). The men
the Americas actually are important to specific societies.
shout at him to stop singing. He keeps dancing and
There is general agreement that they are, and some of the cat-
singing. Suddenly he rushes off into the forest, still sing-
egories delineated by Lévi-Strauss have even proved to be
ing. Later his relatives go off to find him, and after sev-
keys to the analyses of the cosmologies of groups about
eral days they find him near a lake, his body bent over.
which Lévi-Strauss had no information whatsoever. There is
The rattles tied to his legs have begun to turn into
no doubt that the study of South American societies has been
hooves. Antlers fan out above his head. He is singing.
revolutionized by Lévi-Strauss’s analyses of myth.
(Here the narrator usually sings the song the man-deer
is supposed to have been singing.) The men who find
Although Lévi-Strauss’s work is highly suggestive, his
him listen to his song. One man tells the others, “Listen
analyses do not answer the questions social anthropologists
and learn our companion’s song,” and they sit and lis-
usually pose about myths: Why is it that a given people tells
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GE MYTHOLOGY
3295
a given story and how does the mythology relate to other as-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
pects of the society? Few anthropologists are satisfied with
The outstanding English source for Ge myths is Johannes Wil-
analyses that treat myth, religion, and cosmology as isolated
bert’s Folk Literature of the Gê Indians, 2 vols. (Los Angeles,
phenomena. An alternative tradition of interpreting Ge
1979, 1984). In addition to assembling and translating the
myths derives from the founders of sociological and anthro-
major published collections, Wilbert has indexed the 362
narratives using the Stith Thompson folk-literature motif
pological theory: Karl Marx, Max Weber, Émile Durkheim,
index, which may aid comparative work. Texts collected and
and their followers. A number of important works have ex-
translated by Indians at a Salesian mission appear in Barto-
amined the relationship between Ge myths and other fea-
lomeu Giaccaria and Adalberto Heide’s Jeronomo Xavante
tures of Ge-speaking societies. These authors often use some
conta mitos e lendas and Jeronomo Xavante sonha contos e son-
version of a structural method derived from Lévi-Strauss, but
hos (both, Campo Grande, Brazil, 1975). Anton Lukesch
they employ it to quite different ends. They either analyze
presents an analysis of the major propositions of Kayapó my-
a myth of a single Ge society or compare a myth found in
thology in Mythos und Leben der Kayapo (Vienna, 1968),
different groups to show how variations in the myth are par-
translated as Mito e vida dos índios Caiapós (Sa˜o Paulo,
1976). For ethnographic background on the Ge, see Curt
alleled by variations in specific features of the social organiza-
Nimuendajú’s The Eastern Timbira (Berkeley, Calif., 1946)
tion. In this way they support the argument that myths and
and David Maybury-Lewis’s edited volume Dialectical Socie-
social processes are related in particular ways.
ties: The Gê and Bororo of Central Brazil (Cambridge, Mass.,
1979). Nimuendajú gives a detailed description of a single
The most systematic and challenging of these alternative
society, and Maybury-Lewis provides a good background on
analyses is the work of the American anthropologist Terence
the sociological issues among the northern and central Ge.
Turner (1977, 1980), who combines his reanalysis of a
Claude Lévi-Strauss’s four volumes on Amerindian mytholo-
Kayapó myth of the origin of fire with an extensive critique
gy, published originally in French (Paris, 1964–1971), have
of Lévi-Straussian structuralism. Turner shows that every
been translated into English as The Raw and the Cooked
event, object, and relationship in the fire myth has particular
(1969), From Honey to Ashes (1973), The Origin of Table
relevance to specific features of Kayapó social organization,
Manners (1978), and The Naked Man (1981). My own Na-
social processes, and cosmology. He argues that, for the
ture and Society in Central Brazil: The Suya Indians of Mato
Kayapó, the telling of myths plays an important part in their
Grosso (Cambridge, Mass., 1981) demonstrates that many of
the ideas and categories Lévi-Strauss discovered through the
understanding of their lives.
analysis of Ge mythology are indeed to be found in other as-
Other analysts have related myth to general ethical
pects of the cosmology, social organization, and values of the
Suyá, one of the northern Ge groups. For a critique of Lévi-
propositions (Lukesch, 1976), to issues of domestic authority
Straussian structuralism and a reanalysis of one of the Ge
(DaMatta, 1973), to messianic movements, and to the ways
myths, see Terence S. Turner’s “Narrative Structure and
in which the Ge societies have confronted conflict and con-
Mythopoesis: A Critique and Reformulation of Structuralist
tact with Brazilian society. All these analyses take into ac-
Concepts of Myth, Narrative and Poetics,” Arethusa 10
count the social, political, and ethical contexts of which Ge
(Spring 1977): 103–163; and “Le dénicheur d’oiseaux en
myths are always a part, and they have considerably advanced
contexte,” Anthropologie et sociétés 4 (1980): 85–115. Rober-
the understanding of the role of myths in tribal societies.
to DaMatta’s “Mito e autoridade domestica,” in his Ensaios
de antropologia estrutural (Petrópolis, Brazil, 1973), is an ex-
The two very different traditions of scholarship this arti-
cellent example of how the analysis of a single myth common
cle has described—the study of myths as logical propositions
to two societies can reveal differences in their social organi-
using categories found throughout the Americas and the
zation.
study of myths within their specific social context—have
ANTHONY SEEGER (1987)
stimulated the study of Ge narrative itself and have also re-
sulted in the increasingly careful collection and greater avail-
ability of adequate texts. With improved recording technolo-
GENDER AND RELIGION
gy, greater interest in the performative aspects of verbal art,
This entry consists of the following articles:
and the contributions of missionaries who are themselves
AN OVERVIEW
specialists in textual exegesis, there has been a vast improve-
HISTORY OF STUDY
ment in the accuracy of published narratives. While early col-
GENDER AND HINDUISM
GENDER AND JAINISM
lections of myths were usually narrative summaries derived
GENDER AND BUDDHISM
from dictation in Portuguese, more recent works have in-
GENDER AND SIKHISM
cluded exact transcriptions of longer Portuguese versions,
GENDER AND CHINESE RELIGIONS
careful transcriptions of recordings made in the native lan-
GENDER AND JAPANESE RELIGIONS
GENDER AND JUDAISM
guages, collections recorded and translated by the Indians
GENDER AND CHRISTIANITY
themselves, and bilingual publications designed for use as
GENDER AND ISLAM
primers by the groups who tell the myths. These improved
GENDER AND ZOROASTRIANISM
GENDER AND ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN RELIGIONS
collections will allow specialists and nonspecialists alike to
GENDER AND ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN RELIGIONS
better understand the myths and evaluate analyses of them.
GENDER AND CELTIC RELIGIONS
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3296
GENDER AND RELIGION: AN OVERVIEW
GENDER AND AUSTRALIAN INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS
Although there exists a growing movement of “men’s
GENDER AND OCEANIC RELIGIONS
studies,” inspired by the theoretical and practical develop-
GENDER AND AFRICAN RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS
GENDER AND NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN RELIGIOUS
ments of women’s and feminist studies, it has as yet less mo-
TRADITION
mentum and commands less urgency to pursue profound po-
GENDER AND MESOAMERICAN RELIGIONS
litical and social changes, given continuing widespread male
GENDER AND SOUTH AMERICAN RELIGIONS
dominance and the almost universal privileging of males in
most societies of the world. Thus, there often exists a consid-
GENDER AND RELIGION: AN OVERVIEW
erable cognitive dissonance between women’s and men’s un-
The subtle patterns and dynamic of gender pervade all areas
derstanding of “gender studies.”
of religion, both explicitly and implicitly, whether fully rec-
Equally widespread is the failure to problematize gender
ognized or unacknowledged. Widely debated and often mis-
and recognize its radical, multidimensional potency. Al-
understood, gender concerns have immense significance in
though “gender” is now a widely used term, its complex and
contemporary culture as they are part of the international po-
changing meanings are seldom fully grasped or critically re-
litical and social agenda of most countries in the world. The
flected upon. Religion and gender are highly contested fields,
Gender Development Index has recorded the global moni-
and both need careful mapping to bring their manifold inter-
toring of existing gender gaps since 1996, and it provides
actions into people’s awareness and into the practices of
clear evidence of how much still needs to be done before a
scholarship. This does not happen spontaneously but in-
truly equitable gender balance is reached. Critical gender per-
volves decisive effort and agency, requiring what has been
spectives have made a significant difference to most academic
aptly called “making the gender-critical turn” (Warne,
fields, including the study of religion. Yet many scholarly
2000b), since gender-critical thinking is neither “natural” in
publications on religion still seem to give little or no recogni-
the current social context nor has it been historically available
tion to the profound epistemological, methodological, and
before the modern era. Thus, gender awareness is grounded
substantive changes that contemporary gender studies, espe-
in a self-reflexive, critical consciousness that has to be ac-
cially women’s scholarship and feminist theories but also the
quired.
growing field of men’s studies in religion, have produced
over the last thirty years. Sometimes seen as profoundly
Gender studies first developed in the social sciences dur-
threatening, or disdainfully dismissed because of ignorance,
ing the late 1960s and 1970s through the investigation of
misunderstanding, or other factors of personal and institu-
human sexual differences and roles. A new binary distinction
tional resistance, the engendering of religions and their study
came into existence in which “sex” was associated with the
provides a great challenge to contemporary scholarship.
biological differences between women and men, whereas
The symbolic order and institutional structures created
“gender,” previously used a grammatical term for distin-
by religions have deeply affected and inspired human exis-
guishing nouns, was transferred from a linguistic to a social
tence over millennia; they continue to do so for countless
context in order to distinguish the historically and culturally
people in today’s postmodern world. Their abiding impor-
developed interpretations of what it means to be a man or
tance is too great not to be affected by the transformations
a woman in different societies and cultures. Biological sex
caused by the emergence of critical gender awareness as a
was seen as naturally given, whereas gender was understood
genuinely new development in the history of human con-
to have been historically and socially constructed, often in-
sciousness. This entry provides a general introduction to the
fluenced by dominant religious teachings.
most frequently debated issues and complex patterns that
From then on the word gender has been fiercely debated
pertain between gender and religion, followed by a series of
and given multiple meanings, leading to a plethora of theo-
articles dealing with area- or tradition-specific discussions of
retical positions. From gender being taken as a sociobiologi-
gender.
cal category to being completely deconstructed or simply un-
WHAT GENDER MEANS AND DOES NOT MEAN. It needs to
derstood performatively and discursively, the transformation
be made clear right at the start that “gender” is not a syn-
of gender from its former merely grammatical application to
onym for “women,” although it is often mistaken as such for
nouns into a major analytical category in the study of history
two reasons: first, gender studies originally developed out of
and society has spurred so many analyses and specialized
women’s studies and draw to a large extent on feminist schol-
studies that a newcomer can get thoroughly confused. Nu-
arship in different disciplines; second, gender studies in prac-
merous rhetorical stances of great abstraction and abstruse-
tice remain necessarily more concerned with women than
ness have been adopted, often appearing to obfuscate more
men because of the need to overcome the deeply entrenched,
than help, with the result that the distinction between sex
traditional invisibility and marginalization of women in his-
and gender is now less clear than first assumed. Not only is
tory, society, and culture. It is essential, however, to recog-
gender a “useful category of historical analysis,” as Joan Wal-
nize that gender studies always concern men as well as
lach Scott (1996) has so persuasively argued, but it is now
women, their respective identities, representations, and indi-
also a category beset by pitfalls and problems, as Judith But-
vidual subjectivities, as well as their mutually interrelated so-
ler’s Gender Trouble (1990) and many others have clearly
cial worlds and the unequal power relations between them.
demonstrated. “Gender” is the title of one of twenty-two
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GENDER AND RELIGION: AN OVERVIEW
3297
conceptual essays in Critical Terms for Religious Studies (ed.
contexts and large semantic fields. The complex controver-
Mark Taylor, 1998). In this essay Daniel Boyarin states that
sies surrounding the meaning of both prove that we are deal-
now,
ing here not only with definitional minefields or merely aca-
demic matters but with issues of advocacy, personal
when we study gender within a given historical or exist-
commitment, ethical engagement, and fundamental choices
ing culture, we understand that we are investigating the
about the nature of one’s life and society.
praxis and process by which people are interpellated
into a two- (or for some cultures more) sex system that
Many religious teachings and practices, especially scrip-
is made to seem as if it were nature, that is, something
tural statements, religious rites, beliefs, theological doctrines,
that has always existed. The perception of sex as a natu-
institutional offices, and authority structures, are closely in-
ral, given set of binarily constructed differences between
human beings, then, is now seen as the specific work
tertwined with and patterned by gender differences, even
of gender, and the production of sex as “natural” signi-
when gender remains officially unacknowledged and is
fies the success of gender as a system imposing its
deemed invisible (to untrained eyes). The existing social and
power. (p. 117)
religious arrangements are considered “natural” or norma-
tively prescribed by sacred scriptures and other religious
A lucid discussion of different subsets within the category of
teachings, handed down by tradition from the ancestors or
gender, and of different frameworks and strategies affecting
“God-given,” and thus unalterable. It is only since the En-
its interpretation, is found in Randi R. Warne’s article “Gen-
lightenment and the onset of modernity that the existing
der” in Guide to the Study of Religion (2000a, pp. 140–154;
gender arrangements of traditional societies and religious in-
see also Juschka, 1999, 2001), describing the relationship be-
stitutions have been radically called into question, leading to
tween sex and gender as either homologous, analogous, or
the emergence of the modern women’s movement.
heterogeneous. What emerges from all these discussions is
that the sex-gender distinction, however understood, is
The first wave of this women’s movement, from the late
linked to binary oppositions, hierarchical ordering, and un-
eighteenth through the nineteenth and early twentieth cen-
equal access to power and resources, so that one can speak
turies, forms an essential part of the great transformations of
of a rigid “gender system” that has operated in most societies
modernity. Increasingly, historical studies provide new evi-
in the past and still exists in many in the present. The differ-
dence that the motivation for women seeking greater free-
ent roles and images associated with both sexes, and gender-
dom, equality, and participation in all areas of society, in-
differentiated patterns of power, status, and authority, vary
cluding religion, did not stem from secular philosophical and
enormously in different cultures, but if these have been creat-
political developments alone but was also rooted in biblical
ed as well as changed in the past because of changing material
teaching, shared by Jews and Christians, that women and
and ideological conditions, it must also be possible to trans-
men are created in the image of God. This was reinterpreted
form gender inequalities and gender relations in the present
in a new, strongly egalitarian way, never understood in this
(Bonvillain, 1998; see chap. 8, “Gender and Religion”). This
manner in the past (Bo⁄rresen, 1995). Theological ideas im-
is a powerful argument for individual and societal gender
pacted women reformers far more than has hitherto been ac-
transformation within a new global context of pluralism and
knowledged; that applies even to so radical a thinker as Mary
diversity. It is this alternative—some may say utopian—
Wollstonecraft (Taylor, 2003), and similarly radical theolog-
vision of a different kind of reality, of greater justice and
ical reflections can be found in the writings of Florence
equality for all human beings of whatever sex, that has in-
Nightingale (Webb, 2002). Nineteenth-century Europe and
spired social reformers and women campaigners since the
America witnessed the parallel development of women’s or-
onset of modernity, and some individuals much earlier than
ganized social and political movements and, at the same
that.
time, the expansion of their religious activities, opening up
new religious roles for women. The religious roots of the
GENDER STUDIES AND RELIGION. Gender studies have ar-
struggle for women’s rights (Morgan, 2002; Zink-Sawyer,
rived rather later in the study of religion than in most other
2003) and the complex historical dynamic operating be-
fields. At present there still obtains a harmful “double blind-
tween religious faith and feminist consciousness are increas-
ness” in which most contemporary gender studies, whether
ingly receiving more attention. Existing studies have so far
in the humanities, social sciences, or natural sciences, remain
focused mainly on women in Christianity and Judaism, with
extraordinarily “religion blind,” whereas far too many studies
a growing focus on Islam as well. But a great deal more com-
in religion are still quite “gender blind.” It can be legitimately
parative research is needed to show the strength of motiva-
asked, however, what relevance contemporary gender in-
tion arising from concurrent secular and religious commit-
sights may possibly have for the age-old beliefs of religion?
ments of women from many different religious traditions
To what extent can the study of religion benefit from the nu-
engaged in working to abolish the traditional social and reli-
anced and highly sophisticated theoretical arguments of cur-
gious constraints of women’s lives.
rent gender debates? To give a satisfactory answer to such
questions requires much conscious effort and many practical
The second wave of the women’s movement, which
changes. Neither gender nor religion are stable, transhistori-
emerged during the latter part of the twentieth century, took
cal categories; both function within specific sociohistorical
a strongly self-reflexive, theoretical, and critical turn, express-
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3298
GENDER AND RELIGION: AN OVERVIEW
ing itself in militant feminist theory and politics and cele-
gious figures (whether ascetics, monastics or yogins) and
brating “global sisterhood.” Feminism aims to overcome the
male religious communities are normally given more public
universal oppression of women and to achieve their full hu-
recognition, respect, authority, and power than women’s re-
manity, so that women can speak with their own voices, from
ligious groups, however numerous and large. Similarly, tradi-
their own experience, their own subjectivity, agency, and au-
tional religious texts are almost exclusively the creation of
tonomy—all terms that by now have become thoroughly
men, and male interpretations of these texts hold authorita-
theorized but also further problematized. Some argue that
tive status. The experience of men has been taken as norma-
these concepts of autonomous subjectivity are themselves de-
tive without taking into account the experiences and
rived from the inherently androcentric, liberal worldview of
thoughts of women, who are relegated to subordinate roles
post-Enlightenment Western thought and that they cannot
or, at worst, are completely suppressed in many foundational
be applied universally across boundaries of gender, culture,
religious texts and excluded from significant religious rites.
race, and class, but always function pluralistically.
It is worth mentioning that the word patriarchy itself is of
religious provenance, since it originally described “the digni-
There also exists a third wave feminism, sometimes re-
ferred to as “postfeminism,” not meaning the end of femi-
ty, see, or jurisdiction of an ecclesiastical patriarch” and “the
nism but accepting a multiplicity of feminisms, linked to
government of the church by a patriarch or patriarchs” be-
theoretical reflections on femininities as well as masculinities.
fore it came to mean “a patriarchal system of society or gov-
A more self-critical theorizing developed under the influence
ernment by the father or the eldest male of the family; a fami-
of psychoanalysis, poststructuralism, postmodernism, and
ly, a tribe or community so organized” (Oxford English
postcolonialism, which also affected the development of gen-
Dictionary). Patriarchy can also be understood as the struc-
der studies that, in turn, had evolved out of women’s and
turing of society around descending hierarchies of father-
feminist studies. Feminist epistemology and theory as well
hood, whether understood as Father God, the supreme au-
as practical feminist strategies have opened up new experi-
thority of a king, a lord, or paterfamilias. In recent theoretical
ences and questions that bear on gender relations in terms
debates, especially those influenced by Freudian psychoanal-
of both women and men. To work for greater gender justice,
ysis and French feminist theorists, much use is made of the
however understood, requires profound social, political, eco-
concept of “phallocentrism,” referring to the structuring of
nomic, religious, and cultural transformation for both sexes.
society around the values of the phallus as the ultimate sym-
At a practical level, therefore, gender studies impact on edu-
bol of power and activity, so that women represent absence,
cation and politics, on social work and care, on development
lack, and passivity. Another term is “phallogocentrism,” that
work, on ecological and peace issues, on the media, and on
is to say the logos, word and thought, is centered on phallic
academic scholarship. Like religious studies, gender studies
male categories. Other debates have contrasted the historical-
are characterized by a pluralistic methodology and complex
ly dominant patriarchies across the world with earlier social
multidisciplinarity. It might even be more appropriate to
structures of matriarchies, probably largely hypothetical,
speak of transdisciplinarity, because gender patterns are so
symbolizing alternative values and power structures linked to
pervasive in their potential implications that they transcend
the authority of the mother rather than that of the father and
traditional disciplinary boundaries. Gender studies have also
centered on the worship of the Goddess. Today’s feminist
a strong international orientation, and while recognizing ex-
scholars generally regard the term matriarchy as misleading
isting social, racial, ethnic, and sexual diversities as well as
while discussing with renewed interest whether prepatriar-
many individual nuances, their central insights are immense-
chal societies ever existed and to what extent Goddess wor-
ly important and relevant across traditional national, cultur-
ship correlates with women’s religious and social leadership
al, and religious boundaries. The basic ideas of women, femi-
(Gross, 1996; Raphael, 1996).
nist, and gender studies first emerged in Western societies;
Religious beliefs, thoughts, and practices are not only
by now they have become globally diffused and have also
profoundly patriarchal but often also thoroughly androcen-
been considerably transformed in their intellectual and prac-
tric, that is to say predominantly, if not exclusively, shaped
tical applications to a wide range of social and religious issues
by male perspectives and experiences. Androcentrism, a term
within very diverse local contexts around the world.
first introduced by the American sociologist Lester F. Ward
CENTRAL CONCEPTS AND CONCERNS. Much of the feminist
in 1903, not only refers to the privileging of the human male,
critique of society and culture focuses on patriarchy and an-
especially in language and thought, but also means that male
drocentrism. Although the word patriarchy often refers to di-
experience has been one-sidedly equated with all human ex-
verse theories of history and society, now often discredited,
perience and taken as a universal norm by men and women
in the widest sense patriarchy means an all-male power struc-
alike, without giving full and equal recognition to women’s
ture that privileges men over women. Most religions still
knowledge and experience. The use of man, the male and
conform to this pattern in terms of their institutional organi-
masculine, as a universal category for the generically
zation and official representation. Moreover, most religions
“human,” is exclusionary since it erases women as subjects.
were founded by men, although there also exist a few
The opposite of androcentrism is gynocentrism, the privileg-
women-led religions, especially among marginal, small-scale,
ing of female experience and perspective, which is compara-
and tribal groups (Sered, 1994). In most religions male reli-
tively rare. Another widely used term is sexism, referring to
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GENDER AND RELIGION: AN OVERVIEW
3299
the organization of social life and attitudes that not only
studies because their development may mean the loss of some
sharply differentiates between different gender roles but also
of the recent gains made. But feminist separatism apart,
privileges and values one sex over the other. Juschka (2001,
many female, and some male, scholars now work within a
pp. 2–3) makes a helpful distinction between androcentrism
gender-critical framework and use gender-inclusive rather
as a falsifying male perspective and actual misogyny as an ac-
than exclusive models in their thinking. Strongly articulated
tive negative attitude toward women as female. The inherent
gender theories possess considerable explanatory power and
androcentrism of the study of religions was pointed out early
potential for the study of religion. Gender studies can of
in the pioneering collection of essays Beyond Androcentrism
course be appropriated for conservative ends, even funda-
(Gross, ed., 1977).
mentalist purposes (Hawley, 1994; Jeffery and Basu, 1998),
or they can be used to reinforce androcentric bias through
Whereas sex is usually understood in a binary way, as
focusing on the analysis of masculinity without taking femi-
consisting of two mutually exclusive categories of male and
nist theoretical insights into account. Gender studies in reli-
female, feminists have used gender in association with differ-
gion thus represent a complex field of many contradictory
ence and diversity, in terms of multiple, rather than single,
parts still in need of much further development, but they also
versions of femininities and masculinities that call into ques-
hold much promise for new creative perspectives and ap-
tion general claims about women and men. Thus “the con-
proaches in religious scholarship.
cept of gender has served as a flexible container for differ-
ence. . . . Lacking any stable content, the categories
NEW METHODOLOGIES AND SCHOLARSHIP. The introduc-
‘women’ and ‘men’ acquire meaning through their use in
tion of feminist perspectives into the study of religion has
particular contexts” (Bondi and Davidson, 2002, p. 336). As
been celebrated as an epistemological as well as a spiritual
gender is not a stable essence but a fluid category linked to
revolution. The rise of feminism relates both to an academic
identity creation, world building, and boundary mainte-
method and a new social vision (Gross, 1993,
nance of social roles, it may be preferable to use an active,
pp. 291–304). Female religion scholars have developed a
dynamic verb rather than a noun. “Engendering” is an action
practical “participatory hermeneutics,” involving advocacy
linked to perceiving, performing, reflecting, and enacting,
and personal engagement, as well as a theoretically sophisti-
and it is therefore more appropriate to speak about
cated “hermeneutics of suspicion,” which critically examines
“(en)gendering religion” (Warne, 2001) or “doing gender in
all traditional knowledge and practices of religion. These
religion” than to speak about gender and religion in an addi-
have to be thoroughly analyzed and deconstructed so that
tive manner. Religion and gender are not simply two parallel
unequally weighted gender differences become clearly visible
categories that function independently of each other; they
and reconstructed in a different way. June O’Connor (1989)
are mutually embedded within each other in all religions, suf-
has defined this task as “rereading, reconceiving and recon-
fusing all religious worlds and experiences. It is because of
structing religious traditions.” By “rereading” she means that
this deep hidden embeddedness that gender is sometimes so
religious phenomena have to be examined with regard to
women’s presence and absence, their words and silences; “re-
difficult to identify and separate out from other aspects of
conceiving” requires the retrieval and recovery of lost sources
religion until one’s consciousness is trained into making a
and suppressed visions, the reclaiming of “women’s heri-
“gender-critical turn.”
tage”; “reconstructing” the past draws on new paradigms for
In terms of intellectual developments, a double para-
thinking, understanding, and evaluating it differently. These
digm shift has occurred. The first happened when women’s
expressions point to a dynamic of transformation, indicating
studies—descriptive, phenomenologically and empirically
that a profound change in thought and social structures is
oriented—developed into more critical, self-reflexive, and
deliberately sought and worked for.
theoretically oriented feminist studies. The second paradigm
The development of women’s studies in religion thus
shift has taken place with the further development of femi-
counteracts the deficiency and partiality of scholarship by re-
nist studies into gender studies. But “paradigm shift” is too
trieving women’s forgotten histories and buried voices, their
tame an expression for what is really happening, which is a
unacknowledged experiences hidden in the official histories
shaking of foundations, a radical remapping of our intellec-
of the past. Critical feminist theories were developed, based
tual, academic, and social landscapes. It has become increas-
on the specificity and difference of women’s experience, lead-
ingly obvious that it is not simply a question of bringing
ing to endless debates, especially as some forms of “cultural
women’s experience and knowledge into view but of radical-
feminism” claimed that women’s experience is not only dif-
ly restructuring the existing balance between genders. As in
ferent from men’s but morally and perhaps even spiritually
many other fields, we are not simply dealing with a reinter-
superior to that of men, a theme that goes back at least as
pretation of texts and traditions but with a complete reposi-
far as the Romantics.
tioning of bodies of knowledge, a rearrangement and remap-
ping of everything that relates to religion, society, and
Critical gender studies in religion have conclusively
culture. As women’s studies and feminist studies of religion
demonstrated that there are no gender-neutral phenomena.
have gained more institutional recognition over recent dec-
Everything is subtly, and often invisibly, patterned by a gen-
ades, some women scholars feel resistant toward gender
der dynamic operating in language, thought, experience, and
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GENDER AND RELIGION: AN OVERVIEW
institutions. Traditional religiously defined and socially pre-
gies dealing with sexuality and the production of raced and
scribed gender roles, if rigidly enforced, can become dehu-
gendered bodies, much influenced by Michel Foucault’s in-
manizing prisons, even though anthropological, historical,
fluential work on the history of sexuality. Such theories call
and comparative studies provide overwhelming evidence that
into question how what counts as “normal” heterosexuality
gender roles are also remarkably fluid across different reli-
comes into existence, is legitimated and maintained as well
gions and cultures. At the present stage of humanity’s global
as transgressed and subverted, so that concepts of identity,
experience it is no longer possible to work with exclusive, he-
power, and resistance have to be critically reexamined. The
gemonic models of language, thought, or anything else, de-
“queering” of religion raises many ethical and theological
rived from only one gender. Historical descriptions, analyses,
questions, not fully discussed at present, so that it is still too
and theories need to take all genders and their differences
early to predict whether queer thinking will have the same
into account, whether shaped by race, class, culture, religion,
influence as feminist theories on what is a complex new field
sexuality, or other identity markers. The theorization of mul-
of scholarship in the study of religion (sometimes also called
tiple voices, of subjectivity and agency, of difference and
LGBT studies, relating to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans-
identity, of standpoints and positionality, of liberation and
gendered people) with far more resources on the web than
transformation, is central to feminist thought. Its debates
in existing gender studies on religion. For an introduction
have anticipated several of the critical stances of postmodern-
to these discussions see Fear of a Queer Planet (Warner,
ism in destabilizing categories and in arguing against essen-
1993) and Religion Is a Queer Thing (Stuart, 1997).
tialist and universalist stances. Feminists have pioneered new
epistemological insights, not only in terms of what we know
Such studies from radically different perspectives high-
but how we come to know, how knowledge is constructed,
light in a new way how monotheistic systems are male domi-
psychologically as well as socially. These theoretical advances
nated and heterosexually structured (Boyarin, 1997) and
of feminist theory have deeply influenced men’s studies,
how the “queering” of the body relates to wider issues of or-
leading to a new understanding of the construction of male-
dering gender relations, society, and configurations of power
ness, manhood, and masculinities. Both women’s studies and
linked to ambiguous religious histories and teachings. It is
men’s studies, although approached from different gender
therefore to be welcomed that new body theologies are being
perspectives, have to work in a gender-inclusive rather than
developed from both male and female perspectives (Nelson,
gender-exclusive way in order to achieve further intellectual
1992; Raphael, 1996; Isherwood and Stuart, 1998). These
and social breakthroughs. At present, however, maleness has
have their roots mainly in Christian thinking, but many
not yet been theorized to the same extent as femaleness.
other religious traditions possess rich resources for construct-
ing alternative approaches to the body and its religious signif-
Women’s and men’s studies in religion are both marked
icance. For Asian perspectives see the SUNY (Albany) series
by critical and constructive approaches. There is the question
on “Body in Culture, History, and Religion” edited by
of what remains usable of the past when religious texts and
histories are reread from a critical gender perspective. The
Thomas P. Kasulis and his colleagues. Contemporary West-
impact of gender analysis, coupled with an ethical commit-
ern discussions, marked by fluid postmodern instabilities and
ment to gender justice, will lead to a deconstruction as well
much experimentation, are continuously evolving in this
as a reconstruction of religious traditions and practices. At
area, so that new concepts such as “transgender” and “omni-
present this process has barely begun, and setbacks are un-
gender” are created to illuminate, and perhaps even to over-
avoidable. Moreover, the deconstruction of an essentialist
come, the multiple but still oppositional meanings of gender
understanding of masculinity is only in its early stages (Doty,
(Mollenkott, 2001).
1993; Berger, Wallis, and Watson, 1995). “Men doing femi-
Women’s religious lives and roles in different religious
nism” (Digby, 1998), though still a largely Western project,
traditions across the world, previously rarely examined at all,
is bound to gain momentum and widespread diffusion across
have now been studied from many different perspectives. A
contemporary cultures. More inclusive, critical “gender
pioneering publication was Unspoken Worlds: Women’s Reli-
thinking” will therefore dislocate individual and social iden-
gious Lives (Falk and Gross, eds., 2001, originally published
tities, creating the possibility for new social arrangements
in 1980 and subtitled Women’s Religious Lives in Non-
and new religious developments across the globe. Men’s
Western Cultures), followed by many others on women’s
studies in religion have produced innovative research on reli-
roles and rituals in different religions, the records and writ-
gion and masculinities, male sexuality and spirituality, and
ings left by women, and their exclusion or participation in
male identities and bodies in relation to the gender-sensitive
religious rites and institutions. An Anthology of Sacred Texts
understanding of God and divinities (Eilberg-Schwartz,
By and About Women (Young, ed., 1994) was another mile-
1994; Boyd, Longwood, and Muesse, 1996; Krondorfer,
stone, presenting important scriptural sources on women in
1996; Bradstock, Gill, Hogan, and Morgan, 2000), but there
the major religious traditions, including women’s own
is still a long way to go before these developments catch up
voices. Several recurring themes reveal the ambiguities affect-
with women’s studies in religion.
ing the image of women cross-culturally, such as the wide-
Yet further thinking is represented by queer theories,
spread association of women with both evil (through their
primarily debated within gay, lesbian, and feminist theolo-
body, sexuality, menstruation taboos, and death) and wis-
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GENDER AND RELIGION: AN OVERVIEW
3301
dom; sex role reversals in mythical and other stories of gender
turn have produced masses of new data and theories, opening
conflict; the figure of the ideal and exceptional woman; and
up yet more new research fields. With the arrival of gender
the existence of many female religious experts, recognized for
studies, this process has crossed yet another threshold of
their charismatic authority without, in most cases, holding
complexity that will contribute to an eventual thorough re-
official institutional roles. Further evidence of casting
mapping of the entire field of religion and radically alter
women into particular stereotypes and make them submit to
some of its underlying research presuppositions. The influ-
the moral rules of male-dominated society, often enforced by
ential paradigm established by Mircea Eliade, reflected in the
the teachings of religion, is provided by Female Stereotypes in
very existence of this encyclopedia, has received much schol-
Religious Traditions (Kloppenborg and Hanegraaff, eds,
arly comment and criticism, but these have not yet thor-
1995). An absolutely indispensable reference work, and pio-
oughly addressed the hidden gender imbalances and implicit
neering achievement, is the two-volume Encyclopedia of
androcentrism of his entire oeuvre. Except for some brief es-
Women and World Religion (Young, ed., 1999), reflecting the
says (King, 1990; Christ, 1991, 1997: pp. 80–86), the defec-
diversity and richness of current theoretical debates and em-
tive construction of his homo religiosus, who remains quite
pirical data in contemporary scholarship on women’s, and
literally “religious man” without including the religious
to some extent also men’s, studies in religion. There exists
worlds of femina religiosa, has not been sufficiently critiqued,
no comparable reference work yet that offers a similar sum-
and the specific dynamic of gender relations underlying his
mation of gender studies and men’s studies in religion.
Patterns in Comparative Religion also awaits further decon-
struction.
Several feminist scholars have attempted feminist recon-
SIGNIFICANT RESEARCH THEMES. A critical analysis of reli-
structions of religious traditions as different as Judaism, Bud-
gious texts, histories, and historiographies in terms of their
dhism, and Sikhism, as well as Christianity, and the number
embedded “lenses of gender” (whether androcentrism, essen-
of gender-critical studies on Islam and other traditions is also
tialism, or gender polarization) raises some intriguing issues.
steadily growing. Some essay collections reflect constructive
These can be grouped into three systematic clusters of re-
efforts in reinterpreting several religious traditions (Cooey,
search themes that contemporary scholars pursue from his-
Eakin, and McDaniel, 1991), but most feminist challenges
torical, phenomenological, philosophical, and comparative
have been addressed to Judaism and Christianity, especially
perspectives. Related to external and internal aspects of reli-
in North America and Europe. The rise of ever newer forms
gion, these topics reveal the interstructured personal and in-
of feminist theologies has spawned remarkable voices of dif-
stitutional dynamics of power, authority, and gendered hier-
ference, from womanist to mujerista and Asian-American
archies that have patterned religious life in many different
theologies, which have given birth to women doing Christian
and often subtly invisible ways throughout history.
theology around the whole world, from Asia to Africa, Aus-
tralia to Latin America, Europe to North America. The most
The first cluster concerns primarily, though not exclu-
challenging theoretical questions facing feminism and gender
sively, the social and institutional aspects of religion with re-
studies, admittedly from a largely Western point of view, are
gard to the respective roles and status that different religious
discussed in Feminism in the Study of Religion: A Reader
traditions accord to men and women. What access do
(Juschka, ed., 2001). The pluralism of methods and interpre-
women have to full participation in religious life, to religious
tive strategies in current gender thinking on different reli-
authority and leadership, when compared with that of men?
gious experiences, texts, histories, and practices is evident
Have women formed distinct religious communities and
from Gender, Religion and Diversity: Cross-Cultural Perspec-
rites of their own where their independent authority is ac-
tives (King and Beattie, eds., 2004). By taking up a self-
knowledged and not abrogated by male hierarchical struc-
reflexive, critical position, several contributors to this vol-
tures? Are specific religious rites gender inclusive or exclusive,
ume, both female and male, show that these debates are more
and which are the ones that exclude either women or men?
than sophisticated academic arguments; in practical terms
Do both sexes have the authority to teach and interpret the
they involve a strong commitment to gender justice and so-
foundational texts and central practices of the tradition?
cial transformation, whether in Judaism, Buddhism, Hindu-
Comparative historical studies show that generally women
ism, Christianity, or Islam in different parts of the world.
hold higher positions in archaic, tribal, and noninstitutional-
ized religions than in highly differentiated traditions that
This is not the place to pursue a trenchant critique of
have evolved complex structures and hierarchical organiza-
the androcentrism and defectiveness of previous scholarship,
tions over a long period of time. Women magicians, sha-
but the above examples provide ample evidence that now,
mans, healers, visionaries, prophetesses, and priestesses are
when women are no longer merely occasional objects of male
found in primal and ancient religions, and in tribal and folk
inquiry but have acquired the necessary academic education,
religions today. Comparative studies also provide much evi-
professional training, and expertise to pursue the study of re-
dence that, during the formative period of a religion, at the
ligion at all levels, they have increasingly become scholars in
time of a new religious founder or prophet when a “disciple-
their own right who critically examine themselves as objects
ship of equals” (Schüssler-Fiorenza) may exist, women often
of analysis and debate. This historically recent development
have a more egalitarian position, greater influence, and even
has led to new questions in the study of religion, which in
leadership, whereas subsequently they are often relegated to
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GENDER AND RELIGION: AN OVERVIEW
secondary roles, losing much of their independent agency.
only for many women but also for many colonial people.
Examples are found among women in early Buddhism, in
Now recognized as limiting rather than liberating, they are
the Jesus movement and early Christianity, or among the
radically called into question by contemporary theologians
women associated with Muh:ammad’s work, or with nine-
of both sexes, especially Jewish and Christian feminists.
teenth-century Christian missionary movements. Women
Where are the symbols and images of a feminine Divine, the
religious founders and leaders are comparatively rare. They
female figures of wisdom, of the Spirit? Analyzing religious
are more prominent in new religious movements that have
texts and teachings from a female gender perspective can lead
come into existence in quite different religious and cultural
to surprising new insights into human experience of the Di-
contexts since the nineteenth century (e.g., Miki Oyasama
vine, whether in gendered patterns of mystical experience or
and Mary Baker Eddy, founders of Tenrikyo¯ and Christian
in the intimate presence of the Spirit within our bodies and
Science, respectively; other examples are women leaders in
in the natural world, as recognized by contemporary
African and South American new religions). Women can rise
ecofeminism and the new ecofeminist spirituality (Adams,
to religious leadership more easily within small religious
1993; Cuomo, 1998). Discussions about the possibility and
groups outside the mainstream tradition, but modernity has
necessity of a divine feminine, accompanied by a revaloriza-
also created space for many new religious roles within the
tion of the body and the maternal, take central place in the
mainstream (Wessinger, 1996). The charismatic, rather than
lively debates of contemporary critical philosophers and
institutional, authority of women is recognized in both tradi-
theologians (Jantzen, 1998). These have been much influ-
tional and new religions, but today a greater number of
enced by the linguistic turn of postmodernism and the rise
women religious leaders and teachers exist than in the past
of psycholinguistics, especially its revolutionary use by
(Puttick, 1997; Puttick and Clarke, 1993). Several Christian
French feminist theorists (Irigaray, Kristeva, Cixous, and
denominations now ordain women as priests, and modern
others), which has strongly impacted Western philosophers
Hinduism knows of many women gurus, such as Ananda
of religion (Anderson, 1998; Jantzen, 1998; Joy, O’Grady,
Mayi Ma and others.
and Poxon, 2002, 2003). Feminist philosophers of religion
are now engaged in sharply critiquing a traditionally almost
The second cluster of research themes centers on the
exclusively male discipline shaped by problematic biases of
fluid area of religious language and thought, raising challeng-
gender, race, class, and sexual orientation. Different feminist
ing questions about the entire symbolic order and the role
theologians and biblical scholars have also taken up the topic
of the imaginary in religion. How are male and female gen-
of gender with much vigor (see Sawyer, God, Gender and the
der differences discursively constructed, culturally inscribed,
Bible, 2002).
and socially reproduced? Do different sacred scriptures and
religious traditions project images of women as strong and
A third cluster of research questions relates to the usual-
powerful as those of men? Or does their language remain ex-
ly least visible (except for outward religious practices, and
clusive and androcentric, subordinating, disempowering, ex-
perhaps also spirit possession), the most internal, personal as-
cluding, and oppressing women? What are the gendered pat-
pects of religion, that is to say religious and mystical experi-
terns and symbols of their language of creation and salvation?
ences. How far are these differently engendered? To what ex-
How are the sacred, ultimate reality and the divine conceptu-
tent are their occurrences, descriptions, images, and symbols
alized, and how is feminine and masculine sacrality under-
gender specific? Are men’s perception and pursuit of spiritu-
stood and valued? The evaluative gender hierarchy of reli-
ality often quite different from women’s spirituality? These
gious language is equally inscribed in religious attitudes to
questions can be applied to both the continuing and cumula-
the body, sexuality, and spirituality (for Jewish perspectives
tive experience of ordinary day-to-day religious practice and
on body, sexuality, and gender see Eilberg-Schwartz, 1994;
to the extraordinary experiences of religious virtuosi, such as
for Christian perspectives see Brown, 1988; Thatcher and
saints and mystics. Most religions seem to validate the ordi-
Stuart, 1996; the gendered patterns of relations between sex-
nary lives of women in terms of domestic observances and
uality and the sacred are richly documented by Nelson and
family duties rather than encourage their search for religious
Longfellow, 1994; Raphael, 1996). The widespread sacral-
knowledge and spiritual perfection. How far do different tra-
ization of virginity, and the spiritually privileged position ac-
ditions prohibit or encourage women to seek a spiritual space
corded to asceticism and monasticism in many religions, es-
of their own and follow demanding spiritual disciplines in
pecially in Jainism, Buddhism, and Catholic Christianity,
the same way as men? By rejecting traditional sociobiological
have fueled profoundly misogynist views in the gender dy-
gender roles through becoming ascetics, yoginis, sannyasinis,
namics of numerous religious traditions, but a comparative-
or nuns, Jaina, Buddhist, and Christian women have pursued
critical study of these phenomena from a self-reflexive gender
nontraditional, and sometimes extraordinary, paths of spiri-
perspective still remains to be written.
tual devotion and attainment, although the gendering of
Hindu renunciation is a mostly modern phenomenon
The narrow prison of gender symbols encloses the his-
(Khandelwal, 2004). Women had to struggle to create their
torically and socially located human perceptions of divine
own religious communities; their gender always provoked
immanence and transcendence. Dominant androcentric im-
male resistance to their claim to autonomy and power, so
ages of God have been symbols of power and oppression not
that their activities remained controlled and constrained by
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GENDER AND RELIGION: AN OVERVIEW
3303
male hierarchies. Nowhere is this more evident than in the
spective reveals the existence of gendered texts and traditions,
rich lives of Christian nuns in whose cloisters and convents
gendered hierarchies of power, gendered symbols of the sa-
appeared outstanding women scholars, mystics, artists, polit-
cred, gendered bodies and minds. The analysis of this wealth
ical activists, healers, and teachers over many centuries,
of new material is a truly daunting task and remains an ongo-
whose biographies often reflect intensive gender struggles
ing one. There also arises the central question of whether
over power and authority (McNamara, 1996), also evident
gender studies in religion will be able to make a significant
from the critical study of Christian mysticism (Jantzen,
contribution to creating a postpatriarchal world by moving
1995).
from dualistic and exclusive gender constructions to new so-
cial projects of gender reconciliation, implying profound
It is especially the area of women’s religious experience,
personal and social transformations.
in both the ordinary sense of religious devotions and duties
and the special sense of a particular religious calling, that pro-
PROMINENT CONTEMPORARY DEBATES AND NEW DIREC-
vides a rich field for contemporary research. It is important
TIONS. The relationship between gender and religion is still
to investigate also the strongly affirmative and life-sustaining
made more complex through debates about diversity and dif-
resources that countless women have found through the ages,
ference, a concept much hyped by postmodernism ever since
and still find today, in a faith transmitted to them through
Derrida’s “différance” highlighted the disjuncture between
the beliefs, practices, and spiritual heritage of a specific reli-
objects of perception and their meanings as symbols or repre-
gious tradition. Such research provides a counterbalance to
sentations. Difference can mean many things; among others
the more restrictive and oppressive role that religion has
it can stand for a multiplicity of voices and meanings, for var-
played in many women’s lives.
ied subject positions of the same individual, or it can negate
the possibility of any particular authoritative account. It thus
Moving from religious experience and practice to the
undercuts any essentialist position in debates about race,
systematic articulations of faith that produced a wealth of
gender, and ethnicity. “Diversity” is sometimes used inter-
philosophical and theological learning in all religious tradi-
changeably with “difference,” but they are conceptually dis-
tions, we largely meet worlds without women, as is all too
tinct:
evident from sacred and scholarly literatures, official histories
of religious institutions, and more recently the historiogra-
Difference carries negative value baggage, while diversi-
phies and research monographs of Western scholars of reli-
ty differentials are captured by difference. The trick is
gion (King, 1993). Women’s religious worlds, experiences,
to recognize difference as a fragmentation into insignifi-
cant units of resistance. By holding onto a concept of
and thought have on the whole made few contributions to
difference nuanced by a concept of diversity, significant
these developments until the modern period. Gender studies
political and intellectual action against oppression re-
and other intellectual advances have awakened us to such im-
mains effective. (Juschka, 2001, p. 430).
portant themes as self and subjectivity; human identity and
representation; authority and power relations; masculinity
The recognition of diversity has led to the realization that ev-
and femininity; body, sexuality and spirituality; and how to
erywhere pluralities abound whereas singularity is rare. Thus,
think and speak of ultimate reality and human destiny, of
gender studies, feminisms, feminist theologies, sexualities,
individuals and community, in a newly gendered, and some-
spiritualities, and many other categories are now more often
times transgendering, way. Feminist theologians and thealo-
expressed in the plural rather than the singular.
gians have reimaged God and Goddess or explored affinities
with process thought (Christ, 2003); they have suggested al-
Difference is also correlated with “otherness,” not only
ternative conceptualizations using androgynous and monis-
that of different experiences and social locations, of gender
tic models for ultimate reality; they have reshaped religious
orientations and identities, but the multiple “otherness” of
rites and invented new ones through creating either separate
religious differences within and across specific cultures; there
women’s rituals or more inclusive liturgies. Many contempo-
is the diversity of methods and approaches in understanding
rary changes in religious practice are the result of an altered
such differences; there is the “otherness” of one gender to an-
gender awareness, but many further social and institutional
other, especially the “otherness” of women for men, as tradi-
transformations of a more substantial kind are still needed.
tionally understood. The social and political violence exer-
Discussions about the relationship between immanent, con-
cised by the West toward the “otherness” of “non-Western”
tingent gender experiences and perceptions of transcendence
cultures, whether through imperialism, orientalism, or neo-
and divine otherness, or the nature of the sacred and numi-
colonialism, has come under fierce criticism that also impacts
nous, continue unabated. However, too often these are still
the gender and religion debate (Armour, 1999; Donaldson
predicated on an essentialist dualism between the spirit as
and Kwok, 2002). The history and concerns of feminist the-
masculine and the body, whether female or male, as femi-
ory have to some extent paralleled those of postcolonial theo-
nine, and they often perpetuate the traditional appropriation
ry. Writing from the perspective of postcoloniality, feminist
of the realm of transcendence and the spirit by men.
researchers perceive woman as a “colonized” subject relegat-
ed, like subject people of former colonies, to the position of
The above discussion of a wide range of research themes
“other” under various forms of patriarchal domination. The
shows that a rereading of religions from a critical gender per-
“epistemological violence” of Western religious and theologi-
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GENDER AND RELIGION: AN OVERVIEW
cal discourse toward other cultures and religions has come
or integral frameworks. These controversial ideas have also
under fierce critique, as have debates about racial differences,
considerably influenced religious studies theory, although it
which are being subverted through critiquing whiteness and
is presently impossible to assess whether this tendency to
its false neutrality, theorizing white also as “race” or de-
identify ever more differences will have any lasting intellectu-
emphasizing the importance of the category of “race” alto-
al or practical impact on gender and race relations. Concepts
gether. The essentialist understanding of race characterizes
of difference and diversity are also much discussed by femi-
what is now called Whitefeminism, and new critiques of lim-
nist theologians seeking to account more appropriately for
ited, essentialist perspectives of Whitefeminist theory and
religious diversity and pluralism in feminist theological dis-
Whitefeminist theology, as well as religious studies theory,
course.
are being developed (Armour, 1999; Keller, 2004). One can
Many further issues, whether theoretical or praxis-
argue, especially from the universalist, inclusive vision inher-
oriented, can only find brief mention. The influential critical
ent in many religions, that there exists only one race, and that
theory of the Frankfurt School has itself been critiqued by
is the human race. One of the most significant issues is who
feminists for its gender essentialism, although its male practi-
has been counted as “human” in the past and who was margi-
tioners provide valuable insights into woman-as-object of
nalized as “other,” “outsider,” “barbarian,” and “nonhu-
masculine thought. Challenging the oversights of critical the-
man.” This raises the burning question of what it really
ory, Marsha Hewitt (1995) contends that it nonetheless pos-
means to be a human person today in the light of critical gen-
sesses considerable emancipatory potential for feminist theol-
der thinking (Nelson, 1992; Smith, 1992) and when taking
ogy and religious theorists. Yet one can also argue that
into account all the other differentiations that pattern our
excessively complex theoretical elaborations remain ultimate-
multicultural, multiracial, and religiously plural global
ly barren and are just another example of the violence of ab-
world.
straction. Faith-engaged activists in different religious groups
Contemporary discussions are deeply affected by the
and basic communities are consciously praxis-oriented in
processes of globalization, which produce transformative re-
fighting the gendered pattern of violence against actual
sources for religious worldviews, interreligious contacts and
human beings, so starkly apparent in numerous contempo-
communication, and the international study of religions.
rary conflict and war situations. The study of gender, reli-
Many of these depend on the globally diffused use of En-
gion, and violence has attracted increasing interest, and so
glish, criticized by some as neocolonial form of dominance.
has the topic of human rights and religion, including a grow-
These arguments are also present in gender debates, since
ing awareness of women’s human rights in relation to their
more writings and scholarly communications about gender
religious traditions and cultures, whether Hindu, Buddhist,
and its relevance for religion take place in English than in
Muslim, or other (Jeffery and Basu, 1998; King, 2004; Sven-
any other language. In postcolonial writing the “alchemy of
son, 2000). The Malaysian scholar-activist Sharon Bong ar-
English” (Kachru, 1986) is widely debated. Its usefulness as
gues that although problematic in challenging the secularity
a non-native medium of communication is its perceived
of human rights discourse, it is essential, in fact “a moral and
“neutrality” in that it cannot be automatically aligned with
political imperative to negotiate women’s human rights with
particular indigenous religious or ethnic factions, and there-
cultures and religions,” in order to complement other strate-
fore can be used just as much for imparting local, non-
gies for their empowerment (Bong, 2004, p. 241).
Western values as Western values. Thus, it is rather one-
Also of great concern is the topic of religious fundamen-
sided to see this hegemony of one Western language above
talism, where research is only beginning to pay attention to
others mainly negatively, for the global use of English can
gender differences, especially how women are affected by
also be valued positively as an enabling means of wider com-
fundamentalist teachings and practices of different religions
munication and an empowering challenge for social and per-
(Hawley, 1994; Howland, 1999) and the efforts made by
sonal transformation. In the gender debate, people whose
conservative and Christian evangelical groups in redefining
mother tongue is not English may initially feel at a disadvan-
traditional gender roles in the light of changing social prac-
tage, but native English speakers are not necessarily better
tices (DeBerg, 1990).
off, because a critical gender awareness always requires a new
perception and the learning of a new vocabulary, linked to
Randi Warne concludes one of her gender articles by
new attitudes and changed practices. Learning to make the
saying:
“gender-critical turn” is an ongoing self-reflective process
As long as we distinguish humans as “women” and
that everyone who embarks on the exciting journey of gender
“men,” and as long as these distinctions carry symbolic
exploration must undergo, whatever their language.
meaning and cultural authority which shape human life
possibilities, the concept of gender will be essential to
These multiple new perspectives, now increasingly sub-
any adequate analysis of religion. Gender as an analyti-
sumed under “postcolonial studies,” have spawned lively
cal category, and gendering as a social practice, are cen-
controversies on race, gender, ethnicity, nationalism, orien-
tral to religion, and the naturalization of these phenom-
talism, discourse, body, and other topics, creating numerous
ena and their subsequent under-investigation have had
formulations of hybridity rather than genuinely correlative
a deleterious effect on the adequacy of the scholarship
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

GENDER AND RELIGION: AN OVERVIEW
3305
that the scientific study of religion has produced. Until
gender is provided by Liz Bondi and Joyce Davidson, “Trou-
the scientific study of religion becomes intentionally
bling the Place of Gender,” in Handbook of Cultural Geogra-
gender-critical in all of its operations, it will unwittingly
phy, edited by Kay Anderson, Mona Domosh, Steve Pile, and
reproduce, reify and valorize the nineteenth-century
Nigel Thrift, pp. 325–343 (London, Thousand Oaks, New
gender ideology which marks its origins, rendering sus-
Delhi, 2002); for the politics of interpretation regarding sex
pect any claims to the scientific generation of reliable
and gender see Terrell Carver, Gender Is Not a Synonym for
knowledge it seeks to make. (2000a, p. 153)
Women (London and Boulder, Colo., 1996).
This is a bold statement, except that religion and gender do
The problematic nature of masculine gender constructions is dis-
not concern the production of reliable knowledge alone. The
cussed in Maurice Berger, Brian Wallis, and Simon Watson,
reworking of language, thought, and theories, of knowledge
eds., Constructing Masculinity (New York and London,
1995) and William G. Doty, Myths of Masculinity (New
and scholarship, are essential, but not sufficient, for creating
York, 1993); see also Tom Digby, ed., Men Doing Feminism
a profoundly different, more gender-just and equitable world
(New York and London, 1998). For a provocative philo-
for all humans peopling this globe. To rethink sex, gender,
sophical enquiry into gender dualities and the gender system
and religion, we have to imagine that creative alternatives are
in relation to conceiving humanity and the communal proj-
available and that a nonhierarchical, more caring and partici-
ect of democracy, see Steven G. Smith, Gender Thinking
patory world can come into existence that is not aligned
(Philadelphia, 1992).
along a single, masculine model of sameness, but offers more
Reference Works
spaces for rich cultural and religious differentiation. I agree
Maggie Humm, The Dictionary of Feminist Theory, 2d ed. (Upper
with Christine Delphy that “perhaps we shall only really be
Saddle River, N.J., 1995) helps to clarify many basic con-
able to think about gender on the day when we can imagine
cepts and theories of the social sciences that have impacted
non-gender” (quoted in Juschka, 2001, p. 422).
the study of religion. For historical and descriptive details on
women in different religious traditions, see the series edited
The rich variety of gender entries on specific religious
by Arvind Sharma and Katherine K. Young, The Annual Re-
traditions that follow this article amply demonstrates that
view of Women in World Religions (Albany, N.Y., from 1991
critical, transformative gender perspectives now affect the
onwards). Theoretical and methodological issues are ad-
study of all religions and are consciously being taken up
dressed in Feminism and World Religions, edited by Arvind
cross-culturally by scholars of both genders. Their research
Sharma and Katherine K. Young, (Albany, N.Y., 1999) and
has created challenging perspectives of enquiry and produced
in Methodology in Religious Studies: The Interface with
a wealth of new scholarly work, as is evident from the follow-
Women’s Studies, edited by Arvind Sharma (Albany, N.Y.,
ing bibliography and those supplied on each religious
2002). Much historical data on religion, women, and men
tradition.
are found in the five volumes of A History of Women in the
West, edited by Georges Duby and Michelle Perrot (Cam-
S
bridge, Mass., 1992–1994).
EE ALSO Androcentrism; Domestic Observances; Ecology
and Religion; Feminine Sacrality; Feminism, article on
Often-cited readers that have assumed the status of classics, with
Feminism, Gender Studies, and Religion; Feminist Theolo-
mostly material on Judaism, Christianity, and new religions
gy; Gaia; Gender Roles; Globalization and Religion; God;
in the West, are Womanspirit Rising: Feminist Reader in Reli-
Goddess Worship; Gynocentrism; Homosexuality; Human
gion, 2d ed., edited by Carol P. Christ and Judith Plaskow
Body, article on Human Bodies, Religion, and Gender;
(San Francisco, 1992); Weaving the Visions: New Patterns in
Human Rights and Religion; Mary; Masculine Sacrality;
Feminist Spirituality, edited by Judith Plaskow and Carol P.
Men’s Studies in Religion; Menstruation; Monasticism;
Christ (San Francisco, 1989); and The Politics of Women’s
Mysticism; Neopaganism; New Religious Movements; Nu-
Spirituality. Essays by Founding Mothers of the Movement, 2d
dity; Nuns; Ordination; Patriarchy and Matriarchy; Phallus
ed., edited by Charlene Spretnak (New York, 1994).
and Vagina; Priesthood; Rites of Passage; Ritual; Sexuality;
Other Works
Shamanism; Shekhinah; Thealogy; Virgin Goddess; Virgini-
Darlene M. Juschka, ed., Feminism in the Study of Religion: A
ty; Wicca; Wisdom; Witchcraft; Women’s Studies in
Reader (London and New York, 2001). An indispensable col-
Religion.
lection of articles dealing with wide theoretical issues, from
women doing the study of religion to critical discourses, race,
B
gender, sexuality, and class. Key texts from the last thirty
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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

3306
GENDER AND RELIGION: AN OVERVIEW
in Religion, published twice a year since spring 1985. It now
terms of the ideal of a gentle, receptive male. Originating
invites “a variety of contributions that focus on women’s ex-
from the Talmud and further developed in other Jewish
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texts, this model provides helpful resources for constructing
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Boyarin, Daniel. “Gender.” In Critical Terms for Religious Studies,
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Chosen from a large range of publications on gender studies in re-
don, 1998. Succinct summary of some leading gender theo-
ligion, the selection of the following titles was guided by sev-
reticians, with discussion of some biblical texts and their rab-
eral criteria: 1. use of theoretical and comparative gender dis-
binic and Christian interpretations of gender differences.
cussions as well as reference to both genders; 2. cross-cultural
Boyd, Stephen B., W. Merle Longwood, and Mark W. Muesse,
and comparative examples from a wide range of religious and
eds. Redeeming Men: Religion and Masculinities. Louisville,
cultural traditions, by authors from different nationalities
Ky., 1996. Hailed as a groundbreaking book at publication,
writing in English; 3. primary emphasis on the most signifi-
this book examines the dynamics of power and the role of
cant works published since 1990, most of which include sub-
religion in shaping masculine identities. It established men’s
stantial bibliographies listing important earlier publications.
studies in religion as a serious scholarly field.
Adams, Carl J., ed. Ecofeminism and the Sacred. New York, 1993.
Bradstock, Andrew, Sean Gill, Anne Hogan, and Sue Morgan,
The word ecofeminism, coined only in 1974, covers a wide,
eds. Masculinity and Spirituality in Victorian Culture. Basing-
and sometimes contradictory, range of interests in the revalu-
stoke, U.K., and New York, 2000. Contemporary Western
ation—and resacralization—of woman and nature, reflected
gender relations still owe much to norms set down by Victo-
in this collection of essays.
rians, so far mainly studied in terms of their construction of
Ahmed, Durre S., ed. Gendering the Spirit: Women, Religion, and
femininities. Written by historians, these essays explore the
the Post-Colonial Response. London and New York, 2002.
alternative construction of masculinities, drawing on Chris-
Fascinating postcolonial articles on feminism, religious tradi-
tian (and one Jewish) examples from nineteenth-century En-
tions, and spirituality from South Asia. Includes section on
gland. Particularly fascinating is the concept of the “Chris-
violence against women in Hinduism, Christianity, and
tian soldier,” a man fighting for his nation as well as his God.
Islam.
Brown, Peter. The Body and Society: Men, Women, and Sexual Re-
Anderson, Pamela Sue. A Feminist Philosophy of Religion: The Ra-
nunciation in Early Christianity. New York, 1988. A magiste-
tionality and Myths of Religious Beliefs. Oxford and Malden,
rial work on attitudes to sexuality and the body, and on sexu-
Mass., 1998. Uses feminist psycholinguistics, standpoint
al renunciation, in early Christianity.
epistemology, the idea of the philosophical imaginary, and
Christ, Carol P. “Mircea Eliade and the Feminist Paradigm Shift.”
a modified Kantianism to challenge the premises of Anglo-
Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, vol. 7, no. 2 (1991):
American analytical philosophy and to construct a daring,
pp. 75–94. Through examining Eliade’s A History of Reli-
new feminist philosophy of religion.
gious Ideas, Christ shows the androcentric bias of its author
Armour, Ellen T. Deconstruction, Feminist Theology and the Prob-
and the lack of recognition given to the importance of
lem of Difference: Subverting the Race/Gender Divide. Chicago
women and Goddesses in the history of religion.
and London, 1999. Sophisticated deconstruction of “race”
Christ, Carol P. Rebirth of the Goddess. Finding Meaning in Femi-
and “difference,” critiquing Whitefeminist theology and
nist Spirituality. New York, 1997; repr. 1998. Drawing on
theory.
feminist Christian and Jewish sources this book articulates a
Bong, Sharon A. “An Asian Postcolonial and Feminist Methodol-
feminist thealogy and ethics. It includes a discussion of the
ogy: Ethics as a Recognition of Limits.” In Religion, Gender
resistance to Goddess history and a critical analysis of
and Diversity: Cross-Cultural Perspectives, edited by Ursula
Eliade’s work (pp. 80-86).
King and Tina Beattie, pp. 238–249. London and New
Christ, Carol P. She Who Changes. Re-Imagining the Divine in the
York, 2004. Based on research into the standpoints of Ma-
World. New York and Basingstoke, U.K., 2003. A creative
laysian female and male faith- and rights-based activists to
philosophical synthesis reflecting on Goddess/God in con-
change the lives of women. A fuller account of the same argu-
versation with the process philosopher Charles Hartshorne,
ment is found in Sharon Bong, “Partial Visions: Knowing
this book argues for the adoption of a “feminist process para-
through Doing Rights, Cultures and Religions from an
digm” in approaching the Divine.
Asian-Malaysian Feminist Standpoint Epistemology,” Ph.D.
Clark, Elizabeth A. “Engendering the Study of Religion.” In The
diss., Lancaster University, 2002.
Future of the Study of Religion: Proceedings of Congress 2000,
Bo⁄rresen, Kari Elisabeth, ed. The Image of God: Gender Models in
edited by Slavica Jakelic´ and Lori Pearson, pp. 217–242. Lei-
Judaeo-Christian Tradition. Minneapolis, 1995. Provides
den and Boston, 2004. This article traces the development
rich historical evidence from early Jewish, Christian, medi-
from women’s studies in religion to gender studies and men’s
eval, and modern writers to show that the understanding of
studies in religion. Profusely referenced, it provides clear evi-
God is closely interrelated with and dependent on dominant
dence for the transformative impact of gender analysis on
gender models prevalent during specific historical periods.
contemporary studies of religion, with the majority of exam-
Boyarin, Daniel. Unheroic Conduct: The Rise of Heterosexuality and
ples drawn from Christianity.
the Invention of the Jewish Man. Berkeley, Calif., 1997. In
Cohen, Jeffrey Jerome, and Bonnie Wheeler, eds. Becoming Male
contrast to the prevailing warrior and patriarch image, this
in the Middle Ages. New York and London, 2000. A title that
book offers a valuable alternative model of masculinity in
breaks new ground in deconstructing male identities in the
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GENDER AND RELIGION: AN OVERVIEW
3307
Middle Ages. Drawing on gender, feminist and queer theo-
Academic Method and as Social Vision”; b) “Religious Expe-
ries, the contributors to this volume examine how sexuality,
rience and the Study of Religion: The History of Religions.”
society, and religious worldviews shaped the medieval Chris-
Gross, Rita M. Feminism and Religion: An Introduction. Boston,
tian and Jewish understanding of different masculinities.
1996. Provides an excellent overview of the whole field of
Cooey, Paula M., William R. Eakin, and Jay B. McDaniel, eds.
feminist research and women’s studies in religion, using a
After Patriarchy: Feminist Transformations of the World Reli-
large comparative framework rarely found in other publica-
gions. Maryknoll, N.Y., 1991. In looking for a postpatriar-
tions.
chal age, the female and male authors of this book reveal how
Gross, Rita M., ed. Beyond Androcentrism: New Essays on Women
far-reaching the transformations of world religions must be
and Religion. Missoula, Mont., 1977. Influential set of essays
in order to find a liberating core that will be emancipatory
on methodology criticizing the prevailing androcentrism in
for all.
the study of religions.
Cuomo, Chris J. Feminism and Ecological Communities: An Ethic
Hawley, John Stratton, ed. Fundamentalism and Gender. New
of Flourishing. London and New York, 1998. Argues persua-
York and Oxford, 1994. Extensive discussion of the meaning
sively for an ecological feminism that links theory and prac-
of fundamentalism, but no analysis of the concept of gender
tice. Questioning traditional feminist analyses of gender and
itself, which is, as so often, applied exclusively to women,
caring, the author asks whether women are essentially closer
with studies on American fundamentalism, Indian Islam,
to nature than men, and how to link the oppression of
Hinduism, Japanese New Religions, and modern Judaism.
women, people of color, and other subjugated groups to the
Hewitt, Marsha Aileen. Critical Theory of Religion: A Feminist
degradation of nature.
Analysis. Minneapolis, 1995. A perceptive analysis of the the-
DeBerg, Betty A. Ungodly Women: Gender and the First Wave of
oreticians of the Frankfurt School, which highlights the an-
American Fundamentalism. Minneapolis, 1990. Shows how
drocentric and misogynistic aspects of their work while
issues of sexual identity and gender-differentiated behavior
drawing on their new insights for developing a feminist criti-
are central to the emergence of American fundamentalism.
cal theory of religion.
Not only analyzes women and femininity but also sheds
Howland, Courtney W. “Women and Religious Fundamental-
much light on how fundamentalist men understand their
ism.” In Women and International Human Rights Law, edited
own masculinity in relation to shaping their families and
by Kelly D. Askin and Dorean M. Koenig, pp. 533–621. Ar-
church communities.
dsley, N.Y., 1999. Meticulously researched article on the
Donaldson, Laura E., and Kwok Pui-lan, eds. Postcolonialism,
challenge of different religious fundamentalisms to the liber-
Feminism and Religious Discourse. London and New York,
ty and equality rights of women. Includes a vast number of
2002. Cross-cultural perspectives that combine postcolonial
references to other publications on this important theme of
thinking on religion, culture, and feminist discourse. Theo-
great international relevance.
retical essays are supplemented by case studies from Hindu-
Isherwood, Lisa, and Elizabeth Stuart. Introducing Body Theology.
ism, Islam, Judaism, and black American women’s cultural
Sheffield, U.K., 1998. Helpful survey on current discussions
and religious experience.
about embodiment, embodied theology, spirituality, and
Eilberg-Schwartz, Howard. God’s Phallus and Other Problems for
ecology, as well as the “queering of the body” and gender re-
Men and Monotheism. Boston, 1994. This study, which has
lations from a largely Christian perspective.
been called a masterpiece, uncovers the inherent anxieties re-
Jantzen, Grace M. Power, Gender and Christian Mysticism. Cam-
garding male identity and sexuality in ancient Israelite reli-
bridge, U.K., 1995. Considered to be the first deconstruc-
gion and modern Judaism and provides a gender-sensitive
tionist approach to Christian mysticism, analyzing the differ-
critique of the God concept of monotheism.
ently structured gendered rhetoric of male and female
Eilberg-Schwartz, Howard, and Wendy Doniger, eds. Off with
mystics. Argues for the plurality of Christian mysticisms and
Her Head! The Denial of Women’s Identity in Myth, Religion
against its essentialist, experiential understanding, but sees
and Culture. Berkeley, Calif., 1995. A fascinating collection
mysticism rather as sets of social relations and representations
of essays on women in Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism,
informed by gender-differentiated power structures.
Christianity, and Islam based on the argument that the ob-
Jantzen, Grace M. Becoming Divine: Towards a Feminist Philoso-
jectification of women as sexual and reproductive bodies re-
phy of Religion. Manchester, U.K., 1998. Drawing on Iri-
sults in their symbolic “beheading” and practical relegation
garay, Derrida, and Levinas, Jantzen explores the possibility
to silence and anonymity.
of a new imaginary of religion that would replace a masculin-
Falk, Nancy Auer, and Rita M. Gross, eds. Unspoken Worlds:
ist symbolic preoccupied with mortality and death by a femi-
Women’s Religious Lives. 3d ed. Belmont, Calif., 2001. First
nist one based on natality and flourishing.
published in 1980, these essays deal with women’s religious
Jeffery, Patricia, and Amrita Basu, eds. Appropriating Gender:
roles and experiences, their agency, power, and innovation,
Women’s Activism and Politicized Religion in South Asia. New
and their religious strategies in coping with male-dominated
York and London, 1998. Explores the paradoxical relation-
systems in a wide range of different religious traditions.
ship of women to religious politics in India, Pakistan, Sri
Gross, Rita M. Buddhism after Patriarchy: A Feminist History,
Lanka, and Bangladesh. Different gender identities emerge
Analysis, and Reconstruction of Buddhism. Albany, N.Y.,
according to social, local, and political context in the struggle
1993. The first feminist reconstruction of the Buddhist tra-
for national self-definition.
dition, this book contains two theoretically challenging
Joy, Morny, and Eva K. Neumaier-Dargyay, eds. Gender, Genre
methodological appendices: a) “Here I stand: Feminism as
and Religion: Feminist Reflections. Waterloo, Ontario, 1995.
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GENDER AND RELIGION: AN OVERVIEW
Challenging collection of gendered reflections on method-
faith movement. Discusses the nineteen women plenary
ological perspectives, disciplinary discourses, and substantive
speakers (out of a total of 190) and examines four of these
issues of religious practice across different religious tradi-
in detail. More historical research is needed to recover
tions.
women’s considerable contributions to the historic World’s
Joy, Morny, Kathleen O’Grady, and Judith Poxon, eds. French
Parliament and its impact on the development of the aca-
Feminists on Religion: A Reader. London, 2002. Contains se-
demic study of religion, and thereby make good a missing di-
lections from the works of Irigaray, Kristeva, Clément, Cix-
mension in the historiography of the discipline.
ous, and Wittig, with helpful introductions.
King, Ursula. “Hinduism and Women: Uses and Abuses of Reli-
Joy, Morny, Kathleen O’Grady, and Judith Poxon, eds. Religion
gious Freedom.” In Facilitating Freedom of Religion or Belief:
in French Feminist Thought: Critical Perspectives. London,
A Deskbook, edited by Tore Lindholm, W. Cole Durham, Jr.,
2003. This selection of articles by different authors comple-
and Bahia G. Tahzib-Lie, pp. 523–543. The Hague, 2004.
ments French Feminists on Religion (2002). It deals with Iri-
Published in a substantial reference work on religious free-
garay, Kristeva, Cixous and Clément, and Wittig.
dom in relation to human rights, including the status and
rights of women, this article highlights the tensions between
Juschka, Darlene M. “The Category of Gender in the Study of Re-
the right to freedom to live a life of human dignity and worth
ligion.” Method and Theory in the Study of Religion 11, no.
and the freedom of an ancient religious tradition, sometimes
1 (1999): 77–105. Lucid discussion of some major feminist
practiced in denial of the human rights of Indian women.
theorists, followed by reviews of Ursula King, ed., Religion
and Gender (Cambridge, U.K., 1995) and J. Stratton Haw-
King, Ursula, ed. Religion and Gender. Oxford and Cambridge,
ley, ed. Fundamentalism and Gender (New York,1994).
Mass., 1995. Based on the Religion and Gender Panel of the
XVIth International Congress of the International Associa-
Kachru, Braj B. The Alchemy of English: The Spread, Functions and
tion for the History of Religions (Rome, 1990), this volume
Models of Non-Native Englishes. Oxford, 1986. Examines the
contains challenging theoretical reflections and empirical in-
uses of English in postcolonial countries, showing how En-
vestigations on gender in the study of religion, as examined
glish is often still perceived as a language of prestige, power,
by an international group of women scholars.
and opportunity, without some of the limitations attributed
to native languages, and with the additional potential for de-
King, Ursula, and Tina Beattie, eds. Religion, Gender and Diversi-
veloping attitudes of neutrality and new forms of creativity.
ty: Cross-Cultural Perspectives. London and New York, 2004.
Kasulis, Thomas P., Roger T. Ames., and Wimal Dissanayake,
Discussion by an international group of scholars of a wide
eds. Self as Body in Asian Theory and Practice. Albany, N.Y.,
range of gender-sensitive issues in the contemporary study of
1993. Investigates the relationship between self and body in
religion. Includes among others postcolonial, race, gender,
the Indian, Japanese, and Chinese philosophical traditions,
and class perspectives; gender archaeology; biblical gender
with some attention given to gender differences.
strategies; feminist theological approaches to the Holocaust;
the gendering of missionary imperialism; questions of Mus-
Kawahashi, Noriko, and Masako Kuroki, eds. “Feminism and Re-
lim women’s identity; of Christian Dalit women; of male
ligion in Contemporary Japan.” Japanese Journal of Religious
thealogical reflections; and debates about different sexual ori-
Studies 30, nos. 3–4 (Fall 2003). The articles provide an
entations.
overview of feminist debates on religion in Japan; deal with
women in Japanese new religious movements, but also in tra-
Kloppenborg, Ria, and Wouter J. Hanegraaff, eds. Female Stereo-
ditional Buddhism and Christianity. They also mention that
types in Religious Traditions: Studies in the History of Religions.
women’s studies research was introduced into Japanese uni-
Leiden, 1995. A fine discussion of remarkably widespread,
versities from the 1980s onwards, but since the 1990s the
ambiguous stereotypes used to control women in male-
emphasis has increasingly moved to gender studies. Volume
dominated societies, whether in the religions of ancient Israel
10, numbers 2–3 (1983) of the Japanese Journal of Religious
and Mesopotamia, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, medieval
Studies were devoted to “Women and Religion in Japan.”
Christianity, Islam, Indian Sufism, Hinduism, Buddhism,
Tibetan religions, or even modern Neopaganism.
Khandelwal, Meena. Women in Ochre Robes: Gendering Hindu Re-
nunciation. Albany, N.Y., 2004. A great contribution to the
Krondorfer, Björn, ed. Men’s Bodies, Men’s Gods: Male Identities
understudied topic of female renouncers in the Hindu tradi-
in a (Post)Christian Culture. New York, 1996. An excellent
tion; through examining contemporary sannyasinis and
collection of essays that reflects the increasingly self-critical
women gurus, it reveals alternative models of Hindu femi-
and theoretically sophisticated stances of the growing field of
ninity and sheds light on South Asian gender constructs.
men’s studies in religion.
King, Ursula. “Women Scholars and the Encyclopedia of Religion.”
Marcos, Sylvia, ed. Gender, Bodies, Religions. Adjunct Proceedings
In Method and Theory in the Study of Religion 2, no.1 (1990):
of the VIIth Congress for the History of Religions. Cuerna-
91–97. Critique of the implicit (and sometimes explicit) an-
vaca, Mexico, 2000. Contains a cross-cultural set of papers
drocentrism underlying some of the entries of the first edi-
on methodological concerns in the study of gender and reli-
tion of the Encyclopedia (1987) and the invisibility of past
gion, approaches to bodies and reproductive issues in reli-
women scholars of religion.
gion, and several case studies grouped under culture, reli-
gion, and gender.
King, Ursula. “Rediscovering Women’s Voices at the World’s Par-
liament of Religions.” In A Museum of Faiths: Histories and
McNamara, Jo Ann Kay. Sisters in Arms: Catholic Nuns through
Legacies of the 1893 World’s Parliament of Religions, edited by
Two Millennia. Cambridge, Mass., and London, 1996. A
Eric J. Ziolkowski, pp. 325–343. Atlanta, 1993. Highlights
highly acclaimed study of the history of Catholic nuns in the
the historical contributions of women to the emergent inter-
Western world. Women created their own space in religious
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GENDER AND RELIGION: AN OVERVIEW
3309
communities where they could evolve spiritually, intellectu-
portant study of goddess feminism and female sacrality.
ally, and emotionally, but also continually had to struggle
Drawing on many feminist writers, it looks at the female
against male church hierarchies and the restrictions of their
body as a medium of divine creative activity and discusses the
gender roles by society.
ethical implications of taking female sacrality seriously.
Mollenkott, Virginia Ramey. Omnigender: A Trans-Religious Ap-
Sawyer, Deborah F. God, Gender and the Bible. London and New
proach. Berkeley, Calif., 2001. Carefully constructed gender
York, 2002. Illuminating discussion of Hebrew and Chris-
boundaries are dismantled here, and sex-gender binaries are
tian scriptural texts in the light of postmodern ideas about
replaced by a new “omnigender” paradigm, a rainbow of va-
gender and power; shows that both maleness and femaleness
rying degrees of genderedness among humanity. Written
are constructed in the light of divine omnipotence and that
from a Christian perspective.
biblical writers use female characters strategically in order to
Morgan, Sue, ed. Women, Religion, and Feminism in Britain. Bas-
undermine human masculinity and elevate the biblical God.
ingstoke, U.K., and New York, 2002. A collection of essays
Schüssler Fiorenza, Elisabeth. In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theo-
written from a variety of Christian and Unitarian approach-
logical Reconstruction of Christian Origins. New York and
es, which through their discussion of specific female figures
London, 1983. A classic of feminist biblical interpretation,
highlight the complex interaction between religious belief
which presents the history of Christian women in the early
and feminist activism.
Jesus movement as a “discipleship of equals” with men.
Nelson, James B. Body Theology. Louisville, Ky., 1992. Discusses
Sered, Susan Starr. Priestess, Mother, Sacred Sister: Religions Domi-
the theological and ethical authenticity of the human body
nated by Women. New York and Oxford, 1994. Looks at
as sexed body and deals with sexual theology, men’s issues,
twelve cross-cultural examples of religions where women take
and biomedical ethics. A masterful construction of what may
a leadership role in religious practices and are often also the
well be a major shift in Western understanding of what it
major participants, concluding that these occur mostly in
means to be a human person.
matrifocal societies and that such practices focus especially
Nelson, James B., and Sandra P. Longfellow, eds. Sexuality and
on women’s concerns as mothers.
the Sacred: Sources for Theological Reflection. Louisville, Ky.,
Stuart, Elizabeth. Religion Is a Queer Thing: A Guide to the Chris-
1994. Excellent essays from a Christian theological perspec-
tian Faith for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Peo-
tive that views sexuality as part of divine revelation and con-
ple. Sheffield, U.K., 1997. An example of a distinctive, radi-
siders sex as integral to spirituality. Includes material on gen-
cal Christian queer theology questioning the assumptions
der orientation, gender relations, and women’s and men’s
that underlie many doctrines and practices of the tradition.
experience, but also rare discussions of sexuality in relation
to disability, aging, HIV, and AIDS.
Svenson, Jonas. Women’s Human Rights and Islam: A Study of
Three Attempts at Accommodation. Lund, Sweden, 2000. Ex-
O’Connor, June. “Rereading, Reconceiving and Reconstructing
amines Muslim participation in the international debate
Traditions: Feminist Research in Religion.” Women’s Studies
about women’s human rights by analyzing the methods em-
17, no. 1 (1989): 101–123. A frequently cited article that
ployed in interpreting religious sources in the works of the
discusses how religious texts, histories, and traditions have to
religious studies scholar Riffat Hassan, sociologist Fatima
be reinterpreted from a gender-critical perspective.
Mernissi, and legal studies and human rights scholar Abdul-
O’Grady, Kathleen, Ann L. Gilroy, and Janette Gray, eds. Bodies,
lahi Ahmed an-NaDim. Different versions of Islam compete
Lives, Voices: Gender in Theology. Sheffield, 1998. Deals with
for recognition as the “true” representation of the divine will.
women’s voices rather than more inclusive gender theory,
deemed as “modish” (p. 267) in this volume. Discusses rep-
Taylor, Barbara. Mary Wollstonecraft and the Feminist Imagination.
resentations of women in sacred texts and theologies; the
Cambridge, U.K., 2003. This scholarly study of Wollsto-
need to recover the heritage of women; and the relevance of
necraft’s thought provides a fascinating account of her intel-
feminist theory for canonical texts. With the exception of
lectual world and personal history and gives for the first time
Tamil Christian Dalits, this is an entirely Western, white-
careful attention to the role that religion played in her work,
feminist study with no attention to cross-cultural issues or
thus opening a new chapter in feminist studies of this influ-
to religious diversity.
ential thinker.
Puttick, Elizabeth. Women in New Religions: In Search of Commu-
Thatcher, Adrian, and Elizabeth Stuart, eds. Christian Perspectives
nity, Sexuality and Spiritual Power. Basingstoke, U.K., and
on Sexuality and Gender. Grand Rapids, Mich., and Leomin-
New York, 1997. Challenges the view that women, who
ster, U.K., 1996. Contains a wide-ranging set of essays on
make up more than half the members of new religious move-
Christian attitudes to the body, sexuality, and gender, with
ments, are exploited by charismatic male leaders; discusses
a primary focus on contemporary issues rather than historical
interrelated issues of sexuality, spirituality, and power.
discussions.
Puttick, Elizabeth, and Peter B. Clarke, eds. Women as Teachers
Warne, Randi R. “Gender.” In Guide to the Study of Religion, ed-
and Disciples in Traditional and New Religions. Lewiston,
ited by Willi Braun and Russell T. McCutcheon,
Ky., 1993. Wide-ranging case studies of women’s religious
pp. 140–154. London and New York, 2000a. Very accessible
leadership, from early Christian Egypt to contemporary new
conceptual clarification of the key features, historical devel-
religious groups in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam, to
opment, and associated subsets of the category of “gender,”
Bahian Candomblé, esoteric groups in Italy, and modern pa-
including a critical assessment of its contribution to the sci-
ganism.
entific study of religion.
Raphael, Melissa. Thealogy and Embodiment: The Post-Patriarchal
Warne, Randi R. “Making the Gender-Critical Turn.” In Secular
Reconstruction of Female Sacrality. Sheffield, U.K., 1996. Im-
Theories on Religion: Current Perspectives, edited by Tim Jen-
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GENDER AND RELIGION: HISTORY OF STUDY
sen and Mikael Rothstein, pp. 249–260. Copenhagen,
and extension of political rights to women were motivated
2000b. Illustrates brilliantly how gender thinking is neither
by Christian ethical teachings. Furthermore moves to im-
natural nor neutral, and argues that a radical shift in thinking
prove the status of women within ecclesiastical hierarchies
is required to make a “gender-critical” turn in all areas, in-
were made: in 1853 the Congregational Church in New
cluding the study of religion.
York ordained the first female minister, the Reverend Antoi-
Warne, Randi R. “(En)gendering Religious Studies.” In Feminism
nette Brown (1825–1921), and in the early 1840s Oberlin
in the Study of Religion, edited by Darlene M. Juschka,
College in the United States enrolled a small number of
pp. 147–156. London and New York, 2001. A passionate,
women into its theological school, having started admitting
but measured and well-supported, plea to implement the
women to higher education in 1837. As Ursula King has
radical implications of gender-critical thinking to all theoret-
noted, “Women’s admission to theological studies [was] the
ical and practical areas of religious studies.
most important contributory factor in making women theo-
Warner, Michael. Fear of a Queer Planet: Queer Politics and Social
logically literate, thus enabling them to contribute to theo-
Theory. New Brunswick, N.J., 1993. Anthology of essays de-
logical debates on their own terms” (Ursula King, 1990a,
scribed as pioneering in trying to push gay identity politics
p. 278).
beyond its limitations in gay and lesbian studies, and high-
lighting the involvement of both political and religious fig-
Despite these positive initiatives, a number of promi-
ures in regulating sexual conduct.
nent suffragists highlighted the oppressive role of Christiani-
Webb, Val. Florence Nightingale: The Making of a Radical Theolo-
ty in maintaining the inferior status of women. For example,
gian. St. Louis, 2002. Carefully crafted study of Nightin-
in 1893 Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826–1898) published
gale’s little-known religious works that shows that her one
Woman, Church, and State, which is generally accepted as the
aim in life was to organize religion, not hospitals. This analy-
first attempt to offer a historical account of the subordina-
sis reveals her as an amazingly original woman thinker who
tion of women within the Christian tradition. She was, how-
anticipated feminist and process theological insights, apply-
ing gender criticisms far ahead of her time to Victorian soci-
ever, viewed by many within the suffrage movement as dan-
ety and the Christian churches.
gerously radical and was marginalized in historical accounts
of the movement. Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902) suf-
Wessinger, Catherine, ed. Religious Institutions and Women’s Lead-
ership: New Roles inside the Mainstream. Columbia, S.C.,
fered a similar fate following her publication of The Woman’s
1996. Focused on the United States, the essays in this vol-
Bible (1895–1898)—coedited by Gage and Susan B. Antho-
ume demonstrate how a growing number of new leadership
ny (1820–1906)—a reworking of the Christian Bible in
roles have become available for Protestant, Catholic, and
which all recognizably “antifeminist” passages were excised
Jewish women. This is an ongoing process, slowed down by
in order to demonstrate its marginalization of women. De-
women hitting what has been called a “stained-glass ceiling.”
spite the negative reception of her work among fellow suf-
Contains a comprehensive chronological survey
fragists, the significance of her contribution is seen by con-
(pp. 347–401) of key events for women’s religious leadership
temporary feminist theologians to lie in her initiation of a
in the United States during the nineteenth and twentieth
“long overdue process of biblical interpretation by and for
centuries.
women” (Isherwood and McEwan, 1993, p. 50). This work
Zink-Sawyer, Beverly. From Preachers to Suffragists: Women’s
was taken up vigorously from the 1960s onward in the con-
Rights and Religious Conviction in the Lives of Three Nine-
text of the women’s liberation movement.
teenth-Century American Clergywomen. Louisville, Ky., and
London, 2003. By studying the religious rhetoric and theo-
FEMINISM AND RELIGIOUS STUDIES: 1960–1990. The
logical ideas of Antoinette Brown Blackwell, Olympia
1960s saw a number of rights-based movements emerge:
Brown, and Anna Howard Shaw, three of the earliest women
black liberation and the Civil Rights movement, sexual liber-
to be ordained in the United States, the author examines the
ation, gay liberation, the anti–Vietnam War movement, and
religious roots of the women’s rights movement, so often pri-
the women’s liberation movement or second wave feminism.
marily understood as a secular movement.
Throughout the decade the women’s liberation movement
URSULA KING (2005)
established itself as a major political force across Europe,
North America, India, and elsewhere. Betty Friedan’s The
Feminine Mystique (1963) heralded the beginning of the
women’s liberation movement in the United States. Friedan
GENDER AND RELIGION: HISTORY OF STUDY
identified what she called “the problem that has no
Any consideration of the historical development of gender
name”—a “mystique” she defined as the sense of worthless-
and religion as a field of enquiry over the late twentieth cen-
ness that women experienced due to their financial, intellec-
tury and the early twenty-first century must acknowledge the
tual, and emotional dependence on men.
central role of feminism. From the beginning of the feminist
movement a strong connection was made between the status
Context: The women’s liberation movement. By
of women and the authorizing function of religion (specifi-
1970 women’s liberation had come of age in North America.
cally Christianity) in maintaining gender inequalities. At the
In the same year the first British conference on women’s lib-
same time, however, attention was paid to its emancipatory
eration was held in Oxford marking the founding of the Brit-
potential. For example, campaigns for the abolition of slavery
ish movement; Germaine Greer published The Female Eu-
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GENDER AND RELIGION: HISTORY OF STUDY
3311
nuch, arguing that sexual liberation was the key to women’s
universities as feminists recognized the powerful role of edu-
liberation; Shulamith Firestone published The Dialectic of
cational institutions in shaping cultural values and meanings.
Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution, in which she identified
Women’s studies departments and programs were estab-
“sex class”—the condition of women as an oppressed class—
lished from the late 1960s onward as academic feminists
and articulated a central tenet of radical feminism, that men’s
sought to transform the androcentric basis of knowledge pro-
domination of women is the fundamental form of oppres-
duction and to challenge the omission of female perspectives.
sion; and Kate Millet published Sexual Politics, an analysis
By the early 1980s women’s studies had been an established
of patriarchy as a socially conditioned belief system that mas-
field for over a decade, despite considerable hostility from
querades as the natural order.
those feminist activists who viewed it as a regrettable alliance
with establishment values and a depoliticization of feminism.
The defining concerns of the feminist movement were
However, feminist theory did distinguish itself from main-
quickly apparent. Firstly, feminists agreed that in every soci-
stream academic scholarship by emphasizing its overtly polit-
ety that divided the sexes into bifurcated cultural, economic,
ical nature and its commitment to social, epistemological,
or political spheres women were less valued than men. Sec-
and material change; feminist religious studies were no ex-
ondly, key concepts like “patriarchy,” “androcentrism,” “sex-
ception.
ism,” and “misogyny” were formulated to explain the univer-
sal oppression of women. The idea of misogyny was a
Content: Feminism and religious studies. Ursula
fundamental concept for the women’s movement, seen as a
King has noted the invisibility of religious studies within
lens through which all cultural and social practices, both his-
feminist and women’s studies curricula and anthologies, and
torical and contemporary, could be viewed and explained,
this can be attributed to the prevalent assumption among
while patriarchy was viewed as the ubiquitous structure that
feminists that religion had little to offer women (Ursula
enabled the elaborate expression of misogyny across a wide
King, 1990a, p. 275; 1995, pp. 219–220). Nonetheless some
range of cultural, political, and intellectual systems. Thirdly,
scholars working in the 1970s and 1980s, influenced by the
feminists critiqued the paradigms that placed men above
insights of the women’s liberation movement, began to ex-
women or represented them as the norm. Fourthly, feminists
amine religious traditions critically, at first in confessional
theorized an autonomous female identity where women’s bo-
contexts and then in the secular study of religions. June
dies and feminine activities were prioritized and represented
O’Connor has summarized their efforts as “rereading, re-
as positive in contrast to the centuries-old portrayal of femi-
conceiving, and reconstruction” informed by questions re-
ninity as a source of danger, impurity, and evil. Finally, femi-
garding “women as subject,” “sensitivity to and criticism of
nist activism was organized around the principle that women
the manner in which [religious] traditions . . . have been
could collectively change their social position and identity by
studied and . . . formulated,” and a concern with “our
advocating equal employment and reproductive and sexual
scholarly angles of vision, our research methods and ap-
rights and by resisting all forms of gender-based discrim-
proaches” (O’Connor, 1989, pp. 101–102). Accordingly
ination.
four main preoccupations characterized work in the field
during this period:
However, despite broad agreement regarding the femi-
nist assessment of the position of women, the women’s
1. scholars exposed the androcentrism and misogyny of the
movement was challenged by black feminists who experi-
Christian and, to a lesser extent, the Jewish traditions;
enced both sexual and racial discrimination (see Hull, Scott,
2. women were identified as a legitimate category of analy-
and Smith, 1982; see also Ware, 1992, which shows that rac-
sis as well as active agents of religious practice and study,
ism infected relations between white and black women even
with women’s experiences being promoted as a credible
in the earliest stages of the feminist movement), and by lesbi-
and corrective hermeneutical tool;
an feminists (see Myron and Bunch, 1975). Both groups ar-
3. new forms of female-centered religiosity were explored;
gued that second wave feminism was overdominated by
white, middle-class, and heterosexual agendas that were visi-
4. epistemological and methodological tools were devel-
bly unable (or even unwilling) to account for and challenge
oped in order to challenge the androcentric bias of
the multiple axes of oppression produced in the intersections
mainstream scholarship in theology and religious
between class, race, and sexuality. In other words, the plurali-
studies.
ty of women’s material realities was mistakenly conflated
Scholars began theological reflection from an engaged, al-
with the universal and homogenous category “Woman,” and
though expressly critical, stance and initiated a movement
this had the effect of erasing important differences between
away from the presentation of divinity as male within Chris-
women. The failure of the leaders of the women’s liberation
tianity and Judaism. The quest was initially a personal and
movement to take the challenges of their fellow feminists se-
religious one: a question of finding, reshaping, and trans-
riously and to integrate their concerns resulted in the splin-
forming symbols of divinity that would legitimize women’s
tering of the movement.
experiences and produce a positive sense of female identity.
If feminism was losing its way as a unified political
Mary Daly’s The Church and the Second Sex (1968) was
movement, it was increasingly making its presence felt in
a milestone, inaugurating a new era of feminist theological
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GENDER AND RELIGION: HISTORY OF STUDY
reflection marked by the systematic critique and reformula-
A feminist project, known broadly as the Goddess movement
tion of Christian doctrine from the perspective of women’s
or Feminist Spirituality, aimed to re-create and reimagine
experience. Following Daly, writers like Rosemary Radford
women’s history and religious experience utilizing myth,
Ruether (1983b, 1985), Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza (1983),
folklore, and the archaeology of material culture. It was pred-
and Judith Plaskow (1990) contributed to a lively and wide-
icated on the conviction that what was lost in history could
ranging discourse based explicitly around the spiritual needs
be recovered and would create a space for a feminine spiritu-
of contemporary women and the need to reform Christianity
ality that centered on the Goddess and women’s experience.
and Judaism from the standpoint of feminism.
Writers within the movement attempted to redefine the rela-
tionship between masculine and feminine aspects of deity
However, Daly quickly moved to question whether or
by inverting their relative status so that the feminine was
not Christianity was capable of reform or in fact irredeem-
viewed as more originary and relevant to women’s spiritual
ably sexist. In 1971, as the first woman preacher at the Har-
expression.
vard Memorial Church, she spoke on the theme “The
Women’s Movement: An Exodus Community,” inviting
The Harvard archaeologist Marija Gimbutas’s work
women in the congregation to leave the church together as
provided a scholarly framework for the Goddess movement’s
a way of symbolically rejecting women’s subordination with-
account of matriarchal prehistory, giving it both an imprima-
in the church:
tur of authenticity and a credible historical genealogy. She
focused on the prehistoric cultures of Southeast Europe, fea-
We cannot really belong to institutional religion as it
turing discoveries in “old Europe” of numerous “female”
exists. It isn’t good enough to be token preachers. It
statues in stone, bone, ivory, and clay (some with pregnant
isn’t good enough to have our energies drained and co-
bellies, large, exaggerated breasts, and stylized vulvae), as evi-
opted. Singing sexist hymns, praying to a male god
breaks our spirit, makes us less than human. The crush-
dence for matriarchal societies in the Paleolithic and Neo-
ing weight of this tradition, of this power structure, tells
lithic eras (Gimbutas, 1982; 1989). The Goddess movement
us that we do not even exist. Let us affirm our faith in
as well as Gimbutas’s work have been severely critiqued from
ourselves and our will to transcendence by rising and
a variety of disciplinary perspectives, all of which have chal-
walking out together. (Daly, 1972, p. 335)
lenged the historical verifiability of its claims and have lev-
eled charges of essentialism and reversed patriarchy (see
Daly followed this up in 1973 with Beyond God the Father,
Wood, 1996; Goodison and Morris, 1998; Eller, 2000).
marking the start of a protracted debate among feminist
theologians regarding the extent to which religious commit-
In spite of the work highlighting women’s historical
ment could be compatible with feminist goals and beliefs.
subordination within religious traditions, feminist theolo-
Those who, like Daly, suggested that the only feasible option
gians as well as scholars of religions also drew attention to
for Christian feminists was to abandon the tradition and
women as active agents and religious innovators in their own
create a new one based on women’s contemporary religious
right. Within the context of feminist theology, this concern
experience were described as post-Christian feminists or as
was a response to the contemporary controversy over the role
separatists (see Hampson, 1996). Other feminist theologians
of women in the church, particularly over the ordination of
responded to Daly’s work by offering their own critiques of
women. Much early scholarship was therefore concerned
the Christian tradition but, rather than rejecting it, affirmed
with women’s leadership in the church in different historical
that it was capable of reform (see Ruether 1974, 1981; Tr-
periods. An important example was Women of Spirit: Female
ible, 1978). They worked to produce new models that could
Leadership in the Jewish and Christian Traditions (Ruether
act as correctives to oppressive ideologies and were broadly
and McLaughlin, 1979), which argued that although women
characterized as reformists. However, as with the broader
had been excluded from institutional leadership roles, in the
women’s movement, the issue of how to define women’s ex-
past they had held important positions. It was thus impor-
perience became a contested area with the emergence of the
tant to present women’s involvement in the history of the
distinctive voices of black and Womanist, Asian, Latin
Christian tradition as a way of contributing to its reforma-
American (mujerista), and lesbian feminist theologians,
tion. Studies exploring exceptional religious women, such as
which, while present from the beginning, began to find fuller
Clarissa Atkinson’s Mystic and Pilgrim: The Book and the
expression in the 1980s.
World of Margery Kempe (1983) and Elizabeth Dreyer’s Pas-
sionate Women: Two Medieval Mystics (1989), also appeared.
The analysis of misogyny as well as the forms and con-
ceptual underpinnings of patriarchy were related preoccupa-
Cross-cultural studies in the field of feminist religious
tions in the area of feminist religious studies in the 1960s and
studies also kept pace, investigating the relationship between
1970s. Feminist writers maintained that women had been
the treatment of women within religious traditions and their
deprived of their history (conceived of as originally matriar-
position in wider social systems, demonstrating how
chal), that their unique religious contributions had been ex-
women’s strategies of resistance and innovation emerged
cised through a series of patriarchal interventions, and that
within a multitude of religious traditions, and assessing the
the promotion of God as male in many religions had dam-
ambiguity of feminine symbolism within many religious sys-
aged women’s relationships to both divinity and each other.
tems. Notable among these were Carol P. Christ and Judith
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GENDER AND RELIGION: HISTORY OF STUDY
3313
Plaskow (1979), Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad and Ellison Banks
ther contributed her article “The Feminist Critique in Reli-
Findly (1985), Clarissa W. Atkinson, Constance H. Buchan-
gious Studies” (1983a) to a volume on the impact of feminist
an, and Margaret R. Miles (1985), Caroline Walker Bynum
studies in academia, and the Encyclopedia of Religion (Eliade,
(1987), Judith Plaskow and Carol P. Christ (1989), and Ur-
1987) commissioned two articles on the topic: “Women’s
sula King (1989).
Studies” by Constance Buchanan and “Androcentrism” by
Ruether (however, see King 1990b for a critique of the ency-
A further trend was scholarship that addressed the ne-
clopedia’s failure to integrate feminist perspectives and for
glect of women’s perspectives and data within religious
presenting an androcentric view of religion).
studies. The first of these—Women and Religion, edited by
Judith Plaskow and Joan A. Romero—appeared in 1974, fol-
It was because of the entrenched marginalization of fe-
lowed by Denise Lardner Carmody’s Women and World Reli-
male perspectives at the empirical and institutional levels that
gions (1979). The first truly cross-cultural, nonconfessional
the inclusion of feminist theory in the mainstream develop-
volumes were published by Nancy Falk and Rita Gross
ment of religious studies began to be framed in terms of of-
(1980) and Ursula King (1987). Falk and Gross aimed to lo-
fering a paradigm shift. Carol P. Christ (1987; see also 1989,
cate women’s religious lives in a variety of traditions at the
1991) was the first to suggest that the integration of feminist
center of their study rather than the periphery, as was tradi-
scholarship could ensure conceptual change and renewal
tionally the case in religious studies. Numerous publications
within the discipline and would provide a necessary correc-
rendering women’s participation in religious traditions more
tive to its androcentric foundations. Randi Warne (1989)
visible quickly followed (for example, Sharma, 1987).
also characterized the growth of women’s studies in religious
Studies focusing on the position and roles of women within
studies as “a brave new paradigm,” drawing attention to the
single traditions were also produced (for example, Paul,
epistemological significance of the feminist challenge to the
1979; Jacobson and Wadley, 1977; Al-Hibri, 1982).
foundational premises of religious studies. Warne further
made a connection between institutional structures, the fem-
The field of “Women and Religion” now gained limited
inist study of religions, and the status of women working
recognition at the institutional level. Harvard Divinity
within the field, suggesting that religious studies “must en-
School established a women’s caucus in 1970, preparing the
sure that its departments are materially constructed in such
ground for the introduction of the Women’s Studies in Reli-
a way that the presumption of male privilege is not main-
gion program in 1973; the American Academy of Religion
tained” (Warne, 1989, p. 43).
(AAR) introduced the “Woman and Religion” section to its
GENDER AND RELIGION FROM THE 1990S. The analysis of
annual conference; the Fourteenth International Association
“male privilege” had of course been a central preoccupation
of the History of Religions (IAHR) Congress in Winnipeg
of much feminist scholarship from the 1960s onward. How-
in 1980 included a panel on “Femininity and Religion”; the
ever, a shift in emphasis emerged as scholars increasingly rec-
British Association for the Study of Religion (BASR) titled
ognized the need to consider critically not only constructions
its 1989 conference “Religion and Gender”; and Lancaster
of femininity and female identity but also the way they inter-
University established the first master’s program in Women
acted with notions of maleness, especially insofar as they
and Religion in the United Kingdom in the same year (Ursu-
were articulated and promoted in social systems. The devel-
la King, 1990a, pp. 279–280). Although this work was vital
opment of gender studies as an adjunct to women’s studies
for the recognition of female agency within religious tradi-
was a result of this recognition. Feminist scholars from the
tions, it was generally ineffectual in challenging the andro-
1970s onward thus theorized gender as a system of signs or
centric bias of religious studies. Instead, a women-centered
signifiers assigned to sexually dimorphic bodies that acted to
approach was seen within the field to be of concern only to
distinguish the social roles and meanings those bodies could
women and with little to contribute to broader methodologi-
have. They argued that gender was a social construct config-
cal debates. This was clear from the lack of integration of
ured, enacted, and maintained in social systems and institu-
feminist perspectives in core syllabi, the comparatively low
tions rather than being biologically innate. Peggy Reeves
volume of publication in the area, the unsatisfactory profile
Sanday and Ruth Gallagher Goodenough, for example, sig-
of the subject at international conferences, the struggle to en-
naled discomfort with the decontextualized study of women
courage university libraries to stock copies of relevant publi-
found in much feminist work. They preferred instead to ex-
cations, and the underrepresentation of academics research-
amine “gender meaning and gender representation” in order
ing women in university departments (see Ursula King,
to draw out the “contradictory and variable views of maleness
1990a; 1995a).
and femaleness” in different cultures (Sanday and Goode-
Feminist scholars in the study of religions thus began
nough, 1990, p. 5). It also became problematic to discuss fe-
to offer methodological reflections in order to confront the
male and male relations and roles without taking into consid-
androcentrism of the field. Rita Gross’s pioneering article
eration the influence of cultural and social variables such as
“Methodological Remarks on the Study of Women in Reli-
class, race and ethnicity, and sexuality as well as the colonial-
gion” (1974) and her book Beyond Androcentrism: New Essays
ist distortion of knowledge production in the West.
on Women and Religion (1977) were the first to promote a
Context: Gender theory. The emergence of gender
feminist methodology in religious studies. Rosemary Rue-
studies in the 1990s as a separate field of enquiry was also
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3314
GENDER AND RELIGION: HISTORY OF STUDY
the result of an increase in epistemological reflection in-
on the gendered nature of research, gender-critical perspec-
formed by the critiques of poststructural, postcolonial, and
tives on the empirical study of women in a variety of religious
queer theory, each of which problematized the dominant
traditions, and reconsiderations of feminist spirituality.
(European) humanist presentation of identity as homoge-
Critical studies of masculinity and religion were inaugu-
nous, universal, and self-evident. Feminist scholarship was
rated by Stephen B. Boyd, W. Merle Longwood, and Mark
not exempt. For example, Chandra Talpade Mohanty, keen
W. Muesse, who offered a comprehensive and provocative
to develop a culturally contextualized “formulation of auton-
insight into masculinities and male experiences as specific
omous, geographically, historically, and culturally grounded
and varying sociohistorical and cultural formations. The edi-
feminist concerns and strategies,” offered a powerful criti-
tors acknowledged their “tremendous debt to the influence
cism of the “colonialist move” in some Western feminist
of feminist theory,” and the essays were built on the assump-
scholarship on women in the third world, particularly insofar
tion that the construction of dominant forms of masculinity
as it appropriated the “production of the ‘third world
within religious traditions was problematic and in need of
woman’ as a singular monolithic subject” (Mohanty, 1991,
revision (Boyd, Longwood, and Muesse, 1996, p. xiii). Sev-
p. 51).
eral other notable books in the area followed (Capps, 2002;
Another intervention in gender studies was signaled by
Raines, 2001; Putney, 2001; Moore, 2001; Monti, 2002),
Judith Butler, who sought to unmask the ways binarized gen-
and it is likely to prove an increasingly fruitful area of re-
der categories supported inequitable gender hierarchies and
search in the coming years.
compulsory heterosexuality. She asked, “What new shape of
Issues regarding sexuality and religion also received at-
politics emerges when identity as a common ground no lon-
tention, building on the earlier work of gay and lesbian theo-
ger constrains the discourse on feminist politics? And to what
logians. Richard Hasbany’s Homosexuality and Religion
extent does the effort to locate a common identity as the
(1989) was a pioneering work exploring the dilemmas insti-
foundation for a feminist politics preclude a radical inquiry
tutional religion posed for gays and lesbians. In the late
into the political construction and regulation of identity it-
1990s studies of sexuality developed a new heuristic cogency
self?” (Butler, 1999, p. xxix). Butler’s work was instrumental
as explorations were extended to issues of embodiment and
in the foundation of a new area of inquiry, queer theory, that
corporeality (Coakley, 1997; Grovijahn, 1998; Carrette,
attended to the social construction of normative and deviant
2000), the insights of gay-lesbian and queer theory (Schip-
sexual behavior. Queer theory followed feminist and gay-
pert, 1999; Neitz, 2000), the place of homosexuality within
lesbian studies in rejecting the idea that sexuality was deter-
religious traditions (Bouldrey, 1995; Stuart, 1997; Shallen-
mined solely by biology. Instead, sexuality was seen as a com-
berger, 1998; Rogers, 2002), gay-lesbian perspectives on the
plex array of social codes and forces, individual activity, and
study of religions (Johnson, 2002; Althaus-Reid, 2001; Gill,
institutional power-shaping ideas of sexual normativity or
2004), and the intersections of race, sexuality, and gender
deviancy (see Sedgwick, 1990; Jagose, 1996; Warner, 1999).
(Carrette and Keller, 1999; Hayes, Porter, and Tombs,
Another significant shift that contributed to the move
1998).
from women’s studies to gender studies was the emergence
Theoretical reflections on the conceptual underpinnings
of critical and self-reflexive masculinity studies that histori-
of the study of religions from the standpoint of gender theory
cized and analyzed dominant constructions of maleness and
were another influential trend. Marsha Aileen Hewitt
was attentive to the differences among men. Pioneering
(1995), Grace Jantzen (1998), and Pamela Sue Anderson
studies were by Harry Brod (1987a, 1987b); Michael S.
(1998) offered impressive epistemological reflections on the
Kimmel (1987); David D. Gilmore (1990); William G.
discursive ideologies operating within the study of religions.
Doty (1993); and Roger Horrocks (1994).
Attention was also increasingly paid to the theories of the
poststructural “feminist” scholars—Julia Kristeva, Hélène
Content: Gender theory and religion. The study of re-
Cixous, and Luce Irigaray among others—as a means of re-
ligions was certainly, if belatedly, influenced by the emer-
flecting on and critiquing the gendered nature of religious
gence of gender studies, and studies emerged that embraced
discourse (see Crownfield, 1992; Joy, O’Grady, and Poxon,
the shift from a women-centered approach to the consider-
2002, 2003).
ation of gender as a central category for critical reflection.
The first scholars to acknowledge the potential of gender the-
The most important and timely theoretical perspectives
ory to illuminate the complex interrelationship of male and
to emerge, however, were those of postcolonialist scholars
female roles within religious traditions were Caroline Walker
critical of the ethnocentrism of the field of gender and reli-
Bynum, Stevan Harrell, and Paula Richman (1986). Studies
gion. Their interventions have paralleled broader debates re-
exploring the connections between gender and religion, with
garding the colonialist legacy of the study of religions (see
a new theoretical sophistication, rapidly appeared, most no-
McCutcheon, 1997; Flood, 1999; Richard King, 1999; Fitz-
tably by Bynum (1991), Leila Ahmed (1992), Grace M. Jan-
gerald, 2000) and have led to accusations of the complicity
tzen (1995), and Ursula King, whose groundbreaking edited
of gender-theoretical scholars in the social, political, and epi-
volume Religion and Gender (1995) offered wide-ranging cri-
stemic violence exercised by the West toward non-Western
tiques of the gender-blindness of religious studies, reflections
cultures. Research challenging Western gender-critical schol-
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GENDER AND RELIGION: HISTORY OF STUDY
3315
ars to reflect upon the relationship between scholarship and
Atkinson, Clarissa W., Constance H. Buchanan, and Margaret R.
the ethics of representation from the perspective of non-
Miles, eds. Immaculate and Powerful: The Female Sacred
Western “others” has proliferated (see Durre Ahmed, 2002),
Image and Social Reality. Boston, 1985.
and Western scholars are beginning to respond to these cri-
Bouldrey, Brian, ed. Wrestling with the Angel: Faith and Religion
tiques. Ursula King and Tina Beattie’s volume Gender, Reli-
in the Lives of Gay Men. New York, 1995. This collection ex-
gion, and Diversity (2004) testifies to a new willingness to en-
amines the struggles of faith of twenty-one gay male writers.
gage in dialogue, to challenge core assumptions, and to learn
Each contributor reflects on the troubled relationship be-
tween spirituality and sexuality.
from the perspectives of non-Western gender-critical schol-
ars. It is clear, however, that much work remains to be done.
Boyd, Stephen B., W. Merle Longwood, and Mark W. Muesse,
eds. Redeeming Men: Religion and Masculinities. Louisville,
As Chandra Mohanty has suggested, “Western feminist writ-
Ky., 1996.
ing on women in the third world must be considered in the
Brod, Harry, ed. The Making of Masculinities: The New Men’s
context of the global hegemony of western scholarship—i.e.,
Studies. Boston and London, 1987a.
the production, publication, distribution and consumption
Brod, Harry. “The New Men’s Studies: From Feminist Theory to
of information and ideas” (Mohanty, 1991, p. 55).
Gender Scholarship.” Hypatia 2 (1987b): 179–196.
Gender-critical scholars are therefore faced with the
Buchanan, Constance. “Women’s Studies.” In The Encyclopedia
daunting task of dismantling and reforming the certainties
of Religion, edited by Mircea Eliade, vol. 15, pp. 433–440.
of key feminist insights in order to ensure that the perspec-
New York and London, 1987.
tives of postcolonial theorists are heard and acted upon.
Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of
Given the scope and passionate engagement of gender schol-
Identity (1990). London and New York, 1999.
arship in the late twentieth century and early twenty-first
Bynum, Caroline Walker. Holy Feast and Holy Fast: The Religious
century, it is to be hoped that the task is taken up with the
Significance of Food to Medieval Women. Berkeley, Calif., and
same commitment to social justice and transformation that
London, 1987. An original and provocative examination of
has guided the field from its beginning.
women’s ascetic practices, linking body, spirit, food, and the
sacred together to demonstrate medieval women’s creative
SEE ALSO Androcentrism; Feminine Sacrality; Feminism, ar-
appropriation and reemployment of religious symbolism.
ticles on Feminism, Gender Studies, and Religion, and
Bynum, Caroline Walker. Fragmentation and Redemption: Essays
French Feminists on Religion; Feminist Theology, overview
on Gender and the Human Body in Medieval Religion. New
article; Gage, Matilda Joslyn; Goddess Worship, article on
York, 1991. An exemplary collection of essays exploring a
Theoretical Perspectives; Gynocentrism; Human Body, arti-
number of medieval texts to draw out women’s hidden voices
cle on Human Bodies, Religion, and Gender; Masculine Sa-
and to demonstrate their strategies of resistance. Bynum of-
crality; Men’s Studies in Religion; Patriarchy and Matriar-
fers an innovative interpretation of the role of asceticism and
chy; Stanton, Elizabeth Cady; Women’s Studies in Religion.
mysticism in Christianity.
Bynum, Caroline Walker, Stevan Harrell, and Paula Richman,
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burgh, 1990a.
advance equitable relations between the genders.
King, Ursula. “Women Scholars and the Encyclopedia of Religion.”
Method and Theory in the Study of Religion 2 (1990b): 91–97.
Rogers, Eugene F., Jr., ed. Theology and Sexuality: Classical and
Contemporary Readings. Oxford, 2002. Draws on a wide
King, Ursula, ed. Women in the World’s Religions, Past and Present.
range of resources and brings together a collection of essays
New York, 1987.
by leading scholars to examine debates about theology and
King, Ursula, ed. Religion and Gender. Oxford and Cambridge,
sexuality. Material is drawn from a variety of ancient, medi-
Mass., 1995.
eval, modern, and contemporary texts to provide readers
King, Ursula, and Tina Beattie, eds. Gender, Religion, and Diversi-
with a broad perspective on sexuality in the Christian
ty: Cross-Cultural Perspectives. London and New York, 2004.
tradition.
Langland, Elizabeth, and Walter Gove, eds. A Feminist Perspective
Ruether, Rosemary Radford. To Change the World: Christology and
in the Academy: The Difference It Makes. Chicago and Lon-
Cultural Criticism. New York, 1981. Ruether offers reflec-
don, 1983.
tions on Christology as a critical lens through which to view
McCutcheon, Russell T. Manufacturing Religion: The Discourse on
contemporary culture, viewing Christ as an iconoclastic
Sui Generis Religion and the Politics of Nostalgia. New York
prophet whose teachings elicit a commitment to the eradica-
and Oxford, 1997.
tion of poverty, anti-Semitism, and gender-based oppression.
Millet, Kate. Sexual Politics. Garden City, N.Y., 1970.
Ruether, Rosemary Radford. “The Feminist Critique in Religious
Mohanty, Chandra Talpade. “Under Western Eyes: Feminist
Studies.” In A Feminist Perspective in the Academy: The Dif-
Scholarship and Colonial Discourses.” In Third World
ference It Makes, edited by Elizabeth Langland and Walter
Women and the Politics of Feminism, edited by Chandra Tal-
Gove, pp. 52–66. Chicago and London, 1983a.
pade Mohanty, Ann Russo, and Lourdes Torres, pp. 51–80.
Ruether, Rosemary Radford. Sexism and God-Talk: Toward a
Bloomington, Ind., 1991.
Feminist Theology. London, 1983b. Presents a revision of
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3318
GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND HINDUISM
theological themes from a feminist perspective, including the
Stuart, Elizabeth. Religion Is a Queer Thing: A Guide to the Chris-
use of male and female images of the divine in worship; the
tian Faith for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered Peo-
relationship between images of women, the body, and nature
ple. London, 1997. An accessible introduction to queer the-
in Greek, Hebrew, and Christian thinking; and a new
ology that is aimed at lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
woman-centered look at images of both Christ and Mary.
transgendered people who are either new to Christianity or
Ruether, Rosemary Radford. “Androcentrism.” In The Encyclope-
who are interested in investigating theology from a queer
dia of Religion, edited by Mircea Eliade, vol. 1,
perspective.
pp. 272–276. New York and London, 1987.
Trible, Phyllis. God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality. Philadelphia,
Ruether, Rosemary Radford, ed. Religion and Sexism: Images of
1978. A study of important biblical themes, through careful
Woman in the Jewish and Christian Traditions. New York,
textual analysis of the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures, that
1974. A classic collection of essays that show the role of the
are of special interest to feminists.
Jewish and Christian traditions in shaping the social and cul-
Ware, Vron. Beyond the Pale: White Women, Racism, and History.
tural norms that have degraded and suppressed women.
London and New York, 1992.
Ruether, Rosemary Radford, comp. Womanguides: Readings To-
Warne, Randi R. “Toward a Brave New Paradigm: The Impact
ward a Feminist Theology. Boston, 1985. A classic collection
of Women’s Studies on Religious Studies.” Religious Studies
of readings from Jewish, Christian, Greek, Gnostic, Sumeri-
and Theology 9 (1989): 35–46.
an, Babylonian, and Egyptian religious literature that seeks
to contextualize ideas about gender in the Christian tradition
Warner, Michael. The Trouble with Normal: Sex, Politics, and the
and to show alternative models that could empower women.
Ethics of Queer Life. New York, 1999. Warner argues against
the heterosexual status quo that promotes marriage as the
Ruether, Rosemary Radford, and Eleanor McLaughlin, eds.
ideal, suggesting that gay marriage and other moves toward
Women of Spirit: Female Leadership in the Jewish and Chris-
normalcy simply serve to reinforce social norms that ensure
tian Traditions. New York, 1979.
that gay and lesbian sexualities are marginalized. Instead, he
Sanday, Peggy Reeves, and Ruth Gallagher Goodenough, eds. Be-
offers a new model of sexual autonomy that seeks to change
yond the Second Sex: New Directions in the Anthropology of
the way people think about sex, shame, and identity.
Gender. Philadelphia, 1990.
Wood, Juliette. “The Concept of the Goddess.” In The Concept
Schippert, Claudia. “Too Much Trouble? Negotiating Feminist
of the Goddess, edited by Sandra Billington and Miranda
and Queer Approaches in Religion.” Theology and Sexuality:
Green, pp. 8–25. London, 1996.
The Journal of the Institute for the Study of Christianity and
Sexuality 11 (1999): 44–63.
SÎAN HAWTHORNE (2005)
Schüssler Fiorenza, Elisabeth. In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theo-
logical Reconstruction of Christian Origins. New York, 1983.
Traces the origins of Christianity through the lens of con-
GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND
temporary feminist assumptions and is aimed at challenging
HINDUISM
deeply embedded assumptions about biblical texts, and reli-
gious authority. Schüssler Fiorenza compares the letters of
There are many ways to approach women’s and gender
Peter and Paul, which insist on the submission of women,
studies in Hinduism. A more-descriptive, less-analytical ap-
to the writers of the Gospels, who emphasize love and service
proach usually deals with the traditional scriptural injunc-
as the essence of spiritual life. The picture that emerges is one
tions relating to women, the concept of str¯ıdharma, feminine
in which women played active and important roles during
archetypes, symbolic structures, divine manifestations, and
the early stages of Christianity.
the ways these matters impact both male and female religious
Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky. Epistemology of the Closet. Berkeley,
practices and identities. For example, the image of Hindu
Calif., 1990. Offers a literary analysis of some of the classic
women (a supposedly homogeneous group essentially differ-
texts of European and American literature, mapping the his-
ent from both Hindu men and non-Hindu women) is often
torical moment in which sexual identity became as important
derived from two categories of sacred texts: the Vedas, the
a marker of subjectivity as gender identity was. Sedgwick
oldest and most authoritative Indian texts (c. 1500–600 BCE)
shows how the categories of “homosexual” and “heterosexu-
and Manusm¸rti, the best-known prescriptive text and the
al” continue to shape almost all aspects of contemporary
most commonly cited source of Hindu dharma (c. second
thought.
century BCE–second century CE).
Shallenberger, David. Reclaiming the Spirit: Gay Men and Lesbians
Come to Terms with Religion. New Brunswick, N.J., and Lon-
WOMEN IN THE ANCIENT TEXTS. The first group of texts
don, 1998. A useful study based on interviews with twenty-
confirms that there were women seers in the Vedic age (ap-
six gay men and lesbians from Chicago who discuss their
proximately 1 percent of the hymns of the R:gveda are attri-
family backgrounds, their early religious and spiritual experi-
buted to women) and women philosophers capable of debat-
ences, and how identifying themselves as gay or lesbian im-
ing with men (Ga¯rg¯ı and Maitrey¯ı in the Upanis:ads), that
pacted their spiritual lives.
the sacrificer’s wife played an instrumental (if far from equal)
Sharma, Arvind, ed. Women in World Religions. Albany, N.Y.,
role in public rituals, and that a woman’s primary function
1987.
was to be the mother of sons. According to the much later
Stanton, Elizabeth Cady. The Woman’s Bible: The Original Femi-
text, Manusm¸rti, women were denied access to learning alto-
nist Attack on the Bible (1895–1898). Edinburgh, 1986.
gether. Marriage for a woman was equated with religious ini-
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND HINDUISM
3319
tiation (upanayana) for a man, the service she offered her
picted as consorts rather than as independent deities, there
husband was equated with his religious studentship, and her
is the widespread notion that divine power is feminine (´sakti,
performance of household duties was equated with his wor-
meaning “power,” is a feminine noun). According to this
ship of the sacrificial fire (Manusm¸rti 2.67); that is, her do-
view, without ´sakti, the gods are powerless, and the ultimate
mestic duties constituted her religious life. The importance
power of the universe is that of Dev¯ı, the Great Goddess.
of procreation gave rise to the image of her womb as a field.
The passivity of the field was assumed: The husband sowed
A more critical and reflective approach reveals that the
the seed, which determined the crop, and because he was
very discussion of women and, more recently, gender in Hin-
(ideally) the owner of both field and produce, it was essential
duism has evolved within the context of and in specific re-
to guard both from other men. The subordination of the
sponse to complex historical developments from the early
wife was ensured by the criteria for choosing a bride. Men
nineteenth century onward. Generally speaking, the history
were advised to marry girls considerably younger than them-
of women’s studies and gender studies tends to follow a
selves (the ideal gap was sixteen to eighteen years) from fami-
three-phase pattern. In the first phase, scholars look for and
lies of the same or lower status and from families with which
research sources and key individuals that can in some sense
there were no existing kinship ties to soften her experience
add women to a preexisting framework, the latter sometimes
of isolation.
referred to as men’s studies to emphasize the need for the
missing component of women’s studies. In the second phase,
Whereas the religious life (dharma) of a man was usually
there is a movement away from the “men’s studies plus
described in terms of his class (varn:a; i.e., according to his
women” approach toward finding ways to analyze and chal-
membership of the priestly, ruling, mercantile, or servant
lenge the gender ideology inherent in the dominant dis-
class) and stage in life (a¯´srama; i.e., according to whether he
courses defining both women and men within the relevant
was a religious student, a married householder, a hermit, or
patriarchal structures. In the third phase, the focus shifts
a renunciate), that of a woman focused solely on the cultural
once more, this time away from an exclusive focus on gender
expectations of the good wife (str¯ıdharma). Thus the narra-
toward an articulation of more nuanced discourses that take
tive and prescriptive literature is full of glorifications of the
into account issues of race, class, and ethnicity as well as
ideal wife often startlingly juxtaposed with dire pronounce-
gender.
ments regarding the inherently wicked nature of women
(str¯ısvabha¯va). That this was a strategy for the control of
This three-phase pattern may also be applied to the
women is evidenced by the total lack of a parallel opposition
study of Indian religions and, more specifically, to the study
between the ideal husband and the essential wickedness of
of gender and Hinduism. In the Indian case, however, it is
all men. Cultural archetypes reinforce these patterns. In the
essential to realize that an acute interest in the role and posi-
Ra¯ma¯yan:a, for example, male figures include Ra¯ma (exem-
tion of women, at this point referred to as the woman ques-
plar of the ruling class) and Hanuma¯n (exemplar of the de-
tion, predated the women’s studies phase by more than one
voted servant). Conversely, for women, S¯ıta¯ represents the
hundred years. The primary context of the woman question
perfect wife, and Kaikey¯ı stands for the inherent wickedness
was political of course, but the relevance of these discussions
of women.
to the study of religions is unambiguous. Indeed it is always
There are, however, other representations of the male–
important to view the debates on Indian and Hindu women
female relationship. According to San˙khya philosophy, for
against the background of the political paradigms dominant
example, all existence is derived from two principles: purus:a
in India at the time: the discourses accompanying the British
(the irreducible self—male, aloof, and perfect) and prakr:ti
colonial enterprise, the narratives embedded in the Indian
(the manifest world, defined as female, needing attention,
nationalist project, or the impassioned rhetoric of fundamen-
longing to serve, and the cause of the male self’s entrapment
talism. A coherent history of the study of women and gender
in existence). The purus:a-prakr:ti dichotomy is clearly intend-
in relation to the study of Hinduism emerges only when
ed to apply to all existence and all individuals, including
these two models (i.e., the woman question and women’s
women. However, the cultural stereotypes underlying the
and gender studies) and these two disciplines (i.e., religion
philosophical message are undeniable, as is the implication
and politics) are made to work together.
that the truly religious man must abandon both women and
THE WOMAN QUESTION. The woman question arose direct-
the world if he is to attain his goal. In the context of devo-
ly from India’s encounter with colonialism. As Ashis Nandy
tional religion (bhakti), the male-female relationship receives
noted in his groundbreaking work The Intimate Enemy
a different emphasis: God is supreme, the only male in a
(1983), colonial powers consistently viewed colonized peo-
world of devotees represented as feminine. In the worship of
ples as weak and effeminate. Accordingly, to justify their par-
Kr:s:n:a, for example, male devotees imagine themselves as
ticular colonial enterprise, the British portrayed the entire in-
women in their devotion to their Lord, whereas female devo-
digenous population of India as feminine, that is, as
tees have the advantage of being naturally subservient in their
requiring protection. The need for vigorous intervention was
devotion.
further supported by what, in colonial discourse, was widely
Another twist is provided by the concept of the divine
agreed to be the lamentable position of Indian (primarily
feminine (´sakti or pakti). Although many goddesses are de-
Hindu) women. Whereas Hindu women were perceived to
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND HINDUISM
be in urgent need of social reform or uplift, Hindu men were
child widow; Cornelia Sorabji (1866–1954), who read law
believed to be innately incapable of providing it—hence the
at Oxford before returning to Calcutta to work on behalf of
need for British intervention to achieve the necessary re-
women living in purdah (the confinement of women to the
forms. Examples of this type of discourse may be found in
inner rooms of the home and to the invisibility of a palan-
numerous publications ranging from James Peggs’s India’s
quin when outside it); twenty-four-year-old Rukhmabai,
Cries to British Humanity (rev. ed., 1830) to Katherine
whose determination not to live with a husband to whom
Mayo’s polemical Mother India, a best seller in England and
she had been married at the age of eleven (case filed in 1884)
the United States from its publication in 1927.
sparked off a major political debate in both England and
India; and the formidable Tarabai Shinde, who wrote a tract
The list of women-related social reforms advocated by
in Marathi in 1882 in response to the celebrated case of Vij-
the British is long: the eradication of child marriage, especial-
aylakshmi, a young brahman widow condemned to death for
ly the marriage of child brides because of the high probability
the murder of her illegitimate baby. These remarkable indi-
that they would become child widows; the remarriage of wid-
viduals provided both a link between Western feminism and
ows; the abolition of female infanticide, sati (the death of a
indigenous women’s organizations and living models that re-
woman on her husband’s funeral pyre), and kul¯ın polygamy
sisted Victorian constructions of Indian women.
in Bengal (where the need for high-caste brahman girls to
marry before they reached puberty and to marry only high-
There was also the widespread idea, in Britain and
caste men had led to the practice of kul¯ın men of all ages
among the emerging elites in India, that the position of
being paid to marry large numbers of prepubertal kul¯ın girls
women in a given culture was a mark of its degree of civiliza-
without further economic obligation); and the education of
tion, hence the significance attributed by both British colo-
women. Some of the reforms were counterproductive. For
nizers and colonized Indians to social reforms relating to
example, the regulations introduced in the Bengal presidency
women. This idea has recurred throughout the history of the
in 1812 distinguished between two categories of sati: volun-
study of women and gender in India. As many scholars have
tary sati (considered legal, perhaps even praiseworthy) and
argued, women figure in these public debates as symbols (or
coerced sati (deemed illegal and to be condemned). Widely
indeed as one monolithic symbol, “Woman”) of the moral
interpreted as a sign of government approval, this intended
health of the Hindu tradition as discussed by men rather
reform in fact led to a temporary increase in the incidence
than as owners of views and voices in their own right. The
of sati in Bengal. What was less clear was how relevant these
battle between tradition and modernity continues to be
reforms were to most Hindu women, especially in the rural
fought over the bodies, minds, and images of women.
areas and among the urban lower classes. Most of the reforms
Unsurprisingly the Indian response was to produce pos-
involved only the urban middle classes, often substituting a
itive historical accounts of the position of women. This was
restrictive British model of womanhood for traditional
in part a defense of Indian masculinities (by distinguishing
Hindu norms. The formation of the bhadramahila (gentle-
between the sexes) and in part a defense of Indian culture
woman), the concept of the ideal feminine as constructed by
(by expounding the past or potential glories of Indian wom-
the Westernized male sections of the Bengali middle classes
anhood). The recovery of Indian culture, or tradition, from
and largely internalized by their female counterparts, is para-
colonial slurs came to mean the construction of the “tradi-
digmatic in this respect.
tional woman” as adapted from a fixed eternal past encapsu-
lated in religious texts. In the early stages of the nationalist
It is significant that this early focus on women in India
movement, especially in early- and mid-nineteenth-century
partly coincides with first-wave feminism in the West (c.
Bengal, the woman question sat center stage. For its reform-
1850–1950) and shares many of the latter’s attributes. In
ist wing, accused by its opponents of being overly influenced
particular many Victorian feminists (e.g., Harriet Martineau
by Western liberalism, the low status of women was seen as
[1802–1876], Annie Besant [1847–1933], and Josephine
one of the two great evils of Hindu society (the other was
Butler [1828–1906]) constructed their own images both of
caste).
British imperialism and of Indian Hindu womanhood, re-
serving a special place for what they believed was (British)
Ram Mohan Roy campaigned against sati. Vidyasagar
women’s essentially caring role in the imperial project. For
fought to promote widow remarriage (1855) and—as a kul¯ın
most of these early feminists, the plight of Indian women was
brahman himself—the abolition of kul¯ın polygamy (1871,
merely an extension of their own political campaigns for
1873). In the 1870s the Brahmo Samaj, a society dedicated
women’s rights in the West. By stressing the Otherness and
to the reform of Hinduism, was twice divided on the mar-
what they saw as the essential dependence of Indian women,
riage laws and the age of consent. In the ensuing debates on
Victorian feminists used the example of Indian women to
a range of issues relating to women, both sides sought their
bolster their own aspirations. At the other end of the spec-
evidence within the textual sources of Hinduism, that is, in
trum of first-wave Western feminism stood the feminism of
ancient Sanskrit religious texts composed and disseminated
articulate, often Western-educated, Hindu women. Exam-
by the male brahman elite. Most of the works written during
ples include Pandita Ramabai (1858–1922), author of The
this period belong to the nationalist school. The prime exam-
High-Caste Hindu Woman (1887) and herself a high-caste
ple is A. S. Altekar’s still influential and often reprinted over-
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND HINDUISM
3321
view, The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation (1978/
Madhu Kishwar, a prominent Indian activist and (with Ruth
1938). A common starting point for such accounts was the
Vanita) one of the founders of Manushi, explained:
conviction that Indian Hindu women had once enjoyed high
The pervasive popular cultural ideal of womanhood has
status and that therefore contemporary problems must be the
become a death trap for too many of us. It is woman
result of centuries of oppression by a series of invaders, nota-
as selfless giver, someone who gives and gives endlessly,
bly the Muslims. These studies tended to glamorize the posi-
gracefully, smilingly, whatever the demand, however
tion of women in the supposedly glorious Vedic age, to focus
unreasonable and however harmful to herself. She gives
on high-caste Hindu women within the family setting at the
not just love, affection and ungrudging service but also,
expense of other castes and other settings, and to exhibit a
if need be, her health and ultimately her life at the altar
particular interest in sensational practices (now deemed es-
of duty to her husband, children and the rest of her
sentially non-Hindu) such as female infanticide, child mar-
family. (Kishwar and Vanita, 1984, p. 6.)
riage, polygamy, seclusion, the deprivations of enforced wid-
The key to understanding the roles and images of both his-
owhood, and sati. Particularly disturbing are the frequent
torical and contemporary Indian Hindu women was seen to
overtones of both casteism (i.e., the denigration of low-caste
lie in the precepts, rituals, myths, and narratives of a patriar-
women in favor of the higher castes) and communalism
chal religious tradition or complex of traditions: Hinduism
(i.e., anti-Muslim rhetoric). Although the simplistic explana-
in its broadest sense. This gave rise to a range of woman-
tory framework of these early publications is flawed, the
centered studies of Hindu beliefs and practices in the 1980s.
work that went into this phase constituted a useful founda-
Examples include Susan Wadley’s volume on the “powers”
tion for the study of gender in Hinduism. Indeed scholars
of Tamil women (1980); Lina Fruzzetti’s study of the “gift
working in this area in the twenty-first century continue to
of a virgin” in Bengali Hindu marriage rituals (1982); Lynn
respond to and critique discourses relating to the woman
Bennett’s work on the religious lives of high-caste Hindu
question.
women in Nepal (1983); Meredith Borthwick’s exploration
of the bhadramahila model of femininity in late-nineteenth-
WOMEN’S STUDIES. After Indian independence was achieved
century and early-twentieth-century Bengal (1984); and
in 1947, the number of studies on women’s roles within the
Julia Leslie’s analysis of the religious behavior of women
family and on educated middle-class urban working women
(str¯ıdharma) as prescribed in an eighteenth-century Sanskrit
increased. Until the late 1960s, however, when the women’s
text (1989). The main aim of this phase was to make women
movement in the West gained momentum (known as sec-
more visible within Hinduism, both the experiences and per-
ond-wave feminism), there was little interest in rural or
spectives of Hindu women themselves and what the various
lower-caste women or in asking questions about the varieties
Hindu traditions said about them. Like the woman question
of women’s experiences and perspectives. Early examples of
before it, the women’s studies approach remained an integral
scholarly work in this phase include Bengali Women (1972),
part of the study of gender and Hinduism (e.g., Leslie, 1991;
Manisha Roy’s account of the lives of upper- and middle-
Bose, 2000).
class Hindu women in Calcutta, and Women in India (1977),
the now-classic study by Doranne Jacobson and Susan S.
POSTCOLONIAL CRITICISM. The publication of Edward
Wadley of themes relating to Hindu women both in ancient
Said’s celebrated Orientalism in 1978 is usually regarded as
tradition and in the lives of real women in contemporary
the start of postcolonial theory. Although Said himself was
India.
criticized for his lack of attention to women, postcolonial
criticism in general may be seen to act as a bridge in the tran-
The term women’s studies, borrowed from the West in
sition from Indian women’s studies to the study of gender
the early 1970s, was used increasingly after the United Na-
in Hinduism. A prime example of this phase is the work of
tions declaration of 1975 as International Women’s Year and
Lata Mani on the colonial discourse on sati. Mani argued:
of the period 1975 to 1985 as International Women’s De-
Tradition is reconstituted under colonial rule and, in
cade. The Committee on the Status of Women in India was
different ways, women and brahmanic scripture be-
appointed in 1972. The report on its findings revealed that
come interlocking grounds for this rearticulation.
“large masses of women in this country have remained unaf-
Women become emblematic of tradition, and the re-
fected by the rights guaranteed to them by the Constitution
working of tradition is largely conducted through de-
and laws enacted since Independence” (Committee on the
bating the rights and status of women in society. De-
Status of Women, 1974, preface). In 1979 the feminist jour-
spite this intimate connection between women and
nal Manushi began publishing articles on women in Indian
tradition, or perhaps because of it, these debates are in
society and culture, including items relating to religion. By
some sense not primarily about women but about what
the 1980s the link between women’s studies and the
constitutes authentic cultural tradition. (Mani, 1989,
p. 90)
women’s movement, and thus its feminist agenda, was firmly
established. Although the primary focus of women’s studies
This article was included in the groundbreaking volume Re-
was the rights of Indian women, there was a general consen-
casting Women, edited by Kumkum Sangari and Sudesh Vaid
sus among scholars working in the field that religious ideolo-
(1989). In seeking to reveal the relationship between colonial
gy played a powerful role in maintaining the status quo.
and indigenous patriarchies and between both patriarchies
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND HINDUISM
and feminism, these essays on Indian women in the context
researchers for texts and informants, men for women, higher
of the colonial history of India set the pattern for this phase.
castes for lower castes, Western women for Hindu women,
or educated middle-class urban feminists for rural and low-
The 1980s also saw the emergence of a school of history
caste Hindu women); and gender theory, especially in rela-
referred to as subaltern studies. Often regarded as the most
tion to the Other.
significant achievement of South Asian cultural studies, the
focus of this collective enterprise was to contest dominant
An interesting development in this phase was the publi-
modes of knowledge and knowledge production. What was
cation of a particularly large number of edited volumes with
previously regarded as a history of Indian elites was now con-
gender as their focus. This type of publication made it possi-
strued as a history of subaltern groups. The inclusion of
ble to arrange a comprehensive collection of essays on a
women among these subaltern groups gave rise to an unclear
broad topic, taking advantage of the work of scholars in a
and uncomfortable relationship between subaltern studies
wide range of disciplines and fields and giving rise to new
and feminism. Kamala Visweswaran (1996), for example,
levels of sophisticated thought. As some of these volumes
distinguished between the figure of Woman (universalized
demonstrated, there was also an increased contribution from
and essentialized) as subaltern and “subaltern women,” locat-
male scholars researching aspects of gender and Hinduism.
ing her own argument in the nonessentialized subject.
THE IMPACT OF WOMEN’S AND GENDER STUDIES. The im-
Alongside the feminist challenge to subaltern studies,
pact of women’s and gender studies on the scholarly under-
feminist historiography focused on questions of voice, agen-
standing of the Hindu tradition has been dramatic. Part of
cy, and resistance with a particular interest in the oral histo-
this change may be traced to the numbers of women scholars
ries of women. Examples include Malavika Karlekar’s (1993)
joining the ranks of the predominantly male disciplines of
use of biographies, memoirs, and letters to present the
Indology, anthropology, and Indian studies generally. Tex-
“voices” of some remarkable women in nineteenth- and
tual and text-historical studies showed an increasing aware-
twentieth-century Bengal and Rosalind O’Hanlon’s (1994)
ness of the implications of the (usually but—as became
translation and analysis of Tarabai Shinde’s 1882 diatribe on
clear—not exclusively) high-caste male brahman authorship
the ways men have silenced and disempowered Indian
of the texts under discussion and allowed the subaltern per-
women.
spectives of both women and lower castes to emerge. Strik-
This transitional phase was one of critique and revela-
ingly different examples include Wendy Doniger’s extensive
tion. Patriarchal constructions of Hindu women—whether
work on gender and myth in ancient India (e.g., Doniger,
those of the colonial British, those of Indian nationalists, or
1973, 1980, 1999); a wealth of writing by women in thirteen
those of what may be termed Hindu “traditionalists”—were
Indian languages brought to the attention of the English-
closely analyzed, whereas the perceptions of real Hindu
reading public for the first time by Susie Tharu and K. Lalita
women were brought into the foreground. This approach
(Tharu and Lalita, 1991, 1993); and the application of the
too became an integral part of the study of gender and Hin-
tools of feminist theory and those of the Hindu tradition to
duism.
the study of women in the textual traditions of Hindu India
(Patton, 2002). As a result of these and other works on
GENDER STUDIES. Overlapping with the initiatives already
women, men, and gender, scholarly interpretations of reli-
described, the study of gender rather than women dates from
gious texts and ideas expanded to include more nuanced so-
the end of the twentieth century and the beginning of the
ciocultural and gendered understandings of prescriptive ut-
twenty-first century. In line with this shift in focus, Samya
terances, ritual implications, and soteriological paths.
Shakti, the journal of women’s studies edited by Malavika
Karlekar and first published by the Centre for Women’s De-
In the fields of the anthropology and sociology of Indian
velopment Studies in Delhi in 1983, was in 1994 renamed
religions, a new awareness of the significance of the sex of
the Indian Journal of Gender Studies. This phase was marked
both scholar and informant, together with an increasing
by a continuing concern with the explosive mix of religion
number of studies by women of women, radically altered un-
and politics and an increasing interest in the gendered aspects
derstandings of the Hindu tradition. An earlier tendency to
of nationalist and communalist rhetoric (e.g., Sarkar and Bu-
attribute a coherent group identity to Hindu women (and,
talia, 1995). In addition greater attention was paid to the di-
to a lesser degree, Hindu men) was replaced by a greater
versities of women’s religious and cultural experiences and
awareness of individual, caste, class, and regional differences
to racial, ethnic, caste-related, regional, economic, and life-
in the communities studied. North India was particularly
cycle differences (e.g., Malhotra, 2002). New research inter-
well served. For example, Listen to the Heron’s Words, an eth-
ests emerged too: women as subjects rather than as objects
nographic study of some North Indian villages published in
of study (e.g., Kumar, 1994); Hindu notions of masculinity
1994 by Ann G. Gold and Gloria G. Raheja, challenged local
(e.g., Sax, 1997); the androgyne, eunuch, or third sex (e.g.,
ideologies of gender and kinship that routinely subordinate
Zwilling and Sweet, 2000); Third World and Indian femi-
women to men. In Rajasthan, Lindsey Harlan (2003) exam-
nisms, usually defined in opposition to Western feminism
ined narratives relating to Rajput masculinity, the hero as
(e.g., Gedalof, 1999); the vexed question of who speaks for
protector, sacrificial victim, and devoted “goddesses’ hench-
whom (whether texts or informants for the subjects of study,
man.” In Maharasthra, Anne Feldhaus (1995) considered the
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND HINDUISM
3323
feminine imagery associated with rivers and the special rela-
mestic rituals: their seasonal performance of vows (vrat,
tionship between water and female divinity in the gendered
vrata) to maintain the health and well-being of their hus-
religious meanings of Hinduism. Studies of South India in-
bands and families, their periods of fasting, their special pu¯ja¯s
clude Anthony Good’s (1991) focus on female puberty ritu-
(e.g., Pearson, 1996). Accounts of sexuality in the context of
als in Tirunelveli, linking them with notions of female sexu-
Hinduism began with general explorations of Hindu culture
ality, myth, and religious tradition in southern India and Sri
(e.g., Kakar, 1989) and led in time to more in-depth studies
Lanka, and Karin Kapadia’s (1995) analysis of the impact of
such as the analysis of menstruation and female sexuality in
caste and class on concepts of gender among so-called “un-
early Indian texts (Leslie, 1996), an exploration of sexuality
touchables” in a village in Tamil Nadu.
and mysticism in the life and work of the male saint, Rama-
krishna Paramahamsa (1836–1886) (Kripal, 1998), and a
This new awareness of the implications of gender was
collection of essays on same-sex sexuality and cultural identi-
also felt in specific subject areas. In relation to Hindu god-
ty in South Asia (Vanita, 2002). The implications of gender
desses, for example, there was an outpouring of academic
theory and postcolonial criticism for the study of dowry and
works. The earlier publications focused on descriptive mate-
dowry deaths allowed research in this area to move on from
rial, locating sources, distinguishing the names and attributes
text-historical analysis and data collection to more sophisti-
of different goddesses, explaining the associated myths and
cated critical approaches (e.g., Oldenburg, 2002). Studies of
symbols against a largely Pan-Indian background (e.g., Kins-
sati continued apace, each generation of scholars adding a
ley, 1986). Foundational text-historical studies focused on,
new angle or approach to the ongoing discussion. Similarly
for example, the Dev¯ıma¯ha¯tmaya (Coburn, 1984); the ten-
widowhood was studied by historians, text specialists, and
sion between the independent goddess Dev¯ı and what Lynn
anthropologists, resulting in both empirical data and concep-
Gatwood (1985) calls the “spouse goddess”; the feminine
tual insights. Whereas male saints, s:r:¯ıs (seers), ascetics, and
principle and its relation to the rise of goddess worship (Pin-
gurus were already visible in scholarly research, their female
tchman, 1994); the South Indian folk goddess Draupad¯ı as
counterparts now emerged in a range of accounts of women
presented in oral and classical epics (Hiltebeitel, 1999); and
saints and female ascetics (e.g., Khandelwal, 2004) as well as
Tantric goddesses (Kinsley, 1997). There were also several
in studies of key individuals, such as Lopa¯mudra¯ (Patton,
wide-ranging edited volumes on Hindu goddesses and fe-
1996) and A¯nandamay¯ı Ma¯ (Hallstrom, 1999). There was
male divinities (e.g., Hawley and Wulff, 1996; Pintchman,
also a growing interest in the gender implications of male as-
2001). Although some of these authors did not focus on the
ceticism (e.g., Chowdhury-Sengupta, 1996). The changing,
implications of their work for Hindu women, some did. For
often conflicting, approaches of the emerging discipline of
example, William S. Sax’s 1991 research on Nanda¯dev¯ı, a
gender studies in relation to Hinduism was especially high-
goddess worshipped in high-altitude Hindu villages in the
lighted by the scholarly treatment of the temple woman or
central Himalayas of North India, revealed that her wide-
devada¯s¯ı. Blanket denunciations of what in colonial times
spread popularity derived from the fact that her mythology
was seen as a form of sexual slavery were replaced by explora-
paralleled—and therefore provided emotional, cultural, and
tions of ritual power, eternal auspiciousness, individual agen-
religious support for—the daily lives of local women. Some
cy, and postcolonial presentations of devada¯s¯ı reform in colo-
studies were more gender-critical, even overtly feminist, than
nial India (e.g., Marglin, 1985; Orr, 2000; Kannabiran and
others. For example, Ellen Goldberg’s (2002) analysis of the
Kannabiran, 2003).
ardhana¯r¯ı´svara form of the god S´iva, carefully defined as
“the Lord who is half woman,” combines both traditional In-
The increasing significance in the twenty-first century
dian and contemporary feminist approaches. Finally, there
of nationalist politics in India, and of diaspora Hinduism
was a new interest in the appropriation of Indian goddess
generally, suggests that the study of gender in relation to
mythology by the West. For example, a volume of essays ex-
both these topics will continue to develop. Other areas that
ploring the ways in which the goddess Ka¯l¯ı is worshipped
will no doubt attract further research include the dominance
and understood in South Asian and Western settings and dis-
of Western (especially American) metanarratives and the
courses (McDermott and Kripal, 2003) and another examin-
Othering of non-Western women in the scholarly writing of
ing how far Hindu goddesses may be seen either to empower
Western feminists; the impact on both Sanskrit studies and
women (“Is the Goddess a Feminist?”) or to serve the inter-
the study of Hinduism of the greater numbers of Hindu
ests of patriarchal Hindu culture (Hiltebeitel and Erndl,
women entering these disciplines; the gendering of philo-
2000).
sophical ideas; the representation of ambiguous sexualities;
relationships between myth, text, or ritual on the one hand
Early studies of ritual tended to favor the public or for-
and historical or contemporary social realities on the other;
mal arena involving male priests and actors. As interest in
and the integration of critical and gender theory into existing
women and gender issues increased, greater attention was
approaches to the study of Hinduism.
paid both to the apparently marginal roles of women in an-
cient public rituals (e.g., Jamison, 1996) and to the changing
The study of gender in Hinduism has progressed
religious roles of women in modern forms of Hinduism
through a series of overlapping yet transformative phases: the
(e.g., Heller, 1999). Of particular interest were women’s do-
woman question, women’s studies, postcolonial criticism,
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3324
GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND HINDUISM
and a more full-fledged gender studies proper. Each phase
Fruzzetti, Lina M. The Gift of a Virgin: Women, Marriage, and Rit-
emerged from and grafted itself onto what preceded it with
ual in a Bengali Society. New Brunswick, N.J., 1982; reprint,
the result that, although everything has changed, there is lit-
with a new introduction, Delhi, 1990.
tle that has been entirely lost. With such radical shifts in per-
Gatwood, Lynn E. Dev¯ı and the Spouse Goddess: Women, Sexuality,
spective accomplished, it is hard to anticipate where the next
and Marriages in India. Riverdale, Md., 1985.
hundred years will lead in this particularly challenging aspect
Gedalof, Irene. Against Purity: Rethinking Identity with Indian and
of Hindu studies.
Western Feminisms. London, 1999. The author introduces
the work of a selected group of Indian feminists, arguing that
SEE ALSO Bhakti; Dharma, article on Hindu Dharma; God-
their insights should be taken on board by white Western
dess Worship, article on The Hindu Goddess; Hinduism;
feminisms to develop more sophisticated models of identity.
Ramabai, Pandita; Roy, Ram Mohan; Sati; Vedas; Women’s
Gold, Ann Grodzins, and Gloria Goodwin Deheja, eds. Listen to
Studies in Religion.
the Heron’s Word: Reimagining Gender and Kinship in North
India. Berkeley, Calif., 1994.
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cerned with the “regulation and reproduction of patriarchy
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Mani, Lata. “Contentious Traditions: The Debate on Sati in Co-
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Delhi, 1989.
ric of the Hindu Right and the roles of real women within
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Manushi: A Journal about Women and Society. Delhi, 1979.
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Marglin, Frédérique Apffel. Wives of the God-King: The Rituals of
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Mayo, Katherine. Mother India. London, 1927.
Sax, William S. Mountain Goddess: Gender and Politics in a Hima-
McDermott, Rachel Fell, and Jeffrey J. Kripal, eds. Encountering
layan Pilgrimage. New York, 1991.
Ka¯l¯ı: In the Margins, at the Center, in the West. Berkeley,
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND JAINISM
Studies IX: Writings on South Asian History and Society, edited
ity to gain salvation. The position on this radically separates
by Shahid Amin and Dipesh Chakrabarty, pp. 83–125.
the Digambaras and the S´veta¯mbara and is linked to the cor-
Delhi, 1996.
related question of nudity viewed, or not, as a prerequisite.
Wadley, Susan, ed. The Powers of Tamil Women. Syracuse, N.Y.,
For the former, whose name means “sky-clad,” acceptance
1980.
of nudity by the mendicants is a symbol of their perfect de-
Zwilling, Leonard, and Michael J. Sweet. “The Evolution of
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Because the underlying idea is that a woman can by no
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pp. 99–132. Delhi, 2000.
impurity due to the presence of numerous subtle microscopic
JULIA LESLIE (2005)
beings in her body, she is not considered to be able to reach
emancipation as a woman. She has to be reborn as a man
first. This perspective may be one reason why nuns are less
numerous than monks among the Digambaras. The “white-
GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND
clads,” on the other hand, focus on a more internal approach:
JAINISM
Provided an individual is able to fulfill the right faith, right
The birth act for the study of gender concerns in Jainism is
knowledge and right behavior, which are the only necessary
undoubtedly the publication of Padmanabh S. Jaini’s Gender
conditions for attaining the ultimate goal, gender does not
and Salvation: Jaina Debates on the Spiritual Liberation of
matter. From the beginning of the common era up to the
Women (1991). Jaini’s monograph goes to the heart of the
twenty-first century, this debate about female religiosity has
Jain tradition by dealing with a gender-based issue that is
been continuously sustained in many texts—all written by
crucial to it and that marks one of the clearest differences be-
male ascetics. Authors from the two groups have done their
tween its two main ideological currents, the S´veta¯mbara and
best to provide logical arguments and closely conducted dis-
the Digambara Jains (born from a split that probably took
cussions in favor of their respective opinions, trying to go be-
place in the beginning of the common era). Some of the
yond mere postulates. Some, for instance, have devised a fine
other factors that encouraged reflecting on the place of
analysis of the notion of gender, which they see as different
women in the Jain tradition in the last 15 to 20 years, which
from sex, through a Sanskrit term (veda) meaning, in fact,
run parallel to the general trend of developing reflection on
libido, thus transcending the physiological sex distinction.
the role of women in all traditions, are the following: an in-
creasing interest in Jainism among female scholars (e.g., an-
WOMEN AND MYTHOLOGICAL CATEGORIES: THE JINAS.
thropologists, philologists) who, in the Indian context, have
Theological debates on women and emancipation are mir-
easier access to nuns or laywomen than their male colleagues;
rored in the construction of gender in myth. Basically atheis-
an interest for Jainism explicitly motivated by a gender-based
tic, the mythology of the Jain tradition centers around the
approach; a growing consciousness of the immense wealth
lives of its Ford-makers (T¯ırtham:karas, or Jinas), who num-
of tradition and issues represented by women in Jainism; and
ber twenty-four. Like other humans, the Jinas are beings who
an increasing number of publications, especially in the Unit-
have gone through the world of transmigration and have
ed States, on the broad topic of women and religion. Before
been born under different shapes among gods, animals, or
this, many of those who studied Jainism had noticed the nu-
human beings. In their last incarnation, they are human be-
merical potential represented by women, especially in the
ings who soon leave the worldly life and become religious
monastic orders of the S´veta¯mbara Jains, without really ex-
mendicants to entirely devote themselves to the practice of
ploring the topic.
asceticism, which results in perfect knowledge (kevala-jña¯na)
and finally emancipation. Accounts of the Jinas’ biographies
WOMEN AND SALVATION. The Jain religious discourse shares
are an important part of the literary tradition. Both
universal prejudices against women, who are viewed as
S´veta¯mbaras and Digambaras agree that twenty-three out of
temptresses and symbols of attachment, fickleness, and,
these twenty-four Jinas are men, but they disagree about
above all, treacherousness. Acts of deception (ma¯ya¯) are con-
number nineteen, named Malli (linguistically an ambivalent
sidered a woman’s main characteristic, to the extent that de-
form because i nominal stems can be masculine and/or femi-
ceitfulness comes to be adduced as an explanation for sex-
nine). The Digambaras unanimously tell that Malli (or
differentiation: “As a result of manifesting deception a man
Mallina¯tha) was a boy who lived the ordinary career of a Jina
in this world becomes a woman. As for a woman, if her heart
and occasionally consider the absence of any feminine image
is pure, she becomes a man in this world” (Mahe´svarasu¯ri,
as a proof that Malli is masculine. The S´veta¯mbaras, on the
Na¯napancam¯ıkaha¯ 3.17, tenth century).
other hand, state that Malli became a Jina during her last
However, the main question is whether the basic in-
birth as a woman. The S´veta¯mbara narrative enhances the
equality between man and woman as such can be neutralized.
ambivalence of the woman status as seen by this religious
The most original contribution of the Jains to world religions
group: Malli had to be a woman as a kind of atonement for
undoubtedly concerns the theological consequences of their
some act of deception committed in a former existence, but,
image of woman and their vivid debates about women’s abil-
at the same time, she had earned a type of karman leading
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND JAINISM
3327
to become a Jina. The fact that the S´veta¯mbaras include in
sciences (vidya¯, a feminine noun), and to the “eight mothers”
their canon a specific text narrating the life of Malli, whereas
(ma¯tr:ka¯s; a group of eight basic notions of Jain ethics). The
all Jinas are not provided with a full-fledged individual biog-
main feminine deities of the Jain tradition, however, are the
raphy, indicates their desire to stress their sectarian specificity
female attendants (Yaks:in:¯ıs) attached to the main Jinas.
regarding this point. However, there are linguistic and stylis-
Among them, Cakre´svar¯ı, Padma¯vat¯ı and Ambika¯ (respec-
tic features that show that even S´veta¯mbaras may not have
tively connected with the twenty-second, twenty-third, and
wished to insist too much on Malli’s femininity as such.
twenty-fourth Jina) have gradually become independent fig-
Once she has decided to renounce the world because she was
ures and occupy an outstanding place, being invoked by dev-
considered only as a sexual object by several young men who
otees who seek their protection on specific occasions of their
all wanted to marry her, she follows the same path as other
daily lives. While the Jinas appear as distant spiritual ideals,
Jinas and is given the same masculine titles (e.g., Mallijina,
these female deities are nearer to the human world and its
Mallina¯tha, bhagavant, arahant, sva¯min). In other words, a
difficulties and could have a role more prominent than their
woman can gain emancipation, but the nonemphasis on
male counterparts (the Yaks:as).
femininity is the way to reach it. This could explain that (ex-
H
cept for a dubious case) no visual representation of Malli
EROINES. Storytelling, an important pedagogical means of
Jainism that takes various forms in various languages, func-
with any feminine sexual characteristic is available. This fact
tions significantly in the construction of gender. The lives
is, to some extent, in accordance with the idea that Jinas are
of female legendary protagonists inform the minds of Jain
pure emancipated souls who cannot be shown as human be-
women by providing identification patterns to be followed
ings, but is in contradiction with the sexually marked sculp-
or avoided. In the virtually inexhaustible gallery of portraits,
tural representations of naked Jinas.
the Jinas’ mothers and the sixteen Maha¯sat¯ıs are prominent.
WOMEN IN THE LIFE OF MAHA¯V¯IRA. The fundamental theo-
In short, the following key roles are illustrated by female
logical difference between S´veta¯mbaras and Digambaras—
characters: (1) willing or unwilling donor of alms (to be
the latter having a basically negative view of women—
viewed in the light of the importance of food); (2) strong and
explains their divergence of thought regarding the role of
faithful adherents to the basic principles of Jainism and prop-
women in the life of their teacher, Maha¯v¯ıra, the twenty-
agators of the Jain faith to adverse members of the family;
fourth Jina. The Digambaras’ position suffers no compro-
(3) virtuous and faithful wives despite dangerous situations
mise: Maha¯v¯ıra cannot be conceived as subjected to women
putting life-safety at risk; and (4) renouncers of domestic life
in any way. Albeit the young handsome son of a princely
(e.g., the famous Ra¯jimat¯ı, dear to all Jain hearts; as her fu-
family, he renounces the world as perfectly chaste and never
ture husband renounced worldly life on the day of his mar-
surrenders to the delights of love, thus embodying the perfect
riage, she overcame her suffering, decided to become a nun,
ascetic. On the contrary, several features underline the key
and later resisted the seductive attempts of her husband’s
role of women in this Jina’s biography as told by the
elder brother).
S´veta¯mbaras: (1) although reluctant to do so, Vardhama¯na
(Maha¯v¯ıra) accepts his parents’ command to get married; (2)
WOMEN AND SOCIETY: RELIGIOUS ORDERS. Gender does
he fathers a daughter; and (3) she becomes the wife of
not seem to have ever been an issue as far as the creation of
Vardhama¯na’s elder sister’s son (instance of cross-cousin
a female order is concerned. When the community was struc-
marriage documented in western India) and her husband is
tured by Maha¯v¯ıra, the main expounder of the doctrine
responsible for an important schism in the community. This
(around the fifth century BCE), it was right away described
probably intentional stress on feminine lineage may be a part
as fourfold, including women as two of its components: lay-
of a strategy meant to underline sectarian identity against the
women (´sra¯vika¯) and nuns (sa¯dhv¯ı), beside laymen and
Digambaras (and perhaps also against the Buddhists because
monks. This is recognized by all Jains, whether S´veta¯mbara
Gotama is said to have fathered a son). The desire to describe
or Digambaras, and has not given rise to any discussion or
Maha¯v¯ıra as a perfect householder before he renounces the
embarrassment whatsoever (contrary to what happened in
world is perhaps a way to make the ideal he represents closer
the beginnings of the Buddhist tradition).
to the ordinary man and is a less extremist view more in ac-
Whether in ancient scriptures or in modern times (at
cordance with the accepted current social patterns.
least among S´veta¯mbaras), statistics are clear: Nuns largely
WOMEN IN WORSHIP: MYTHICAL FIGURES. In worship, fe-
outnumber monks. However, higher number does not mean
male mythical figures, connected with grammatically femi-
higher rank. In the specific texts devoted to the exposition
nine concepts, occupy a central place. Iconography testifies
of the monastic code developed by the S´veta¯mbaras as a part
to a fairly ancient cult rendered to the mothers of the Jinas,
of their canon, no explicit inequality between monks and
and especially to Marudev¯ı, the mother of the First One,
nuns is recognized, but the patterns of redaction rest on the
who is said to have been the first emancipated soul. Knowl-
underlying thought that a woman, being unsteady by nature,
edge, a cardinal concept in Jain doctrine, takes shape in fig-
needs more control. General rules applying to monks and
ures that are all feminine. This applies to the goddess
nuns are largely similar, but there are additional and stricter
Sarasvat¯ı, who is as important for the Jains as she is for other
rules that are meant to restrict options open to nuns in activi-
Indians, to the vidya¯dev¯ıs, who are representations of various
ties connected with their daily routine—especially food regu-
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3328
GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND JAINISM
lations. On the other hand, their independence and freedom
The efforts of some prominent nuns, who try to make
are limited by a general subordination to the monks: (1)
use of their prestige and influence to promote women’s edu-
Even when having a long religious life, they may be under
cation, must however be underlined. They profess that be-
the authority of junior monks; (2) they need more years than
fore getting religious initiation, the young girls must undergo
their male colleagues to reach high positions in the religious
a probational period during which they will be given at least
hierarchy; and (3) nuns have their own religious titles that
basic knowledge not only in Jainism but also in grammar or
imply an inferior rank than those of monks.
literature. Promoting women’s education is moreover an im-
portant point of the Tera¯panthin subsect. It is being imple-
NUNS AND LEADERSHIP. This last point is best exemplified
mented through a special category of nuns who are officially
in the organization of the Tera¯pantha movement, a modern
subsect of the S´veta¯mbaras mostly active in Rajasthan. When
free from certain rules restricting their movements and can
it originated in the eighteenth century, a single teacher
visit distant institutions in India or abroad to pursue academ-
(a¯ca¯rya) was the head of both monks and nuns. The regular
ic research. Although nuns are allowed to hold public ser-
increase of nuns resulted in the institution of a female head
mons, not many of them do so. More often, they are seen
(pramukha¯) who commands smaller units. However, her role
surrounding the preaching monk and carefully listening to
is that of a coordinator; she is not considered as the female
him: “Sadhvis are regarded first and foremost as ‘devotees.’
counterpart of the a¯ca¯rya, who is the decisional authority,
. . . The sadhvi is still evaluated according to the pativrata
and she remains subordinate to him. In fact, Jainism does
virtues of devotion, surrender, and self-sacrifice. These tradi-
not know of any female as a leader of a religious group of
tional virtues prescribed for women are not substituted for
some significance. The only exception to this is very recent,
but rather supplemented with values more accordant with
rather marginal and locally based in Gujarat. It is represented
those of the ascetic ideal” (Vallely, 2002, pp. 215, 218).
by the case of Campa¯bahen Ma¯ta¯j¯ı (1918–1993) who be-
Study of history also shows that in the past scriptural
came the leader of the Ka¯nji Sva¯m¯ı Panth, a twentieth centu-
sources are essentially authored by or ascribed to male re-
ry neo-Digambara movement, after the death of its founder
nouncers or are male-oriented. The few female religious fig-
in 1980 and who is credited with quasi-divine powers and
ures whose names have come to us are sources of inspiration
knowledge of previous births.
for men (e.g., Ya¯kin¯ı-mahattara¯ for Haribhadra, c. eighth
NUNS AND SOCIETY. To some extent, monastic tasks are gen-
century). In recent times, a few highly charismatic nuns have
der-based and tend to reproduce the distribution of domestic
been able to express themselves through their autobiogra-
tasks in the secular world (e.g., sewing, mending of robes and
phies (e.g., A¯ryika¯ Jña¯namati, 1990) or through the redac-
other objects). Still, the fact that “religion serves as both a
tion of religious pamphlets, but no really breaking-through
creative and conservative force in women’s lives” (Vallely,
dogmatical treatise is known to have been composed by any
2002, pp. 21, 215.) accounts for the appeal that monastic
woman of the tradition. A further dissymmetry appears in
life does have for young Jain women. In addition, “the value
the field of worship. Worship of female deities or deified
of chastity is one way concepts about women and renuncia-
concepts is one thing; worship of human female teachers an-
tion combined in a manner favorable to female renunciation
other one. Whereas images of male renouncers of some im-
in Jainism. This connection between Jain wives and re-
portance are common, at least in some groups, this is still an
nouncers is strong enough, when combined with various
exceptional fact in the case of nuns.
other factors, to encourage more women than men to re-
ROLES FOR LAYWOMEN. As for Jain laywomen, their roles are
nounce in the Jain tradition” (Fohr, 2001, p. 1). The assyme-
mostly oriented toward the two areas in which the otherwise
tries between nuns and monks in the communatarian hierar-
prevalent gender hierarchy is at least partly reversed: prepara-
chy and the domestic roles assigned to nuns are not enough
tion of food and performance of rituals, for which the men
to alter this tendency.
are completely dependent on them. In a tradition such as
In the modern context, the educational level of Jain
Jainism, food is far from being a minor question. The obser-
nuns is a prominent issue. Theoretically, there is no avowed
vation of specific dietary rules is one of the clearest means
distinction between nuns and monks as regards access to sa-
to ensure sectarian identity. Thus the woman at home func-
cred scriptures. Jainism (as well as Buddhism) basically ad-
tions as a guardian or a modifier of the tradition through the
mits access for all and differs, in this respect, from the ortho-
various roles ascribed to her. She is the one who offers alms
dox Hindu tradition, in which women were traditionally
to the begging Jain mendicants who come at her door, which
refused access to the Vedas. However, in practice, all the or-
implies that she masters a minute sequence of actions and
ders within Jainism do not have the same position. Although
rules. She is also the one who prepares the meals for the fami-
some of them (e.g., Tera¯panthins and Stha¯nakva¯sins) claim
ly and decides whether a rule like the one that forbids eating
that monks and nuns can study all texts, others (e.g., part of
after sunset will be observed or not, and she knows which
the Mu¯rtipu¯jaks) state that the nuns’ abilities are less and
type of food has to be cooked depending on the day (i.e., fes-
prevent them from being in a position to study certain diffi-
tival, ordinary). Finally, the woman is also the one who has
cult or controversial canonical texts, especially those con-
a full command on the complicated calendar and typology
nected with the monastic code.
of fasts that regulate the Jains’ lives. Fasting is actually the
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND JAINISM
3329
true women’s penance and a way for them to gain a high rep-
the Digambara point of view, and Paul Dundas’s The Jains,
utation of religiosity.
2d ed. (London, 2002), with a vast bibliography, are indis-
pensable.
Reproduction of the community is in their hands
through the handling of marriages and the imparting of basic
An overview of various issues connected with the question of
women in the frame of Jainism in history and in the contem-
teachings to young generations. This latter task is mainly
porary world can be found in Nalini Balbir’s “Women in
done through the telling of Jain legends and stories, the old
Jainism,” in Women in Indian Religions, edited by Arvind
stock of which is continuously kept alive thanks to new ver-
Sharma. (New Delhi, 2002) pp. 70–107; see also “Women
sions, which the women mainly come to know in transla-
in Jainism,” in Religion and Women, edited by Arvind Shar-
tions or rephrasing in modern languages, or by interaction
ma (New York, 1994), pp. 121–138. Padmanabh S. Jaini’s
with the religious order (e.g., sermons or personal conversa-
Gender and Salvation: Jaina Debates on the Spiritual Libera-
tions). Religious hymns form another category of literature
tion of Women (Berkeley, Calif., 1991) is a pioneering work.
in which women are quite proficient.
It is an in-depth study accompanied by translations and de-
tailed discussions. The issue of gender and mythology is dis-
Creating such hymns, chanting, and reciting are mani-
cussed in John E. Cort’s article “Medieval Jain Goddess Tra-
festations of feminine religiosity at work in domestic as well
ditions,” Numen 34, no. 2 (December 1987): 235–255. As
as in temple rituals. Again, the risk of oversimplifying the sit-
for the biography of the nineteenth Jina, Mall¯ı, who, accord-
uation is to be avoided: Differences exist among subsects as
ing to the S´veta¯mbaras, was a female, see Mall¯ı-Jña¯ta. Das
to whether women are to be allotted the same rights as men
achte Kapitel des Na¯ya¯dhammakaha¯o im sechsten An˙ga des
in worshiping the images. Fundamentalists hold that they
S´veta¯mbara Jainakanons, edited and translated into German
should never be allowed to enter the innermost sanctuary
by Gustav Roth (Wiesbaden, Germany, 1983) or Hemacan-
dra’s version in his Tris:as:t:i´sala¯ka¯purus:acarita, English trans-
and to touch the idols because they can never reach the indis-
lation by Helen W. Johnson, vol. 4 (Baroda, India, 1954).
pensable degree of purity to do so, whereas others restrict di-
For monastic regulations as they are defined by the
rect contact to certain circumstances or temporary impurity
S´veta¯mbara canon, see Kalpasu¯tra, English translation of
only. The groups among the Jains who do not worship im-
Schubring’s German translation by May S. Burgess, The In-
ages, however, lay more stress on internal worship. Hence,
dian Antiquary 39 (1910): 257–267.
their conceptions are more egalitarian. Recent studies have
First-hand accounts by Jain nuns themselves are not numerous.
underlined that women have the real authority as far as con-
Hence A¯ryika¯ Jña¯namati’s autobiography written in Hindi
duct and performance of ritual itself are concerned, an area
under the title Mer¯ı smr:tiya¯m: (My memories) (Hastinapur,
of religiosity in which they assess their power against the
India, 1990) deserves a mention as containing information
male sponsors.
about monastic daily life, commitments, and politics. Occa-
sionally nuns’ achievements or biographies come to the fore.
Thus gender issues are indeed prominent both in Jain
For example, see the Felicitation Volume Sa¯dhv¯ıratna
history and its contemporary realization. The construction
Pus:pavat¯ıj¯ı Abhinandan Granth, edited by Dine´s Muni
of gender appears as a complicated process. In mythology
(Udaipur, India, 1987) in honor of a Stha¯nakva¯s¯ı nun, and
and soteriology there is a clear and apparently irreconcilable
other such publications (in Hindi or Gujarati) locally avail-
divergence between the two main sects, although the
able in India.
woman-favoring tendency of S´veta¯mbara Jainism should not
Four monographs, written by Western women, are valuable
be emphasized too much. Moreover, there is a true concep-
sources of information about encounters with Jain women:
tion of gender that goes beyond physiological characteristics.
N. Shanta’s The Unknown Pilgrims. The Voices of the Sadhvis.
At an institutional level, Jainism is basically man-centered,
The History, Spirituality, and Life of the Jaina Women Ascetics,
but there are signs to show that the numerical pressure of fe-
translated from the French [La voie jaina] by Mary Rogers
male renouncers may lead to an interesting evolution. Jain
(Delhi, 1997) is based on classical sources and on modern
laywomen also have a key role both as reproducers of tradi-
information; Anne Vallely’s Guardians of the Transcendent.
tional values and as dynamic factors in Indian society in gen-
An Ethnography of a Jain Ascetic Community (Toronto, 2002)
is based on fieldwork done in Ladnun (Rajasthan). M. Whit-
eral.
ney Kelting’s Singing to the Jinas: Jain Laywomen Mandal
Singing and the Negotiations of Jain Devotion (Oxford, 2001)
SEE ALSO Asceticism; Jainism; Maha¯v¯ıra; Nuns, overview
is a refreshing analysis of female roles as assumed by those
article; Sa¯dhus and Sa¯dhv¯ıs; Sarasvat¯ı; Soteriology.
who are not ascetics. Their lively presence is felt throughout
the book through their songs of devotion. Sherry Elizabeth
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Fohr’s “Gender and Chastity: Female Jain Renouncers”
Please see the following works on Jainism in English: Walther
(Ph.D. diss., University of Virginia, 2001) shows, on the
Schubring, The Doctrine of the Jains, translated from the Ger-
basis of extensive conversations with nuns, how the funda-
man, 2d ed., rev. (Delhi, 2000) and Helmuth von
mental value of chastity is instrumental in renunciation and
Glasenapp, Jainism: An Indian Religion of Salvation, translat-
how Jainism provides an appropriate frame for its successful
ed from the German (Delhi, 1999), have a traditional ap-
achievement. Josephine Reynell’s articles—especially
proach which may not appeal to some but are extremely use-
“Women and the Reproduction of the Jain Community,” in
ful and should not be forgotten. Padmanabh S. Jaini’s The
The Assembly of Listeners, edited by Michael Carrithers and
Jaina Path of Purification (Delhi, 1979), with emphasis on
Caroline Humphrey (Oxford, 1991), pp. 41–65—are at-
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3330
GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND BUDDHISM
tempts at defining women’s role in contradistinction to their
Sandy Boucher published Turning the Wheel: American
male counterparts, whereas Marie-Claude Mahias’s Déliv-
Women Creating the New Buddhism, a semipopular account
rance et convivialité. Le système culinaire des Jaina (Paris,
of American women Buddhist reformers of the tradition. By
1985), whose investigation is based on field-work conducted
then concerns about gender and Buddhism had become an
in Delhi, looks at the role of Jain women in connection with
issue not only for scholars of Buddhism but also for Buddhist
rules relating to food habits, which are so crucial for the defi-
practitioners, who were, if anything, more aware of and more
nition of a Jain identity. Other valuable insights are found
concerned about the issues than were the scholars. The first
in Josephine Reynell, “Honour, Nurture, and Festivity: As-
pects of Female Religiosity amongst Jain Women in Jaipur”
comprehensive book-length account of gender and Bud-
(Ph.D. dissertation, University of Cambridge, 1985).
dhism written by a scholar-practitioner appeared in 1993
when Rita Gross published Buddhism after Patriarchy: A
Scattered but valuable observations on the role of women are
Feminist History, Analysis, and Reconstruction of Buddhism. In
found in several ethnographic studies such as Lawrence A.
Babb’s Absent Lord: Ascetics and Kings in a Jain Ritual Culture
the following ten years, a significant number of books, some
(Berkeley, Calif., 1996), Ravindra K. Jain’s The Universe as
scholarly, some more oriented to Buddhist practitioners, ap-
Audience: Metaphor and Community among the Jains of North
peared. During that same period, scholars began to pay more
India (Shimla, India, 1999), and James Laidlaw’s Riches and
attention to gender in their research and in general surveys
Renunciation: Religion, Economy, and Society among the Jains
of Buddhism and introductory textbooks.
(Oxford, 1995).
AN OVERVIEW OF BUDDHISM AND GENDER. There is a cer-
NALINI BALBIR (2005)
tain ambiguity in the study of gender in general, not just in
Buddhist studies. Do scholars genuinely mean gender, or do
they, in effect, say gender but mean women? Writings on
Buddhism and gender will always discuss women’s roles and
GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND
images of women, but they may have little to say about how
BUDDHISM
the gender discriminations found in all religions affect men.
Early in the history of Western scholarship about Buddhism,
And unless the term gender is in the title of a book or chapter,
several well-known women scholars wrote significant studies
it usually does not contain much information about how
about the role of women in early Buddhism. C. A. F. Rhys
gender practices affect either women or men.
Davids’s translation of the Ther¯ıga¯tha¯ (The songs of the fe-
male elders) was published in 1909, and in 1930 I. B.
In Buddhism’s 2,500-year-long history, several general-
Horner published the very significant book, Women under
izations about gender stand out. First, it could be argued that
Primitive Buddhism. However, by the mid-twentieth centu-
the most significant distinction within the Buddhist commu-
ry, these works had been largely forgotten and scholars al-
nity is not between women and men, but between monastics
most never discussed how gender affects Buddhists’ lives or
and laypeople. In ancient India at the time of the Buddha,
the practice of their religion. Scholarship had become almost
it was commonly believed that the householder lifestyle was
androcentric, giving us knowledge only about what men
simply too distracting and busy, filled with children and
thought and did, proceeding as if women were not part of
work, for a person to be able to make any significant progress
the religious community. Furthermore, these studies rarely
toward deep understanding of reality and the consequent
discussed cultural and religious attitudes toward women, or
peace brought by such knowledge. The Buddha himself re-
the presence of female divine beings. Such omissions were
nounced his wealth, family, and social position for a life of
typical of scholarship in general, not only Buddhist studies
religious seeking, and he ordained many followers as monks
or religious studies.
and nuns throughout his life. The prestige of the monastic
lifestyle has never diminished in Buddhism, with the possible
When the second wave of feminism began in the mid-
exceptions of Japanese Buddhism and newly converted
1960s, people did not immediately regard scholarship about
Western Buddhists. Given the centrality of monasticism in
religion as a feminist issue, but by the late 1970s a small
Buddhist life, the presence or absence of a nuns’ order is a
group of scholars, mainly women, were keenly aware of the
significant gender issue in Buddhism. Though many Bud-
inadequacies of androcentric scholarship and its failure to
dhist sources report the Buddha’s initial hesitation to initiate
provide a complete or accurate picture of whatever religion
a nuns’ order, it did begin and has persisted, with many ups
was being studied. In addition, many people were discussing
and downs, in most parts of the Buddhist world. Restoring
the perceived injustices of male-dominated religions, includ-
the nuns’ ordination in those parts of the Buddhist world
ing Buddhism. After a hiatus of almost fifty years during
where it has been lost, or to which it never was transmitted,
which no significant studies of gender and Buddhism had ap-
is an important contemporary issue in Buddhism.
peared, in 1979 Diana Y. Paul published her translation and
commentary, Women in Buddhism: Images of the Feminine in
A second generalization is that there have been two radi-
Maha¯ya¯na Tradition. In the following decade, interest in the
cally different opinions about gender, and especially about
topic of gender and Buddhism increased greatly, in keeping
the status of female rebirth in the Buddhist world, in all peri-
with scholarship in general and the culture at large. Many
ods of Buddhist history, and in all forms of Buddhism. One
significant and provocative articles appeared, and in 1988
opinion states that gender does not matter, that gender is ir-
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND BUDDHISM
3331
relevant because both women and men can uncover the true
order there. These Chinese nuns’ ordination lineages are the
nature of enlightened mind and that enlightened mind is not
source of most lineages for nuns’ ordination in the contem-
one iota different in women than it is in men. The other
porary world. However, after the eleventh century CE, Sri
opinion states that gender does matter a great deal and that
Lankan Buddhism saw the demise of the nun’s order. The
it is much more fortunate to be reborn as a man because of
consensus of scholarship is that nuns’ ordination never
the social privileges that go with male rebirth. Monks always
reached other Southeast Asian countries.
had more prestige than nuns and were better supported. The
In the contemporary Therava¯da world, reviving nuns’
major institutions of Buddhism, including the nuns’ order,
ordination is a hotly contested issue, though those in favor
have always been male dominated, though that is changing
of reviving it may be slowly winning the battle. Conserva-
in contemporary times, especially among Western converts
tives argue that the Buddha did not want to ordain nuns in
to Buddhism. Modern reformers have pointed out that these
the first place and that the nuns’ order can be revived only
two well-entrenched traditional attitudes about gender are
by the next Buddha—who is not expected to appear anytime
incompatible, for if gender is irrelevant, there can be little
soon. But women from Therava¯da countries receive ordina-
basis for awarding men social privilege and domination of
tion from Chinese and Korean lineages and return to their
Buddhist institutions.
Southeast Asian homes as fully ordained nuns. Though the
E
nuns often face severe censure, especially in Thailand, gradu-
ARLY INDIAN BUDDHISM AND DEVELOPMENTS IN SOUTH
A
ally nunneries are being reestablished anyway. The first nuns’
SIA. Regarding gender, the most significant debate about
early Buddhism, the Buddhism of the Buddha’s day and the
ordination to occur in a Therava¯da country in over a thou-
next three to five hundred years, is whether or not its basic
sand years took place in Sri Lanka in 1998.
view is misogynistic, that is, hating and fearing females and
MAHA¯YA¯NA BUDDHISM. The origins of Maha¯ya¯na Bud-
everything female. Male monasticism tends to produce liter-
dhism are still debated, but all would agree that it was present
ature, directed to monks, about the dangers of contact with
by five hundred years after the time of the Buddha, about
women, and these are plentiful in the literature of this peri-
the beginning of the common era. It is also often claimed
od. Some commentators interpret these passages as evidence
that Maha¯ya¯na Buddhism was more inclusive of laypeople
that early Buddhism had strongly negative views of women.
and women than other forms of Buddhism found in India
Others, however, argue that these remarks directed to monks
at that time, but there is little evidence for this claim in Bud-
are not the whole story, and that these passages about the
dhist institutional practices of the period and no historical
dangers of contact with women are more about the weakness
women stand out in accounts of Maha¯ya¯na Buddhist history.
of men’s discipline than about the inherent faults of women.
However, Maha¯ya¯na literature sometimes also presents a
The latter argument is bolstered by the existence of flourish-
very different picture of possible or ideal roles for laypeople,
ing and highly accomplished nuns in early Buddhism, and
and especially for women. They are sometimes the heroes of
by the high regard in which laywomen donors were held.
Maha¯ya¯na texts, and they are then portrayed as far more
Certainly nuns were not equal to monks in the modern sense
knowledgeable than their male opponents, who are represen-
of the term, but they nevertheless had a degree of freedom
tatives of the more established schools of Buddhism. Further-
and independence that was rare in the ancient world. Their
more, texts that portray women as knowledgeable heroes are
lifestyle is well represented in the Ther¯ıga¯tha¯.
not minor, unimportant texts, but are among the most popu-
lar and influential texts. Such texts are also quite numerous.
Almost every account of early Buddhism also tells the
story of the Buddha’s reluctance to allow women to ordain
Portrayals of accomplished women and girls range from
as nuns at all, along with that story’s depressing coda about
those in which the woman changes her female body into a
the eight special rules that subordinate all nuns to all monks,
male body as a sign of her superior understanding, to por-
even the newest novice. Most also include the prediction that
trayals in which she teaches unchallenged by anyone for tak-
the Buddhist religion would only endure half as long as it
ing on what is usually understood as a male role. The most
otherwise would have because women had been admitted to
famous episode in which a female transforms herself into a
the order. But scholars who have done textual analysis on
male occurs in the Lotus Su¯tra, an Indian text that became
these passages have expressed doubts about the origin of
especially important in East Asian Buddhism. The heroine
these stories and comments. Some suggest that they more
is the eight-year-old daughter of the Na¯ga king, an improba-
likely came from a later period, some hundreds of years after
ble candidate for high spiritual attainment not only because
the life of the Buddha when Buddhism was splitting apart
of her gender but because of her age. Mañju´sr¯ı, an important
into several mutually incompatible denominations, not from
bodhisattva in the Maha¯ya¯na pantheon vouches for her, and
the Buddha himself or his times.
she proclaims that she will teach the dharma (Buddhist
teachings), but S´aripu¯tra, one of the most important elders
Buddhism first spread to Sri Lanka as a result of mis-
and disciples of the Buddha in the literature of older forms
sionary efforts on the part of Emperor A´soka of India in the
of Buddhism, objects that a female could not possibly be able
third century BCE. It is said that A´soka’s daughter herself ini-
to teach. After some debate with S´aripu¯tra, as the text deli-
tiated the nuns’ order there, and it was Sri Lankan nuns who
cately puts it, her “female organ disappeared and the male
went to China in the fifth century CE to initiate the nuns’
organ became visible.”
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3332
GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND BUDDHISM
This passage has been interpreted and commented upon
in a female body, then it cannot be attained in a male body
many times. More conservative commentators have claimed
either. Why? Because the thought of enlightenment is nei-
that this passage indicates that women cannot become en-
ther male nor female, and that which perceives through emp-
lightened, but must first change into men, a rather common
tiness is neither male nor female. The text in which this story
Asian Buddhist claim. If even the Na¯ga princess must change
is embedded then concludes that “the dharma is neither male
into a man, they would argue, surely all other women must
nor female.”
become men before they can become enlightened. For most
It is difficult to assess the impact of these passages and
women, of course, this sex change will not happen until a
ideas upon the actual lives of Buddhist women until we have
future life, but the fact that “deserving women” will be re-
more historical data and research. Although we know that
born as men is claimed by some as proof that traditional
monastic ordination lineages disappeared in many parts of
Buddhism does not practice sex discrimination. However,
the Buddhist world, it survived in China, one of the most
more recent feminist commentators on this text have claimed
important early sites for the development of Maha¯ya¯na scrip-
that the problem pointed to by this text is not the Na¯ga prin-
tures and ideology. Although androcentrism and misogyny
cess’s femaleness, but the obtuseness of S´haripu¯tra and the
continued to mark much of the Maha¯ya¯na monastic world,
other male naysayers. Only something as abrupt and unlikely
exceptional women were, on occasion, able to found flour-
as an instantaneous sex change can convince these ideologi-
ishing nunneries and to have influence in both religion and
cally fixated, conservative men, who simply cannot hear true
politics. Several collections recording the lives of nuns in East
dharma when it comes out of a woman’s mouth. The fact
Asia survive, and recent work on nunneries in Japan has pro-
that the Na¯ga princess has the ability to magically change her
duced intriguing evidence of the multiplicity of contexts in
sex as a last resort to demonstrate her skill to these men only
which Buddhist women could thrive.
enhances her claim to superior understanding. While Bud-
TANTRIC BUDDHISM IN TIBET. A late development in Bud-
dhist stories frequently include the motif of magical powers
dhism, often called “Tantric Buddhism” or Vajraya¯na, is of
resulting from high meditative attainments, only the most
special interest to the question of the place of women, since
advanced practitioners can accomplish such feats.
it advocated sexual practice as a means to advance spiritually.
Another famous passage occurs in the Vimalak¯ırti
Tantric Buddhism in India has only begun to be studied as
Nirde´sa Su¯tra. S´aripu¯tra is again debating with a highly ac-
a historical phenomenon, and there are many difficult inter-
complished woman, a so-called goddess who has been study-
pretive questions for that study, given the often shockingly
ing for twelve years in Vimalak¯ırti’s palace. S´aripu¯tra is im-
antinomian practices that the Buddhist tantric scriptures
pressed with her knowledge and comments that someone
sometimes recommend. Scholarly knowledge is on some-
who knows as much as she does should be a man. He then
what firmer ground in its study of Tibetan Buddhism, and
challenges her to change herself into a man. She replies that
it is useful to consider that case in this context, since
she had been looking for the innate characteristics of the fe-
Vajraya¯na Buddhist literature and practices had exceptional
male sex for twelve years, without success, so there was noth-
durability in Tibet throughout its Buddhist period.
ing that could be changed. When S´aripu¯tra persists with his
Buddhism came first to Tibet from north India in the
objections, she suddenly changes him into a woman and her-
seventh century CE. A second dissemination gained momen-
self into a man. The goddess, now a man, asks the female
tum in the eleventh century. Women figure to some extent
S´aripu¯tra if she (he) can find the essential nature of his newly
in both disseminations, and the Vajraya¯na Buddhism that
female sex. A confused S´aripu¯tra replies that he cannot even
dominates Tibet often portrays female figures in art. There
figure out how he became a woman. Then the goddess
are also several important women in Tibetan Buddhist his-
changes S´aripu¯tra back into a man and herself back into a
torical accounts.
woman and asks S´aripu¯tra about the “female form and in-
nate characteristics.” A much chastened and wiser S´aripu¯tra
Though there were many novice nuns in Tibet, most
replies, “The female form and innate characteristics neither
scholars think that full ordination for nuns never reached
exist nor do not exist,” an answer much more in accord with
Tibet. In Tibetan Buddhism, however, a third, less well-
Maha¯ya¯na teachings on emptiness.
known option of being a forest recluse, who has not taken
monastic vows but who has taken on much more serious
A final motif found in Maha¯ya¯na texts portrays women
spiritual obligations than the average layperson, has always
teaching the dharma, but male challenges are defeated purely
been prestigious and popular. Many women opted for this
with logic, without recourse to sex changes. The logic is that,
alternative, which gave them more freedom and prestige than
because emptiness of any essence is the only trait common
they had in male-dominated monastic universities. (There
to all things, no specific traits, such as maleness or female-
were no equivalent educational institutions for women, and
ness, have true existence. They are only appearances. A
novice nuns were often trained only in chanting and other
woman named Jewel Brocade is challenged by a male elder
minor disciplines.) These people often lived alone in caves
who claims that supreme perfect enlightenment, which is
or retreat huts or with a small group of companions, both
very difficult to attain, cannot be attained in a woman’s
male and female, and women were much more likely to re-
body. She replies that if enlightenment cannot be attained
ceive serious training in meditation as forest recluses than in
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND BUDDHISM
3333
the monastic universities. However, it would be inaccurate
Praja¯pat¯ı, the first nun, and other female disciples.
to claim that women and men were equal in the modern
Maha¯ya¯na Buddhism developed a pantheon of deified fig-
sense of the term.
ures, and in Vajraya¯na Buddhism there are countless medita-
tion deities whose status is often equal to that of a buddha.
A famous female figure in Tibetan Buddhism was Ye
Many of these are female. In Maha¯ya¯na Buddhism, there are
shes mtsho rgyal (Yeshe Tsogyel), who is thought to have
also mythic bodhisattvas on the way to full enlightenment or
lived in the seventh century CE. She became the partner and
enlightened buddhas of other eras and world systems. The
colleague of the Indian Padmasambhava, often considered to
mythic bodhisattvas are far more advanced than any human
be the founder of Tibetan Buddhism, though he was not the
beings, but they are still on the path. Often they are models
first Indian to propagate Buddhism in Tibet. Though mod-
of key Buddhist virtues, such as wisdom and compassion.
ern scholars are not convinced that Ye shes mtsho rgyal actu-
These too are sometimes female.
ally existed, she is given a prominent place in many Tibetan
historical narratives, and liturgies that invoke Padmasamb-
It is noteworthy that as soon as Buddhists began to
hava usually also invoke her. She is regarded as fully enlight-
imagine and pray to such Buddhist mythical figures, they
ened, no less realized than any of the great male teachers re-
began to invoke female as well as male figures. One of the
vered by Tibetan Buddhists. Another woman, Ma gcig lab
first major female enlightened figures to develop was
sgron (Machig Labdron, c. 1055–1149), was important dur-
Prajña¯pa¯ramita¯, the personification of wisdom and empti-
ing the second transmission of Buddhism to Tibet. Her story
ness. She is cast as the “mother of all the buddhas,” because
is complex, but she is often credited with initiating gcod
to become enlightened, a buddha had to realize the wisdom
(chöd) practice, an important Vajraya¯na practice designed to
she represented. Another important female bodhisattva is
destroy clinging to one’s selfhood, which is key to attaining
Ta¯ra¯, a personification of compassion and one of the most
enlightenment according to Buddhist teachings. It is also
popular figures in Tibetan Buddhism. She is frequently in-
claimed that this is the only practice that went from Tibet
voked by ordinary people. She is extremely compassionate
to India, reversing the usual pattern.
and effective; she can save one from any kind of danger or
provide any kind of benefit and is often called upon to do
The most controversial aspect of Vajraya¯na Buddhism
so.
is its widespread use of sexual symbolism and its purported
use of sexuality itself as a religious ritual. There is no doubt
In Vajraya¯na Buddhism, mythic females are at least as
that sexuality is one of the central symbols of Vajraya¯na Bud-
numerous as male mythic figures, and they participate in all
dhism, which means that feminine symbolism is much more
the same activities as their male counterparts. The impor-
prominent in Vajraya¯na Buddhism than in any other form
tance of sexual symbolism, if nothing else, would translate
of Buddhism. The basic meaning of this symbolism is non-
into the presence of many mythic females. However, females
duality or inseparability, one of the central teachings of
also function independently as meditation deities and as
Maha¯ya¯na and Vajraya¯na Buddhism. Within that dyadic
dharma protectors, the two main functions of “deities” in
unity, the female often symbolizes wisdom and the male
Vajraya¯na Buddhism. While they are often portrayed as
often symbolizes compassion; their union symbolizes the in-
beautiful and gentle, they are just as likely to be portrayed
separability and equality of wisdom and compassion. Like-
as wrathful and ugly, by conventional standards. If equality
wise, the female symbolizes emptiness and the male symbol-
between male and female mythic figures is sought, Vajraya¯na
izes form. Their union symbolizes the inseparability of form
Buddhist iconography is perhaps one of the places where it
and emptiness, or relative and absolute truth.
is found.
As for sexuality itself, both Ye shes mtsho rgyal and Ma
It is important, however, to remember that high regard
gcig lab sgron are said to have had several sexual partners,
for mythic females does not necessarily translate into high
and the stories of many great Tibetan teachers include ac-
status, freedom, or equality for human women. One of the
counts of their consorts. Their sexual experiences are consid-
most common mistakes in discussing gender and religion is
ered part of the meditation practice rather than a purely secu-
to answer questions about gender with information about fe-
lar or mundane activity. Evaluating the status of the female
male deities and other mythic females. While such informa-
partners has been controversial. Many modern scholars think
tion is an important part of the topic of gender and religion,
that the women were usually mere ritual implements used
it is often used to gloss over and ignore inequality between
by male practitioners to enhance their meditative attain-
women and men and the suppression of human females.
ments, although some have argued that the women truly
This mistake is especially common in discussions of
were partners and equals of the men. Despite great curiosity
Vajraya¯na Buddhism, probably because its intense regard for
about these practices, they are closely guarded by Tibetans.
mythic females is so unusual.
BUDDHIST FEMALE FIGURES. Several important females fig-
MODERN BUDDHISM IN ASIA AND THE WEST. Two reform
ure in the stories from the earliest period of Buddhism—the
movements are especially significant in modern Buddhism—
Buddha’s mother, his wife, the woman who encouraged him
the increasing importance of lay meditation and the engaged
to eat after severe fasting, the daughters of Ma¯ra who tempt-
Buddhist movement. Both are important in all forms of
ed him, the earth goddess who witnessed his generosity,
Buddhism, but Western Buddhism is almost entirely a lay
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3334
GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND BUDDHISM
movement, something very unusual in the history of Bud-
Magcig Lab sgron (Machig Labdron); Nuns, article on Bud-
dhism, and the engaged Buddhist movement is more promi-
dhist Nuns; Ta¯ra¯; Ye shes Mtsho rgyal (Yeshe Tsogyal).
nent in Asia, though there are many Western counterparts.
B
Regarding attention to gender, the engaged Buddhist
IBLIOGRAPHY
Allione, Tsultrim, trans. and ed. Women of Wisdom. London,
movement is somewhat disappointing, as it rarely engages in
1984.
gender analysis or critiques male-dominant gender arrange-
Bartholomeusz, Tessa. Women under the Bo Tree: Buddhist Nuns
ments, whether within the Buddhist world or outside it.
in Sri Lanka. Cambridge, U.K., 1994.
Every other major current social issue is discussed, and activ-
Blackstone, Kathryn R. Women in the Footsteps of the Buddha:
ists try to reform many economic and social injustices. But,
Struggle for Liberation in the Ther¯ıga¯tha¯. Surrey, U.K., 1998.
like many reform movements throughout history, male dom-
Boucher, Sandy. Turning the Wheel: American Women Creating the
inance is exempted from such criticism. This is the case with
New Buddhism. Rev. ed. Boston, 1993. An interesting ac-
both Asian and Western versions of the engaged Buddhist
count of emerging women leaders of American convert
movement.
women.
The lay meditation movement does not explicitly focus
Cabezón, José Ignacio, ed. Buddhism, Sexuality, and Gender. Alba-
on gender either, but many laywomen do participate in med-
ny, N.Y., 1992. A useful collection of scholarly articles.
itation intensives, which would have been unusual in earlier
Dowman, Keith, trans. Sky Dancer: The Secret Life and Songs of
forms of Buddhism. It would be expected that Western Bud-
the Lady Yeshe Tsogyel. London, 1984. A fascinating account
dhism, still in its infancy, would largely be a lay movement;
of the life of Tibet’s most famous woman practitioner and
the economic basis to support monastics and monasteries, so
leader.
well developed in Asia, is completely lacking in the West. Ex-
Dresser, Marianne, ed. Buddhist Women on the Edge: Contempo-
tensive participation in meditation practices by laypeople in
rary Perspectives from Western Frontier. Berkeley, Calif., 1996.
modern Asian Buddhism is also on the rise. Until recently,
Falk, Nancy Auer. “The Case of the Vanishing Nuns: The Fruits
it was thought that laypeople did not have the time or the
of Ambivalence in Ancient Indian Buddhism.” In Unspoken
discipline to engage in meditation, but many Asian teachers
Worlds: Women’s Religious Lives, edited by Nancy Auer Falk
are now willing to instruct laypeople, both women and men.
and Rita M. Gross, pp. 196–206. Belmont, Calif., 2001.
In addition, there is a worldwide Buddhist women’s move-
This is a classic article analyzing why the nuns’ order de-
clined and died out in India.
ment. Several newsletters are devoted to this topic and one
of the organizations, Sakyadhita, holds international confer-
Faure, Bernard. The Power of Denial: Buddhism, Purity, and Gen-
der. Princeton, 2003.
ences every two years. Central issues have included reinstat-
ing the nuns’ order in countries where it has been lost and
Friedman, Lenore, and Susan Moons, eds. Being Bodies: Buddhist
Women on the Paradox of Embodiment. Boston and London,
improving the education of nuns in other countries. Credit
1997.
for the reintroduction of the nuns’ order in Sri Lanka and
support for nuns in other Therava¯da countries goes to this
Gross, Rita M. Buddhism after Patriarchy: A Feminist History,
Analysis, and Reconstruction of Buddhism. Albany, N.Y.,
movement. The education of Tibetan nuns has also been
1993. A comprehensive and challenging account of Bud-
vastly improved, and nuns have begun to engage in practices
dhism and gender.
that were never done by earlier nuns, such as debating and
Gross, Rita M. Soaring and Settling: Buddhist Perspectives on Con-
drawing sand man:d:alas. Chinese and Korean nuns’ orders
temporary Social and Religious Issues. New York, 2000.
are stronger than ever, and nuns usually outnumber monks.
Gross Rita M., and Rosemary Radford Ruether. Religious Femi-
The beginnings of large-scale conversion to Buddhism
nism and the Future of the Planet: A Buddhist-Christian Con-
by Westerners coincided with the second wave of feminism,
versation. New York, 2001. Very useful for comparing femi-
and many early converts also had feminist consciousness. Ex-
nist issues in Buddhism and Christianity.
plicitly feminist loyalties were controversial for many Bud-
Havnevik, Hanna. Tibetan Buddhist Nuns: History, Cultural
dhists, but the way Western Buddhism has taken shape owes
Norms, and Social Reality. Oslo, 1989.
a great deal to feminism nevertheless. From the beginning
Horner, I. B. Women under Primitive Buddhism: Laywomen and
of the movement in the 1970s, women participated in all as-
Alsmwomen. London, 1930; reprints, Dehli, 1975 and 1990.
pects of Buddhist life and practice in equal numbers with
A classic to be studied by all who wish to understand
men. This was a new experience for Asian male Buddhists
women’s roles in early Indian Buddhism.
who were teaching in the West, but they did nothing to dis-
Kabilsingh, Chatsumarn. Women in Thai Buddhism. Berkeley,
courage their women students and gradually began to em-
Calif., 1991.
power them to teach, just as they empowered male students.
Klein, Carolyn Anne. Meeting the Great Bliss Queen: Buddhists,
As a result, by the mid-1990s almost half the Western dhar-
Feminists, and the Art of the Self. Boston, 1995. An interesting
ma teachers were women, something totally unprecedented
book comparing postmodern feminism and some schools of
in the history of Buddhism.
Tibetan Buddhism.
Pao-Chang. Lives of the Nuns: Biographies of Chinese Buddhist
SEE ALSO Ani Lochen; Buddhism, overview article; Femi-
Nuns from the Fourth to Sixth Centuries. Translated by
nism, article on Feminism, Gender Studies, and Religion;
Kathryn Ann Tsai. Honolulu, 1994.
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND SIKHISM
3335
Paul, Diana Y., trans. and ed. Women in Buddhism: Images of the
pression of Indian women, the Sikh guru¯s empathized with
Feminine in Maha¯ya¯na Tradition. Berkeley, Calif., 1979.
them and emphasized gender equality in sublime verse. They
This collection of texts is a modern classic that is still very
tried to open up a window of opportunity for women. But
useful.
the ideals of the Sikh guru¯s have been distorted because their
Rhys-Davids, C. A. F., and R. K. Norman, trans. Poems of Early
lives and their words were recorded, interpreted, and taught
Buddhist Nuns (Ther¯ıga¯tha¯). Oxford, 1989. This joint publi-
primarily by male elites. And so gender becomes a complicat-
cation of the two major scholarly translations of the Songs of
ed and convoluted issue for Sikhism.
the Female Elders is very useful.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT. Guru¯ Na¯nak’s close association with
Robinson, Paula Kane. Women Living Zen: Japanese Soto Buddhist
his mother (Tripta), sister (Na¯naki, after whom he was
Nuns. New York, 1999.
named), and wife (Sulakhni) was crucial in shaping his social
Sakyadhita: The International Association of Buddhist Women.
and religious consciousness, which was then carried on by his
Sakyadhita
Newsletter. Available from http://
nine successor guru¯s. Though Sikh scholarship scarcely men-
www.sakyadhita.org/NewsLetters/newsindx.htm.
tions these female figures, the simple janamsa¯kh¯ı narratives
Schaeffer, Kurtis R. Himalayan Hermitess: The Life of a Tibetan
highlight the subtle awareness these women possessed. Mata
Buddhist Nun. Oxford, 2004.
Tripta is a noble woman who understands her son and can
Shaw, Miranda. Passionate Enlightenment: Women in Tantric Bud-
see into his unique personality—much more so than his fa-
dhism. Princeton, 1994. A controversial book that argues
ther Kalu. Even the midwife Daultan is struck by the extraor-
that women played a far more central role in the develop-
dinary qualities of the child she delivers. And like Mary Mag-
ment of Tantric Buddhism than earlier scholars had recog-
dalene, who was the first woman to have witnessed the
nized.
resurrection of Christ, Na¯nak’s sister Na¯naki is the first per-
Simmer-Brown, Judith. Dakini’s Warm Breath: The Feminine
son to recognize Na¯nak’s enlightenment. Sulakhni’s role,
Principle in Tibetan Buddhism. Boston, 2001. The most
however, is ambiguous, as if the janamsa¯kh¯ı authors did not
complete account of gender symbolism in Tibetan Bud-
quite know how to deal with Na¯nak’s “wife.”
dhism.
Tsomo, Karma Lekshe, ed. Sakyadhita: Daughters of the Buddha.
Women became equal partners in the first Sikh commu-
Ithaca, N.Y., 1988. A useful account of the status of nuns
nity established by Guru¯ Na¯nak in Kartarpur. Both men and
in most parts of the Buddhist world.
women participated in formulating the fundamental Sikh in-
Tsomo, Karma Lekshe, ed. Innovative Buddhist Women: Swim-
stitutions of seva¯ (voluntary labor), langar (community
ming against the Stream. Richmond, U.K., 2000. Contains
meal), and sangat (congregation). Sikh men and women lis-
informative case studies of Buddhist women, especially nuns,
tened and recited sacred hymns. Together they cooked and
in different parts of the world, including their social engage-
ate langar. Together they formed a democratic congregation
ment with ethical issues.
without priests or ordained ministers.
Willis, Janice Dean, ed. Feminine Ground: Essays on Women and
The pattern of inclusivity set up by Guru¯ Na¯nak in Kar-
Tibet. Ithaca, N.Y., 1989.
tarpur continued on, and women were not excluded by any
Wilson, Liz. Charming Cadavers: Horrific Figurations of the Femi-
of the Sikh guru¯s from any aspect of religious life. In fact
nine in Indian Buddhist Hagiographic Literature. Chicago,
their vital participation in varied dimensions is deeply etched
1996. An interesting scholarly discussion of monastic litera-
in popular memory. For example, Mata Khivi, wife of Guru¯
ture designed to impress upon monks that they should avoid
Angad (Na¯nak II), is fondly remembered for her liberal di-
women.
rection of langar. With Mata Khivi’s generous supervision
RITA M. GROSS (2005)
and her plentiful supply of kheer (rice pudding), langar be-
came a real feast rather than just a symbolic meal. Guru¯
Amar Das (Na¯nak III) even assigned leadership roles to
women. In order to consolidate the growing Sikh faith, he
GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND
created a well-knit organization and set up twenty-two man-
SIKHISM
jis (groups) covering different parts of India. Along with
Although Sikh scripture offers valuable insights on gender,
men, women served as supervisors of these communities.
Sikh scholarship has not paid enough attention to this topic.
The Sikh religion originated and developed within a “dou-
Bibi Amaro, the daughter of Guru¯ Angad and Mata
bly” patriarchal milieu. Between the birth of the founder
Khivi, became a liaison between the second and the third
(Guru¯ Na¯nak in 1469) and the death of the tenth guru¯
guru¯s. A popular narrative recounts that a contemplative
(Guru¯ Gobind Singh in 1708), the Hindu society of North
Amar Das was totally mesmerized by a verse of Guru¯ Na¯nak
India succumbed to Muslim rulers from outside—Turks, Af-
recited from the lips of Bibi Amaro. When he expressed his
ghans, and Mughals. In the old Hindu caste society women
wish to meet the guru¯ who had been invested with such a
were completely subjugated to their husbands, and under the
rich legacy, Bibi Amaro enthusiastically escorted Amar Das
new Muslim regime women had to stay in purdah. As a result
to her father, Guru¯ Angad. Amar Das immediately became
all women, both Hindu and Muslim, ended up suffering
Guru¯ Angad’s disciple and eventually succeeded him to the
from both forms of subjugation. Witnessing the multiple op-
guruship, becoming Na¯nak III.
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND SIKHISM
Guru¯ Amar Das’s daughter Bibi Bhani had a tremen-
marital status. They were all equal partners with men in Sikh
dous impact on the historical development of Sikhism. Guru¯
practices and spiritual growth.
Amar Das composed the Sikh wedding hymn (lavan) for her
SCRIPTURAL CONTEXT. Sikh scripture, the Guru¯ Granth
marriage with Ram Das and later chose Ram Das to be the
Sa¯hib, promotes gender equality in numerous ways. By des-
fourth Sikh guru¯. Bibi Bhani is also important because she
ignating the divine as numeral “One” at the very outset, it
donated the site of Amritsar to the Sikh community. She had
discards centuries-old images of male dominance and power
been given this site by Emperor Akbar. It was on this land
and opens the way to experiencing the transcendent One in
that her son Arjan, the fifth Sikh guru¯, built the Har¯ı Mandir
a female modality. The text offers a vast range of feminine
and enshrined the sacred Guru¯ Granth Sa¯hib.
symbols and imagery: the ontological ground of all existence
Mata Jitoji and Mata Sahib Devan are remembered as
is mata, the mother; the divine spark within all creatures is
vital protagonists in the rite of amrit initiation. Mata Jitoji
joti, the feminine light; the soul longing to unite with the
was Guru¯ Gobind Singh’s first wife. When Guru¯ Gobind
transcendent One is suhagan, the beautiful young bride; the
Singh was stirring water with his double-edged sword in the
benevolent glance coming from the divine is the feminine
accompaniment of scriptural recitations at Anandpur during
nadar, grace. Sikh scripture continuously provides readers
the 1699 spring festivities of Baisakhi (the first day of the In-
with a multivalent and complex feminine imagery. This vari-
dian New Year), it was Mata Jitoji who added sugar puffs
ety in turn presents a host of options through which men and
to the bowl. The amrit prepared by the guru¯ and Mata Jitoji
women can become who they choose to be.
fed the new family of the Kha¯lsa¯ and continues to nourish
Images of conception, gestation, childbirth, and lacta-
generations of Sikhs, physically and psychologically. When
tion are unambiguously and powerfully present. Again and
initiates sip the drink, they renounce their past with all its
again scriptural verses remind Sikhs that they are created
caste, class, and professional restrictions and claim their new
from the mother’s blood, lodged in her womb, and first nur-
identity with Guru¯ Gobind Singh and Mata Sahib Devan as
tured by her milk. The Guru¯ Granth Sa¯hib is unique in world
their two equally important parents. Mata Sahib Devan was
scriptures in celebrating the centrality of menstrual blood
Guru¯ Gobind Singh’s third wife. Tradition has it that their
(Guru¯ Granth, 1022, 706). Shunned as a private, shameful
marriage was not physically consummated. Though she was
process, menstruation is acknowledged in Sikh scriptures as
not a biological mother, Sahib Devan became the spiritual
an essential, natural, creative process. Life itself begins with
mother of the Kha¯lsa¯.
it. In fact Guru¯ Na¯nak reprimands those who stigmatize as
Guru¯ Gobind Singh’s mother, Mata Gujari, and his sec-
polluted the garment stained with menstrual blood (Guru¯
ond wife, Mata Sundari, are also important in Sikh history.
Granth, 140). The Guru¯ Granth Sa¯hib also condemns pollu-
The ninth guru¯ was often absent and was martyred when his
tion associated with childbirth and customs of purdah and
son was only nine. So Mata Gujari had to raise Guru¯ Gobind
sati.
Singh as a single parent. She imparted great wisdom and her-
The Sikh guru¯s were men, but they expressed their love
oism not only to him but also to her grandsons. After the
for the divine in the female gender. They do not repress or
tenth guru¯’s death, it was Mata Sundari who provided guid-
stunt themselves in male-female dualisms. Feeling the infi-
ance to the Sikhs. She appointed Bhai Mani Singh to manage
nite intensely within, they openly identify with the female
the sacred shrines at Amritsar and commissioned him to col-
person, her psyche, her tone, her sentiments, and they trace
lect the writings of Guru¯ Gobind Singh. Edicts issued under
the transcendent as both father and mother, male and fe-
her seal and authority (hukamnamas) were sent out to Sikh
male. Inspired by the infinite One, their verse spontaneously
congregations. Mata Sundari boldly rejected schismatic
affirms woman’s body, her activities, her dressing up, her te-
groups who tried to claim succession to guruship.
nacity, her longing. Throughout the Guru¯ Granth Sa¯hib, she
With Guru¯ Gobind Singh one also has the inspiring
is the model in forging a sensual and palpable union with the
case of Mai Bhago. She was a courageous woman from the
transcendent. In both praxis and poetry, the Sikh guru¯s cre-
Amritsar district who rallied men to fight for the guru¯ against
ated an opening through which women could achieve liber-
the imperial forces. She herself fought for the guru¯ in the bat-
ty, equality, and sorority.
tle at Muktsar in December 1705 and was injured. Thereaf-
CONTEMPORARY CONTEXT. Unfortunately the empowering
ter she accompanied Guru¯ Gobind Singh as one of his per-
scriptural message has not been heeded. The radically uplift-
sonal bodyguards. Sikhs have built shrines in memory of her.
ing female concepts, symbols, and images permeating the
Sikh history is thus replete with excellent paradigms of
Guru¯ Granth Sa¯hib are simply neglected. The fundamentally
women leading Sikh institutions of sangat and langar, recit-
patriarchal culture of the Punjab has continued to reproduce
ing sacred poetry, fighting boldly against oppression and in-
malestream interpretations, and other factors have produced
justice, and generating liberating new rituals. But this femi-
androcentric attitudes in Sikh society. For instance, during
nizing process was not limited to the family members of
the flamboyant regime of Ma¯hara¯ja¯ Ranjit Singh, male dom-
guru¯s; it was not just for women closely associated with them
inance increased, and the practices of purdah and sati, which
or for women of the elite. Rather, the Sikh faith opened up
were condemned by the guru¯s, found their way into the
a wide horizon for all women, irrespective of caste, class, or
upper echelons of Sikh society. The British admiration for
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND SIKHISM
3337
the “martial” character and the strong physique of the Sikh
dastar bandhan (turban tying) with great pomp and show.
men (who were recruited into the British imperial army in
This tying of the turban for the first time is becoming a pop-
disproportionately large numbers) generated a vigorous new
ular rite of passage for boys.
patriarchal discourse—attaching patriotism and paternalism
The obsession for sons is so great among Sikhs that
to the “brotherhood of the Kha¯lsa¯.” And twenty-first-century
modern technology is abused to abort female fetuses. Ultra-
globalization is accelerating old patriarchal customs.
sound and other technologies are misused to preserve the leg-
Sikh ethics is oriented toward this world. It affirms the
acy, business, property, and status of fathers and their sons.
body and the primacy of human relationships. There is no
From the moment of birth the son and daughter are char-
priesthood in Sikhism, so both men and women are free to
tered out different roles and given a whole different set of
read and recite the sacred verse at home or in public, and
obligations. Victims of false consciousness themselves,
anybody from within the sangat (congregation) can be cho-
mothers and grandmothers continue to perpetuate double
sen to lead worship. The written laws of the Sikh religion
standards.
grant full equality to men and women in all spheres—
religious, political, domestic, and economic. But it is the un-
Sikh marriages are traditionally a simple and profound
written laws that govern daily life, and these are quite differ-
affair, but they have become extremely opulent, with extrava-
ent.
gant dowries and exorbitant gifts to the daughter and her in-
laws for every rite, ritual, and festival. The Sikh scriptural
Public worship. Women play an active role in devo-
verse stating that “bride and groom are one spirit in two bo-
tional practices at home, but leading pubic worship is a privi-
dies” has no significance. It is taken for granted that the
lege restricted to men. Daily ceremonies like prakash (open-
daughter leaves her natal home and joins her husband and
ing of the Guru¯ Granth Sa¯hib) and sukhasan (putting it to
his family. When there is a death in the family, it is the moth-
rest in the evening) in gurdwaras, the annual celebrations of
er or wife’s natal family that must offer a turban (in the case
Baiskahi and gurpurabs (birthdays or death anniversaries of
of a male) or a dupatta (in the case of a female)—and cash
the guru¯s), and all rites of passage for Sikh men and women
accompanies both modes of accoutrement. When a daughter
are conducted and administered almost exclusively by men.
dies, no matter what age or stage of life she may have been
Gender distinctions do play a significant role because the su-
at, it is her natal family’s responsibility to supply the meal
perior role and privilege of men in public is unconsciously
following the cremation. From her birth till her death the
taken into the home, with the result that male domination
daughter is a debit in the family economy.
is reproduced in the family, home, and Sikh society at large.
Sikh Rahit Maryada. In its attempt to formalize the
Rites of passage. In Sikhism there are four rites of pas-
message of the guru¯s, an ethical code called the Rahit Marya-
sage: name giving, amrit initiation, marriage, and death.
da was developed by Sikh reformers in the middle of the
Though these rites are theoretically the same for both men
twentieth century. This code provides several rules to combat
and women, they end up being quite different in Sikh prac-
female oppression. Twice it makes the point that Sikh
tice. For example, both male and female children are named
women should not veil their faces. It prohibits infanticide
in consultation with the holy book. Sikhs do not even have
and even association with people who would practice it, al-
different names for boys and girls: the addition of the name
though there is no prohibition against abortion. It allows
Kaur (meaning “princess”) for girls and Singh (meaning
widows to remarry and it underscores that the ceremony be
“lion”) for boys indicates the gender of the child. This is an-
the same as that of the first marriage. According to the Sikh
other great feature traceable to Guru¯ Gobind Singh, for he
Rahit Maryada, Sikhs should be free of all superstitions and
freed women from the lineage of fathers and husbands. But
not refuse to eat at the home of their married daughter.
this liberating phenomenon is buried under ancient discrimi-
Dowry is prohibited.
nations against girls. The “same” name-giving ceremony ulti-
mately depends on the “biology” of the child: the celebra-
Again many of these explicit rules are simply not fol-
tions are more elaborate and joyous, with huge langars, for
lowed. Out of “respect” for their daughters, Sikh parents will
his name giving but not for hers.
not accept a penny from their working daughter nor sip
water in her married home. She is their prized “object,” and
Sikh initiation is also open to both men and women,
so the ancient gender codes dating back to the Hindu
and both are to wear the same five symbols. However, Sikh
Manusmr:ti text continue to govern Sikh life.
identity has been monopolized by masculinity, for it is the
Sikh male, with his topknot or turban, who has come to rep-
Gender issues in global society. With their enterpris-
resent all Sikhs. Boys are privileged in all spheres of Sikh life.
ing spirit and love of adventure, Sikhs travel to distant cor-
Calendrical festivals, like the Punjabi winter ritual of Lohri,
ners of the world. At first only men migrated, but after the
are celebrated only in Sikh homes where a boy is born. While
elimination of U.S. national quotas in 1965, there has been
parents and grandparents of a boy happily dole out money
a dramatic surge in the Sikh population, both male and fe-
and gifts around crackling bonfires, the parents and grand-
male, all across North America. Sikh women arrive not only
parents of a girl remain sad during the cold dark nights of
as wives, mothers, daughters, and sisters but also indepen-
Lohri. Affluent Sikh families have also begun to celebrate the
dently to pursue education or enter a variety of careers. Like
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3338
GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND CHINESE RELIGIONS
their male counterparts, they are energetic and enterprising,
female protagonists in his popular fiction, including Sundari,
but even in the New World the talents and potential of many
which is also the title of the first novel written in the Punjabi
Sikh women continue to be stifled by age-old societal norms.
language.
How to preserve Sikh identity in the contemporary world is
NIKKY-GUNINDER KAUR SINGH (2005)
a vital concern for Sikhs across the globe. Threatened by mo-
dernity and affluence, patriarchal formulations become even
more stringent. Since women are literally the reproducers of
the community, the preservation of “Sikhness” falls primarily
GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND
on them. As a result Sikh women are subjected to manifold
CHINESE RELIGIONS
restrictions. Control over their reproductive rights leads to
Chinese religious history opens with a shocking gender
the reproduction of the family’s identity and that of the Sikh
anomaly: a powerful priestess-class of shamanesses speaking
community at large. “Honor” or izzat, which is identified
the gods’ own voices in the high court ritual of the Shang
with manliness and belongs to hierarchical and patriarchal
dynasty (c. 1766–1027 BCE) Through ritual performance
systems, has come to be a central code of the Sikhs. Being
these women conducted purifications, summoned the rain
a model community, Sikhs try to cover up female feticides,
and healed the ills of the state, and, as one ancient dictionary,
physical and psychological abuse, dowry deaths, and even
the Shuowen jiezi, stated, “caused the gods to descend into
“honor killings.”
them through the medium of dance.” Nor were these power-
The economic and social demands of Sikh masculinity
ful mystics honorary men. By virtue of their female and sexu-
are so strong and pervasive that the teachings of the guru¯s
al natures they served as the proper conduit for the divine.
against objectionable treatment of women go unheeded. The
Through ritual exposure of their breasts to the sun they
egalitarian and liberating message of Sikh scripture has yet
bought the rain, and, if later poetic recastings of the rites
to be applied in daily lives and fully experienced by men and
were true, they legitimized the king with a sexual encounter
women alike.
that mimicked a divine marriage with the goddess. They
were, as E. H. Schafer phrased it, “the kingdom’s rightful
SEE ALSO A¯di Granth; Guru¯ Granth Sa¯hib; Menstruation;
rainmakers” (1951, p. 137). Of course, it would seem as if
Sati; Sikhism.
little in the way of customary assumptions about Chinese re-
ligion would allow for such a class of women. Bureaucratic,
BIBLIOGRAPHY
imperial, hierarchical, canonically rigid, clerical, and mascu-
For a historical perspective, see Doris Jacobsh, Relocating Gender
line—these are the frequently named features of Chinese reli-
in Sikh History: Transformation, Meaning, and Identity
gion. But, if Mircea Eliade is right in his observations made
(Delhi, 2003). For scriptural and theological analysis, see
on religion over 50 years ago (that religions encode not just
Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh, Feminine Principle in the Sikh
one pattern of human-divine contact, but rather the “multi-
Vision of the Transcendent (Cambridge, U.K., 1993), “Why
ple modalities of being in the world” [1957, p. 15] and that
Did I Not Light up the Pyre? Refeminization of Ritual in
religion reveals a world that is “transpersonal, significant and
Sikhism,” Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 16, no. 1
sacred” [1957, p. 18], whose sanctity can be revealed to the
(2000): 63–85, and “Sacred Fabric and Sacred Stitches,” His-
worshiper through the theurgic summons in “rites of ecsta-
tory of Religion 43, no. 4 (2004): 284–302. For an ethno-
graphic study on the renewed use of the turban among con-
sy”), then the figure of the feminine ecstatic should not be
temporary North American Sikh women, see Cynthia
impossible. And, indeed, this survey of gender in China’s re-
Mahmood and Stacy Brady, The Guru’s Gift: An Ethnography
ligions will reveal that the hierarchical, bureaucratic model
Exploring Gender Equality with North American Sikh Women
is a limited paradigm, and that ecstatic communication by
(Mountain View, Calif., 2000). For gender and identity in
female officiants, as well a varied cast of women mystics,
3HO, the American Sikh community, see Constance Els-
adepts, religious teachers, and goddesses all share the reli-
berg, Graceful Women: Gender and Identity in an American
gious stage with the sober deities of a divine bureaucracy.
Sikh Community (Knoxville, Tenn., 2003). For a literary ap-
proach, see Shauna Singh Baldwin’s novel, What the Body Re-
The major concerns of gender studies in China have
members (New York, 1999). Diasporic issues relating to gen-
been several: the excavation of lost voices within competing
der and Sikhism are taken up by Brian Keith Axel, The
narratives (especially feminine voices), the methods of sup-
Nation’s Tortured Body: Violence, Representation, and the For-
pression of marginalized voices, cultural tautologies and the
mation of a Sikh “Diaspora” (Durham, N.C., 2001); Par-
demonization of the feminine, the complicity of women in
minder Bhachu, Twice Migrants: East African Sikh Settlers in
these tautologies, and, more recently, the theory of agency,
Britain (London and New York, 1986) and Dangerous De-
whereby constructs of the feminine are not defined exclusive-
signs: Asian Women Fashion the Diaspora Economies (New
ly by larger power structures that victimize women, but as
York, 2004); Christine Fair, “Female Feticide among Van-
couver Sikhs,” International Journal of Punjab Studies 3, no.
constructs that offered limited freedoms within the frame-
1 (1996): 1–44; and Gurpreet Bal, “Migration of Sikh
work of masculine definition. The history of gender studies
Women to Canada: A Social Construction of Gender,” Guru
in the field begins explicitly with one of these issues, namely,
Nanak Journal of Sociology 18, no. 1 (1997): 97–112. Bhai
suppressed narratives. Chinese philologists of the Republican
Vir Singh, the Sikh renaissance writer, created many strong
Period (1911–1949), eager perhaps to overturn the radically
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND CHINESE RELIGIONS
3339
conservative philological thrust of the Manchu, with its
have given the lie to the neatness of the four categories. Con-
court-approved manipulation of the Confucian tradition,
siderations of gender further disturbs these categories for it
rigorously explored the counter-traditions and subtexts of
is in looking at feminine and masculine icons of, for example,
Shang and Zhou (c. 1150–256 BCE) cultures. They hoped
the sacred fool and the ecstatic, the divine marriage and as-
to establish the ways court-centered expositions of sanctity
cetic, that we will find more of Eliade than the Qing bibliog-
and legitimacy suppressed alternative constructs of the di-
rapher. But for the purposes of an overview we will yield to
vine. They reconsidered epigraphy, the Confucian classics,
the familiar and exploit these four divisions as our method
and ancient poetry to retrieve the lost practices of popular
of organization.
and local cultures. Chen Mengjia, Wen Yido, Gu Jiegang,
POPULAR RELIGION. Popular religion—also referred to as
Marcel Granet, Edward Erkes, and Henri Maspero were
folk religion, lay religion or diffused religion—is a vast aggre-
among the first to uncover the significance of the goddesses
gation of practices that includes shamanism, calendrical holi-
Chang E, the lunar goddess; Nü Wa, the snail woman; and
day festivals, ancestor worship, geomancy, ritual practices to
Xi He, the sun goddess, as well the authority of divine con-
assuage demonic influence, apotropaic practice tied to chro-
duits called wu or shamanesses. A second generation of aca-
nology and calendar, and prediction based on physical fea-
demics (e.g., E. H. Schafer, David Hawkes, Wolfram Eber-
tures of the human anatomy, the landscape, the detection of
hard, and Chang Kuang-chih) also retrieved the buried
randomly heard voices, patterns of bird migration, and so on.
references to feminine sanctity in language, myth, and
Often this diffuse religion is defined by negatives: It lacks a
folklore.
centralized, clerical hierarchy, a large corpus of written, can-
onized texts, court affiliation, and an institutional identity.
The most important development in the field of gender
It is polytheistic to say the least, including door guardians,
studies, however, has come not from methodological innova-
stove gods, a spirit of the privy, drought demons, avenging
tion but from the exploitation of previously under-used ma-
ghosts, a god of wealth, protectors of childbirth, drunken
terials. In some real sense, even into the 1950s, Qing dynasty
rebel-gods, astral spirits that cause disease or family strife,
(1644–1911) scholarly and political conservativism domi-
and ghosts, sprites, or demons of specific features of the land-
nated much academic consideration of literary, cultural, and
scape, whether mountain, roadside, river way, or neighbor-
religious studies. The “little tradition,” in all its manifesta-
hood. There are many divine narratives: journeys to paradise
tions, was considered beneath consideration, and conse-
or hell, supernatural visitations, and stern karmic principles
quently the vast issues of what shaped the culture beyond the
of divine revenge. The connection to the divine can be
walls of the court were neglected. But with the advent of re-
through a class of mediums or through direct and personal
search into uncensored documents with foci on regional,
discernment of the numinous. In the aggregate, popular reli-
urban, and rural life—resources not winnowed, organized,
gion is a kind of highly articulated and fully annotated ani-
and reproduced in the great Qing dynasty compendia—the
mism. It mystifies the specific features of daily life and de-
construct of gender in religion has opened up. Recent schol-
fines spirituality as a kind of esoteric knowledge of the divine
ars have exploited these sources, finding a canon of the
signatures in nature, conveying, with a stunning degree of
counter-tradition and thereby remade the map of both male
confidence, that life is, in some sense, sacramental.
and female religious practice and ideation. They have, in par-
ticular, explored a plethora of sources that came with the ex-
Governing elites tend to favor a cooperative leadership
pansion of the publication industry beginning in the Song
class, the unimpeded collection of resources, and a religious
dynasty (960–1279): mirabilia, Precious Scrolls, Goodness
practice that, in proving the connection of the state to the
Books, ballads, pious tales, vernacular fiction, dramas, and
divine, legitimizes the state’s efforts to perpetuate itself. Pop-
popular songs as well as classical sources such as private jour-
ular religions, however, reenact the powerful concerns and
nals (biji), classical fiction, hagiography of the sectarian cults,
uncensored dramas of micro-cultures of individuals, families,
gazetteer accounts of regional practice, temple records, ac-
clans, towns, regions, covenant affiliations, and ethnic
counts of secret societies and lay organizations, hagiography,
groups. In the cults that thrive in such subcultures, views of
and poetry religious canon. All these sources are now used
sexuality, love, and lineage, of death and grief, of prosperity,
by scholars to open up the consideration of both masculine
production, and harvests, as well as of family continuities,
and feminine narratives in China’s religious history.
community conflicts, and the connection (or lack of connec-
tion) between individual and state all find expression with
Parsing China’s religious life into the major religious
some degree of autonomy from elite mandates. For women,
traditions of Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, and popu-
who are excluded explicitly from the sites and definitions of
lar religion has served bibliographers well. Worshipers and
power, as well as for men who may be rebels or misfits, it
the worshiped, however, have found these neat divisions to
is in local religious practice that more complex and varied
be permeable. Popular religions have shaped Daoism, Indian
expressions of sanctity and identity are found than in central-
Buddhism saw extraordinary shifts and elaborations as it be-
ly monitored religious practice. Thus, assessing these cults
came subject to the gravitational pull of local religions, and
and practices, myths, and beliefs from the perspective of gen-
both sectarian and syncretic religions have thrived in com-
der helps provide an astonishing illumination of the observ-
plete ignorance of denominational categories; all, in fact,
er’s field of vision, exposing a primordial soup of feminine
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3340
GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND CHINESE RELIGIONS
archetypes and narratives and of feminine symbolic struc-
Brigitte Baptandier found shamanic practice to be a solid fea-
tures and thaumaturgic practices. Gender issues tend to re-
ture of the local religious landscape. Like the shamanesses of
veal that official practice, although an efficient veneer, yet
the Shang period, the shamaness is “of the waters” (i.e., “the
masks a powerful religious substrata.
Woman at the Water’s Edge”), and her help is sought times
of drought, conception, and childbirth. She is a warrior-saint
Feminine sanctity and feminine religious power assert
as well, pictured in statues and texts on horseback, armed
themselves vividly in popular religion, for however patriar-
with sword and whip, accompanied by her divine generals.
chy may be lauded or reviled in elite tradition, in popular
Her current worshipers insist that her avatars have fought in
religion it is in some aspects blithely ignored. In popular reli-
many wars, including the Vietnam War and the Gulf War.
gion, women are the domestic ritualists, the mediums, the
Thus, despite banishment, shamanic practice has survived
warrior-saints, the magical adepts, and mystics. Female di-
intact in local cultures. The survival of this regional voice has
vinities benefit or terrify at every level, from the plethora of
seemed surprising to some, as court orthodoxies, preserved
local ghosts appeased at uncountable numbers of riverside
in written instruments, should logically dominate regional
shrines to the great goddesses such as the Celestial Empress
cultures. Yet recent scholarship has proven that person-to-
and the Eternal Mother. Yet this powerful aggregation of
person, oral transmission is as effective as court methods of
feminine practice and ideation has struggled as well, subject-
perpetuation; indeed, local religious practice thrives on the
ed to censorship and banishment. In the case of one of these
oral, the intimate, and the immediate. Popular rituals and
practices—shamanism—we can see, in fact, a clear dialectic
vernacular entertainments preserve iconography faithfully,
of the competing narratives of a vernacular feminine religious
pilgrimage and religious teachers convey practice among
discourse eclipsed but never silenced by the orthodoxies of
temple networks, and merchant culture spreads folk tradi-
elite discourse. This dialectic, however, tells us much about
tions through merchant associations along expanding canal
how constructs of feminine sanctity survive without benefit
and sea routes. Thus, notwithstanding the efforts of the Tang
of orthodox canon and centralized sponsorship, and proves
court (618–906) to abolish shamanesses as heterodox, of the
not only the innate resiliency of the iconography of the femi-
Qing court (1644–1911) to eliminate warrior-adepts as trea-
nine, but reveals as well the cultural mechanisms that help
sonous, of the courts of the People’s Republic of China to
sustain the narratives.
eradicate local female mediums as feudal superstition, a mul-
Shamanism—condemned as heterodox and licentious,
titude of feminine religious expression are surviving—if not
banned and declared illegal, denied the ample support ac-
thriving—at the local levels. In other words, as Baptandier
corded many religious cults—represents the prototypical
has pointed out, if all the mediums in a town in Fujian were
suppressed feminine voice. Shamanism begins before either
arrested, the practices would reassert themselves after the
Daoism or Confucianism takes shape, in the Shang dynasty.
cadres left.
It was central to court ritual, as the female—and to a lesser
Shamanism has not, however, been limited to local
extent male—shamans constituted a class of divine conduits
practice, but has found re-expression in multiple features of
who revealed the voices of the gods through rituals of divine
the cultural landscape, surviving as one of the most powerful
possession and the performance of ecstatic dance and speech.
archetypes in Chinese mythology, The shamanic iconogra-
In the Shang dynasty shamanesses were the chief officiants
phy of the feminine is explicitly concerned with the ambigu-
in a court scapegoat drama, whereby the sins of the commu-
ous power of the feminine, allying the feminine with the po-
nity were expiated through harsh sacrifice (often by maim-
larities of both fertility and danger. The iconic imagery of
ing, drowning, or exposure to fire). Their ritual disfigure-
her mythos epitomizes her ambiguity; she is allied with
ment or deaths purified the land in times crisis, especially
water, blood, and the yin polarity. In religion, this elabora-
times of drought and perceived astronomical anomalies. Nor
tion of the feminine is often repeated, seeping through the
were they mere ritual actors, but honored members of a rul-
boundaries that separate one religion from another. Sha-
ing caste, serving as great officers of the court. During the
manic constructs of the feminine inform as well the rhetori-
Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE) through the Tang dynasty
cal streams that feed both the arts and cultural myths. In po-
(618–907), due specifically to the influence of Confucian-
etry, history, fiction, and drama, as well as in sex-based
ism, shamanism increasingly became a cultural outlaw, prac-
archetypes, the contours of shamanism are seen repeatedly.
ticed in the breech. Wide-scale suppression of the cults rele-
In fiction, in particular, this watery, lethal, and sexually pow-
gated shamanic practice to the status of licentious rites,
erful woman, often allied with snakes or water-borne crea-
although literati noted that its “foolish rituals for healing the
tures, thrives; she is seen in vernacular and classical stories,
sick continued to delude the people” in more remote regions
expatriate fiction from all over the globe, and finally recast
of the empire (Cass, 1999, p. 50).
in film and television.
The efforts of literati and court not withstanding, how-
CONFUCIANISM. Confucianism, allied with the imperial
ever, shamanism was consistently practiced and is known
court, presents the greatest contrast with popular religions.
today throughout South China and in Taiwan and Hong
It has a meticulously maintained written canon, an institu-
Kong. In her research on the cult of the Medieval shamaness
tional hierarchy with a rigorously apprenticed and centrally
Chen Jinggu, titled “The Woman at the Water’s Edge,”
selected membership consisting of officiants and practition-
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND CHINESE RELIGIONS
3341
ers, and speaks generally with a unified voice—thus, firmly
law, or niece sacrificed herself to resolve the crisis occurring
occupying center stage in the official version of China’s reli-
to the lineage. In the case of the death of the spouse, the mar-
gious history. It evolved during the Zhou dynasty (c. 1150–
tyred wife or fiancée committed suicide or dedicated her life
256 BCE) from an aggregation of practices centered around
to widow-solitude. If an elder in the family was ill, the cult
the aristocratic cult of ancestor worship. Beginning in the
required a woman to concoct from pieces of her own flesh
Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE) Confucian beliefs were rigor-
a magically healing soup to be consumed by the ill patient.
ously inculcated through the institution of what became the
She thus became a zhen nü—literally, a sacred woman, often
Examination System whereby entrance to political life re-
translated as filial, martyred, or chaste woman. Nor did these
quired memorization of the Confucian canon. Confucianism
acts simply express moral ideals but were considered acts of
was interlocked as well with the state cult, a set of theocratic
transcendence that could serve the community as sources of
practices sanctifying both the living family and the ancestral
divine efficacy. Locals worshiped at the shrines erected to
line of the emperor. Essential to Confucianism, especially in
commemorate the sacred woman, and it was believed the
the late imperial periods—Song (960–1279) through Qing
spirits of martyred women could relieve droughts or ward off
(1644–1911)—was the development of practices centered
disasters. This cult was of less significance in the ancient and
around the concept of the sacred lineage, or zong. A natural
medieval periods, but became highly influential in the late
outgrowth of the cult of ancestor worship and the principles
imperial periods, as the concept of the zong—or sacred lin-
of piety, the practices of the sacred lineage formulated the
eage—became more fully articulated.
family as a cult space. By this construct ancestors maintained
Despite the importance of these women as local cult fig-
active watch over the conduct of the living sending benefits
ures, their worship was by no means purely a matter of local
or crises depending on the worth of the family’s actions. In
customs, however. As Katherine Carlitz (1997), Jonathan
turn, individuals of the family lived consecrated lives, with
Chaves (1986), and Mark Elvin (1984) have pointed out
all the myriad details of domestic life measured by the com-
these cults functioned in state worship. The female martyrs
pass of family piety, examined carefully for ritual flaws.
were publicly acknowledged as talismans of imperial legiti-
The requirements of the sacred lineage created powerful
macy and as emblems of the state’s connection to the ances-
resonances in constructs of both masculine and feminine
tral line. They were recognized with imperial shrines and pa-
sanctity. In Confucianism the ideal exemplar for both
rades of local officials and immortalized in the historical
women and men was extreme self-sacrifice. For men, ideals
canon. Nor was the state naïve about the pragmatic implica-
of sanctity were rigorous. Men were idealized as lie, ardently
tions in these local cults. Martyred women cults functioned
heroic, or fiercely dedicated. The perceived magical connec-
explicitly as vehicles for imposing centralized Confucian val-
tion to the ancestors required scarring personal sacrifice and
ues on the local mores of distant localities. The court explic-
an intense moral standard. Men realized the ideal through
itly used the martyred women cult and the worship of the
city-god to manipulate local worship and local loyalties. Fear
suicide in times of severe national crisis and through bold
of the power wielded by popular feminine cults may be a fac-
and dangerous challenges to corrupt power. Nor were these
tor as well in state sponsorship. In some cases, it is clear that
heroes of Confucianism simply icons of the state orthodoxy
the government deliberately adapted local popular cults ded-
but exemplars told of in popular literature. Novels, drama,
icated to female ghosts: the Bureau of Rites co-opted local
and short fiction lionized Confucian heroes who sacrificed
worship of the waterside divinity and declared them to be
their lives, configuring absolute dedication to the values of
zhen nü and a riverside ghost became, by imperial decree, a
piety, loyalty, humaneness, or propriety as heroic feats of per-
Confucian martyred woman. It may seem that the local
sonal glory equal to the daring accomplishments of knights
river-ghost is a distant cousin of the harsh exemplar of family
errant and warriors.
piety; yet. they share certain features. Drought relief, maim-
For women the pattern of divinity was extremely harsh;
ing and physical sacrifice, and the accretion of local worship-
once a woman was engaged or married, her obligations to the
ers were the patterns of feminine sanctity of both the mar-
sacred lineage (zong) of her fiancé or husband redefined her
tyred wife and the shaman.
as a consecrated vessel dedicated to the continuation of the
DAOISM. Daoism, like Confucianism, arose out of Zhou-era
line. Women realized Confucian forms of sanctity through
(c. 1150–256 BCE) ritual and beliefs, centered possibly
motherhood, through the role of the family matriarch, and
around rituals of healing, alchemy, and the arts of longevity.
through stern maintenance of the teachings of the Ju. Much
Early Daoism of the Zhou period was articulated first by the
has been made of the idealization of the masculine and the
two elliptical and brilliant writers known as Master Lao and
patriarchal in Confucianism; but, Confucianism also greatly
Master Zhuang. They emphasized nonpurposive action and
mystified and idealized motherhood and the mother-son
rejected the worldly, the hierarchical, and the mundane, cele-
dyad. In fact, in novels and confessional journals women
brating intuitive insight over reason and suggesting the exis-
often appear as more powerful, more dedicated, and more
tence of specific esoteric practices that lead to the state of
memorable than men in a Confucian family. The apotheosis
transcendence. From the late Han (206 BCE–220 CE) and
of the feminine ideal was achieved through the notion of
through the Six Dynasties period (220–589) Daoism sees
martyrdom, whereby a daughter, fiancée, wife, daughter-in-
elaborate articulations of practice and belief: the growth of
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3342
GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND CHINESE RELIGIONS
large centers of worship centered around the teachings of the
plicit, and feminine narratives are present in cosmology,
celestial master Zhang Daoling, the growth of a Daoist mo-
myth, hagiography, and in descriptions of ritual practice and
nastic movement, the development of a Daoist church with
church leadership. Beginning with texts appearing in the
hierarchy and canon, the elaboration of the teachings of
third century, women appear alongside men as officers of the
inner and outer alchemy, and the affiliations of secret socie-
church, as female masters—both married and unmarried—
ties and millenarian rebellious movements. Daoism is still
who take on female disciples. Women in these texts have di-
practiced throughout Asia, especially in Taiwan, Southeast
rect access to transcendence, govern in local parishes, and
China, and Hong Kong. The celestial master in Taiwan is
join religious organizations. Some women of the Dao are de-
head of the Daoist church.
scribed in the domestic context as well. Wives and mothers
As with Confucianism, there is an elaborate hierarchical
are registered in the church as women dedicated to the Dao,
structure of officers and rigorously compiled and edited
proving that, even in the confines the family, “a woman
canon and codified ritual practice. Yet unlike Confucianism,
could have a complete religious status of her own” (Over-
Daoism has been pervasively shaped by the feminine dis-
myer, 1981, p. 100).
course of the divine, for in the case of Daoism, a centralized
If women in the Daoist church had explicit importance,
hierarchical religion has not become a vehicle for masculine
female saints and divinities ranked importantly in the Daoist
ideations of the divine. One reason for the richness of femi-
pantheon. The Jade Girl, the Plain Girl, divine emissaries,
nine narratives is precisely Daoism’s long and profound con-
immortals, and saints of the alchemical arts such as the Furry
nection to popular religion. Daoism has had a porous border
Woman and the Woman of the Great Polarities all had dedi-
with the rituals and beliefs of popular religion, especially sha-
cated followers and temples throughout the empire. Daoist
manism. Exorcisms, purification rites, illness as punishment
worshipers in the thousands gathered as well to worship the
for ritual flaws, escorting the souls of the dead, and maimed
Goddess of the Azure Clouds, Bixiyuanjun, at her temple
mediums speaking in trance the words of the spirit world are
near the top of Mount Tai in Shandong. Indeed, a healthy
all practices that have traveled from local practice to Daoist
portion of the Daoist pantheon was female. One of the most
practice as easily as the skilled exorcist traveled to the realms
powerful goddesses was the Queen Mother of the West. Su-
of the dead. Daoism, in fact, mined popular practice, for, as
zanne Cahill (1993) traced this cult of this goddess of king-
Kenneth Dean noted, “Daoism seeks to channel the energies
ship rites and of longevity. The Queen Mother of the West
of the shamanic substratum” (1993, p. 9). Likewise, K.
was patron saint of artists and of aristocratic women and was
Schipper observed, with radical simplicity, “Daoism is the
especially important to mystics and adepts who practiced as-
written tradition of local cults” (cited in Dean, 1993, p. 12).
tral travel. Many dedicated their lives to her at Daoist
Of course, many Daoist clerics have been eager to dis-
monasteries and abbeys.
tinguish their practices from popular practice (especially
blood sacrifices) but the liturgist’s contempt for local practice
As with the saintly women of Confucian practice, fe-
reflected more a kind of sibling rivalry than structural dis-
male mystics and divines were important to the court; many
tinctions between separate species. The implication for gen-
were brought to the capital to serve as “living auspicious
der is obvious—popular religion is veined through and
omens,” signs that the dynasty was blessed by the Dao. Some
through with feminine narratives of the divine.
mystics gathered adherents in monasteries and hermitages in
remote mountain sites; these teachers were maintained in
Even at the earliest stages of the formation of Daoism,
monastic life by contributions from all classes of society from
in the earliest cosmological constructs, clear ideations of the
the poor to the aristocratic. Female religious leaders could
feminine existed. Specifically the Zhou era texts of Laozi and
gather worshipers even at their own homes in urban areas;
Zhuangzi have multiple references to the great female, the
the mystic Tan Yang Zi in the late Ming dynasty (1368–
dark valley, and, of course, the polarities of yin and yang.
1644) gathered thousands of adherents in the city of Suzhou,
Analyses of these early texts to establish the significance of
and many of her followers were high-ranking members of the
the feminine have, however, provided only limited satisfac-
official class. Woman warriors were often allied as well with
tion. The problem is not that such analyzes are groundless,
Daoist practice; the demon-quelling sword of the Daoist ex-
because clearly the duality of yin and yang did profoundly
orcist was her typical weapon. But these mystic-warriors
shape the construct of Daoist iconography and beliefs, but
summoned up dangerous political currents in her cult, and
that the texts are so terse, oracular, and elliptical, with little
they were often allied with millenarian rebellions. As with
in the way of contemporaneous philological context, that the
popular practice Daoism has found drama, poetry, and fic-
issue of the feminine in early Daoism is difficult.
tion to be useful allies. From the medieval period come the
The problem of inadequate context, however, is miti-
Capeline Cantos, the songs of Daoist priestesses, as well as
gated in the Han and Six Dynasties, in which texts are found
paens to goddesses. In the Late Imperial periods vernacular
presenting the pantheon, prayers, and ritual description, as
dramas, stories, and chantefables spread the mythoi of the
well as texts recommending the religious, social, and domes-
goddesses and saints through urban areas. Daoism has pro-
tic functions for both men and women. In these articulations
vided one of the fullest possible articulations of feminine
of belief and practice, the role of the feminine becomes ex-
sanctity in China’s religious history.
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND CHINESE RELIGIONS
3343
BUDDHISM. If Daoism opened its gates to the feminine,
brought rain, watched over children, and relieved suffering.
Buddhism, when it was first introduced to China, was less
Thus, the male god of mercy became a white-robed goddess
hospitable. The same groundswell of feminine archetypes
for Chan monks, a water-moon goddess for the literati, pro-
that radiated through popular religion and Daoism, howev-
tectress of sailors for coastal worshipers, and finally a child-
er, was no less active in Buddhism, and where Buddhism
giving goddess for common folk. Orthodox monks of the
touched those ancient assumptions about the sanctity of the
monastic centers—like the disapproving clerics in the Daoist
feminine, it found a feminine voice impossible to ignore. As
church—were quick to criticize the transformation of the
Buddhism grew in China, it did not spread its influence like
god from male to female as heterodox practice, yet the pull
vat of dye spilled on the landscape, coloring all local practice
of local belief proved too strong. The Goddess Guan Yin did,
and iconography in its path; rather, it transmogrified, chang-
finally, redefine Buddhist sanctity as feminine; she became,
ing and adapting to Chinese cultural assumptions, to local
in fact, one of the major Buddhist ideations of divinity. Ulti-
practices and native Chinese religious imperatives. And these
mately, in the sectarian religions in late imperial China, she
changes in Buddhism tell, in turn, about the power of local
dominated in the pantheon, regarded as holding supreme
religious narratives and, again, about the authority of native
position as creator and ruler of the universe. Ironically, it is
feminine ideations of the divine.
just through such radical recalibrations of notions of the di-
vine, attended by increased numbers of devotees to her cult,
Buddhism entered China during the Han dynasty (206
that Buddhism in Asia survived and still thrives. Her cult
BCE–220 CE) and dominated the religious landscape in the
center on Putoshan Island, off the Yangzi Delta coast near
northern kingdoms of the Six Dynasties (220–589) period.
Ningbo, was expensively and massively refurbished by do-
Buddhist theocracies in northern China ensured that Indic
nors from all over Asia at the beginning of the 1990s.
Buddhism grew solid roots. Beginning in the Tang dynasty
(618–906), Buddhism took firm hold empire-wide and, by
Chinese definitions of the domestic sanctity (i.e., ideal-
the time of the Song dynasty (960–1279), had important
ized concepts of motherhood) also shaped Buddhist rituals
centers in both the North and South. For both men and
and narratives. The Buddhist ritual drama of Mulian, one
women, Buddhism presented problems specifically allied
of the most popular ritual-narratives in China, reshaped
with gender. One debate centered on the configuration of
Buddhist configurations of female impurity. Mulian was a
feminine sanctity, or lack thereof. Women in Indic Buddhist
saint whose chief work was the rescue of his mother from
doctrine were, as Diana Paul described it, “secular, power-
hell—a hell ordained for her by the doctrine of female corpo-
less, profane and imperfect” (1985). Indian Buddhist con-
real corruption. Yet the ritual drama enacted to large audi-
struction of the divine was explicitly masculine; women’s bo-
ences at temples and holiday congregations was, in effect, an
dies were impure. “There are neither hell-beings, hungry
enactment of the rituals of filial piety. Audiences seemed
ghosts, animals or women in the Pure Land,” observed the
rather more interested in notions of the son’s dedication than
Qing theorist Peng Shaosheng (cited in Grant, 1994, p. 77).
the mother’s contamination. The tale of a mother’s corporeal
Passage through karmic reincarnations—whereby a woman
contamination was a weak shadow plot, inherently less inter-
shed her female form—was required before a woman could,
esting than the tale of piety for the mother. Thus Chinese
as a man, enter the Western Paradise. Both Indian Maha¯ya¯na
concepts shaped the narrative which, in turn, helped resolve
texts and Chinese Pure Land texts were explicit on the con-
the inherent cultural conflict between Confucian piety to-
taminated nature of the feminine.
ward motherhood and Buddhist revulsion for the female
body. Elite Buddhist practice was no less subject to native
If women were constructed as impure and incapable of
reconfigurations. Chan (or Zen) Buddhism altered impor-
divinity, however, the worshipers of popular Buddhist cults
tant aspects of gender-based sanctity. Beatta Grant (1996)
neglected to notice. Setting dogma aside, they implicitly re-
has pointed out that although Pure Land Buddhism was ex-
configured the feminine in Buddhism as sacred. The major
plicit on feminine corporeal contamination, because Chan
example of this reconfiguration occurs in the change in the
emphasized enlightenment, rather than passage to Paradise,
worship of the Indic god, the bodhisattva Avalokite´svara.
Chan was more receptive to female students and masters. In
Chinese worshipers seized the notion of a god of mercy and,
fact, from the Chan yulu (discourse records of disciples) it
over time, over the course of the Tang and Song eras, recreat-
is known that women served as teachers, pupils, and even
ed him as a goddess. Chün-fang Yü detailed brilliantly the
“holders of the lineages” in Chan Buddhism.
change whereby Avalokite´svara becomes the Goddess of
Mercy, Guan Yin. Yü found that Buddhism was specifically
In the late imperial period—Song through Qing—lay
changed through contact with native cults and, like Daoism,
organizations contributed importantly to the expansion of
definitions of divinity were profoundly shaped by the gravi-
feminine divine narratives and patterns of feminine worship.
tational pull of feminine narratives. Yü traces the transforma-
Beginning in the twelfth century, lay organizations began in
tion of god to goddess by “examining the relationship be-
affiliation with monastic organizations, but by the sixteenth
tween Buddhism and indigenous cultural and religious
century lay organizations were independent of monasteries,
traditions” (2001, p. 489), finding that the male god of
often located in urban areas of the South. These organiza-
mercy adapted to local beliefs, in which female divinities
tions had large numbers of female worshipers and an inde-
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3344
GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND CHINESE RELIGIONS
pendent female leadership structure, they practiced econom-
ticle on Folk Buddhism; Gender Roles; Patriarchy and Ma-
ic support through tithing, and the members participated in
triarchy; Shamanism, overview article.
a host of devotional activities: convocation and pilgrimage,
large scale donation to build and sustain temples and
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Koichi Shinohara and Gregory Schoper, pp. 91–129. Oak-
ville, Ontario, 1981.
Watson, James L. “Standardizing the Gods: the Promotion of
Paul, Diana. Women in Buddhism: Images of the Feminine in Ma-
T’ien Hou (‘Empress of Heaven’) along the South China
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by Theodore Huters, R. Bin Wong, and Pauline Yu. Stan-
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Yu Songqing “Ming qing shiqi minjian nongjia jiaopai zhong de
Potter, Jack. “Cantonese Shamanism.” In Religion and Ritual in
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Raphels, Lisa. Sharing the Light: Representations of Women and Vir-
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mained resistant to important disciplinary changes brought
Schafer, Edward. The Divine Woman Dragon Ladies and Rain
about by gender studies and feminist thought (King, 2002,
Maidens in T’ang Literature. Berkeley, Calif., 1973.
p. 372). This tendency seems stronger in the Japanese aca-
Schafer, Edward. “The Capeline Cantos, Verses on the Divine
demic field, where introducing concepts of gender and femi-
Loves of Taoist Priestesses.” Asiatische Studien 32, no. 1
nism is often seen as insinuating a particular political agenda
(1978): 5–65.
or a lack of scholarly neutrality. From an academic gender
Shahar, Meir, and Robert P. Weller. “Introduction: Gods and So-
and feminist perspective, in turn, religion is seen as a tool of
ciety in China.” In Unruly Gods, Divinity, and Society in
patriarchy that is still used to oppress and alienate women
China, edited by M. Shahar and R. Weller, pp. 1–36. Hono-
(see, e.g., O
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lulu, 1996.
studies maintain an awkward relationship with religious
Siu, Helen. “Recycling Rituals: Politics and Popular Culture in
studies in Japan.
Contemporary Rural China.” In Unofficial Culture: Popular
Culture and Thought in the People’s Republic, edited by Perry
One is, however, beginning to see the impact of gender
Link, R. Madsen, and P. Pickowicz, pp. 121–137. Boulder,
and feminist studies on Japanese religions. Japanese religious
Colo., 1990.
circles have been informed by gender studies and feminism
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

3346
GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND JAPANESE RELIGIONS
since the mid-twentieth century, and movements to reform
amine relationships between Buddhism and various types of
religious organizations are taking root as a result. These
women, including nuns, lay followers, the mothers and
movements have commonalities with feminist theology
wives of priests, and folk shamanic practitioners, from this
movements in Europe and the United States that use femi-
perspective.
nism for critical leverage to reform male-dominated Judeo-
Similarly, Confucian tradition was often generalized as
Christian religions (Kawahashi and Kuroki, 2003).
an ideological and cultural force that made the women of
Space constraints prevent this entry from tracing
Asia victims of patriarchy, but modern studies show that
women’s roles and how they were perceived in Shinto¯, Bud-
women resisted patriarchal norms. Dorothy Ko, Jahyun Kim
dhism, Confucianism, or other religious traditions. Rather,
Haboush, and Joan Piggott (2003) affirm that women in
this overview of gender in Japanese religions will identify im-
Confucian cultures should not be portrayed merely as suffer-
portant debates and isolate points that deserve greater atten-
ing victims or heroic rebels but also as “agents of negotiations
tion in terms of both methodology and empirical research.
who embraced certain aspects of official norms while resist-
I
ing others” (Ko, Haboush, and Piggott, 2003, p. 1).
MPACT OF GENDER STUDIES. Barbara Ruch (2002) and
Bernard Faure (2003) have written essential studies for con-
This perspective also applies to the experiences of
sidering the impact of gender studies on Japanese Buddhism.
women in Japan’s new religions. The new religions are sus-
Studies of women and Buddhist history have shifted signifi-
tained by their women memberships. These women are com-
cantly away from a focus on institutions and activities of
monly represented as a troubled category, and new religions
male priests. Questions are posed in ways that reveal this re-
generally teach them to step back and humble themselves in
versal. Instead of asking how the “Buddhism” of patriarchs,
order to achieve this-worldly benefits. Such strategies reli-
Buddhist orders, and doctrines viewed women, the approach
giously sanction traditional, existing gender roles and there-
informed by gender studies asks, from a woman’s viewpoint,
fore do not lead to an amendment of gender role assign-
how women perceived Buddhism, how they were marginal-
ments.
ized, and what roles women fulfilled and aspired to within
their various social constraints and limitations. This signifies,
Helen Hardacre (1984) terms these “strategies of weak-
above all, a project to consider how women’s religious activi-
ness” by women who are economically dependent upon male
ties influenced the history of Japanese Buddhism (Katsuura,
householders. Hardacre further asserts that features of gender
2003, p. 2). Ruch presents the collaboration of Japanese and
ideology found in fundamentalist religion also exist in such
American scholars who examined women in premodern Jap-
Japanese new religions as Reiyu¯kai and Seicho¯-no-Ie. These
anese Buddhist history from that perspective.
religions take a “characteristically conservative stance in re-
gard to family, gender, and interpersonal relations” that she
Such research examines how gender has informed the
finds analogous, in its sexual discrimination, to fundamental-
world and history of Buddhism. Thus Faure aims to expli-
ist religion, which places women in positions subservient to
cate Buddhist conceptions of women and gender in order “to
men and forces them to be self-sacrificing (Hardacre, 1994,
see how the history and doctrine of Buddhism were changed
pp. 113, 119). However, this generalization is countered by
because of its relationship with women” (Faure, 2003,
newer studies. Women in the new religions have adopted a
p. 14). Such an approach, he finds, also reveals how “ascetic
strategy of working from traditional domestic roles sanc-
religion” and male-dominated Buddhist communities were
tioned by their religions and may also appear to lack critical
feminized and domesticated.
attitudes toward the oppressed positions assigned them. Fur-
ther studies, however, expose the error of concluding that
As Faure attempts to demonstrate, Buddhist women’s
these women simply accede to submissive positions in male-
history does not progress teleologically from oppression to
controlled institutions without taking any interest in criticiz-
emancipation. Japanese Buddhist historians’ rereadings of
ing or reforming their religious communities (Usui, 2000,
historical sources substantiate his point. The linear notion
2003).
that elitist ancient Buddhism denied women salvation,
which was later extended to them for the first time by more
Usui Atsuko argues against a conventional view that sees
democratic Kamakura Buddhism, is mistaken (Yoshida, Kat-
women in new religions as a special category in modern soci-
suura, and Nishiguchi, 1999). The Nihon ryo¯iki, a ninth-
ety dealing with some kind of problem caused by their disad-
century collection of didactic tales, already depicted a Bud-
vantageous and relatively deprived social standing. To depict
dhism that did not reject women and vividly described
women in new religions as supporting male-dominance ide-
women living within that faith (Nakamura, 1973). The henjo¯
ology in order to compensate for their feelings of depriva-
nanshi doctrine that women experience five obstructions and
tion, Usui says, leads to the experiences of these women
cannot achieve salvation in a female body became widespread
being erased (Usui, 2003, pp. 221–222). She describes reli-
by the medieval period. However, women were not strictly
gious groups that emphasize the development of psychic or
constrained by the Buddhist view that women had to be
spiritual powers without essentializing gender categories,
taught by men (Katsuura, 2003, p. 61). Not just passive re-
presenting these as instances of how, even in new religions,
cipients of patriarchal Buddhist teachings, women also resist-
traditional gender ideology does not lead to the exclusion of
ed and appropriated those teachings. There is a need to ex-
women’s religious experience.
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND JAPANESE RELIGIONS
3347
As this implies, the experiences of women in the new
The research done by Yoshie Akiko (1996) is important
religions are characterized by diversity. It may be difficult to
for understanding the ritual roles of women in Japanese reli-
claim agency by self-assertion in a context like religion,
gious history and their relationships to male ritual specialists.
where self-transcendence is valued and emphasis is placed on
Contrary to Yanagita, who claimed that ritual observances
new communal groups based on self-transcendent relation-
were intrinsically the unique province of women, Yoshie
ships. Nevertheless, future researchers would do well to con-
points out that this cannot be verified throughout history
duct detailed fieldwork while attending to the agency of fe-
and stresses that ancient rituals were performed by women
male believers. Theories relating to women’s agency will no
and men acting together. Yoshie explains that the sexual
doubt require refinement. It is necessary to consider, for ex-
union of women and men was considered an important as-
ample, how women are able to enact values traditionally as-
pect of ritual, and rituals for fertility were sustained by faith
sociated with femaleness without succumbing to their own
in the primal power of such sexual union (Yoshie, 1996,
subordination. This is not to counter the conventional
p. 20). Moreover, as she points out, women’s ritual participa-
model of victimized women by reifying exceptional, heroic
tion in this kind of sexual practice raises the possibility of a
figures in history, needless to say.
connection with the crucial role women played in agricultur-
Throughout Japanese religious history, women’s reli-
al labor. Consequently, as Yoshie suggests, the dramatic ad-
gious roles have been inextricable from belief in the “spiritual
vances in farming technology and the structural changes in
power of women.” This was brought to light with the publi-
agriculture that took place toward the end of Japan’s medi-
cation of Imo no chikara (Women’s power) in 1940 by
eval period conclusively depreciated the significance of
Yanagita Kunio, the founder of Japanese folklore studies.
women’s specific functions in the labor of farming and other
Yanagita viewed women as innately possessing a mystical
such endeavors. At the same time, the practice of invoking
spiritual power that originated in their reproductive capabili-
fertility by means of sexual ritual also lost its importance (Yo-
ty. He believed that, by virtue of “female-specific physiology
shie, 1996, pp. 250–251).
and emotional nature,” women possessed various religious
It would, of course, be a mistake to think that Japan’s
abilities. Carmen Blacker (1975) describes female shamanic
folk religious tradition uniformly oppressed women, denying
practitioners who fit this view.
them opportunities to participate in religious activities or
Critics point out, however, that Yanagita’s view of
activate their spiritual nature. It would also be a mistake,
women’s spiritual endowment actually obscured discrimina-
however, to interpret the interaction between women
tory practices against them. They criticize Yanagita for im-
and religion entirely within the framework of “women’s
posing the view, based on biological essentialism, that
power” or the “supernatural endowment of women,” ignor-
women’s spiritual power is inherent, natural, and universal
ing the locality and the particularized contexts of individual
in all women. In other words, Yanagita, who identified that
experience.
mystical power with women’s unique reproductive function,
Okinawa, as one such context, has received increasing
is indicted for essentialist views of female gender (Kawahashi,
attention. Situated midway between Kyushu and Taiwan,
forthcoming [a]). Tanaka Takako shows how Yanagita exces-
Okinawa is Japan’s southernmost prefecture, and Okinawan
sively emphasizes women’s reproductive power, which is
religion has been largely treated as a subset of Japanese reli-
linked with worship of female deities. Used uncritically, she
gion. Yanagita, for example, derived his thesis of “women’s
states, this approach risks generating the facile fantasy that
power” from Okinawa. He actually borrowed this key term,
all women are worshipped as goddesses (Tanaka, 1996,
which he used to describe indigenous Japanese beliefs, from
p. 182).
the Okinawan context, thus fostering an illusory notion of
Kuraishi Atsuko (1995) also criticizes Yanagita and
Okinawa as representative of Japan’s ancient past. Subse-
other male folklorists for overemphasizing women’s spiritual
quent studies, however, have highlighted the distinctive gen-
power. Although Yanagita writes that “in the past, the
dered nature of Okinawan religious culture and its allocation
women in each household invariably served the deities, and
of authority to females. These studies have also recognized
it appears that the wisest among the women was the most
Okinawa’s value in world religious history. The fact is that
superior priestess [miko],” he does not discuss specifically
in Okinawa, unlike the Japanese mainland, it is an everyday
how ordinary housewives functioned as priestesses in their
occurrence for housewives to act as priestesses, praying to the
households (Yanagita, 1990, p. 25). According to Kuraishi,
hinukan hearth deity enshrined in the kitchen to appeal for
Yanagita’s notion conveys his image of the ideal housewife.
the family’s well-being and happiness. Women nearly mo-
Citing Yanagita’s statement that “women must make it their
nopolized priest-like roles in village communities and kin
first precept to do everything possible to take care of the
groups and even at the state level during the time of the Ryu-
home, bear and rear good children, and never fail in perfor-
kyu kingdom, which lasted until 1879. The Okinawan belief
mance of the memorial rituals for the ancestors,” Kuraishi
in onarigami, where sisters become the spiritual guardians of
suggests that Yanagita’s actual motive here was to turn
their brothers, is another characteristic distinguishing Okina-
women into the reservoir of Japanese traditions (Kuraishi,
wan from Japanese culture (Kawahashi, 2000; Wacker,
1995, pp. 94–97).
2003). Also unlike the Japanese mainland, Okinawa has al-
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3348
GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND JAPANESE RELIGIONS
most no pollution beliefs associated with women, who are
and thoroughgoing fieldwork and rereading of historical
thus not excluded as unclean from ritual sites.
texts on the other. It must also take into account contempo-
rary maneuvers by Japanese women (and men) to reform reli-
FEMALE GENDER AND RITUAL UNCLEANNESS IN JAPANESE
gious communities as well as influences on Japanese society
RELIGIOUS CULTURE. While women were seen in Japanese
at large from religions that have been changed by feminist
religious history as possessors of spiritual power, there was
thought.
also a view that women are polluted and must be kept apart
from sacred things. Shinto¯ notions of women’s pollution, for
REFORM MOVEMENTS. One example is a women’s move-
example, are discussed in Yusa Michiko (1994). These are
ment that formed in Japanese Buddhist circles during the
implicated in nyonin kinsei and nyonin kekkai. Nyonin kinsei
1990s (Kawahashi, 2003). This is a diverse group that in-
is the practice of forbidding women to enter, reside, or per-
cludes, among others, wives of male priests, female priests
form religious practice in temples, shrines, sacred mountains,
(nuns), women who are a combination of both, and women
and ritual sites. Nyonin kekkai demarcates the boundary of
who do not belong to any particular Buddhist order. Their
a ritual space that women cannot enter. Some sacred moun-
project is to amplify the voice of women in the Buddhist
tains that traditionally upheld nyonin kekkai have been
community by a variety of means, including workshops and
opened to women, while others, such as Mount O
¯ mine in
the publication of workshop findings. They also aim to form
Nara, maintain the exclusion. This is the subject of ongoing
networks across sectarian boundaries for information ex-
dispute, as demonstrated, for example, by a signature drive
change. They seek, by means of women’s participation, to
in 2004 demanding the lifting of nyonin kinsei at Mount
transform present-day Buddhism to provide gender equality.
O
¯ mine. Suzuki Masataka (2002) acknowledges criticism of
The commitment of these women extends beyond the
nyonin kinsei as discriminatory, maintaining that his stance
boundaries of any particular school. They envision a new
is not to condemn the practice but to clarify the processes
Buddhism that empowers the women of the early twenty-
whereby it came into being and to delineate its changes, if
first century, and their project necessitates reinterpretation
any (Suzuki, 2002, p. 4). Suzuki seems to be distancing him-
of conventional, male-centered Buddhist history and doc-
self from the polarization in accounts of nyonin kinsei as ei-
trine in light of their own experiences.
ther discriminatory or religiously meaningful. Indeed, some
These women, who find it natural to resist gender-
suggest nyonin kinsei is an important ritual mechanism for
discriminatory constructions, are building a fuller awareness
male religious practitioners to acquire spiritual power. Yet
of how patriarchal Buddhist orders have thwarted women’s
the argument that sacred mountains had to be sealed off
realization of their own religiosity. This is not to say that
from women for the sake of male acquisition of spiritual
Buddhism is a primary cause of Japanese patriarchal struc-
power naturally raises the question of why men took priority
tures, nor does their criticism make such a claim. This proj-
over women. Ushiyama Yoshiyuki (1996), examining this
ect seeks rather to find truths in Buddhism that point a way
problem as a Buddhist historian, identifies three basic rea-
to freedom for women, and this is their rationale for redirect-
sons for the origination of nyonin kinsei: (1) the notion of
ing Buddhism toward affirmation of women’s experiences in
women’s blood pollution; (2) adherence to Buddhist pre-
their own life context.
cepts; and (3) the disdain shown to women in Buddhist
scriptures. Ushiyama holds that while conventional accounts
The discipline of religious studies remains rather un-
overemphasize pollution, the focus should instead be on the
aware of its habit of reducing other religious traditions to fit
Buddhist precept against sexual indulgence, which is applica-
into Western categories. It is important to recognize, howev-
ble to both genders, and suggests that the notion of blood
er, that the rise of non-Western feminism makes it necessary
pollution was a later development (Ushiyama, 1996,
to consider feminisms in the plural. Researchers who catego-
pp. 75–78).
rize Japanese women as silenced victims of patriarchy and
their religious experiences as strategies of the weak will be
In any event, researchers must attend not only to the
called on to be reflexively aware and critical of whether their
logic and history underlying the practice but also to the per-
own interpretations are imposing a Western (or some other)
ception of women themselves vis-à-vis the practice. It is nec-
agenda on their subject. At the same time, the religious world
essary to examine how the perpetual or temporary exclusion
in Japan must no longer dismiss the study of gender issues
of woman from a locus of cultural value is implicated in the
in Japanese religions as a problem for women, and therefore
situations of women in the early twenty-first century.
secondary, but instead improve the quality of researchers and
Another important issue in interactions between reli-
raise the level of work in the field through institutional re-
gion and gender in Japan is mizuko kuyo¯ (memorial rituals
form.
for aborted fetuses and miscarried or stillborn babies), inter-
pretation of which has occasioned various exchanges among
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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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3349
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Ozick’s “eleventh commandment,” which is intended
honshi no naka no josei to bukkyo¯. Tokyo, 1999. Foremost
more socially than theologically, nonetheless underpins all
Japanese scholars examine issues of women and Buddhism
subsequent Jewish feminist theology. Jewish feminist theolo-
from its arrival in Japan through the medieval period.
gy is a critical theology that subjects Jewish texts, images, and
Yoshie Akiko. Nihon kodai no saishi to josei. Tokyo, 1996. Re-
practices to feminist analysis. In particular, it has been noted
evaluates previous research on women and ritual from a his-
that biblical, rabbinic, and mystical Jewish theology includes
torical perspective.
images of the divine that are at least nominally feminine,
Yusa Michiko. “Women in Shinto: Images Remembered.” In Reli-
such as Hochmah, Wisdom, and Shekhinah, the in-dwelling
gion and Women, edited by Arvind Sharma, pp. 93–119. Al-
presence of God. The qabbalistic understanding of
bany, N.Y., 1994. A cogent, inclusive summary of women’s
Shekhinah as a feminine element within God through whom
position and significance in Shinto¯.
God interacts with the world has recently been explored by
KAWAHASHI NORIKO (2005)
Elliot Wolfson (1995). The mystical longing for a reunion
Translated from Japanese by Richard Peterson
of the male and the female elements within God has inspired
Jewish feminists to envision the mending (tikkun) of history
and of the cosmos itself. The more gender-neutral terms for
GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND
God, such as HaMakom (the Place) and HaShem (the
JUDAISM
Name), also help to ground Jewish feminist theological re-
Feminist studies of gender and Judaism widely agree that, at
flection in the tradition. However, Judaism is a practical reli-
least until the late 1970s, it is masculinity that has been al-
gion before it is a doctrinal religion, and therefore few Jewish
most exclusively generative of Judaism’s authoritative reli-
women would ascribe a central place to theology in feminist
gious and historical knowledge and leadership. Underpin-
Jewish Studies.
ning and perpetuating the secondary status of Jewish women
are a male God, the male “founder,” Abraham, and leader,
But Jewish feminism, like other feminisms, has a first
Moses, a traditionally male rabbinical establishment histori-
as well as second wave period. After the rise of Jewish moder-
cally subsequent to a hereditary male priesthood, and a male
nity in the early nineteenth century, the Reform movement’s
messiah in the times to come. Until the late twentieth centu-
insistence on the freedom to choose the type and degree of
ry, most women (even those in relatively liberal circles) have
one’s Jewish commitment led to the creation of several types
known communal Judaism and Jewish thought from the per-
of Jewish feminism interconnected by their emphasis upon
spective of the marginal other. Despite the existence of
justice and relational values. Before the Holocaust, Jewish
women of outstanding piety throughout Jewish history, and
women’s proto-feminist or first wave activism was channeled
a very few instances of female scholars in the rabbinic and
through political, educational, and welfare organizations that
early modern periods particularly, women have not been the
were often maternalist in character. The second wave Jewish
speaking subjects but the silent objects of Jewish discourse.
feminism of the late 1960s was as much the result of disen-
They have not been the rabbinic commentators, decision
chantment with early twentieth-century Jewish politics in
makers, theologians, mystics, or philosophers. Matters con-
the trade union, communist, and Zionist movements in Eu-
cerning women have been discussed by male practitioners,
rope and North America and in the new settlements in Pales-
usually in texts written by men and for men as problems or
tine, all of whose political radicalisms had largely failed to
exceptions to what is normally the (masculine) case. The
offer women the leadership roles their rhetoric of equality
male Jew has been the normative Jew, and remains so in Or-
had seemed to promise them. By the end of the 1980s Jewish
thodox communities. It is further arguable that recent
feminism had become a significant movement found across
change in the religious educational and devotional opportu-
the spectrum of observance, bar that of the more closed com-
nities for Orthodox women is only to a degree and of a kind
munities of Ultra-Orthodoxy.
permitted by men within an essentially masculine dis-
The different types of Jewish feminism fall into three
pensation.
categories. Jewish feminism within modern Orthodoxy seeks
JEWISH FEMINISM AND THE FEMINIST STUDY OF RELIGION.
to adapt Jewish law to better serve women’s interests, though
Judaism is founded on principles of justice and compassion
only so far as Torah might permit; liberal Jewish feminism
that have driven social change through three millennia. It is
seeks equality with Jewish men through the ethical reform
therefore not surprising that the political impetus and meth-
of tradition; and ultra-liberal or “postmodern” Jewish femi-
odological presupposition of the study of gender and Juda-
nism offers a woman-centered approach (as in Gottlieb,
ism have been loosely situated within the Jewish feminist
1995) that might include elements of the contemporary
movement and feminist criticism of intrareligious discrimi-
Goddess feminist spirituality considered to be historically
nation against Jewish women. The latter’s foundational pro-
continuous with ancient Israelite women’s syncretistic prac-
phetic call that Judaism should institute an eleventh com-
tice. However, Judaism has tended to be a practical and so-
mandment—“Thou shalt not lessen the humanity of
cial religion before it has been a speculative one and the view
women”—that would be faithful to its own ethical judgment
that Jewish feminist goals will be achieved by halakhic reform
on the world remains as powerful a motivation today as it
rather than through a revised or reformed theology has pre-
did when it was first articulated in 1979 by Cynthia Ozick.
dominated.
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND JUDAISM
3351
By the end of the twentieth century, the study of gender
JEWISH WOMEN’S HISTORY. Early Second Wave Jewish
and Judaism was no longer as politicized as it had been
feminist historiography, in common with other such femi-
through the 1970s and 1980s by the Jewish feminist project.
nist historiographies, was something of an exercise in “con-
The question of whether Judaism either oppresses or liber-
tribution” history whose purpose was to rescue exceptional
ates women had given way to the more nuanced study of
Jewish women’s achievements from undeserved obscurity.
gendered and intra-gendered difference. Two key insights
Two such women who have become relatively well-known
have tempered the recent feminist study of gender and Juda-
by these means are the nineteenth-century Hasidic female
ism. The first of these is the recognition that Jewish women’s
tsaddiq (a Hasidic leader noted for piety and learning) Han-
experience is historically, socially, geographically and cultur-
nah Rachel Verbermacher (also known as the Maid of Lud-
ally diverse. Second is the observation that throughout the
mir) and Regina Jonas, who in 1935, before her death in
history of Judaism, women have led different types of au-
Auschwitz, was privately ordained as a Reform rabbi. Gradu-
thentically Jewish lives within and sometimes despite the
ally, however, Jewish feminist historiography has yielded a
constraints of their gender roles. Since what a young Jewish
sense not only of the contributions of women but also of the
woman from London or New York may consider liberating
precedent and diversity of their experience, enabling scholars
may not be what an older Jewish woman from a Kurdish or
to question received periodizations of Jewish history and to
Ethiopian Jewish community in Israel might consider lib-
redraw the boundaries of Jewish tradition.
erating, the study of gender and Judaism has had to ask more
The historiography of Jewish women begins with that
nuanced questions of its subjects and no longer presumes to
of the biblical period. The picture that emerges from a wealth
judge on behalf of other (non-academic) women whether Ju-
of popular and scholarly publications on the historical and
daism is a source of fulfillment for them or not. Western reli-
literary roles of women in the Hebrew Bible is a mixed one
gious detraditionalization also contextualizes the study of
of female vulnerability, oppression, rivalry, deceit, courage,
gender and Judaism. The spiritual “turn to the self” and the
loyalty, and wit. The picture changes over time as monarchi-
shift in late modern religious observance into what is effec-
cal government replaces the political dispensation of ancient
tively a lifestyle choice are reflected in feminist studies of Ju-
Israel around 1050 BCE. In some narratives, the Bible sug-
daism that are concerned with decentralizing the position of
gests that women in ancient Israel could, even if only excep-
canonical texts and studying the individual woman as an au-
tionally, enjoy the roles of prophet (such as Miriam in Exodus
tonomous religious agent, defining and controlling the
15:20, Huldah in 2 Kings 22:14, and Noadiah in Nehemiah
meanings of a Jewish life for herself.
6:14); judge, prophet, and military leader (such as Deborah
Inevitably, studies in gender and Judaism have sought
in Judges 4–5); and wise women (such as the “witch” of En-
to correct Jewish scholarship’s obliviousness to its own tradi-
Dor in 1 Samuel 28:3–25). The bonds of loyalty between
tionally male perspective and have focused instead on the ne-
women are poignantly expressed in Ruth 1:16–19, and the
glected particularities of women’s experience of and repre-
power of sisterly solidarity in the story of the daughters of
sentation in Judaism and Jewish culture. However, it is
Zelophehad (Numbers 27). Yet other narratives present high-
important to note, as Daniel Boyarin (1997) has done, that
ly sexualized images of female power as seductive rather than
the interrelation between Jewish constructions of masculine
authoritative, as in the story of Jael in Judges 4:17–22 and
and feminine roles, virtues, and symbols is a complex one,
in the stories of the matriarchs, where women are the biologi-
and it is not only popular anti-Semitic discourse that has
cal rather than religio-political movers of Jewish redemption
“feminized” male Jews. Judaism in the post-biblical Diaspora
history and the narrative emphasis is on the birth and lineage
presented an ideal Jewish male whose receptivity and orienta-
of sons, not daughters.
tion towards the family has challenged and continues to chal-
Rather differently, scholars on the Jewish academic and
lenge Western assumptions of masculine dominance and ag-
spiritual left have used biblical texts and archaeological
gression and which has made him an object of desire for
studies of the ancient Middle East to show that Israelite reli-
Jewish women. The ideal male Ashkenazic Jew in the years
gious practice—especially that of women who were gradually
before the establishment of the State of Israel and still in
excluded from the public cult of Yahweh during the monar-
some Ultra-Orthodox circles today, while never effeminate,
chical period—was syncretistic and accommodated the local
has been studious, otherworldly, and compassionate. Jewish
goddess cult of Asherah (see 2 Kings 23:7). This body of re-
masculinity is not traditionally defined economically by a
search has funded feminist theological moves towards more
man’s being the main breadwinner or by macho physical
gender-inclusive models of the Jewish God.
prowess, but by the prestige of his religious scholarship. The
people of Israel have also been feminized in being cast as
In its study of the post-biblical period, Jewish feminist
God’s (sometimes adulterous) wife. Conversely, it is widely
historiography, like Jewish feminist anthropology, has chal-
argued that the Israeli establishment has legitimized its mili-
lenged the normativity and centrality of halakhic Judaism in
tarism by “feminizing” diasporic victims of persecution, es-
androcentric Jewish studies by noting the many local excep-
pecially survivors of Nazism, and defining the male Jew as
tions to its rule. Despite periods of intense persecution and
the tough Israeli soldier—a secular reincarnation of the Isra-
ghettoization, Jewish women’s lives have been led in complex
elite warrior of the biblical period.
interaction with non-Jewish religious and cultural communi-
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3352
GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND JUDAISM
ties. Ross Kraemer, for example, has argued that although
rate and burn a portion of the dough when baking the Sab-
Hellenization is generally regarded by Jewish historians in a
bath loaf (hallah), and to observe the laws of menstrual or
negative light, diasporic Jewish communities in this era may
family purity that regulate physical contact between hus-
have been less sexually segregated than later ones and may
bands and wives (niddah). Women are also obligated to ob-
have offered (elite) women more access to public life than
serve the Sabbath, the dietary laws, and all other halakhic
those more closely regulated by rabbinic law. Bernadette
prohibitions.
Brooten’s now classic research into Greek and Latin inscrip-
There is no doubt that rabbinic literature contains mis-
tions (1982) suggesting that women held leadership posi-
ogynistic texts that enumerate women’s supposed vices, dero-
tions in late antiquity has also fuelled the argument that the
gate them as sources of sexual temptation and menstrual im-
legislation of gender roles in rabbinic law and custom has not
purity, classify them as subordinated, immature, or defective
necessarily prevailed in all parts and periods of the Jewish
others, and show a marked preference for the birth of sons
world. More generally, since Jewish studies has privileged the
over daughters. In rabbinic Judaism, women’s testimony is
study of formal, communal masculine practice over female
generally inadmissible in a religious court as it is classed with,
religious practice, feminist historians such as Chava Weissler
among others, that of minors, slaves, and the deaf and the
(1998) have attended to how women have effectively inte-
blind. (Though since the 1951 Equality of Women’s Rights
grated their ordinary relational and practical concerns with
Act in Israel, at least there has been some easing of the dis-
their spirituality and messianic hopes.
qualification under Israeli civil law.)
The study of gender and the Holocaust has been gaining
Nonetheless, Judith Romney Wegner (1994) has shown
momentum and prominence since the mid 1980s. Feminist
that the late second-century Mishnah does not accord the
historians have shown that the “Final Solution” was not gen-
same status to women throughout their lives, and it distin-
der-blind; women’s gender-specific experience of the Holo-
guishes between dependent girls and wives and relatively au-
caust cannot be subsumed into that of men. Without in any
tonomous women, the latter being those divorcees, widows,
sense ranking women’s suffering above men’s, feminist histo-
and unmarried adult daughters who could control their
rians such as Joan Ringelheim and Myrna Goldenberg were
property and arrange their own marriages, relatively free of
among the first to ask how Nazism placed Jewish women in
male authority. While rabbinic patriarchy subordinates
“double jeopardy” as objects of both its anti-Semitism and
women to men and has on this and other grounds been re-
its misogyny so that they endured, in Myrna Goldenberg’s
jected by liberal Jews as archaic, rabbinic Judaism is, then,
well-known phrase, “different horrors in the same hell.” As
more flexible than might be immediately apparent.
mothers of future Jewish generations and less adaptable to
Admittedly on its own terms, rabbinic law respects the
the grueling physical requirements of slave labor than men,
practical, emotional, and embodied interests of women and
women and their children were the immediate targets of the
accords them rights to finance, medical care, and sexual satis-
Nazi genocide. Although women’s chances of survival were
faction. Most notably, rabbinic law adjusted the more rudi-
generally greater in the early years of the Holocaust, by 1942
mentary biblical law so as to better protect women’s interests.
women were more likely than men to be deported to the
The classic case of a Western rabbinic ruling that broke with
death camps where, especially if pregnant or accompanied by
biblical and previous rabbinic law (a takkanah) was the ban
children, women were also more likely than men to be select-
on polygyny (actually already sharply in decline) ascribed to
ed for immediate death. Diverse recent studies (such as those
Rabbi Gershom ben Yehudah in the tenth century CE. (Or-
of Nechama Tec [2003] and Melissa Raphael [2003]) have
thodox feminism regards this takkanah as a precedent for sex-
explored the ethical, spiritual, and theological dimensions of
ually egalitarian proposals that appear to abrogate the law.)
women’s resistance to dehumanization through care of oth-
Other takkanot ascribed to Gershom ben Yehudah also tem-
ers during the Holocaust.
pered the inequalities of biblical marital practice, especially
T
arbitrary divorce against a woman’s will and without finan-
HE ROLE AND STATUS OF WOMEN IN RABBINIC JUDAISM.
The corpus of rabbinic law and ethics in the Mishnah and,
cial settlement. The rabbis were also generally opposed to
later, the Talmud, was complete by approximately 700
wife-beating and permitted contraception to wives in certain
CE.
This literature is not of merely antiquarian interest: through
medical circumstances. Although “acquired” from their fa-
continual reinterpretation it has continued to provide a reli-
thers, wives are not, under rabbinic law, the purchased prop-
gious framework that regulates, if to widely varying degrees,
erty of husbands; it is rather that marriage makes them un-
the familial, economic, and social life of the whole Jewish
available to other men. Although, to this day, Orthodox
community other than that of secular Jewry.
Jewish law gives men alone the right to initiate divorce since
it was they who have created the marriage bond, the ketubah
Rabbinic Judaism’s understanding of the female role as
or marriage “contract” describes a husband’s financial and
one centered around the marital home can be summarized
other duties to his wife. The case of the agunah or “an-
in the three positive commandments (sometimes regarded as
chored” woman who no longer lives with a husband who will
punitive reminders of Eve’s disobedience) that remain
not grant her a divorce is, however, an inequality to which
women’s gender-specific obligations in Orthodox Judaism
some Orthodox rabbis have sought to provide solutions and
today. These are to light the Sabbath candles (nerot), to sepa-
against which feminists are still campaigning.
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND JUDAISM
3353
Generally speaking, the degree to which legal alleviation
Although regarded with skepticism by most feminists as
of sexual discrimination is permissible varies according to
a compensatory rhetorical strategy that safeguards male dom-
whether the community understands the whole Torah—
inance and impoverishes Jewish women’s religious lives,
written and oral—as the direct ordination and self-revelation
Ultra-Orthodox apologetics also consider women to be on
of God (the Orthodox and especially Ultra-Orthodox view)
a higher and more intuitive spiritual plane than men who
or as divinely inspired but historically conditioned and of
must therefore shoulder a greater burden of religious duty
human authorship (the Reform perspective).
in order to approach God. After the manner of the virtuous,
tireless woman (eshet chayil) of Proverbs 31, wives are ideal-
THE ROLE AND STATUS OF WOMEN IN ORTHODOXY. Or-
ized or—from the Ultra-Orthodox perspective—esteemed as
thodoxy—itself a spectrum of observance and cultural orien-
those whose “innate” spirituality needs no special training
tation—broadly continues to resist any construal of gender
and allows them a more immediate relation to God.
equality other than that summarized by the apologetic for-
mulation “equal but different.” Largely excluded from active
While the requirements of feminine modesty (tzniut)
participation in public ritual, women’s traditional role is a
may be interpreted by feminists as a means of controlling fe-
supporting, enabling one (see BT Berakhot, 17a). Men and
male sexuality, the traditional Jewish attitude toward sex is
women’s religious practice and orientation is considered
not prudish. While some periods of Jewish history have pro-
complementary. Women are, by custom, not law, responsi-
duced male devotional groups with ascetic tendencies, sexual
ble for nurturing a sense of Jewishness in young children and
abstinence plays no role in contemporary Jewish spirituality;
for the infusion of a Jewish atmosphere and peace (shalom
celibacy is not considered vocational or meritorious, and
bayit) into the home. (Indeed, sociologists have sometimes
men (not women) are commanded to procreate. In Hebrew,
argued that Jewish women’s emotional and practical invest-
marriage (kiddishin) means sanctification, and marital sexu-
ment in family identity and continuity has made them rather
ality is a sign and symbol of the covenant of love between
less susceptible to secularization and assimilation than men.)
God and Israel. Of course, Orthodox Judaism imposes clear
moral restraints upon the sexual urge, and its satisfaction is
With certain important exceptions, such as eating un-
exclusively heterosexual and marital. Nonetheless, pleasure
leavened bread at Pesach or reading the Megillah at the festi-
is both legitimate and desirable. Men are obligated to satisfy
val of Purim, Orthodoxy exempts women from those posi-
the sexual needs of their wives. Indeed, the rabbinic laws of
tive commandments whose observance is ordained for a
onah (women’s sexual rights) schematize the husband’s reli-
specific time. So, for example, a woman is obligated to pray,
gious obligation to give regular sexual satisfaction to his wife.
but not at the times set for certain prayers and services. A
While he must never force himself upon her, she is entitled
woman’s presence cannot be counted towards the quorum
to sexual pleasure regardless of whether she is fertile, preg-
of ten men required for communal prayer. The classic ratio-
nant, or postmenopausal.
nale for such gendered exemptions or cultural prohibitions-
in-effect can be either pragmatic or theological. Pragmatical-
Only the most traditional of Orthodox Jewish women
ly, since women’s first duties are to the welfare of husbands
observe the laws of menstrual purity that require the physical
and children, the performance of religious duties cannot also
separation, but not the seclusion, of women from men for
be expected of them. Theologically, appeal may be made to
roughly twelve days a month—as well as a period following
the divine ordination of the gendered economy. Critics,
the birth of a child (fourteen days followed by a further sixty-
however, have claimed that women’s exemption from most
six days for a girl, and half of that—seven days plus thirty-
time-bound positive commandments effectively privatizes a
three days—for a boy). While a boy child enters into the
woman’s religious life and subordinates her spirituality to the
covenantal relation between God and the people of Israel by
material needs of others. That women have also been strong-
circumcision on the eighth day after birth, the birth of girl
ly discouraged from the observance of certain command-
children is now usually celebrated in synagogue on her first
ments, such as those of religious study, that are not time-
Sabbath, though it is the father who recites the blessing of
bound has also been questioned.
thanksgiving.
In response to such criticism, Orthodox commentators
The laws of sexual segregation in worship intensified
point out that after the destruction of the Second Temple
from the end of the third century of the common era and
in 70 CE, Jewish sacred space relocated from the Temple to
are still observed to varying degrees in Orthodox communi-
the home, study house, and synagogue. As a locus of the
ties. Among the Ultra-Orthodox, there is also sexual segrega-
holy, the post-biblical home has sacralized a woman’s religio-
tion at communal celebrations that would involve the social
domestic labor, namely the sustenance of relationships with
mixing of men and women. While Judaism does not require
her husband and children, her maintenance of a kosher
the seclusion of women in the home (especially not in com-
kitchen, and her preparation for the Sabbath and other
munities residing in non-Islamic countries), the vocation of
home-based religious festivals. Orthodox women’s lives are,
Ultra-Orthodox women is largely confined to the rearing of
arguably, comprehensively spiritualized by their observance
large families and, in some cases, to paid work within the
of halakhah (daily law) since this regulates rather than deni-
community where women may be employed to teach or care
grates bodily needs and appetites.
for young children. Orthodoxy does not necessarily confine
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3354
GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND JUDAISM
women to the private sphere insofar as the customary equa-
the names of several learned rabbinical wives and daughters,
tion of the private and domestic spheres does not straightfor-
best known of whom was Beruriah, wife of Rabbi MeDir of
wardly apply to religious Jewish life. The domestic, familial
the second century CE.
sphere is not that of women alone: men practice Judaism in
The religious educational opportunities for girls and
the domestic sphere, as well as in the public spheres of wor-
women are clearly not equal to men’s. Yet the degree of gen-
ship and study. In Judaism, the private sphere is essentially
dered inequality has differed according to women’s class,
the secular sphere of the individual, while it is the religio-
economic standing, geographical location, and historical pe-
communal sphere of ritual, congregational, and legal leader-
riod. Scholarly Jewish women in the wealthy Sephardic fami-
ship that is the public one. This means that Orthodox Jewish
lies of the early modern period were, for example, more nu-
women have historically undertaken paid work and conduct-
merous than those of affluent Ashkenazic families in central
ed business in the secular public sphere since this is classed
and eastern Europe who, as the centuries progressed, were
as a private transaction.
more inclined to offer girls a high level of secular rather than
Perhaps what is most significant to the study of gender
religious education.
and Judaism is the gendered inequality of power signaled by
It is not only feminist criticism that has produced a
the language of male permission in relation to change; Or-
widespread change in attitudes toward women’s religious ed-
thodox women remain the dependent objects of male rul-
ucation across the spectrum of Jewish Orthodoxy. It is also
ings. For the foreseeable future at least, it seems unlikely that
recognized by Orthodoxy that arresting the widespread con-
Orthodoxy will permit systemic change as that would entail
temporary decline in Jewish observance and population is in
no less than a reconfiguration of divinely ordained gender
part at least dependent on women’s informed commitment.
roles in the Jewish home and family that would be consid-
To prevent the influence of secular values (especially those
ered inimical to the revelation and spirit of biblical and rab-
of Jewish feminism, which is widely misread as a secular proj-
binic tradition.
ect), the end of the twentieth century saw Orthodoxy mak-
The matter can be summarized as follows. On the one
ing new provision of role-specific religious education for
hand, the revitalization of Orthodoxy in resistance to secular
women—one that was both a product and cause of Jewish
modernity has seen the reinforcement of an ideology of tradi-
women’s increased historical, textual, and linguistic compe-
tional sexual complementarity and an emphasis on the role
tence in Judaism. (Note though, that like Ultra-Orthodox
of the Jewish family in rebuilding the worldwide Jewish com-
men, Ultra-Orthodox women do not normally participate in
munity after the Holocaust. As Lyn Davidman points out
secular higher education.)
(1991), this re-inscription of gender difference has been
Orthodoxy is now seeking to redress some of the gen-
strongly supported by Orthodox women who can find stabil-
dered inequalities of opportunity in Jewish religious educa-
ity, security, identity, continuity, authenticity, and respect
tion, though not to remove them entirely. In contemporary
for motherhood and homemaking in conservative ideologies
Israel, the cultural and economic influence of American
of Jewish femininity. On the other hand, and irrespective of
Jewry has encouraged the establishment of religious educa-
the conflict between traditional and progressive Jews over the
tional establishments offering Jewish women from all over
role of women in Judaism, concerns for the survival of Juda-
the world opportunities to study to ever higher levels of
ism have focused Orthodox attention on giving women just
halakhic competence and to train as advocates for other
some of the communal roles and responsibilities the contem-
women in religious courts, particularly in cases of divorce.
porary Western sexual-political climate would lead them to
A more advanced Jewish education has also enabled women
expect.
to conduct prayer services even if modesty requires those to
GENDER AND JEWISH EDUCATION. As itself an act of wor-
be conducted only for other women. However, such services
ship, the study of Torah is integral, not supplementary, to
are still not permitted in synagogues in Great Britain and
Jewish practice. In post-biblical Judaism, where study of the
parts of the American Orthodox community. Women in Or-
Torah replaced cultic worship as the means of knowing and
thodox communities are also not called up to recite the bless-
observing God’s commandments, it has been the father’s ob-
ings accompanying the chanting of a portion of the Torah
ligation to teach his son Torah. Just as women were not
or to read from the Torah itself, since that might suggest that
priests, so too they were not to be scholars. By custom rather
the men of the community are not proficient to do so.
than law, women were and are urged to induct children, es-
REFORM AND CONSERVATIVE MOVEMENTS. The religious
pecially girls, into the ambience and domestic practicalities
emancipation of Jewish women in liberal Jewish communi-
of the tradition. Women and girls are exempt from the study
ties was subsequent to the humanistic ethic of Haskalah
of Torah on the grounds that women are exempt from acts
(Jewish Enlightenment) and to the civic emancipation of
that a father is obligated to undertake for his son, namely
Western European Jewry. Over time, women in Reform
teaching him Torah (BT Kiddushin 29a). In fact, the Tal-
communities have come to enjoy equal access to positions
mud records some disagreement over Rabbi EliEezer’s some-
of educational and synagogal leadership and full participa-
what extreme opinion that the education of girls unravels the
tion in Jewish rites of passage. Since 1972 in the United
meaning of Torah into nonsense or obscenity, and it records
States and 1975 in Britain, women have been ordained as
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND JUDAISM
3355
rabbis. In the United States, the Conservative movement—a
1994. Argues that Ultra-Orthodox women’s education is de-
middle way between Orthodoxy and Reform—has also grad-
signed not to liberate women but to perpetuate deference to
ually instituted the equality of women and men and has
male authority.
given women access to rabbinical training since 1983. How-
El-Or, Tamar. Next Year I Will Know More: Literacy and Identity
ever, Conservative Judaism has a greater concern for main-
Among Young Orthodox Women in Israel. Detroit, Mich.,
taining continuities with Jewish law, and its congregations
2002. Explores the feminist dynamic and socioreligious ef-
vary in their attitude to change. Other than in the most pro-
fect of the sharp increase in Judaic study among young
gressive communities on the liberal spectrum, marriage and
women in Orthodox Zionist communities.
ordination are still refused to Jewish lesbians and gay men.
Fuchs, Esther. Sexual Politics in the Biblical Narrative: Reading the
Hebrew Bible as a Woman. Sheffield, U.K., 2000. Explores
Sexist language has been either tempered or eliminated
how the biblical text legislates and authorizes women’s sub-
from liberal liturgies, though the evocation of the divine as
ordination and secures the power and interests of men.
“God-She” remains controversial in all but the alternative
Goldenberg, Myrna. “Different Horrors, Same Hell: Women Re-
quarters of progressive Judaism. As well as giving women
membering the Holocaust.” In Thinking the Unthinkable:
equal access to the rituals marking religious maturity (bar
Meanings of the Holocaust, edited by Roger S. Gottlieb
mitzvah for boys, bat mitzvah for girls) new rituals have been
pp. 150–166. New York, 1990.
devised in Britain and the United States by women rabbis
Goldman, Karla. Beyond the Synagogue Gallery: Finding a Place for
and others to change the self-image and consciousness of
Women in American Judaism. Cambridge, Mass., 2000.
women. Such rituals solemnize gender-distinctive life-
Gottlieb, Lynn. She Who Dwells Within: A Feminist Vision of a Re-
changing events—whether these be traumas such as mastec-
newed Judaism. San Francisco, 1995.
tomy or miscarriage or celebrations such as menarche and
Greenberg, Blu. On Women and Judaism: A View from Tradition.
childbirth—to which the tradition, so often concerned with
Philadelphia, 1981. An early and influential reconciliation of
the ownership and control of women’s sexuality and repro-
feminism and traditional Judaism.
ductivity, has not previously attended. Despite such atten-
Hauptman, Judith. Rereading the Rabbis: A Woman’s Voice. Boul-
tion to female difference there has been some feminist con-
der, Colo., 1998. Acknowledging the patriarchal nature of
cern that in gaining equality with men, Reform and
Bible and Talmud, Hauptman argues that the Talmudic rab-
Conservative Jewish women have become, in effect, honor-
bis significantly improved the rights and status of women,
ary men, while men have not become honorary women. The
particularly with regard to marriage and inheritance.
most prominent leadership roles are also still most common-
Heschel, Susannah, ed. On Being a Jewish Feminist: A Reader. New
ly held by men, partly in ecumenical deference to the Ortho-
York, 1983. Includes texts that were pivotal in establishing
dox community, with whom Reform and Conservative Juda-
a framework for second wave Jewish feminism.
ism wishes to maintain cooperation and dialogue.
Kraemer, Ross. S. “Jewish Women in the Diaspora World of Late
Antiquity.” In Jewish Women in Historical Perspective, edited
BIBLIOGRAPHY
by Judith R. Baskin, pp. 46–72. Detroit, Mich., 1991.
Adler, Rachel. Engendering Judaism: An Inclusive Theology and
Lentin, Ronit. Israel and the Daughters of Shoah: Reoccupying the
Ethics. Philadelphia, 1998. Offers strategies for practical re-
Territories of Silence. New York and Oxford, 2000. Examines
readings of traditional Jewish texts, with an emphasis on the
how the State of Israel has affirmed its construction of na-
theological reformulation of Jewish law, liturgy, and sexual
tionhood by “feminizing” Holocaust victims and
ethics.
survivors.
Baskin, Judith, ed. Jewish Women in Historical Perspective. 2d ed.
Neusner, Jacob. Androgynous Judaism: Masculine and Feminine in
Detroit, Mich., 1998. A collection of essays exploring Jewish
the Dual Torah. Macon, Ga., 1993. Argues that while Torah
women’s history within Jewish and non-Jewish cultural and
is not sexually egalitarian it nonetheless valorizes female vir-
intellectual milieus from the biblical period through to twen-
tues as proper not only to women but also to the male rela-
tieth-century North America.
tionship of subordination and obedience to God.
Biale, Rachel. Women and Jewish Law. New York, 1995. A now
Ofer, Dalia, and Lenore J. Weitzman, eds. Women in the Holo-
classic study of halakhic views of issues relating to women.
caust. New Haven, Conn., and London, 1998. Interdisci-
Boyarin, Daniel. Unheroic Conduct: The Rise of Heterosexuality and
plinary scholarly essays examining the gendered particulari-
the Invention of the Jewish Man. Berkeley, Calif., 1997.
ties of women’s Holocaust experience in a number of
Shows how the construction of Jewish masculinity counters
different contexts.
Western gender stereotypes.
Ozick, Cynthia. “Notes Towards Finding the Right Question.”
Brooten, Bernadette, J. Women Leaders in the Ancient Synagogue:
In On Being A Jewish Feminist: A Reader, edited by Susannah
Inscriptional Evidence and Background Issues. Chico, Calif.,
Heschel, pp. 120–151. New York, 1983.
1982.
Peskowitz, Miriam, and Laura Levitt, eds. Judaism Since Gender.
Davidman, Lyn. Tradition in a Rootless World: Women Turn to Or-
New York, 1997. Engages the postmodern turn in studies of
thodox Judaism. Berkeley, Calif., 1991. Examines the appeal
gender and Judaism.
of Orthodoxy to contemporary American Jewish women.
Plaskow, Judith. Standing Again at Sinai: Judaism from a Feminist
El-Or, Tamar. Educated and Ignorant: Ultra-Orthodox Jewish
Perspective. New York, 1990. A now classic revisioning of Ju-
Women and Their World. Boulder, Colo., and London,
daism from a non-Orthodox feminist perspective.
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3356
GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND CHRISTIANITY
Raphael, Melissa. The Female Face of God in Auschwitz: A Jewish
GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND
Feminist Theology of the Holocaust. London and New York,
CHRISTIANITY
2003. Renders Jewish women’s Holocaust witness theologi-
Christianity has always been a gendered tradition—as indeed
cally audible by correlating their memoirs with a feminist
have most religions—insofar as sexual difference has formed
reading of the post-Holocaust theological corpus and the
wider Jewish tradition.
an organizing focus for its doctrines, practices, and institu-
tions. This has been more evident in Catholic and Orthodox
Ringelheim, Joan. “The Unethical and the Unspeakable: Women
forms of Christianity than in Protestantism, but the gen-
and the Holocaust.” Simon Wiesenthal Center Annual (1984):
dered hierarchies that have prevailed in Christian institutions
69–87. Ringelheim later substantially revised the views she
from the time of Saint Paul persisted largely unchallenged
expressed in this foundational paper.
until the middle of the twentieth century. Since then church-
Rittner, Carol, and John Roth, eds. Different Voices: Women and
es have faced a widespread intellectual challenge to their un-
the Holocaust. New York, 1993. Includes methodological re-
derstanding of gender, arising partly out of the influence of
flection, editorial commentary, and excerpts from the
feminism but primarily generated by a significant number of
women’s Holocaust memoir literature.
women becoming academic theologians and biblical scholars
Rothschild, Sylvia, and Sybil Sheridan, eds. Taking Up the Tim-
for the first time in history. Rosemary Radford Ruether’s pi-
brel: The Challenge of Creating Ritual for Jewish Women
oneering work of feminist theology, Sexism and God-Talk,
Today. London, 2000. Women rabbis transpose traditional
first published in 1983, asks, “Can a male savior save
Jewish liturgies into new political, biological, and emotional
women?” (Ruether, 1993, p. 116).
contexts, marking the women’s experiences that have not
previously been engaged by traditional prayer and ritual.
As a growing number of feminist theologians and, more
Ruttenberg, Danya, ed. Yentl’s Revenge: The Next Wave of Jewish
recently, gender theorists have developed ever more refined
Feminism. Seattle, Wash., 2001. Young writers engage con-
forms of analysis in their studies of Christian doctrine, histo-
temporary ecological, cultural, political, and medical issues
ry, spirituality, and ethics, Ruether’s question opens into a
from a “third wave” Jewish feminist perspective.
complex landscape in which the sexed human body occupies
a central but often veiled position, inviting both redemptive
Schely Newman, Esther. Our Lives Are But Stories: Narratives of
Tunisian-Israeli Women. Detroit, Mich., 2002. Offers theo-
and critical readings of tradition. Elizabeth Schüssler Fioren-
retical reflection on the life stories of four Tunisian-Israeli
za’s (1983) advocacy of “a hermeneutics of suspicion” has in-
women, usefully correcting the Ashkenazic focus of much of
fluenced two generations of biblical scholars whose increas-
the study in gender and Judaism.
ingly nuanced methods of interpretation are transforming
the ways in which biblical texts are understood and applied
Shokeid, Moshe. A Gay Synagogue in New York. Philadelphia,
2003. An ethnography of Beth Simchat Torah in New York,
with regard to gender constructs and sexual relationships. Al-
the largest gay and lesbian synagogue in the United States.
though Western in origin, these intellectual revolutions have
impacted non-Western cultures, so the question of Chris-
Tec, Nechama. Resilience and Courage: Women, Men, and the
tianity and gender has become one of far-reaching sig-
Holocaust. New Haven, Conn., and London, 2003. Uses oral
nificance for the doctrines and practices of the churches
and other sources to study how gender shaped patterns of re-
worldwide.
sistance among Jews in the ghettos, camps, and partisan
groups.
However, feminist and gender studies have so far been
Umansky, Ellen, and Dianne Ashton, eds. Four Centuries of Jewish
more thorough in their analyses of femininity and woman-
Women’s Spirituality: A Sourcebook. Boston, 1992. An an-
hood than of masculinity and manhood, so much of what
thology of historic and contemporary texts including Jewish
still passes for normative humanity in Christian texts and
women’s rituals, prayers, diary entries, poems, and other
practices is in fact male humanity, misleadingly represented
forms of spiritual reflection.
as the generic human being. Until this masculine particulari-
Wegner, Judith Romney. Chattel or Person? The Status of Women
ty is acknowledged, the Christian understanding of the
in the Mishnah. New York, 1988. Crucial to our understand-
human condition will continue to be shaped by implicitly
ing of early Jewish patriarchy, Wegner observes that in some
androcentric perspectives. Despite forty years of feminist
circumstances second-century Mishnaic Judaism regards un-
scholarship, the theological establishment remains, for the
married adult women, such as divorcees and most widows,
most part, highly conservative, and perspectives informed by
as full legal persons. However, on account of their sexual re-
feminism or gender theory are either ignored or marginalized
productivity, girls and married women are the property of,
in the majority of theological curricula.
and subject to the jurisdiction of, fathers and husbands re-
spectively.
If traditional Christian beliefs and practices have been
Weissler, Chava. Voices of the Matriarchs: Listening to the Prayers
problematized by feminism and gender studies, the question
of Early Modern Jewish Women. Boston, 1998.
also arises as to how far these academic debates reflect the
concerns of people’s daily lives as they seek to live out their
Wolfson, Elliot. Circle in the Square: Studies in the Use of Gender
Christian faith in different contexts. For many, traditional
in Kabbalistic Symbolism. Albany, N.Y., 1995.
forms of Christianity provide a bulwark against what are per-
MELISSA RAPHAEL (2005)
ceived to be the corrosive effects of secularization and materi-
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND CHRISTIANITY
3357
alism on religious values, and this generates considerable re-
larly difficult, because embedded deep within these one often
sistance to feminism. Given that a majority of women
encounters a cluster of unacknowledged fears to do with the
worldwide continue to regard the family as their most signifi-
female body. In this Christianity may not be different from
cant area of responsibility and commitment, the Christian
many other religions, but the Christian doctrines of the in-
defense of the family might in many situations be an impor-
carnation of Christ and the resurrection of the body mean
tant factor in the struggle for gender justice. In other situa-
that, in theory at least, this should be the most body-
tions, however, Christian beliefs associated with marriage,
affirming of all religions. That its legacy has been more am-
motherhood, fertility, and sexuality define women too nar-
biguous is at least partly bound up with the ongoing failure
rowly in terms of domestic roles and responsibilities, so
of some parts of the Christian tradition to fully incorporate
Christian family values can be experienced as repressive in
human sexuality into their vision of the goodness of creation.
terms of gender justice and human flourishing. Such ques-
tions feed into the larger question about what is meant by
The Christian understanding of human nature is prem-
“the full humanity of woman” and what kind of transforma-
ised on a belief in the dignity and equality of every human
tions of belief and practice are necessary for Christianity to
being in the eyes of God, and the Christian community of
create a spiritual and social environment in which both sexes
the baptized has been represented as one in which all divi-
are able to live out the belief that human beings, male and
sions are overcome. Thus in his Letter to the Galatians, Paul
female, are made in the image of God and are called to par-
writes, “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer
ticipate in the creative activity of God in sustaining, healing,
slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of
and shaping the world (Ruether, 1993, p. 18).
you are one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28). However, for most
of Christian history women have occupied positions of sub-
The phrase gender and Christianity therefore opens into
ordination to men, being subject to restrictions that have
a kaleidoscopic range of insights that is constantly refigured
precluded the full participation of both sexes in the forma-
as new perspectives come into view. As the scholarship of
tion of Christian faith and practice.
gender becomes more critically refined, early feminist cri-
tiques of religious traditions are being supplanted by meth-
The New Testament texts and Apocryphal literature of
ods that seek greater sensitivity to questions of historical, cul-
the first three centuries attest to a struggle by male authority
tural, sexual, racial, and economic diversity. There is also a
figures to control and delineate the role of women in Chris-
growing attentiveness to issues of gender at the more conser-
tian life and worship, suggesting a trend toward women
vative end of the Christian theological spectrum, so the study
holding positions of authority in some parts of the early
of gender, sexuality, and embodiment is by no means the ex-
church and a resistance to this trend in other parts. Whatever
clusive preserve of feminist scholars. What follows then is a
equality women may have enjoyed in these early centuries,
brief overview of a picture that is in an ongoing state of devel-
however, their roles soon became circumscribed within au-
opment, so summarizing general trends necessarily risks
thority structures modeled on the social order of imperial
some misrepresentation of the individual lives and commu-
Rome. As a result, the institutions, beliefs, and practices of
nities that make up the gendered dimensions of the Christian
the Christian tradition have been constructed around the val-
story.
ues of a patriarchal hierarchy, in which the authority of a Fa-
ther-God is mediated through descending ranks of paternal
DOCTRINAL AND SOCIAL PERSPECTIVES. The Christian tra-
leadership, from kings, princes, and bishops to lords, leaders,
dition has been marked by deep ambivalences with regard
husbands, and fathers. Some feminist theologians argue that
to the significance of human embodiment and gender in
this patriarchal structure is consolidated and perpetuated in
terms of both sexual and social relationships. Christianity has
the centrality of the Father-Son relationship to the Christian
always affirmed the goodness of the material world, includ-
understanding of Jesus as the Son of God.
ing the human body, as having been created by God and re-
deemed by Jesus Christ. However, Christianity has also tend-
However, this largely homogenous master narrative
ed to adopt a negative attitude toward the body in
needs to be understood in relation to the diverse contexts
recognition of its susceptibility to suffering and death, which
that have allowed a plurality of beliefs, devotions, and rela-
are associated with sin. The original goodness of creation is
tionships to flourish within Christian traditions. If gendered
believed to have been distorted by the effects of humanity’s
hierarchies have been carefully preserved in the texts and in-
rebellion against God, and thus the body is a site of particular
stitutions of the church, attentiveness to the practices of
struggle and conflict in the Christian’s desire to be reconciled
Christianity suggests a more complex reality of shifting sexu-
to God. In terms of sexuality this has become deeply bound
al relationships and values. For example, Christian men
up with issues of temptation, sin, and fallenness, symbolical-
whose writings express misogynistic ideas have often enjoyed
ly associated with Eve’s temptation in the Garden of Eden,
close relationships with women in the roles of spiritual direc-
so a great deal of Christian anxiety has been focused on
tor, confessor, and friend, suggesting a level of social and sex-
human sexuality in general and female sexuality in particular.
ual interaction that may not be reflected in the textual legacy.
Given the opaque and sometimes inscrutable relationship be-
Women such as Teresa of Ávila (1515–1582), whose writ-
tween gender constructs and sexual embodiment, this makes
ings suggest the internalization of sexual stereotypes, often
the task of unraveling Christian beliefs about gender particu-
used these as rhetorical devices to challenge male authority
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND CHRISTIANITY
figures. Moreover, although the body has always been more
tianity and gender. From as early as the first century CE the
determinative for women than for men and female embodi-
Christian belief that God had become human in Jesus Christ
ment continues to function as a basis for exclusion rather
was interpreted according to the symbolism of the Genesis
than inclusion, for example, with regard to ordination in the
narrative of creation and the Fall. This means that the story
Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches, gender was un-
of Adam and Eve in Genesis 1–3 has had a formative influ-
derstood symbolically rather than biologically in the pre-
ence on Christian beliefs about the divine image and the rela-
modern church. So in different contexts maternal or femi-
tionship between the sexes, understood both in terms of the
nine characteristics have been attributed to men and
original relationship among God, nature, woman, and man
masculine characteristics to women to express certain social
and in terms of the fall and its aftermath.
functions or personal characteristics. Moreover theological
relationships between God, creation, Christ, the church, and
Christ is described as the Second Adam in the Pauline
Mary are described in a range of nuptial and familial meta-
epistles, and by the end of the first century this imagery had
phors and analogies, so it is impossible to identify any
been extended to include the Virgin Mary as the New Eve
straightforward binary opposition between male and
in the writings of Justin Martyr (c. 100–165 CE) and
female when one analyzes the dynamics of Christian gender
Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons (c. 130–200 CE). According to this
symbolism.
interpretation, just as the first woman, Eve, brought death
to the human race by disobeying God and eating the forbid-
The separation between Eastern and Western Christian-
den fruit, so the New Eve, first woman of the new creation
ity since the eleventh century has also produced different
in Christ, brought life to the human race by obeying God
concepts of the significance of gender. The Orthodox
by agreeing to become the mother of the savior, Jesus Christ.
Church, influenced by thinkers such as Origen (c. 185–254)
This identification of Mary with Eve became invested with
and Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335–c. 395), holds that matter, in-
the language of sexuality, seduction, and sin associated with
cluding the sexual human body, is a secondary feature of cre-
Eve and purity, obedience, and grace associated with Mary
ation. Sexual embodiment is contingent upon the coming of
in a way that introduced a dualistic tendency into the Chris-
death into the world and the need for procreation, so sexual
tian understanding of woman. In addition the Christian be-
difference does not have ontological significance and will not
lief that patriarchal hierarchies are ordained by God for the
be a feature of the resurrected person. From the time of Au-
good ordering of society has been justified through an appeal
gustine (345–430), the Roman Catholic tradition has under-
to the order of creation in Genesis 2, in which God created
stood the material world, including the sexed human body,
the woman after the man to be his helpmate.
as part of the original goodness of creation and therefore as
ontologically significant. The resurrected body will be male
The influential biblical scholar Phyllis Trible challenges
or female, just as it was in the beginning. In the Orthodox
this interpretation by offering a careful analysis of the lan-
Church, the Virgin Mary represents an iconic and mystical
guage and meanings of the Hebrew text, and there is now
maternal presence at the heart of liturgy and prayer, symbol-
widespread scholarly acceptance that a pervasive ideology of
izing both awe and compassion but dissociated from later
gender has shaped Christian readings of Genesis. Biblical
Western ideas of maternal femininity. Catholic representa-
writings about God, humankind, and sexual difference have
tions of Mary have been influenced by cultural stereotypes
also been interpreted by Christians through the lens of the
associated with humanism, the Renaissance, and Romanti-
Greek philosophical tradition, so the Genesis narrative has
cism, so that they have become heavily invested with chang-
been overlaid with concepts about the essential nature of
ing ideals of motherhood and femininity. These symbolic
femininity and masculinity that are alien to the tradition of
representations both reflect and shape social values and
the Hebrew Scriptures. Thus Christianity has to a large ex-
meanings, so many different ways of seeing and relating are
tent constructed its understanding of gender not only around
encoded within them in terms of gender, society, and doc-
the Bible but around philosophical beliefs that associate mas-
trine. Since the Reformation, the increasing diversification
culinity with reason, transcendence, virtue, and divinity and
of Christianity has led to multiple ways of understanding
femininity with emotion, immanence, moral weakness, and
gender relations. Whereas the mainstream Protestant de-
the body.
nominations have tended to uphold traditional gender dis-
Although the interpretation of Genesis is crucial for an
tinctions and hierarchies, at least until the latter part of the
understanding of the symbolic construction of gender in
twentieth century, movements such as Quakerism have been
Christianity, the New Testament offers numerous insights
more egalitarian in their ideas and practices. Protestantism
into the historical role of women as well as men in the minis-
has by and large placed less emphasis on the symbolic or
try of Jesus and the early church. The Gospels, in particular
philosophical significance of sexuality, and therefore its rep-
the Gospels according to Luke and John, represent women
resentation of sexual difference has been expressed more in
as faithful disciples of Jesus, participating in his public minis-
biblical and moral terms than in terms of eschatology, ontol-
try in a way that may have defied the sociosexual conventions
ogy, and symbolism.
of first-century Palestine. Figures such as Martha and Mary
THE BIBLE AND THE EARLY CHURCH. The Bible is a neces-
of Bethany, Mary Magdalene, the Samaritan woman at the
sary but not a sufficient starting point for any study of Chris-
well, and Mary the mother of Jesus feature at significant mo-
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND CHRISTIANITY
3359
ments in the Gospel stories not as silent and submissive fol-
The establishment of the schools and universities in the
lowers but as women who often appear to challenge or ques-
twelfth and thirteenth centuries restricted theological educa-
tion Jesus and to contribute to a deeper understanding of his
tion to celibate male scholars, and the institution of compul-
mission. Saint Paul’s letters name a number of women who
sory priestly celibacy intensified misogynistic attitudes to-
were leaders and patrons of early Christian communities.
ward women and female sexuality, assisted by the widespread
They include Prisca, Phoebe, and Junia, the latter two re-
dissemination of Aristotelian philosophy through the influ-
ferred to as a deacon and an apostle respectively (Rom. 16).
ence of Scholasticism. Women became more closely associat-
However, the Deutero-Pauline and Pastoral epistles repre-
ed with the affective, devotional life of faith expressed in the
sent a more complex picture with regard to gender relations.
vernacular, whereas male clerics became the custodians of
They include instructions to women to submit to men’s au-
theology and doctrine expressed in the highly stylized Latin
thority in the church (compare 1 Tm. 11–15) and to be sub-
of Scholasticism, signaling the beginning of a linguistic and
ject to their husbands (compare Col. 3:18, Eph. 5:22) while
conceptual division between Christian theology and spiritu-
enjoining husbands to love their wives as Christ loves the
ality that would have considerable implications for the un-
church (compare Eph. 5:25).
derstanding of gender.
Studies of the early church suggest that women had con-
Yet these changes also brought new opportunities for
siderable influence in the formative years of Christianity,
the expression of women’s spirituality that appealed not to
with Apocryphal literature of the second century, such as the
the authenticating norms of theology for its legitimacy but
Acts of Thecla and the Gospel of Mary, providing rich addi-
to a direct encounter with divine revelation. The next few
tional sources to the biblical text. Whether these stories are
centuries saw the emergence of women mystics, such as Ju-
rooted in history or legend, they are indicative of a complex
lian of Norwich (1342–c. 1416) and Catherine of Siena
process of negotiation and conflict around issues of gender
(1347–1380), whose ideas have had an enduring influence
and leadership in early Christianity.
on the Catholic tradition. The Beguines, a lay movement of
women that flourished across northern Europe from the late
The first four centuries after Christ saw the transition
twelfth century, produced a number of women spiritual writ-
of Christianity from a marginal and persecuted minority to
ers, such as Mechthild of Magdeburg (c. 1212–1282), author
the official religion of the Roman Empire. In her study of
of The Flowing Light of the Godhead, Hadewjich of Antwerp
patristic theology, Virginia Burrus argues that the conversion
(thirteenth century), and Marguerite Porete (1280–1310),
of the Roman Empire to Christianity created a crisis of iden-
author of The Mirror of Simple Souls, who was burned at the
tity for the church’s male leaders, who found themselves hav-
stake for heresy. The Beguines were condemned at the
ing to occupy positions of authority defined according to im-
Council of Vienne (1311–1312) and had virtually disap-
perial criteria of manliness. She suggests that this identity
peared by the early fifteenth century, attesting perhaps to the
crisis had a lasting influence on Christian gender constructs
vulnerability of women’s religious visions and practices in
in terms of masculine subjectivity, feminine alterity, and the
male-dominated traditions. Their male counterparts, the
fatherhood of God.
Beghards, were numerically less significant, but they too fell
THE MIDDLE AGES. If women lost some of their early influ-
under suspicion of heresy and immoral practices.
ence with the growing institutionalization of the church,
The twelfth century also saw the emergence of a new
they nevertheless continued to play a significant role in
trend in Christian spirituality that affected both men’s and
Christian leadership and theological reflection in late antiq-
women’s devotional writings. From the time of Bernard of
uity and the early Middle Ages. Although this was an era
Clairvaux (1090–1153), the Song of Songs became a key text
when the lives of the vast majority of men and women escape
for the expression of the Christian longing for Christ, leading
the historical record, evidence exists that women were in-
to forms of prayer and devotion in which the soul is repre-
cluded among the educated elite who ran the monasteries
sented as the feminine beloved and bride of Christ, express-
and religious institutions of the early medieval world. Ab-
besses such as Hilda of Whitby (d. 680), Lioba (700–780)
ing “herself” in sometimes highly eroticized metaphors of
and Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179) were responsible for
feminine desire. This constituted a significant change in the
mixed monasteries in which women as well as men were edu-
Christian understanding of gender, which had until then as-
cated in the context of religious life. The emergence of
sociated femininity unambiguously with frailty, moral weak-
women’s historians since the 1960s has seen a growing body
ness, and carnal susceptibility, with masculine virtue being
of scholarship devoted to the recuperation of these neglected
the Christian ideal for both sexes. The emergence of a more
historical figures.
positive understanding of femininity in Christian spirituality
was partly due to the influence of the courtly love tradition,
However, the eleventh-century Gregorian reforms
with the language of the troubadours being appropriated to
marked the beginning of an era in which power in the church
express the feminine soul’s desire for Christ or the celibate
became more centralized and clericalized, which made it
male’s devotion to the Virgin Mary. Much work remains to
more difficult for women to gain access to theological educa-
be done on the ways in which this feminized language of
tion or positions of religious authority.
prayer and mysticism bears the marks of sexual difference,
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND CHRISTIANITY
but scholars such as Caroline Walker Bynum (1992) and
form of Christianity based on the authority of Scripture and
Grace Jantzen (1995) see a tendency to focus more directly
on individual faith in Jesus Christ. Although this did little
on the body and on physical manifestations of devotion asso-
to destabilize the gendered hierarchies of Christian theology
ciated with the Eucharist and with practices of asceticism and
and practice, it did provide limited opportunities for women
self-mortification in women’s writings. Bynum suggests that
to play an active role in the development of new Christian
the medieval belief that associated the soul with masculine
communities and churches. Reformers such as Martin Lu-
divinity and the body with the female flesh coupled with be-
ther (1483–1546) and John Calvin (1509–1564) rejected
lief in the virgin birth, which eliminated the male body’s role
the Catholic belief that celibacy was a higher ideal than mar-
in the conception of Christ, led women to identify Christ’s
ried life, so marriage came to be understood in more positive
humanity with their own female embodiment.
terms as a partnership of love and mutual support. However,
the vocation to religious life had provided medieval women
The medieval church was part of a complex social world
with an alternative to the often oppressive demands of mar-
that offered limited opportunities to women but that also
riage and motherhood, and some scholars, including Wil-
celebrated motherhood as a flourishing social institution.
liam Monter (1987) and Merry Wiesner (1990), argue that
The church itself was a Holy Mother whose sacraments were
women after the Reformation became more narrowly identi-
woven into the practices of everyday life, including women’s
fied with the domestic sphere, with a subsequent loss of pub-
domestic activities associated with pregnancy, childbirth,
lic influence and visibility. Moreover the Reformation
and motherhood. The image of the Virgin Mary as a solitary
purged Protestant Christianity of maternal feminine imagery
and unique example of womanhood, “Alone of All Her Sex,”
associated with the Virgin Mary, the women saints, and the
to quote the title of Marina Warner’s (2000) influential
maternal church, contributing to the emergence of a culture
book, is challenged by medieval art and devotion that suggest
that was more vigorously patriarchal and masculine in its val-
a more communal sense of female sainthood, with the Apoc-
ues, politics, and beliefs. With the transition to an increas-
ryphal figure of Saint Anne, mother of the Virgin Mary, oc-
cupying a position in fifteenth-century devotion second only
ingly scientific and rationalized worldview after the seven-
to that of her illustrious daughter. Toward the end of the fif-
teenth century, the symbolic and spiritual significance of
teenth century the cult of Saint Joseph, the putative father
gender began to yield to a more literalistic understanding of
of Christ, began to eclipse that of Saint Anne, so the matriar-
human sexuality, so the sexed body increasingly became posi-
chal groupings of medieval art and devotion were gradually
tioned not in terms of its sacramental and social significance
replaced by the more modern grouping of the Holy Family
but in terms of scientific definitions and moral prescriptions.
comprising Mary, Joseph, and the infant Christ.
The Enlightenment constituted a change from a social
order grounded in the appeal to divine revelation and scrip-
However, the fifteenth century also brought a new
tural authority to a vision of society informed by a belief in
threat to women in the form of the witch hunts, which alto-
reason, personal liberty, and the social contract. This did not
gether spanned some four hundred years of Western history,
immediately change the status of women, and indeed its ini-
from 1400 to 1800. It is impossible to calculate how many
tial impact on women’s lives may have been far from posi-
witch trials there were, but conservative estimates are in the
tive, but it laid the foundations for the liberal democracies
range of 60,000 to 100,000 people killed, of whom two-
in which women have ultimately gained a degree of social
thirds were women, including Joan of Arc (1412–1431). Re-
and political recognition that they were never able to achieve
cent scholarship suggests that these women were victims not
under the theocracies of the Christian tradition. Yet if the
primarily of medieval Catholicism, as has often been be-
male philosophers of the Enlightenment saw a fundamental
lieved, but of the combined forces of science, rationalism,
conflict between reason and faith (even though their ideas
and religion in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,
remained deeply rooted in Christian theology), it is by no
which recorded the greatest number of witch trials. It is im-
means certain that women shared this perception. Gerda
possible to calculate the impact of the witch hunts on the de-
Lerner, in the introduction to the second volume of her
velopment of Christian thought and practice when one con-
study of Women and History (1993), describes how she dis-
siders that the tens of thousands killed were probably among
covered “the significance to women of their relationship to
the most creative and independent-minded of Europe’s
the Divine and the profound impact the severing of that rela-
Christian women, and the fate they suffered must have si-
tionship had on the history of women. . . . The insight that
lenced many others who may otherwise have written and
religion was the primary arena on which women fought for
spoken out. It must, however, be borne in mind that this
hundreds of years for feminist consciousness was not one I
wave of destruction spanned the late medieval and early
had previously had” (Lerner, 1993, pp. vii–viii). Mary Wol-
modern period, and therefore, from the historical perspective
lstonecraft (1759–1797), widely recognized as an early pio-
of women, to some extent it overshadows the Reformation.
neer of the feminist movement, based her appeal for
THE REFORMATION AND THE ENLIGHTENMENT. The Refor-
women’s equality not only on Enlightenment values of rea-
mation saw the emergence of new forms of Christianity, in
son, education, and the individual’s right to political and so-
which the sacramentality and symbolism of the medieval
cial participation but on her faith in the compassion, wis-
Catholic Church yielded to a more literate and moralistic
dom, and mercy of God. If in the early twenty-first century
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND CHRISTIANITY
3361
those Enlightenment values are in their twilight years and
States the woman’s suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–
new, as yet unpredictable, forms of social organization are
1902) pioneered what one day became feminist biblical criti-
appearing on the horizon, it remains to be seen to what ex-
cism, and Harriet Tubman (1819/1820–1913) was one of
tent Christianity may continue to offer women a language
many African American women whose triumphs over slavery
of divine wisdom to counter the political and social preju-
inspired later generations of Christian theologians and writ-
dices of powerful men.
ers. The emergence of independent African American
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. The industrial revolution and
churches in nineteenth-century America created a form of
the rise of capitalism in Protestant societies saw the establish-
Protestant Christianity enlivened by the rhythms and ges-
ment of what in the early twenty-first century some refer to
tures of African music, dance, and spirituality, which has af-
as the traditional Christian family, although in reality this
forded African American men and women a space in which
modern concept does not reflect the diverse social arrange-
to express their Christian faith free from the oppressive influ-
ments of the premodern family. Working-class life has rarely
ences of racism and white domination. American feminist
allowed men and women the luxury of playing out gendered
theologians and gender theorists in the twenty-first century
stereotypes, but the image of Christian family life became
work at a complex intersection of questions having to do
identified in the nineteenth century with the clearly delineat-
with gender, race, and class in their explorations of the rela-
ed gender roles and relationships of the middle classes. While
tionships among slavery, gender injustice, and Protestantism
the husband went out to work in commerce and industry
in the formation of modern American social values.
where Christian ideals were inevitably compromised, the
wife and mother, the “angel in the home,” upheld Christian
CHRISTIANITY AND GENDER IN CONTEMPORARY CULTURE.
faith and values in the domestic realm. Thus nineteenth-
The twentieth century saw the widespread demise of the
century Protestant piety was to some extent associated with
Christian faith across much of Western society, at least in its
the sphere of femininity, with a gentle Jesus reflecting a do-
traditional and institutionalized forms, accompanied by a
mesticated ideal embodied in the good wife. Indeed during
rapid growth in Christianity in some non-Western cultures,
the nineteenth century church congregations were increas-
most notably in Africa and South Korea. The changed hori-
ingly made up of more women than men, suggesting a grad-
zons opened by feminist and postcolonialist perspectives
ual withdrawal of men from religion. The mid-1850s saw the
have brought new challenges and opportunities to Christian
emergence of “muscular Christianity,” associated with writ-
theology, as some of its most fundamental doctrinal and ethi-
ers such as Thomas Hughes and Charles Kingsley and later
cal claims have been called into question. The emergence of
influencing American ministers such as Thomas Wentworth
the contemporary women’s movement in Western society
Higginson. This trend, which emphasized the masculinity of
coincided with the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965),
Christ and the manly virtues of the Christian faith, may have
an epoch-making event in the Catholic Church that opened
been a backlash against the perceived feminization of the
the way to a much greater degree of participation by women
churches and against the nascent women’s movement.
and other previously excluded groups in theological reflec-
However, these dominant social paradigms should not
tion and formation. The result has been the ongoing trans-
be allowed to eclipse the more radical opportunities that
formation of Christian theology and practice, as theological-
Christianity continued to offer to women. Josephine Butler
ly educated men and women address questions of doctrine,
(1828–1906) and Florence Nightingale (1820–1910) were
sexuality, social justice, and gender relations from an increas-
activists whose work was rooted in a radical Christian theolo-
ingly wide spectrum of cultural, economic, and intellectual
gy and a profound personal piety. Butler’s work with prosti-
localities. By the end of the twentieth century women were
tutes exposed and challenged the trenchant hypocrisies of
being ordained as priests and ministers in numerous Chris-
Victorian England, a society in which a rigid morality de-
tian denominations, including the Church of England, with
fined by Christian values masked the widespread exploitation
women bishops being ordained in some parts of the world-
and abuse of the poor and a flourishing sex trade in the cities.
wide Anglican communion, and the issue of women’s ordi-
Evangelicalism afforded nineteenth-century Western women
nation became an increasingly divisive question in the
a public space from which to speak as missionaries, social re-
Roman Catholic Church. According to the religioustoler-
formers, and educators, even if their activities continued to
ance.org website, one in every eight American clergy is a
be defined and restricted by men. The nineteenth century
woman, and in 1997 women constituted 30 percent of
also saw the emergence of new women’s religious communi-
North American theology graduates (see http://www.
ties in the Catholic Church, with the formation of religious
religioustolerance.org/femclrg6.htm). Christian beliefs about
orders committed to mission, education, and health care.
marriage and sexuality have been challenged by the decline
Again these belonged within ecclesial and social structures
in marriage and rising divorce rates in Western societies. This
governed by men, but they provided a means by which
has been accompanied by a growing desire for religious rec-
women could make a significant contribution to the public
ognition and affirmation at all levels of church life by gays
dimension of Christian life, extending their influence be-
and lesbians in Western churches, to the consternation of
yond the domestic sphere and allowing for considerable le-
many non-Western Christians who remain committed to a
vels of social mobility and spiritual influence. In the United
more conservative understanding of Christian sexual values.
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND CHRISTIANITY
These challenging new movements have provoked a
provides an excellent analysis of the ways the reception and
backlash, with the reassertion of conservative values in both
dissemination of philosophical and theological ideas have
the Catholic and the Protestant churches and the emergence
shaped the role and representation of woman in the Chris-
of fundamentalist Christian movements that tend to adopt
tian tradition.
a highly literalist approach to biblical teachings on questions
Anderson, Bonnie S., and Judith P. Zinsser. A History of Their
of sexual ethics and gender relations. In the United States the
Own: Women in Europe from Prehistory to the Present. Rev.
organization Promise Keepers seeks to reestablish Christian
ed., 2 vols. London, 1990. These two volumes offer a schol-
family values by appealing to men to accept their responsibil-
arly overview of women in European history from prehistory
ities as husbands and fathers, with the concomitant expecta-
to the late twentieth century. They are invaluable for situat-
ing Christianity in its wider historical contexts with regard
tion that women should perform their roles as dutiful wives
to the roles and positions of women.
and mothers. In Roman Catholicism the papacy of John Paul
II has been remarkable in many ways, but it has seen the re-
Ashley, Kathleen, and Pamela Sheingorn, eds. Interpreting Cultur-
assertion of traditional sexual values and gender stereotypes
al Symbols: Saint Anne in Late Medieval Society. Athens, Ga.,
1994. A collection of essays that explores the symbolic and
over some of the liberating tendencies of the postconciliar
social significance of the medieval cult of Saint Anne.
church. Perhaps the most traumatic event in this context was
the publication of the papal encyclical, Humanae Vitae, by
Balthasar, Hans Urs von. Theo-Drama III: The Dramatis Personae:
Pope Paul VI in 1968. This set out a vision of marriage that
The Person in Christ. Translated by Graham Harrison. San
Francisco, 1992. Balthasar’s theology of sexual difference has
was revolutionary in its affirmation of the value of married
had a formative influence on conservative Catholic theology
love and sexuality but that, in its reiteration of the Catholic
since the Second Vatican Council. This is a developed ac-
Church’s opposition to artificial birth control, provoked an
count of his theory of the gendering of relationships in the
ongoing crisis of authority in the Catholic Church.
Christian story.
The social, demographic, and intellectual developments
Beattie, Tina. Woman. New Century Theology series. London,
of the twentieth century mean that Christianity is undergo-
2003. A theological analysis and reflection on the role and
ing a continuing crisis in its understanding of gender and
representation of women in Christianity and secular Western
sexuality, calling into question beliefs, practices, and authori-
culture.
ty structures that have prevailed almost unchallenged since
Bo⁄rresen, Kari Elisabeth. Subordination and Equivalence: The Na-
the fourth century with regard to the different roles of men
ture and Role of Woman in Augustine and Thomas Aquinas
and women, the significance of human sexuality, and the
(1965). Kampen, Netherlands, 1995. Bo⁄rresen’s fine scholar-
ways in which these have been inspired and legitimated by
ly analysis of the writings of these two great Christian think-
ers brings to light the complexity and also the contradictions
the Christian understanding of God. It is impossible to pre-
inherent in the theological construction of gender.
dict what the church of the twenty-second century may look
like or to what extent it will make sense to speak of the
Boswell, John. Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality.
church at all. Some may see the future as a series of schisms,
Chicago, 1980. Boswell’s study traces changing attitudes to-
ward homosexuality in the Christian tradition from the early
reformations, and revolutions that will lead to a global plu-
church to the Middle Ages.
rality of movements, sects, and cults loosely rooted in the
Christian tradition, whereas others may have a more positive
Brown, Peter. The Body and Society: Men, Women, and Sexual Re-
view of the Christian potential for unity and reconciliation
nunciation in Early Christianity. London, 1991. One of the
most influential historical studies of early Christian ideas of
after centuries of conflict and division. But it is likely that,
gender and embodiment in their social contexts.
whatever other changes take place, the Christian understand-
ing of what it means to be male and female created in the
Burrus, Virginia. “Begotten Not Made”: Conceiving Manhood in
image of God is one of the most urgent and complex ques-
Late Antiquity. Stanford, Calif., 2000. Burrus uses contem-
porary critical theory, particularly the work of Luce Irigaray,
tions of this age, and the ways in which Christians respond
to analyze the construction of gender in patristic theology.
to that question will shape the churches of the future in pro-
found and unforeseeable ways.
Bynum, Caroline Walker. Fragmentation and Redemption: Essays
on Gender and the Human Body in Medieval Religion. New
S
York, 1992. Bynum remains one of the most significant and
EE ALSO Church; Enlightenment; Feminist Theology, arti-
influential scholars writing about medieval attitudes toward
cle on Christian Feminist Theology; Heresy; Human Body;
gender and the body.
Incarnation; Mary; Mary Magdalene; Masculine Sacrality;
Men’s Studies in Religion; Mysticism; Nuns; Protestantism;
Coakley, Sarah. Powers and Submissions: Spirituality, Philosophy,
Reformation; Resurrection; Sexuality; Teresa of Ávila.
and Gender. Oxford, 2002. In this collection of essays Coak-
ley analyzes the ideas of philosophers, theologians, and gen-
der theorists to explore the significance of gender in Chris-
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flourished in critical engagement with Western feminism. It
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to which the work of Nightingale was informed by a radical
carefully argued evaluation of the impact of the Reformation
theological vision in protest against the cultural norms and
and Counter-Reformation on women.
values of her age.
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West draws on the insights and analyses of feminist theology
a liberal theological approach in his analysis of sexuality and
for her careful biography of the founder of the Roman Cath-
gender.
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England in terms of gender and denominational differences
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opportunities previously afforded by religious life and re-
offer a gendered reading of Protestant Christianity in the
stricting women’s options to marriage and motherhood.
United States in the late nineteenth century and the early
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masculinist ideology in the churches that sought to counter
a critical evaluation and reinterpretation of Christian theolo-
the perceived feminization of Christianity.
gy and biblical interpretation from the perspective of
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African American women.
tion. New York, 1998; reprint, 2000. Ranft challenges ac-
Wollstonecraft, Mary. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
counts that present Christianity as exclusively misogynist by
(1792). London, 1992. A pioneering feminist work that
exploring an alternative historical tradition that has
draws on philosophical, theological, and biblical perspectives
emphasized the spiritual equality of women in the Christian
in its spirited defence of women’s rights.
tradition.
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TINA BEATTIE (2005)
Feminist Theology. Boston, 1983; reprint, 1992. A ground-
breaking book that was one of the earliest works of feminist
theology. Although Ruether’s liberal approach has been chal-
lenged by some later scholars, this remains a highly influen-
GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND
tial text in the development of feminist theology.
ISLAM
Schumacher, Michele M., ed. Women in Christ: Toward a New
During the twentieth century a new gender discourse focus-
Feminism. Grand Rapids, Mich., 2004. A collection of essays
ing mostly on women’s roles and rights in Islam emerged in
that seeks to establish the contours of a “new feminism” in-
various parts of the Muslim world. As is the case in the West,
spired by the teachings of Pope John Paul II.
this gender discussion is not uniform, and it is greatly influ-
Soskice, Janet Martin, and Diana Lipton. Feminism and Theology,
enced by local cultures and conditions. The division between
Oxford, 2003. A selection of textual extracts offering a survey
men and women pervades Muslim culture from the teach-
of the work of key Christian and Jewish feminist thinkers.
ings of the QurDa¯n to its language of Arabic, which carefully
Swanson, R. N., ed. Gender and Christian Religion. Woodbridge,
distinguishes between male and female. Based on the as-
U.K., 1998. A collection of papers read at meetings of the
sumed asymmetry between the sexes, gender discourse in
Ecclesiastical History Society, providing a wide-ranging
Islam concerns itself mainly with issues of power and in-
scholarly analysis of Christian concepts of gender in different
equality caused by patriarchal hierarchies that over time were
historical and cultural contexts.
strengthened by the religious, social, and cultural environ-
Thatcher, Adrian, and Elizabeth Stuart, eds. Christian Perspectives
ment. Only recently and in a few places (e.g., in the writings
on Sexuality and Gender. Leominster, U.K., 1996. Contribu-
of the American scholar Scott Siraj al-Haqq Kugle [2003])
tors offer a critical survey of traditional Christian attitudes
has gender discourse started to include marginalized women
toward issues such as gay and lesbian sexuality, sexuality and
and men, such as homosexuals. However, Muslim scholar-
violence, the family, sexuality, and spirituality.
ship has always recognized the existence of hermaphrodites,
Trible, Phyllis. God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality. Philadelphia,
who upset the division between the sexes.
1978. Trible’s careful exegetical readings of biblical texts
has been highly influential in shaping feminist biblical
Those involved in contemporary gender discourse oper-
scholarship.
ate from various ideologies. Their activities are manifold and
Warner, Marina. Alone of All Her Sex: The Myth and Cult of the
include creating public awareness concerning gender issues,
Virgin Mary (1976). New York, 2000. Warner’s book was
reforming laws and policies that are detrimental to women,
one of the earliest feminist critiques of the Marian tradition.
and rediscovering women’s histories. They find their inspira-
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND ISLAM
3365
tion in varying sources, from the United Nations’ Universal
QurDanic verses about women’s comprehensive veiling and
Declaration of Human Rights to Islamic jurisprudence
seclusion, polygyny, and the husband’s unilateral divorce
(fiqh). This movement has become wide-ranging, and it ad-
rights in their original social and cultural contexts, and he
dresses, for example, women’s health issues, domestic and
argued that because those contexts had changed, their appli-
public violence against women, the rights of women to edu-
cation in modern times had to be adapted as well.
cation and work, democratic rights, children’s rights, and
EAbduh’s new hermeneutical methods presented an al-
human rights. In many Muslim countries some of these is-
ternative to traditionalist scholars (Eulama¯D), and opened the
sues are still considered taboo.
way for equality between men and women based on Islamic
The perceptions of Islam of those involved in gender ac-
teachings. The Eulama¯D used the method of taqlid (that is, to
tivities are not monolithic. What binds most of them, how-
follow the opinions of established scholars of the Muslim
ever, is that their religion provides the core existential ground
past), and applied the teachings of jurisprudence (fiqh, the
for their understanding of gender discourse. The theological
interpretation of the shar¯ı Eah) via the four madhhabs of
reinterpretation of authoritative religious texts is in most
Islam. Traditionalist scholars are still prevalent in many
cases fundamental to developing new understandings about
Muslim countries, and their views on women often resemble
gender in Islam. Revision of male-centered readings is un-
those of Islamist or fundamentalist Muslims. They teach
avoidable, since these were often influenced by the surround-
gender-polarized roles, male authority in the public realm,
ing culture, which led to a gap between women’s reality and
complementary roles for men and women, and equity but
the teachings of the QurDa¯n that promote gender equality.
not equality in women’s roles vis-à-vis men.
Since many Muslim countries continue to be governed
By the early twentieth century, the intellectual, educa-
by regimes that fail to provide basic needs for their citizens,
tional, and philanthropic activities of upper- and middle-
those fighting for gender equality often face insurmountable
class Muslim women translated into organized associations,
difficulties. In spite of this reality, critical voices have come
such as the Egyptian Feminist Union set up by Huda
into existence that connect across the Muslim world, nowa-
ShaDrawi (1879–1947), who in 1923 publicly removed her
days via the internet; they are developing a discourse on
veil upon her return from a gathering of the International
human rights, religious rights, and civil society that seeks so-
Women’s Alliance in Rome. Union members were the first
cial change for men and women, and empowerment of
women who wrote about women’s rights based on the
women in the public and religious sphere. The awarding of
QurDa¯n; they argued that veiling the face was not a QurDanic
the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize to the Iranian Muslim human
injunction.
rights activist Shirin Ebadi (b. 1947) was a victory for all in-
In 1917, the Muh:ammad¯ıyah-related organization for
volved in this new gender discourse, for she is a living exam-
women called EAisyiyah started in Indonesia, with efforts fo-
ple of their agenda.
cusing on the religious and secular education of women. Ed-
HISTORY OF THE STUDY OF GENDER CONCERNS. The pro-
ucation and journalism were women’s most successful ways
cess of rethinking the roles and rights of women in Islam first
to advance their cause. Periodicals discussed the veil,
surfaced at the end of the nineteenth century in disparate
women’s segregation, Islamic rules, and issues of personal
places within the Muslim world. At that time, calls for
status law, including polygyny. Men welcomed these activi-
changes in women’s conditions emerged in countries ranging
ties because they considered women to be actors in the na-
from Iran, to India (Bengal), Egypt, and Turkey. Women’s
tional struggles for independence, and in many Muslim
voices (among others, Aisha Taymour [1840–1902], from
countries (Egypt, Turkey, Indonesia), the gender discourse
Egypt) became heard via poems, stories, and essays, while
on women remained connected to issues of secular national-
women and men (e.g, Rokeya Sakhawat Hossein [1880–
ism and national advancement until these countries gained
1932], from Bengal) started to demand education for girls
independence from colonial powers.
and to question the practices of veiling, segregation, and po-
Around the 1960s, the focus of gender discourse
lygyny. Qa¯sim Am¯ın’s Tah:r¯ır al-MarDa (The liberation of
changed. After independence, social reforms by the new na-
woman, 1899) stressed the need for women’s education. As
tion-states provided education for all and a certain degree of
Leila Ahmed (1992) has pointed out, these objectives were
legal protection for women via reformed legal codes. The
not pursued for the sake of women, but served as a tool to
1979 revolution in Iran and the rapid transformation of eco-
resist colonialism and to transform society into modernity.
nomic and social structures in many Muslim countries trig-
The Egyptian Muslim scholar Muh:ammad EAbduh
gered a process of redefining Muslim identities that led,
(1849–1905) entered the debate when he called for a correct
among other things, to the ascendancy of Islamist groups.
understanding of Islam by returning to its original sources—
Saudi Arabia encouraged this development by using its oil
the QurDa¯n and h:ad¯ıth. He interpreted these sources using
wealth to spread the puritanical Waha¯b¯ı interpretation of
the method of ijtiha¯d (independent investigation of the reli-
Islam. Gender discourse regressed in countries where Isla-
gious sources), and when necessary he bypassed the teachings
mists took control of the government, such as Iran, Afghani-
of the four legal schools of Islam, the madhhabs. Using this
stan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sudan. For example, the
method, described as modernist, Muh:ammad EAbduh placed
government of Omar Hassan al-Bashir (who came to power
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3366
GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND ISLAM
in 1989) in Sudan dismissed women from public employ-
interpretation of the rules of the fiqh, which were formed in
ment and limited their mobility by enforcing the rule that
the ninth century and are susceptible to flaws caused by
they must be accompanied by a mah:ram (male guardian),
human intervention.
and the Taliban in Afghanistan prevented women’s access to
By the 1990s, broadly speaking, three approaches of
education and healthcare altogether.
feminism (nisa¯ D¯ıyyah) shaped Muslim discourse: secular,
Concurrent with these new forces, the feminist move-
Muslim, and Islamist.
ments that emerged in several countries started to take new
directions, more or less becoming divided between secular
Secular feminism. Secular feminism is an amorphous
and Muslim activism. Women benefiting from state-
term in the Muslim world. It seldom indicates religious in-
provided education acquired the intellectual tools to address
difference (or atheism), although feminists such as Nawal El
issues, such as women’s legal position, health, and work,
Saadawi have insisted on their secular identity. Secular refers
without the assistance of men. In 1972, the Egyptian medical
to those whose activism is not directly based on the Islamic
doctor Nawal El Saadawi published the book Al-mar Da wa
tradition but who struggle for women’s rights within the
al-jins (Women and sex), which dealt with sex, religion, and
framework of universal values and principles. To them, reli-
women’s circumcision. The book raised awareness about
gion should be restricted to the private and spiritual do-
women’s sexual oppression across the Muslim world, un-
mains. It also carries reference to the type of activities un-
leashing intense reaction, especially from the conservative
dertaken. Secular feminists do not have a unified, clear
Eulama¯D.
agenda, but in many Muslim countries their efforts to im-
prove women’s conditions are met with accusations that they
Programs emerged that focused on local customs partic-
are tarnishing local culture and religion with Western ideas.
ularly detrimental to women. Women in such African coun-
tries as Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Ghana, and Kenya
To be secular does not necessarily mean “rejecting
started to question the practice of female genital mutilation,
Islam.” In order to underscore this reality, Margot Badran
while honor killings became an important topic in the gen-
(2002) speaks of “feminism with Islam.”
der debate in Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, and Iraq. These prac-
Most women’s organizations in the Muslim world are
tices were virtually unknown in Southeast Asia and most
secular in approach, and their agendas are manifold. For ex-
parts of sub-Saharan Africa. Other groups in Algeria, Nige-
ample, the Arab Women’s Solidarity Association, formed in
ria, Iran, Sudan, Pakistan, and Malaysia started to fight the
1982, which gained headlines in 1992 when it had to move
imposition of shar¯ı Eah and research its consequences for
from Egypt under pressure from Islamists, focuses on elimi-
women.
nating honor killings. Egypt is also home to the FGM (fe-
Awareness about gender issues was also raised by inter-
male genital mutilation) Task Force, formed in 1994, as well
national initiatives such as the United Nations Convention
as a coalition of about seventy organizations and individuals
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
under the umbrella of the Egyptian Commission for Popula-
Women (1979) and the United Nations Decade for Women
tion and Development. Some movements congregate under
(1975–1985). Later, the International Conference on Popu-
the umbrella of human rights: for example, Women for
lation and Development in Cairo (1994) and the World
Women’s Human Rights in Turkey. There are too many
Conference on Women in Beijing (1995) helped boost net-
such organizations to mention, but they form important
working among women activists all over the Muslim world.
sources of women’s empowerment and civil resistance. For
example, the Turkish Women’s Movement against Sexual
Seminal works by Muslim scholars such as Fatima
Assault was the first group in an Islamic country to offer legal
Mernissi and Leila Ahmed analyzed the conditions and
assistance to victims of sexual assault. The Network of
mechanisms of women’s oppression and exposed the am-
Women Living under Muslim Laws in southern France and
biguity of interpretations of Islamic texts and jurisprudence.
the Pakistani Action Forum, founded in 1981, were formed
These writers called for just readings of those texts, readings
in response to the introduction of the shar¯ı Eah penal code
that were sensitive to the point of view of women. Several
in various countries. Apart from these grassroots activities,
women scholars of Islam took up this challenge and the phe-
political parties often have women’s branches that pursue a
nomenon of Muslim feminism was born. The early modern-
specific agenda to advance conditions for women in certain
ist movement positioned women’s rights within a program
areas of life.
of renewal in Islamic society. It removed many roadblocks
for women; however, as several scholars have observed, it did
Muslim feminism. The term Muslim feminism emerged
not fundamentally change unequal gender relations and left
in the 1990s and was used in the writings of Muslims to de-
the system intact. Others argued that by ignoring jurispru-
scribe a new gender paradigm. It refers to Muslim men and
dence, the modernist focus on the QurDa¯n failed to address
women who ground their methods and ideas in Islamic
the underlying law system of the fiqh that directly ruled
knowledge, and most of them articulate that the true spirit
women’s lives, for example, in matters of marriage and di-
of the QurDa¯n teaches gender equality and social justice.
vorce. In order to bring about fundamental changes in the
Some Muslim feminists, however, follow the view that
Muslim injunctions concerning women, they proposed a re-
women and men complement each other rather than being
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3367
equal. Muslim feminists reinterpret the QurDa¯n in a woman-
rights, and the rights of children and of religious minorities
centered fashion using the methodologies of ijtiha¯d and tafs¯ır
in Muslim countries. Some of these issues still form unspeak-
combined with the tools of social science, psychology, histo-
able taboos in many parts of the Muslim world. Ironically,
ry, anthropology, medicine, and so on. In doing this, as Azza
all groups discussing gender, from Islamists to progressive
Karam (1998) has observed in Egypt, women who wish to
feminists, agree that the greatest challenge facing women in
engage in the official discourse of the Eulama¯D have met with
Islam is their lack of religious expertise. Where women have
great resistance.
gained access to Islamic institutions of higher learning, they
can participate in the rereading of the classical religious texts
Some scrutinize the various formulations of shar¯ı Eah
that traditionally were interpreted by men. Women with the
(Lebanese Aziza al-Hibri, Pakistani Shaheen Sardar Ali), or
required religious knowledge have moved into positions of
re-examine the h:ad¯ıth and QurDa¯n (Moroccan Fatima
religious authority, and they have become scholars of Islam
Mernissi, Turk Hidayet Tuksal, Riffat Hassan, and Asma
and judges. This is still rare in most Muslim countries, and
Barlas, the latter two originally from Pakistan). In principle,
can mainly be witnessed in Indonesia and the United States,
these feminists follow modernist methodology. This has
and increasingly in Iran.
caused the pendulum to swing back to traditionalist method-
ologies that focus on fiqh. Muslim scholars such as Khaled
Examples of Muslim feminist organizations are the Sis-
Abou El Fadl argue that true gender equality has been ob-
ters in Islam in Malaysia; Rifka Annisa, Indonesia’s first Is-
scured by the patriarchal thinking of Islamic jurisprudence
lamic-based center for women suffering from domestic vio-
as consolidated in the ninth century. A narrow modernist
lence; the women’s branches of Muh:ammad¯ıyah and
focus on the QurDa¯n and h:ad¯ıth only avoids the real prob-
Nahdlatul Ulama; and groups centered around the Iranian
lems that are inherent to the legal system. Hence the advice
journals mentioned earlier.
of Kecia Ali that “progressive Muslims cannot afford to ig-
Islamist feminism. Islamist feminism has grown with
nore jurisprudence” (2003, p. 182). This approach requires
the onset of Islamist organizations; it stresses complementari-
extensive knowledge of the Islamic sources.
ty between men and women, rather than equality and male
In Indonesia, the traditionalist organization Nahdlatul
authority over women. This approach bases women’s rights
Ulama started to apply this method in the 1980s to promote
on the Islamic shar¯ı Eah and favors an Islamic state. Islamists
an agenda of justice and social change. Inspired by Abdur-
especially reject what they consider to be influences from the
rahman Wahid, religious leaders teamed up with feminists
West. Both male and female Islamists extol a woman’s role
to organize the first Islam-based program in the world that
as mother and wife. They rely on the ideas of male
advocated women’s reproductive rights. Women’s groups re-
ideologues, such as the Egyptian Sayyid Qut:b (1906–1966),
lated to Nahdlatul Ulama, such as the Yayasan Kesejahteraan
who viewed the family, with a division of labor between hus-
Fatayat, followed this method, focusing on other aspects of
band and wife, as the basis of society. This philosophy led,
Islamic rights for women. This trend also emerged in Iran
for example, to women in secular Turkey demanding the
with representatives such as Hojjat al-Eslam Seyyed Mohsen
right to wear the veil in universities and public offices, and
SaDidzadeh (who is prominent in Ziba Mir-Hosseini’s Islam
to Muslim women in former Soviet republics calling for the
and Gender, 1999), and the journals Farzanah and Zanan.
application of polygyny as a tool for achieving women’s pro-
tection and for allowing the surplus of women to give birth
These neo-traditionalists are especially interested in re-
and fulfill their roles as mothers. This view, however, does
interpreting the regulations of Muslim personal status law,
not mean that all Islamists reject political roles for women.
which is part of the shar¯ı Eah and regulates marriage, divorce,
Islamists claim a return to the fundamentals of faith and
and inheritance. They argue that, for example, in order to
to a pure tradition unpolluted by modern influences. Isla-
address the inherent inequalities within the marriage con-
mists can be intolerant of other views and seek power to im-
tract, one has to understand the mind frame of the jurists
pose their ideology by, among other things, controlling
who interpreted the shar¯ı Eah and saw it as a contract of own-
women and their sexuality, especially their reproductive fac-
ership of the husband over the wife in exchange for a dower.
ulties. This is accomplished by, for example, denying them
This involved rights of the husband over the wife (he could,
access to any form of birth control. Mernissi (1991a,
for example, forbid her to leave the house). Neo-
pp. 98–99) has observed that since the 1980s Islamism has
traditionalists argue that it does not advance the cause of
displayed a growing obsession with women’s bodies and so-
women to narrowly focus on the rights assigned to her by
cial roles, and has promoted texts by misogynist Islamic
the QurDa¯n and ignore the fact that, based on jurisprudence,
scholars from the thirteenth through nineteenth centuries.
the majority of Muslim men still see marriage as a modified
Some Islamists promote practices such as polygyny and early
contract of ownership.
marriage as a means of preventing immorality. For the latter
Many Muslim feminists strive to align the QurDanic
reasons the Sh¯ıE¯ı practice of mut Eah (temporary marriage)
teachings about justice with those of universal human rights.
has increased in some Sunn¯ı communities. In order to safe-
The agenda of this philosophy includes such issues as
guard women’s modesty, Islamism imposes dress codes that
women’s reproductive rights, violence against women, do-
vary from the face veil of h:ija¯b to the chador that covers a
mestic violence, homosexuality, prostitution, democratic
woman from head to toe.
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND ISLAM
Younger Islamists such as Heba Raouf (b. 1965) from
and women follow the same rules of purity, and there are no
Egypt argue that while being faithful to their roles as wives
gender distinctions in the ritual obligations. The main gen-
and mothers, women can occupy the highest public func-
der differences concern the areas of marriage, divorce, inheri-
tions as long as they are qualified. Egypt produced the earli-
tance, and child custody. Together these form the so-called
est and most prominent women Islamist activists: Zaynab
personal status law, which is part of the shar¯ı Eah-based Mus-
al-Ghaza¯l¯ı (b. 1917), who in 1936 set up the Muslim
lim family law that is widely debated in the Muslim world.
Women’s Association for Islamist women, lauding women’s
family duties and obligations; Safinaz Qazim (b. 1939), who
MUSLIM FAMILY LAW. Muslim family law is based on Islam-
vigorously campaigns for an Islamic society; and Heba
ic law, and in principle it is meant to improve the status of
Raouf, who is active in the Muslim Brotherhood–Labor
Muslim women. Early Egyptian reformers reinterpreted the
Party Alliance, writes a woman’s page in its newspaper, Al-
law, trying to adhere to classical legal principles in the light
Sha Db, and is one of the founders of the Islam Online website.
of modern conditions, in an attempt to improve women’s
These activists combat women’s oppression and see Islam as
rights. The most widely followed code used to be based on
the main tool of liberation. They publicize their views via
the Hanaf¯ı school. Important contemporary changes in the
writing, campaigning, and advising, while considering West-
legal code allow women to enter stipulations in the marriage
ern feminism as divisive and individualistic.
contract and to protect their position in case of divorce. Tu-
nisia’s code (1957) provides the strongest rights for women;
GENDER DISTINCTIONS IN THE QURDA¯N. The QurDa¯n pres-
it bans polygyny, repudiation (t:ala¯q), forced marriage, and
ents a double message concerning the status and rights of
the requirement that male guardians act on behalf of women.
women. It considers women and men equal in their religious
Many countries follow a middle course by including a mini-
observance (QurDa¯n 33:35); they can both, for example, lay
mum age for marriage, expanding women’s rights to divorce,
claim to paradise (40:8). The QurDa¯n also states that both
and restricting a man’s right to polygyny. Because legal
males and females share the same origin because they were
changes still comply with local patriarchal cultures and the
created from the same spirit (nafs) (4:1, 6:98, 7:189). The
demands of the conservative religious establishment, the
QurDa¯n does not acknowledge original sin because both Eve
rules of the personal code remain a central issue in the gender
and Adam were equally tempted by Satan (7:20–22). It refers
debate. For example, based on the QurDa¯n (2:226–237;
to husband and wife as each others’ “garments” (2:187), rec-
65:1), many countries preserve the husband’s unilateral right
ognizes a mother’s burden of childbirth (46:15), and com-
to divorce while Muslim women can only apply for a divorce
ments on the age of weaning (2:233). In principle, the
on specific grounds.
QurDa¯n assigns to women considerable rights: they retain
their financial independence after marriage and are entitled
With the rise of Islamism, there have been attempts to
to maintenance, a dower, and inheritance.
abandon family legal reforms under the banner of “return to
the shar¯ı Eah.” For example, after the revolution in 1979 in
However, these egalitarian texts have counterparts, such
Iran, reforms introduced by the previous regime—increasing
as verse 4:34, which some interpret as allowing men to beat
the minimum marriage age, restricting men’s access to polyg-
their wives in cases of disloyalty, disobedience, or ill conduct.
amy and unilateral divorce—were repealed. After Muslim ac-
Prejudiced interpretation of this verse can lead to severe do-
tivists protested that the new laws caused women great injus-
mestic violence. The same verse contains the much debated
tice and suffering, many of the abandoned reforms were
phrase that “men are in charge of [or the protectors of
brought back gradually. In 1992, the Iranian parliament
qawwa¯mu¯n Eala¯] women because God has given the one
amended the divorce laws to give women better protection
more than the other, and because they support them from
in marriage, and in 2002 it increased the minimum age of
their means.” Traditionally this verse has been explained as
marriage for girls from 9 to 13.
referring to a man’s superiority over women. However, femi-
nist interpretation has pointed out that qawwa¯mu¯n refers to
A few differences stand out between classical Sunn¯ı and
the fact that men should provide for their wives in their role
Sh¯ıE¯ı law. Divorce is more difficult under Sh¯ıE¯ı law because
as mothers. Apart from the QurDa¯n there is an abundance of
it requires the presence of two witnesses in pronouncing the
traditions, alleged to be from the Prophet, that confirm
divorce statement (t:ala¯q). While Sunn¯ı marriage only ends
women’s secondary position, stating, for example, that the
through death or divorce, Sh¯ıE¯ı law allows a man to contract
majority of those entering hell are women.
an unrestricted number of temporary marriages. Activists
consider this union detrimental to women because it leaves
The original interpreters of the QurDa¯n were Middle
them without legal rights; for example, they are not entitled
Eastern men. Muslim feminists argue that these interpreta-
to the husband’s inheritance.
tions, as transmitted via the fiqh, are replete with instances
where universal teachings from the QurDa¯n were confused
Sh¯ıE¯ı inheritance law, however, is more favorable to-
with local customs and values. Muslim feminists consider
wards women. While Sunn¯ı law in the absence of a son al-
this to be most detrimental to women. Like the QurDa¯n, most
lows the daughter only half of the estate, or in some cases
of the fiqh discussions are in principle ungendered; apart
gives precedence to agnates, Sh¯ıE¯ı law allows a daughter to
from distinctions with regard to menstrual purity, both men
inherit the entire estate.
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3369
RELIGIOUS AND DOMESTIC OBSERVANCES IN SUNN¯I AND
Nowadays, many mosques include women who preach (but
SH¯IE¯I ISLAM. Domestic Muslim observances vary greatly de-
not the Friday sermon) and teach Islamic lessons for other
pending on local cultures and traditions. Women are expect-
women. Islamic boarding schools for girls (in Indonesia, Pa-
ed to fulfill the duties that are believed to form the basic obli-
kistan, Iran, and Iraq) provide extensive religious education
gations of all believers. They have to suspend these duties
and opportunities for women to worship, with women lead-
when ritually impure because of the flow of blood. Apart
ing daily ritual and tara¯w¯ıh: prayers during Ramad:a¯n.
from that, the QurDa¯n and fiqh do not differentiate male and
Women preachers are gaining popularity due to information
female rules of worship. Depending on the country, a
technology. Cassettes with their sermons are widely sold, and
woman’s state of impurity leads to restrictions in mosque at-
women preachers even appear on television. Some women
tendance and recitation, learning, or touching of the QurDa¯n.
who have memorized the QurDa¯n are allowed to recite on
television and in mosques during nonritual gatherings. For
The roles of women in religious or cultural-religious ac-
example, in Indonesia Maria Ulfa, who won the 1980 na-
tivities vary greatly over the Muslim world. Women’s activi-
tional QurDa¯n reciting competition, regularly appears on tele-
ties can include participating in religious vocations as preach-
vision.
ers, specialists of the QurDa¯n, or teachers of religion, or
leading folk religious events such as the za¯r, a trance ceremo-
WOMEN S:U¯F¯IS, SAINTS, AND SANCTUARIES. In the formative
ny of healing for those who are possessed by spirits. Women
period of Islam, women had distinctive roles in Sufism as dis-
also fulfill semi-religious roles in rituals connected with preg-
ciples of S:u¯f¯ı masters or as masters themselves. The most fa-
nancy, birth, and early childhood.
mous of them was Ra¯biEah al-DAdaw¯ıyah (d. c. 801) whose
poems and sayings were published in 1928 by Margaret
Although women live secluded in some places such as
Smith (2001). While her legacy is well-known, many S:u¯f¯ı
Bangladesh, northern Nigeria, and northern Sudan, this
women have vanished from history as their voices were incor-
practice is virtually unknown in other regions. Ideas about
porated into men’s writings, but Muslim women scholars
seclusion shape women’s public role in society, sometimes re-
such as Rkia Elaroui Cornell have begun to rediscover them.
sulting in the denial to women of the most basic education.
In spite of their muffled voices, there have always been
Depending on the local culture, a certain code of con-
women who were regarded as saints, such as the Afghan mys-
duct for women is identified with Islamic religion. Hand-
tic Hazrat Babajan (d. 1931) and Hagga Zak¯ıyya of Cairo
books concerning duties and good manners instruct women,
(1899–1982). Believers were healed through their prayers or
for example, on how to behave toward their family, neigh-
consoled by their gift of clairvoyance.
bors, and other social contacts. Some teachings of such books
Women’s participation in S:u¯f¯ı rituals diminished as
gained a degree of religious authority after they were adopted
public opinion accepted traditions about their spiritual and
into local fiqh texts. The moral code for women varies ac-
intellectual inferiority to men. Concurrent with the dimin-
cordingly; while in the Middle East issues of honor and vir-
ishing of their role in official Islamic discourse, with some
ginity are central to a family’s reputation, they do not feature
exceptions, women were pushed to the margins of S:u¯f¯ı ritu-
as such in public discussions in Southeast Asia.
als and ceremonies. At the same time, women have contin-
M
ued to play significant roles in rituals surrounding the graves
OSQUE ATTENDANCE. According to a h:ad¯ıth, the prophet
Muh:ammad condemned those who sought to prevent
of saints, and women have traditionally been the majority of
women’s attendance at the mosque. He also encouraged
those visiting shrines to seek blessing or help in solving such
women to attend the liturgical events associated with the two
problems as infertility. But they do not participate in the
main Islamic festivals: E¯Id al-Fit:r after Ramad:a¯n, and E¯Id
dhikrs, and they confine their activities to seeking blessings
al-Ad:h:a¯ after the h:a¯jj. In addition, women who were men-
or participating in public festivals (maulids). In some places
struating or unmarried and kept from public view were al-
in South Asia women can be itinerant singers or poets and
lowed to attend mosque (although menstruating women did
keepers of saints’ shrines. Some women saints remained fa-
not perform the prayer). Later scholars banned young
mous after death; the shrines of Zaynab, the Prophet’s
women from mosques, eventually extending this rule to older
daughter, in Cairo, Lalla Imma Tifellut in Algeria, and Mai
women as well, fearing deleterious consequences and quoting
Supran in Punjab continue to attract visitors.
a h:ad¯ıth that a woman’s prayer is more meritorious when
THE IMPACT OF GENDER STUDIES. The impact of gender
performed at home.
studies in the Muslim world is undeniable and expresses itself
in numerous ways. After gaining independence from colonial
Women’s mosque attendance differs from country to
powers, Muslim nation-states strove to strengthen the public
country and may even differ between rural and urban areas.
and private position of women by revising personal status
Although in the main mosque in Mecca men and women
law, improving women’s education, and providing opportu-
pray together, mosques mostly have separate women’s sec-
nities for work.
tions, and few women attend the Friday prayers. In some
cases, women have built their own houses of worship
The modernist approach to interpreting the QurDa¯n as
(Indonesian: musholla; Arabic, mus:allan); Indonesian
proposed by Muh:ammad EAbduh influenced numerous
Muh:ammad¯ıyah women built musholla as early as the 1920s.
scholars throughout the Muslim world. Interpretations sen-
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3370
GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND ISLAM
sitive to the needs of women forced the traditional Eulama¯D
cal histories of women in Islam that dislodges preconceived
to reconsider their positions. Both sides defended their re-
notions.
spective points of view in a plethora of books on gender and
Ali, Kecia. “Progressive Muslims and Islamic Jurisprudence: The
Islam. Muslims on all sides of the spectrum started to redis-
Necessity for Critical Engagement with Marriage and Di-
cover the social and historical contexts in which the interpre-
vorce Law.” In Progressive Muslims: On Justice, Gender, and
tation of the QurDa¯n and fiqh were developed. Some have
Pluralism, edited by Omid Safi, pp. 163–189. Oxford, 2003.
proposed that the way to avoid the influence of negative
Badran, Margot. “Feminism and the QurDa¯n.” In Encyclopeadia of
human interference with the holy texts is to discern the di-
the Qur’an, edited by Jane Dammen McAuliffe,
vine, universal principles from within the human interpreta-
pp. 199–203. Leiden, 2002.
tions that arose from a cultural and geographic context.
Barlas, Asma. Believing Women in Islam: Unreading Patriarchal In-
terpretations of the Qur Da¯n. Austin, Tex., 2002.
Voices of women have penetrated the public domain
Cornell, Rkia Elaroui, ed. and trans. Early Sufi Women. Louisville,
and have influenced the academic study of Islam and general
Ky., 1999. Based on a manuscript about S:u¯f¯ı women, this
attitudes concerning women. On the Aljazeera television
volume traces how they were edited out of the history of
channel women are partners in debates about Islam. Women
Islam. In connection with this topic see also Shemeem Bur-
have also set up their own QurDa¯n study groups and begun
ney Abbas, The Female Voice in Sufi Ritual: Devotional Prac-
searching for their own histories. They have even started to
tices in Pakistan and India (Austin, Tex., 2002), which argues
participate in the reinterpretation of holy texts, the final bas-
that women are central to S:u¯f¯ı Islam through their presence
at shrines and their performances as musicians and singers of
tion of male power.
S:u¯f¯ı poetry, and as a prominent narrative voice in S:u¯f¯ı poet-
In spite of the fact that gender debates remain contro-
ry itself.
versial in many parts of the Muslim world, their influence
Daly Metcalf, Barbara. Perfecting Women: Maulana Ashraf Ali
reaches beyond issues of male and female. Muslim feminists
Thanawi’s Bihishti Zewar. Berkeley, 1990. One of the few
such as Riffat Hassan, who wrote about equality and justice
translated handbooks that describe the duties of women and
in Islam, are now engaged in studies on the compatibility be-
expectations concerning their behavior.
tween Islam and basic human rights. In some countries (e.g.,
El Saadawi, Nawal. The Hidden Face of Eve: Women in the Arab
Indonesia) advocates of women’s rights also increase aware-
World. Translated by Sherif Hetata. London, 1980. Her
most famous book, covering women’s reproductive rights
ness of such issues as economic conditions and poverty, the
and the chronic abuse of women.
plight of prostitutes, and debates on democratic rights. As
Engineer, Ashgar Ali. The Rights of Women in Islam. New York,
women have become active agents in reflecting on the rules
1992; 2d ed., Chicago, 2004. A widely read example of mod-
and guarantees granted by Islam, they have triggered a wave
ernist reading of the QurDa¯n.
of self-reflection that can range from progressive Islam to Is-
Esposito, John L., with Natana J. DeLong-Bas. Women in Muslim
lamist expressions. Although in some countries women have
Family Law. Rev. ed. Syracuse, N.Y., 2001. A useful over-
had to cope with setbacks in the gender debates, their higher
view of Islamic rules concerning marriage.
levels of education have opened doors that can never be
Göle, Nilüfer. The Forbidden Modern: Civilization and Veiling.
closed. Women are not only recapturing their own history,
Ann Arbor, Mich., 1996. Studies the complex relationships
they are also shaping it, now that they can read for them-
between modernity, religion, and gender relations in the
selves what the QurDa¯n and the holy texts teach. This means
Middle East and the Western world.
that in spite of contrary images in some countries, gender
Hassan, Riffat. “Equal before Allah? Woman-Man Equality in the
discourse has changed and is still profoundly changing Mus-
Islamic Tradition.” Harvard Divinity Bulletin 17 (1987):
lim societies in all parts of the globe.
2–4. Hassan has written numerous articles in which she re-
reads texts of the QurDa¯n and the tradition that were founda-
SEE ALSO Dhikr; H:ad¯ıth; Human Rights and Religion;
tional for misogynist views on women. She has also focused
Islam, overview article; Menstruation; Mosque, article on
on Islam and human rights.
History and Tradition; Pilgrimage, article on Muslim Pil-
Ilkkaracan, Pinar, ed. Women and Sexuality in Muslim Societies. Is-
grimage; QurDa¯n, article on Its Role in Muslim Practice and
tanbul, Turkey, 2000. One of the few books that addresses
Life; Spirit Possession, article on Women and Possession;
a wider range of gender issues, such as lesbian Muslims.
Sufism.
Kandiyoti, Deniz, ed. Women, Islam, and the State. Philadelphia,
1991.
B
Karam, Azza M. Women, Islamisms, and the State: Contemporary
IBLIOGRAPHY
Abou El Fadl, Khaled. Speaking in God’s Name: Islamic Law, Au-
Feminisms in Egypt. New York, 1998. Analyzes the three le-
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vels of gender discourse in Egypt with a focus on Islamist ide-
traditionalist writing analyzing fiqh teachings about women
ologies.
in English.
Kugle, Scott Siraj al-Haqq. “Sexuality, Diversity, and Ethics in the
Agenda of Progressive Muslims.” In Progressive Muslims: On
Afkhami, Mahnaz. Faith and Freedom: Women’s Human Rights in
Justice, Gender, and Pluralism, edited by Omid Safi,
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pp. 190–234. Oxford, 2003. A detailed article that traces
Ahmed, Leila. Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a
teachings about homosexuals and “men-who-behave-like-
Modern Debate. New Haven, 1992. One of the first analyti-
women” in the QurDa¯n, the traditions (h:ad¯ıth), and fiqh.
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

GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND ZOROASTRIANISM
3371
Lucas, Marie-Aimee Helle, and Harsh Kapoor, comps. Fatwas
Tucker, Judith, ed. Arab Women: Old Boundaries, New Frontiers.
against Women in Bangladesh. Lahore, Pakistan, 1996. One
Bloomington and Indianapolis, 1993.
of several publications published by the organization
Wadud, Amina. Qur Dan and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text
Women Living under Muslim Laws, analyzing the influence
from a Woman’s Perspective. 2d ed. New York, 1999. One of
of Islamism on women’s status.
the first systematic studies by a woman that tries to reread
Mayer, Ann Elizabeth. Islam and Human Rights: Tradition and
QurDanic teachings on women.
Politics. 2d ed. London, 1995.
Webb, Gisela, ed. Windows of Faith: Muslim Women Scholar-
Mernissi, Fatima. Beyond the Veil: Male Female Dynamics in a
Activists in North America. Syracuse, N.Y., 2000. Contains
Modern Muslim Society. Bloomington and Indianapolis,
writings by several Muslims, mostly modernist feminists re-
1975.
siding in the United States, such as Riffat Hassan, Azizah al-
Mernissi, Fatima. The Veil and the Male Elite: A Feminist Interpre-
Hibri, and Amina Wadud.
tation of Women’s Rights in Islam (1987). Translated by Mary
Yamani, Mai. Feminism and Islam: Legal and Literary Perspectives.
Jo Lakeland. Reading, Mass., 1991a.
New York, 1996. Mai Yamani was the first Saudi Arabian
Mernissi, Fatima. Women and Islam: An Historical and Theological
woman to earn a doctoral degree from Oxford.
Enquiry. Oxford, 1991b.
NELLY VAN DOORN-HARDER (2005)
Mernissi, Fatima. Women’s Rebellion and Islamic Memory. Lon-
don, 1996. Mernissi’s books have been seminal in Muslim
gender discourse. She has exposed patriarchal influences on
interpretation and formation of Islamic texts and discovered
GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND
new meanings in the texts that allow for more equality in re-
ZOROASTRIANISM
lations between men and women.
The extant documents produced by members of the faith
Mir-Hosseini, Ziba. Islam and Gender: The Religious Debate in
and the nontextual materials influenced by Zoroastrian be-
Contemporary Iran. London and New York, 1999. The first
liefs substantially represent religious manifestations of male
book that discusses in detail emerging gender discourse in
discourses. Those writings and items helped contour femi-
Iran, focusing on the importance of the fiqh perspective.
nine parameters within a society that was largely patriarchal.
Roald, Anne Sofie. Women in Islam: The Western Experience. Lon-
Yet, if the present is any guide to the past, religious issues
don and New York, 2001. Investigates the ways in which Is-
must have been viewed and interpreted differently by mem-
lamic perceptions of women and gender relations tend to un-
dergo significant changes in Western Muslim communities.
bers of each gender. Likewise, ritual acts must also have been
practiced differentially by members of each gender because
Safi, Omid, ed. Progressive Muslims: On Justice, Gender, and Plu-
some female-specific rites still persist despite lack of sanction
ralism. Oxford, 2003. Contains articles by Kecia Ali and
Khaled Abou El Fadl that call for inclusion of fiqh studies
by the magi or male clergy who oversee most canonical cere-
to advance the gender discourse in Islam.
monies.
Samiuddin, Abida, and R. Khanam, eds. Muslim Feminism and
HISTORY OF THE STUDY. When gender issues were initially
Feminist Movement. Delhi, 2002. A series of nine volumes
addressed in scholarly studies of Zoroastrianism, a picture
that attempts to chart feminist activities throughout the
quite different to societal realities was generated. Zoroastri-
Muslim world. The contributions are uneven in quality, but
anism was depicted as a faith embodying many Enlighten-
its size testifies to the intensity of feminist activism.
ment and Protestant values, whose male and female followers
Schimmel, Annemarie. My Soul Is a Woman: The Feminine Is
had long been equal. The female gender was routinely held
Islam. Translated by Susan H. Ray. New York, 1997.
in a most dignified position, and any negative statements or
Smith, Margaret. Muslim Women Mystics: The Life and Work of
imagery were deviations from orthodox tradition. So when
Rabi Ea and Other Women Mystics in Islam. Oxford, 2001.
women were discussed, directly or inter alia, the tone reflect-
Suad, Joseph, ed. Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures. Lei-
ed laudation for gender equality. That conclusion became
den, New York, and Cologne, 2004. The first volume of this
well entrenched in scholarship and continues in more recent
continuing publication deals with “Methodologies, Para-
studies. When it has come under question, there have been
digms, and Sources.” This work testifies to the immensity of
staunch defenses tinged with apologia. There are more tradi-
the developments that are taking place within the study of
tional discussions of gender-related questions, as well. Some
gender in Islam.
such works are broadly based. Others focus on narrower
Svenson, Jonas. Women’s Human Rights and Islam: A Study of
themes such as the Achaemenid period, the Sassanid dynasty,
Three Attempts at Accommodation. Lund, Sweden, 2000. Ex-
and modern times or on such issues as religious archetypes,
amines Muslim participation in the international debate
rituals, iconography, incest, law, clothing, and art.
about women’s human rights by analyzing the methods em-
ployed in interpreting religious sources in the works of the
On the other hand, certain recent expansive examina-
religious studies scholar Riffat Hassan, sociologist Fatima
tions—on trends in Zoroastrianism, contemporary Parsis
Mernissi, and legal studies and human rights scholar Abdul-
communities in India, and doctrines of purity and rites of
lahi Ahmed an-Na’im.
purification—are informed by gender theory and methodol-
Toubia, Nahid, ed. Women of the Arab World: The Coming Chal-
ogy. Furthermore, studies on misogyny within scripture and
lenge. Translated by Nahed El Gamal. London, 1988.
theology, differential ritual requirements and actions, access
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND ZOROASTRIANISM
and goals of education, and present-day demographic pat-
Among them, Haurvata¯t (Horda¯d, Khorda¯d), “integrity,
terns are gradually reshaping the parameters for research on
wholeness,” and Amereta¯t (Amurda¯d, Awerda¯d), “immortal-
Zoroastrianism. So too are studies on classical stereotypes in-
ity, rejuvenation,” were the female spirits thought to counter
fluencing views of ancient Iranian society.
thirst and hunger plus heal and restore all good creatures to
INFLUENCE OF DOCTRINE. Gender-based aspects in Zoroas-
order, through their personification of liquids and vegetation
trian doctrine are multifaceted, complex, and at times con-
respectively (Tishtar Yasht 8.47, Zamya¯d Yasht 19.96). By
tradictory. Study of the religion’s ancient history through its
medieval times their gender affiliation began shifting toward
earliest texts is complicated by the Avestan language’s root
neuter entities whose function was society’s “protection
nouns being grammatically feminine. But the religion’s earli-
through wholeness and immortality” (D¯enkard, “Acts of the
est practitioners began anthropomorphizing abstract con-
Religion,” ninth century, pp. 415, 416). Spenta A¯rmaiti
cepts and attributing biological or natural genders to those
(Spandarmad, Aspandarmad), who personified “holy devo-
concepts. As a result, the divine and demonic spirits of Zoro-
tion,” serves as the spiritual mother of life and an ensurer of
astrianism display gender-specific characteristics that shaped
fertility. Veneration of all three—Haurvata¯t, Amereta¯t, and
how devotees viewed their societies and the roles of men and
Spenta A¯rmaiti—still remains central to both male and fe-
women.
male Zoroastrians.
The basic doctrinal dichotomy within Zoroastrianism
Opposing the yazatas, spirits worthy of worship in Zo-
is between asha (arta, arda¯) or “order” equated to “righteous-
roastrian belief, stand da¯evas (d¯ews) or demonic spirits allied
ness,” opposing druj or drug (druz) “confusion,” equated to
with Angra Mainyu. Prominent among those evil entities is
“evil” (Ga¯tha¯s 30.3–6, 45.2). Asha is grammatically neuter,
thought to be A¯zi (A¯z), “concupiscence, lust.” Although
whereas druj is feminine. Two primordial eternal entities are
bearing a grammatically masculine epithet, “demon-
believed to have chosen between order and confusion: Spenta
spawned,” in the Avesta, by medieval times A¯zi had come to
Mainyu (Spe¯na¯g Me¯no¯g) or the holy spirit, equated with
be regarded as the mistress of demonic hordes that ravage hu-
Ahura Mazda¯ (O
¯ hrmazd), “the wise lord,” or creator—now
manity. By then, she was firmly associated in Zoroastrian
regarded as God—for making the religiously appropriate
cosmogony with the downfall and demise of the primeval an-
choice, and Angra Mainyu (Ahreman, Ahriman, Gana¯g
drogyne named Gayo¯ Maretan (Gayo¯mard). She was de-
Me¯no¯g), “the angry spirit,” or destroyer—now regarded as
nounced by medieval Zoroastrian writers as the “most mal-
the devil—for not deciding rightly. The grammatical gender
content and rapacious” and “most oppressive of demonic
of Ahura Mazda¯/Spenta Mainyu, and Angra Mainyu/Gana¯g
spirits” whose “covetous eye is limitless.” Only with the ad-
Me¯no¯g were transformed into biological gender as male dur-
vent of modern science has the A¯zi’s hold on Zoroastrian
ing personification of the concepts that each represented—
piety declined to simply a word for greed, paralleling use of
and depicted as such on rock reliefs commissioned by Sassa-
the term a¯z in New Persian. Perceived as even more danger-
nid monarchs.
ous an embodiment of lust was a da¯eva known as Jahika¯
Druj also became a designation for demonic creatures
(Je¯h). Mentioned only briefly in the Avesta, during the Sassa-
in general—that is, those spirits who had chosen to do
nid period (third to seventh centuries) she was transformed
harm—and for specific manifestations of evil. In its broadest
by the magi into the mistress and assistant of Angra Mainyu.
sense, that word was utilized both in masculine and feminine
It was the Je¯h who supposedly reinvigorated Angra Mainyu
grammatical gender; yet many of the druj were regarded as
after the initial battle with Ahura Mazda¯, then introduced
female. One specific materialization was supposed to be
lust to humanity. Therefore, this demoness came to be
Drukhsh Nasush (Druz ¯ı Nasush), or the ghoul of corpses
viewed as the primordial j¯eh, “whore.”
and carrion. Zoroastrians in antiquity, the Middle Ages, and
IMPACT OF MYTHOLOGY. The dualism between order and
premodern times clearly viewed her as a demoness who
confusion that shaped both doctrines and gender perceptions
preyed upon humans, polluted their bodies after death, and
left its imprint on cosmogony, apocalyptic, and eschatology
spread that pollution to the living. Grammatically feminine,
as well. The first human couple, Mashya, or man, and
Drukhsh Nasush would still be denounced in the late seven-
Mashya¯na, or woman, who were born from Gayo¯ Maretan’s
teenth century as “the most impudent, constantly polluting,
semen, are believed to have succumbed to lying and worship-
and deceptive of all the demonic spirits” (New Persian
ing da¯evas, resulting in their damnation. Mashya¯na, in par-
Farziya¯t na¯me, Book of Obligatory Duties, p. 10). By the eigh-
ticular, was blamed for the act of demon worship. This tale,
teenth century, the hold that druj had on Zoroastrian dia-
influenced in part by the biblical story of Adam and Eve, re-
bology had begun to decline in the wake of science. Yet even
sulted in words of admonishment directed at all women—
today, the notion of druj persists as a symbol of evil among
past, present, and future—attributed to Ahura Mazda¯: “If I
Zoroastrian generally, while Drukhsh Nasush is still regarded
had found another vessel from which to produce man, I
as a potential source of impurity that vitiates rituals.
would never have created you.” That rebuke also urged
Another fundamental aspect of doctrine where gender
women to be wary of Jahika¯ because “sexual intercourse is
dichotomies emerged was the heptad known as the amesha
for you [women] like the taste of the sweetest food.” Jahika¯
spentas, or holy immortal spirits linked to Ahura Mazda¯.
was said to have mated with Angra Mainyu to “defile women
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND ZOROASTRIANISM
3373
so that they in turn could corrupt men and cause abandon-
ies like Mumbai and in the Pakistani city of Kara¯chi—in
ment of appropriate duties.”
favor of inhumation because of an attenuation in diabology
and an inability to practice exposure of corpses in Iran and
Such ideas justified a medieval misogyny. Therefore, al-
Western countries.
though men were enjoined that the ideal women were physi-
cally persons whose “head, buttocks, and neck are shapely,
The origin of a female biological process, menstruation,
feet are small, waist is slender, breasts are like quinces, eyes
came to be explained by medieval diabology rather than
are like almonds, and hair is black, shiny, and long,” they
physiology. Menstruation was said to have begun when
were also urged to ensure that wives were “chaste, of solid
Jahika¯ revived Angra Mainyu in hell after the devil had been
faith, and modest” (Pahlavi Texts 117).
initially defeated by Ahura Mazda¯. Upon being comforted
Negative attitudes toward women based on glorification
by Jahika¯, the devil “arose from his stupor, kissed her face,
of female physicality and denunciation of female sexuality
and the pollution called menstruation appeared on her”
shaped Zoroastrian ideas on the afterlife. According to one
(Bundahishn 4.5). Using lust as a tool, Jahika¯ supposedly
late Young Avestan text, the soul of a righteous Zoroastrian
transferred menstruation to Mashya¯na and all subsequent
will be greeted by his religious da¯ena¯ (d¯en), “conscience,” in
generations of women. Consequently, menses became in reli-
the form of “a beautiful girl, glorious, well-shaped, statu-
gious terms a periodic sign of women’s affliction by evil.
esque, with prominent breasts” who would lead him to para-
Likewise, because blood and afterbirth tissue were also feared
dise or heaven (Hado¯kht Nask 2.9), a theme echoed in Mid-
as falling under Drukhsh Nasush’s control and becoming
dle Persian exegesis. The soul of an unrighteous Zoroastrian
pollutants, procreation—which was otherwise regarded as a
would encounter his da¯ena¯ “in the form of the naked Jahika¯”
religiously meritorious function for bringing new devotees to
who was described as a noxious creature. Beauty and sensual-
life—took on negative aspects. To prevent women from ritu-
ity became rewards, together with palaces, gardens, and
ally polluting men and precincts during menstruation and
fountains, for those men who upheld asha while alive. No
after childbirth, they were isolated, then underwent purifica-
premodern scriptural or exegetical passages refer directly to
tory ablutions. These customs have largely fallen into disuse
women encountering their da¯ena¯s after death. Only in mod-
in modern times.
ern Zoroastrian thought, with the breakdown of gender-
The most dramatic consequence of associating female
particular ideas about the afterlife to more abstract notions,
physiology with demonology was the exclusion of women
has it become acceptable to assume that women too encoun-
from all ranks of the magi or hereditary male clerical class.
ter their consciences as manifestations of good or bad deeds.
The barrier against ordination into the priesthood still re-
Ancient Zoroastrian writings about the afterlife also in-
mains firm worldwide. Texts have even suggested that mar-
cluded the idea of judgment after death preceding consign-
ried women fulfill obligatory prayers through daily service to
ment to heaven, limbo, or hell. During medieval and pre-
their families. As a result, women’s religiosity has been chan-
modern times, Middle Persian commentaries and miniature
neled into female-specific rites such as the ever-popular visit-
paintings on the inhabitants of heaven and hell presented a
ing of pirs, or shrines, and making of sofres, or votive offerings
disproportionate number of women condemned to suffer at
in Iran. Among the Parsis of modern India, women religious
the hands of demons in hell until the final resurrection.
leaders have emerged within the Ilm-e Khshnum mystical
Those images reinforced the notion that women were more
movement and, further from the mainstream, in a Nag Ra¯ni,
prone to evil behaviors, including sexual profligacy, adultery,
or cobra queen, cult.
impurity, idolatry, sorcery, and strife. The popularity of such
CHANGING GENDER RELATIONS WITHIN SOCIETY. In an-
ideas began to attenuate only in the twentieth century, as
cient times, authority within the home lay with the elder
part of a larger decline in diabology and religious-based mi-
male of each household. It was prayed that a wife would give
sogyny among economically, educationally, and socially up-
birth to illustrious sons, a practice continued by traditionalist
ward-mobile Parsis and Irani (or Iranian) Zoroastrians.
Parsis and Irani women today through recitation of the Ho¯m
CONSEQUENTIAL REGULATIONS AND RITUALS. Owing to
Yasht, “Devotional Poem to Haoma.” By the age of fifteen,
the impurity associated with corpses through the demoness
all boys and girls would be initiated into the religion and re-
Nasush, and because Zoroastrians regard earth, fire, water,
garded as adults for religious and legal purposes—still stan-
and earth as holy creations by Ahura Mazda¯, bodies would
dard among all Zoroastrian communities worldwide. At that
not be buried at land or sea nor cremated. So, the magi devel-
age, girls were also regarded as marriageable. Marriage in-
oped a disposal system in which human corpses would be
volved obtaining the consent of a woman’s parents. During
given final rites, including purification, then exposed—
the Achaemenid period (seventh to fourth centuries BCE), the
initially in remote areas, subsequently in funerary towers
tauma¯, or family, continued as the central focus of domestic
open to the sky—until the flesh had been desiccated or con-
life. Women’s participation in Zoroastrian religious rites be-
sumed by wild animals (as first noted by Herodotos, the
fore fire altars is attested by very occasional images on seals.
fifth-century BCE Greek historian). These practices contin-
Yet women were not always required to follow the faith of
ued among many Zoroastrian communities until the eigh-
their husbands. So non-Zoroastrian women married to Zo-
teenth century but have declined—except in large Indian cit-
roastrian noblemen seem to have continued their own devo-
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND ZOROASTRIANISM
tions. Private intergender relations in Parthian (third century
The status of Zoroastrian women, first among the Parsis
BCE to third century CE) and Sassanid (third to seventh cen-
and then among the Iranis, began major reorientation
turies) times seem to have conformed largely to previously
through access to Western-style secular education in the
established tenets. Women were expected to have remained
nineteenth century. Initially, girls were educated at home by
virginal until marriage. Induced abortions were forbidden
tutors. School-level education became widespread for both
because children were regarded as new devotees. Sexual inter-
genders in India by the early 1900s and quickly extended to
course with a pregnant woman was forbidden in case harm
the university level. Among the Parsis in particular, English
occurred to the developing fetus.
became the language of rapidly urbanizing and secularizing
In late antiquity and the early Middle Ages, Zoroastrian
families. By 1931, 73 percent of Parsis women were literate.
women were generally not required to veil themselves when
By the 1980s, 68 percent of Parsis women held university
venturing outside their residences. Nor did the art of the Sas-
degrees. Educated Parsis women began entering the econom-
sanid period depict specific women with overt sensuality—
ic workforce, mingling with both Zoroastrians and non-
they were usually depicted modestly wearing flowing robes.
Zoroastrians on a regular basis. Similar processes took place
However, generic representations of women on metalwork
among Iranis in the twentieth century. These women have
and stonework in particular were highly sensual, with figures
began choosing professional careers over marriage and do-
often partially clad or nude. Under the laws of Sassanid Iran,
mesticity, resulting in close to a quarter of them remaining
based on medieval Zoroastrian beliefs, each woman’s consent
unmarried by the 1980s. Both within the traditional home-
had to be obtained at least technically prior to a marriage
lands—Iran and India—of Zoroastrianism and within the
contract being entered into on her behalf by a male guardian.
new diaspora communities in the West that formed in the
A wife’s legal standing within her husband’s household de-
twentieth century, women remain the predominant sustain-
pended, among other factors, on her own social class prior
ers and transmitters of religiosity from one generation to the
to marriage, the stipulations of the marriage contract, and
next. More Zoroastrian women (75 percent) practice reli-
whether she gave birth to sons for her husband. Ranks
gious rites daily than do men (60 percent). Additionally,
among wives included those of pa¯dixsha¯y, or “lawful, main
through prominent roles in the lay leadership at communal
wife”; chagar, or “dependent, levirate wife”; xwasra¯y, or “self-
centers and through service as editors of the most widely read
sufficient, independent, wife” who had chosen her own hus-
and influential Zoroastrian newsletters—such as FEZANA
band; and ayo¯k¯en, or “ancillary wife,” specifically a woman
Journal in North America and Parsiana in the Indian sub-
whose male children through the marriage were legal succes-
continent—they play a major function in directing attention
sors to her father or brother. While polygyny as a religiously
to socioreligious issues impacting on both genders and in
sanctioned practice was attested among Zoroastrians from
championing religious reform.
ancient times, the evidence for polyandry, on the other hand,
SEE ALSO Ahura Mazda¯ and Angra Mainyu; Eschatology,
is so meager as to demonstrate its observance was highly un-
overview article; Indo-European Religions; Iranian Reli-
usual among Zoroastrians. Polygyny was phased out by the
gions; Menstruation; Parsis; Purification; Zoroastrianism.
faith’s leaders during the early 1900s as a practice no longer
in conformity with modernity.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Most taxing on medieval Zoroastrian women were the
Billimoria, H. M. Attitude of Parsi Women to Marriage. Bombay,
beliefs equating menstruation with impurity, and the isola-
1991.
tion practices involved. These seem to have been some fac-
Boyce, Mary. A History of Zoroastrianism, 2d ed. Vol. 1. Leiden,
tors that influenced Irani Zoroastrian women’s conversion
1989.
to Islam between the eighth and thirteenth centuries CE. An-
Brosius, Maria. Women in Ancient Persia: 559–331 BC. Oxford,
other factor was that of Zoroastrian women adopting the
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faith of their Muslim husbands.
Choksy, Jamsheed K. Purity and Pollution in Zoroastrianism: Tri-
umph over Evil. Austin, Tex., 1989.
Attitudinal change, spurred on by secularization and
westernization, has produced new challenges for orthodox
Choksy, Jamsheed K. Evil, Good, and Gender: Facets of the Femi-
nine in Zoroastrian Religious History. New York, 2002.
religious practices. One main issue of recent concern to Zo-
roastrians is the status of children born to women married
Choksy, Jamsheed K. “Women during the Transition from Sasa-
nian to Early Islamic Times.” In Women in Iran from the Rise
to men of other faiths. The traditional, patriarchal structure
of Islam to 1800, edited by G. Nashat and L. Beck,
of Zoroastrianism has generally accepted the children of a
pp. 48–67. Urbana, Ill., 2003.
Zoroastrian father and non-Zoroastrian mother, but not vice
Culpepper, Emily E. “Zoroastrian Menstruation Taboos: A
versa. Many Zoroastrian women in the United States, Cana-
Women’s Studies Perspective.” In Women and Religion: Pa-
da, England, and Australia have begun raising their children
pers of the Working Group on Women and Religion 1972–
as Zoroastrians, taking them to religious classes and fire tem-
1973, edited by J. Plaskow and J. A. Romero, pp. 199–210.
ples and having them initiated into the faith by liberal magi.
Chambersburg, Pa., 1974.
Such initiations are not recognized by a majority of Zoroas-
Gould, Ketayun H. “Outside the Discipline, Inside the Experi-
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remains highly controversial.
edited by A. Sharma, pp. 139–182. Albany, N.Y., 1994.
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Gould, Ketayun H. “Zarathushti, Zoroastrian, Parsi: Women in
Akkadian. Some half-million cuneiform tablets recovered
Zarathushti Din, Zoroastrianism.” In Women in Indian Reli-
from ruined cities, supplemented by archaeological discover-
gions, edited by A. Sharma, pp. 134–165. New Delhi, 2002.
ies, have been the main sources of information about ancient
Hjerrild, Bodil. Studies in Zoroastrian Law: A Comparative Analy-
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sis. Copenhagen, 2003.
Ugarit on the northeastern Mediterranean coast is one
Jamzadeh, Laal, and Margaret Mills. “Iranian Sofreh: From Col-
of several Bronze Age cities in north Syria (also among them
lective to Female Ritual.” In Gender and Religion: On the
are Ebla, Emar, and Alalakh) with rich caches of cuneiform
Complexity of Symbols, edited by C. W. Bynum, S. Harrell,
texts written in Akkadian or Ugaritic, a Semitic language re-
and P. Richman, pp. 23–65. Boston, 1986.
lated to Hebrew. Each Syrian city and its temples reflect a
Jong, Albert de. “Je¯h the Primal Whore? Observations on Zoroas-
mix of Mesopotamian, Hittite, north Syrian, and local tradi-
trian Misogyny.” In Female Stereotypes in Religious Tradi-
tions. In Syria as in Mesopotamia, family religion centered
tions, edited by R. Kloppenborg and W. J. Hanegraaff,
on a patron deity and ancestral spirits.
pp. 15–41. Leiden, 1995.
GENDER IN ANCIENT NEAR EAST STUDIES. A systematic
Luhrmann, Tanya M. The Good Parsi: The Fate of a Colonial Elite
study of gender and religion in Mesopotamia or northern
in a Postcolonial Society. Cambridge, Mass., 1996.
Syria has yet to be written. Assyriology, the technical (albeit
Rose, Jenny. “The Traditional Role of Women in the Iranian and
imprecise) term for the study of ancient Mesopotamia, has
Indian (Parsi) Zoroastrian Communities from the Nine-
been only minimally affected by gender analysis. Beyond in-
teenth to the Twentieth Century.” Journal of the K. R. Cama
nate conservatism, the abundance of available data, especially
Oriental Institute 56 (1989): 1–103.
textual data, can daunt the most stouthearted of Assyriolo-
Rose, Jenny. “Three Queens, Two Wives, and a Goddess: Roles
gists. The genealogy of gender studies in Assyriology begins
and Images of Women in Sassanian Iran.” In Women in the
in the 1970s with feminist scholars who focused on the re-
Medieval Islamic World: Power, Patronage, and Piety, edited
trieval of women’s lives in textual and archaeological sources.
by G. R. G. Hambly, pp. 29–54. New York, 1998.
Studies of women at Ugarit and other north Syrian cities
Sancisi-Weerdenburg, Heleen. “Exit Atossa: Images of Women in
have barely ventured beyond this level of inquiry largely be-
Greek Historiography on Persia.” In Images of Women in An-
cause so much data is still lacking. Although only men are
tiquity, edited by A. Cameron and A. Kuhrt, pp. 20–33, 303.
mentioned as praying at Ugarit, one cannot conclude women
2d ed. Detroit, 1993.
did not pray, for example.
JAMSHEED K. CHOKSY (2005)
Since the late 1980s a growing number of Assyriologists
have demonstrated an awareness that gender and sexuality
are human creations, or “constructions,” operating within a
GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND
social matrix of power relations, a matrix in which religion
ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN RELIGIONS
is an active ingredient. Assyriologists have begun to question
The remarkable continuity of Mesopotamian civilization can
their own scholarly assumptions, categories, and methodolo-
be traced in its literature, public architecture, and city plan-
gies, acknowledging that even ostensibly objective works—
ning from the late fourth millennium BCE, when, almost si-
the standard dictionary of Akkadian, for example—exhibit
multaneously, urbanism and writing appeared, to 323 BCE
gender bias. As such, gender theory promises to open up new
and the death of Alexander the Great in Babylon. Mesopota-
directions of inquiry. For example, gender is not marked in
mia’s economic base was agricultural, but the social founda-
Sumerian; however, in literary Sumerian, goddesses use a dis-
tion was the city, embodied by the temple of the city god
tinct dialect called Emesal whose dynamics might be clarified
or goddess. Prosperity depended on a two-way relationship
by the application of gender theory. Archaeologists, too, have
in which divine benevolence was encouraged by correct
set aside their earlier confidence that artifacts are value-
human ritual and ethical behavior. The largest temples
neutral, for they are aware that ideology and biases of many
owned much of the city’s lands and employed thousands of
types inform the questions asked in the process of excavation
people. From the end of the third millennium, kings asserted
and data analysis.
enough control over temples that important religious estab-
THE NATURE OF THE EVIDENCE. Textual sources for god-
lishments became political extensions of the palace. The
desses and the religious experience of women in Mesopota-
religious lives of common people, however, revolved around
mia include traditional mythological texts, liturgical hymns
the patriarchal family’s ancestral spirits and patron god or
and temple liturgies, god lists, offering lists, omen lists, vo-
goddess.
tive dedications, seal inscriptions, and personal and place
names. With far fewer texts from north Syrian cities such as
The earliest writings from Mesopotamia are in Sumeri-
Ugarit, Alalakh, or Emar, the application of gender theory
an, a linguistic orphan unrelated to any known language. By
there constitutes a greater challenge.
the middle of the third millennium, however, Akkadian, a
Semitic language related to Hebrew, began to displace Sume-
Writing was invented to manage and control economic
rian. Cuneiform, a wedge-shaped script written on clay tab-
records. However, almost simultaneously, writing became an
lets, was invented by the Sumerians but adapted for writing
instrument for managing and controlling society. Thus, texts
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN RELIGIONS
preserve traditions about deities and kings, but they do not
In the old Akkadian period (2350–2150 BCE) some 39
necessarily represent the experience or mindset of the average
percent of city deities were female. Yet by the middle of the
Mesopotamian or Ugaritian whose temples were run by the
second millennium, most of the leading goddesses seem to
city’s upper class. Cuneiform texts generally reflect the con-
have been eclipsed by male gods. The tradition of goddesses
cerns of an exclusive group of male elites from royal, admin-
as creators did not disappear, but, except for Inanna/Ishtar,
istrative, and/or land-holding circles who either could read
male deities came to dominate the world of the gods. The
themselves or employed scribes. Few women, even in the
reasons for this are debated; a leading theory connected the
third millennium when the goddess Nisaba was the patron
transformation with the rising power of Semitic populations
of scribes, were literate, and still fewer became scribes. Never-
whose chief deity was the warrior storm god. More recently,
theless, the same administrative system that produced the
scholars suspicious of ethnic arguments and aware of the role
texts affected every level of society.
gender can play in the discourse of power have looked in-
Archaeologists’ interests have in the past mirrored the
stead to changes in political structure with the rise of milita-
subjects of the texts they excavated: temples and palaces, city
rism. When Sargon of Akkad (2334–2279 BCE) united the
plans and fortifications, elite burials. However, beginning in
Mesopotamian cities into the first empire, a new imperialist/
the 1960s, archaeologists began to investigate the ecology of
royalist discourse, in which human women and goddesses
the cultivated countryside, diet, domestic architecture, and
had less influence, entered the Mesopotamian consciousness.
gendered space in the farmhouses, city neighborhoods, tem-
The exclusion of women may relate to their exclusion from
ples, and palaces. These new avenues of inquiry complement
warfare; Inanna/Ishtar’s continued prominence is explained
the data from cylinder seals, amulets, votive sculpture, and
by her association with war. It is unclear, however, whether
figurines that provide a visual record of gendered imagery in
the disappearance of goddesses from texts of this period re-
the ancient Near East. Mesopotamian grave goods, personal
flects a change in popular perception, or a conscious attempt
ornament, body image, and nudity have all been subjects of
to shape a new “imperialist” ideology.
gender theory-based studies.
The three most prominent north Syrian goddesses in
GODDESSES, WOMEN, AND POWER. Twentieth-century
the second millennium texts—Asherah, Anat, and Astarte—
scholars under the influence of Sir James Frazer’s The Golden
are usually described as fertility goddesses. Asherah was con-
Bough believed that ancient Near Eastern religion centered
sort of the high god, El; Anat, sister and consort of the storm
on a “cult of fertility” characterized by lurid sexuality, an im-
god, Baal, was also goddess of war. Baal was also paired with
pression informed more by the fantasies of male scholars
Astarte. At Ugarit, unlike in Mesopotamia, the sun was a
than by the data, although, to be fair, this view derived ulti-
goddess, Shapshu, who was associated with wisdom and life
mately from biblical discourse against non-Israelite religion
and death transitions and also controlled human fate and
and from Herodotos. Fertility is now considered to be one
ruled the world of lesser divinities. The goddess Usharaya su-
of many interwoven principles in ancient Near Eastern reli-
pervised oaths, justice, and divination, the latter an exclusive-
gion, just as scholars recognize three interconnected spheres
ly male profession in the human realm. Ugaritic texts men-
of religious activity: temple/priest religion, royal religion,
tion only royal women as sacrificing or otherwise officiating
and folk/popular religion. Of the three, popular religion
in the cult, reinforcing the impression, from a probably
seems to have been the primary locus of female religious ac-
skewed text-base, that official religion reinforced the ideolo-
tivity. Also untenable today are claims (uncritically endorsed
gy of royal religion.
by the contemporary “goddess movement”) that ancient
Near Eastern goddesses could be equated with one original
As the second millennium progressed in Mesopotamia,
divine “Mother,” or that all goddesses’ powers derived from
even royal women lost their former high positions in the cult,
their biology. Across the ancient Near East, both male and
just as so many goddesses seem to have lost theirs. Inanna/
female deities bestowed fertility.
Ishtar’s ongoing popularity has been attributed not only to
her martial qualities but also to her gender-transgressive na-
Four deities of one family consistently lead Mesopota-
ture; in her physical violence, insatiable sexual appetite, free-
mian god lists: An/Anu (father and sky god); Ellil/Enlil (god
dom from pregnancy, and flouting of patriarchal family
of kingship and executive action); Enki/Ea (god of wisdom
mores, the divine Inanna defines by negative example the
and fresh water); and Inanna/Ishtar (goddess of sexual love
proper behavior of mortal women in a patriarchal society—a
and war). In the third millennium there were a multitude of
dynamic that also underlies the Greek Amazon tradition. In
prominent goddesses besides Inanna, some with family-
first-millennium Assyria, for example, Ishtar was preemi-
based roles such as mother (e.g., Ninhursaga), spouse (e.g.,
nent, but women were not. In the visual record, too, women
Ninlil), or sister (e.g., Geshtinanna). Other goddesses super-
appear less often.
vised activities such as grain cultivation, sheep herding, writ-
ing, weaving, and pottery and jewelry making. Gula was one
The Babylonian Enuma elish, the most famous Mesopo-
of several healing goddesses (male gods brought pestilence);
tamian creation myth (dating to the second half of the sec-
divination, purification, and supplication all had patron god-
ond millennium), serves as a central witness to this so-called
desses. The queen of the underworld was Ereshkigal, Inan-
marginalization of the goddesses. This was an essentially po-
na’s sister.
litical myth exalting Babylon, its god Marduk, and kingship.
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN RELIGIONS
3377
In the myth the gods are created first, beginning with a sexu-
affirming an alliance between the human and divine royal
al mingling between the goddess/matrix Tiamat (salt water)
families. In Emar, the Nin-Dingir priestess, chosen from a
and the god Apsu (fresh water). In the second part of the
leading family, “married” the storm god, but only through
myth, the active younger generation of gods disturbs the
symbolic ritual gestures, and here, too, the marriage ritual re-
more passive Apsu and Tiamat and, roused to anger, Apsu
inforced social integration among the elites of the city.
tries unsuccessfully to destroy them. Tiamat marches out
SEXUALITY, FERTILITY, AND CREATION. In Mesopotamian
with her army to avenge her spouse’s defeat. As the other
mythology creation comes about by procreation or by manu-
younger gods quail, Marduk taunts them for fearing to fight
facture. The Enuma elish includes both techniques. In the
a woman, and he becomes king by single-handedly battling
earliest Sumerian sources of the third millennium, creation
Tiamat to the death. His victory is narrated in language rem-
resulted when the god An (heaven) and the goddess Ki
iniscent of rape, with phallic arrows flying into Tiamat’s
(earth) “talked” to each other; a slightly later text celebrates
mouth to pierce her distended belly. Marduk creates the or-
the goddess Nammu (subterranean waters) as the creator
dered universe from Tiamat’s carcass and sets up a barrier to
“who gave birth to the universe.” Another story tells how
confine Tiamat’s waters, now considered to be the embodi-
Enki created the world by modeling bits of clay, the same
ment of chaos. Goddesses are absent from all the creative ac-
technique used by mother goddesses Nammu and Aruru to
tivity that follows the killing of Tiamat. Tiamat, acknowl-
create humans. Different Mesopotamian myths credit vari-
edged at one point in the myth as “she who gave birth to
ous male and female deities with the creation of humans; in
them all,” may represent the religious order of Mesopota-
the Enuma elish the god Ea (Sumerian Enki) fashions hu-
mia’s past when goddesses and women enjoyed more power.
mans to free the gods from work. Two Sumerian myths,
Nevertheless, it is far from clear whether Mesopotamian
“Enki and Ninmah” and “Enki and Ninhursag,” describe a
worship of powerful female deities correlates with higher sta-
fertility contest between Enki and a mother goddess. The
tus for mortal women. On the one hand, in Sumer each city
first story ends by acknowledging the necessity for semen and
god or goddess was “married” to a human of the opposite
womb alike, but Enki, the male principle, triumphs in the
sex called an En who administered the temple. There is also
second.
evidence for women (notably Enmebaragesi of Kish) ruling
In Syria, too, both goddesses and gods are associated
in their own name rather than as wife of a king. On the other
with creation and fertility. Although no Ugaritic creation
hand, according to Sumerian and Akkadian royal ideology,
myth has yet been identified, El was creator of all and Ashe-
the king ruled by virtue of being the chosen spouse of Inan-
rah was progenitress of the gods. In mythic texts Baal and
na, a case of a man empowered by a female deity. A woman
El rather than fertility goddesses bestow children on their
could achieve priestly power and status as En of a prominent
human (male) protégés. Anat, like Inanna/Ishtar, trans-
male—not female—city god. Enheduanna, daughter of Sar-
gressed gender conventions with her extravagant violence
gon of Akkad and perhaps the first named author in history,
and exuberant sensuality.
was the En of Nanna, the moon god at Ur, and supervised
his temple. On a contemporary votive disk from Ur she over-
Among gods and humans fertility depended upon male
sees a ritual, accompanied by a male priest and two male at-
sperm and divine blessing, yet goddesses and female spirits
tendants. Yet Enheduanna’s authority, like that of her En
ensured safe pregnancy and childbirth in both Mesopotamia
grandnieces, must also be assessed through the lens of her
and Ugarit. Mesopotamian divination texts and women’s pe-
royal status and Sargon’s political policies.
titionary prayers for pregnancy—to deities of both sexes—
express an anxiety that sin on the woman’s part has caused
Sacred marriage (Hieros gamos), perhaps the most fa-
her infertility. On the other hand, men were likely to blame
mous Mesopotamian religious ritual, represented an empow-
their own sexual dysfunction on women, perceiving dangers
ering union of the human and the divine. It served politically
from female power out of proportion to women’s marginal
to demonstrate the king’s leading role in mediating social
status; the problem could be the Evil Eye, a female bird-like
and political harmony, of which fertility was one essential as-
creature, or it could be gender-inappropriate behavior, such
pect. Into the early second millennium the ritual may have
as the woman on top in sexual intercourse, or it could be
involved an actual act of sexual intercourse between the king
witchcraft, a power associated with women as well as foreign
and a human representative of the goddess Inanna. However,
men or other socially marginal groups.
the failure of scholars, despite their best efforts, to determine
the identity of Inanna’s surrogate suggests the ritual may
A careful reading of mythological texts reveals distinc-
have been a poetic metaphor. In later centuries the sacred
tive sexualities for men and women. The lyrics of the Sumeri-
marriage rite flourished, but as an explicitly symbolic en-
an Love Songs celebrating the courtship of Inanna and her
counter centered on the cult statue.
consort, Dumuzi, arguably speak in a “woman’s voice,” em-
ploying a feminine discourse of sexuality that exults in the
Several Ugaritic ritual texts (all of the second millenni-
pleasures of the vulva. Popular (male) expressions of sexuality
um) hint at a symbolic sacred marriage between the king and
are more evident. In Sumerian texts gods (notably Enki/Ea)
Pidray, daughter of the royal family’s patron deity, Baal. The
satisfy their supercharged sex drives by raping goddesses.
marriage, as in Mesopotamia, served the political purpose of
Therapeutic metaphors based on animal sexual behavior pre-
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN RELIGIONS
dominate in male potency incantations. Frustrated by love,
vast temple and palace complexes that functioned essentially
a man could resort to sexually explicit love magic, and de-
as wealthy extended households. These institutions were usu-
spite claims to the contrary in modern anthologies, no such
ally headed by men, but women—both enslaved and free—
texts can be interpreted unambiguously as expressions of fe-
contributed as agricultural workers, craftspeople, and cultic
male desire.
functionaries, particularly dancers and singers. (At Ugarit,
THE COMPLEXITIES OF “PATRIARCHAL” CULTURE. In Mes-
nonroyal women appear only as cult musicians.) Temples
opotamia and Syria the patriarchal family (bit abim—
also supported destitute widows and the poor who had
“father’s house”) was the essential construct of social order,
“given” themselves to the deity. How these women’s “profes-
operative no less in the king’s court or divine households.
sional lives” should be understood in the context of the patri-
Families were patrilinear (descent traced through the father)
archal family is unclear.
and patrilocal (the wife lives with her husband’s family). In
Whereas scholars formerly saw female “sacred prosti-
contrast to the modern concept of the person as an indepen-
tutes” all over the Near East, they now detect a complex
dent individual, each man or woman shared a family group
range of female cultic offices whose exact nature remains elu-
identity, a notable factor when considering gender and sexu-
sive. Terms once thought to refer to “sacred” prostitution are
ality. The paterfamilias maintained and managed the family’s
now understood to describe women who worked in the cult
property, which included the sexuality and fertility of its
establishment. Some may have been prostitutes not because
women as well as family honor, an essential, if intangible so-
the cult required ritual sex but because of monetary vows
cial currency. Although society condemned a wife who en-
women, even married women, had made to the deity in ex-
gaged in sex outside of marriage, married men could resort
change for a pregnancy, cure from illness, or other favor.
to prostitutes of both sexes without legal sanction.
Some female cult functionaries, such as the Sumerian female
Marriage, even the sacred marriage, was a social and eco-
Ens or Old Babylonian naditu priestesses, were “dedicated to
nomic contract between two families. Religion played a role
the god” and barred from childbearing.
in the wedding ceremonies, most visibly when the bride re-
In Mesopotamia and north Syria, only men were profes-
linquished her own family gods and ancestors along with her
sional incantation priests, exorcists, or diviners, although
family identity to realign herself with her husband’s family
there were female prophets at Mari. Male practitioners
and gods. The veilings that ritualized the bride’s transforma-
scorned the female diviners, necromancers, and other
tions demonstrate how gendered clothing (the veil) symbol-
women skilled in magic arts to whom unsatisfied clients or
ized both identity and male-female dynamics within a mar-
the poor could turn. (Although the practice of folk religion
riage. Similarly, at Emar, the “marriage” of the Nin-Dingir
by women at Ugarit or Emar is probable, no texts mention
priestess to Baal required a veil, shaving, and anointing.
them.)
Gender roles followed expected patriarchal trajectories,
The dynamics of gender and sexuality in Mesopotamia
with women’s lives centered on home and family. For most
often preclude simple binary oppositions such as male-
women, status and security depended on marriage and fertili-
female, wife-prostitute, or domestic-public. Categories for
ty, and in the Mesopotamian textual record, women’s religi-
men and women might seem fixed in Mesopotamian legal
osity is most apparent in these contexts. Across the ancient
texts, but they were more nuanced in real-life situations. For
Near East, women were particularly visible and active in con-
example, the stereotyped harimtu of literature (e.g., the har-
nection with birth and death: as midwives skilled in magic,
lot Shamhat in Gilgamesh) was in real life not a prostitute
medicine, and purification; as birth goddesses and spirits; as
but a single woman independent of the patriarchal house-
female mourners, both familial and professional. By being
hold and thus a person whose sexuality was not regulated.
“not-male” and thus possibly less “human,” women pos-
Her nonconformity to conventional gender expectations
sessed a liminality that could mediate between modes of
comes across in the primary texts as disturbing and prob-
being. They participated in but did not lead the domestic
lematic.
cult of the family god or goddess and spirits of foremothers
Gendered status fluctuated for men and women along
and fathers. Yet these spirits and divinities required feeding
a spectrum of innate and acquired characteristics including
with food prepared by family women, a phenomenon which
age, marital status, class, and race. At birth a Mesopotamian
points to complex interconnections between food, religion,
child’s gender had to be ritually fixed by placing a spindle
and gender.
and hair ornament before a baby girl, a baton or axe before
Public position and power were primarily male preroga-
a baby boy. Besides male and female, Mesopotamian gender
tives, although in the third millennium and in the Old Baby-
categories included also the castrated male and even a non-
lonian period (early second millennium) women are more
male/nonfemale. Female homosexual activity is unrecorded,
visible in the textual and visual record and seem to have en-
but male homosexual intercourse is well attested, although
joyed greater access to recognized positions of power. Only
treated in omen and legal texts with ambivalence. Male func-
men inherited prominent priestly offices or owned a share
tionaries in the cult of Inanna/Ishtar (goddess of love and
in lucrative priestly prebendaries (“time-shares”). Neverthe-
war) practiced ritual transvestitism. Cross-gendering dis-
less, women comprised a sizable portion of the workforce in
course makes a striking appearance in Assyrian treaty curses
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN RELIGIONS
3379
and war rhetoric: defeated soldiers are said to “turn into
consists primarily of small pendants and plaques with a fron-
women”; from the male perspective, a man’s gendered iden-
tally nude female figure reminiscent of the Egyptian goddess
tity turns upon the public perception of his honor, itself a
Hathor but of uncertain identity, although she is often iden-
social construction.
tified as Asherah.
IMAGERY. In Mesopotamian art, images of the male and fe-
CONCLUSION. Precisely because modern Western culture
male bodies—clothed or unclothed—reflected and rein-
conceives itself as the direct heir of biblical and classical cul-
forced concepts of gender. In the third millennium, some-
tures, feminists and gender theorists in these fields have pur-
what squat-figured nude or seminude male priests pour
sued an open agenda of exposing—“deconstructing”—
libations or carry offerings while a clothed woman priestess/
ancient discourses of oppression in order to identify similarly
official (viz., the Warka Vase; the Enheduanna disk) may
unacknowledged discourses in the contemporary world. The
preside but not visibly “act.” The priests are gendered male
perceived remoteness of Mesopotamia from modern culture
by their genitalia or distinctive short skirt; the women not
(with the exception of the contemporary goddess movement)
so much by the subtle swell of breasts as by clothing and hair-
may diminish the urgency with which similar issues are ad-
style. For male priests, the shaved head and beard signal ritu-
dressed by assyriologists; nevertheless, representations of fe-
al purity, a state from which women were excluded by virtue
maleness, maleness, and even transgenderedness within the
of their biological “lack.”
complex cultures of Mesopotamia and north Syria have a role
to play in the ongoing human quest for self-understanding.
Depending on the context, male nudity could mean pu-
rity, quasi-divine heroism with a touch of the erotic, or hu-
SEE ALSO Astarte; Baal; El; Feminine Sacrality; Goddess
miliation and death. From the later third millennium on, the
Worship, article on Goddess Worship in the Ancient Near
tall, nude, bearded male hero with rippling muscles who kills
East; Hieros Gamos; Homosexuality; Human Body, article
monsters is physically indistinguishable from male gods in
on Human Bodies, Religion, and Gender; Inanna; Marduk;
“Battle of the Gods” scenes, hence the convention of clothed
Marriage; Masculine Sacrality; Mesopotamian Religions,
but godlike, “hypermasculine” kings who mediated between
overview articles; Nudity; Patriarchy and Matriarchy; Tem-
humans and the divine (e.g., the Naram Sin stele or Assyrian
ple, article on Ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean
royal stelae). Across the ancient Near East, the only passive/
Temples; Thealogy; Witchcraft, article on Concepts of
submissive nude males are defeated, dead, and/or captive
Witchcraft.
enemy soldiers whose bodies lack the careful definition of di-
vine or “noble” males.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abusch, Tsvi. “The Demonic Image of the Witch in Standard
Votive portrait statues commissioned by elite Sumerian
Babylonian Literature.” In Religion, Science, and Magic, ed-
women to serve as substitute selves in the temple before the
ited by Jacob Neusner, Ernest S. Frerichs, and Paul Virgil
statue of the deity embody elite Sumerians’ ideals of conven-
McCracken Flesher, pp. 27–58. Oxford, 1989.
tional womanhood. Like male votives, they are clothed with
Asher-Greve, Julia M. “The Essential Body: Mesopotamian Con-
no emphasis on sexual attributes. Male votives are more plen-
ceptions of the Gendered Body.” Gender and History 9, no.
tiful, but access to the god seems to have been equally avail-
3 (1997): 432–461. Discusses Sumerian body language and
able to these male and female stand-ins. Only Inanna/Ishtar
the gendered (sometimes ambiguously so) Mesopotamian vi-
(or associated goddesses) was shown nude or semiclothed.
sual coding of images and body parts.
Rather than fertility per se, female nudity seems to have rep-
Asher-Greve, Julia M. “Stepping into the Maelstrom: Women,
resented the mysterious divine power (Sumerian: me) of erot-
Gender, and Ancient Near Eastern Scholarship.” Nin 1
icism and sexuality, arguably a female-gendered symbol of
(2000): 1–22. Summary of the state of gender studies in the
access to or proximity to the divine. Unfortunately, no one
field.
has yet satisfactorily determined whether the countless fron-
Asher-Greve, Julia M. “Women and Gender in Ancient Near
tally nude female figurines of popular culture represent god-
Eastern Cultures: Bibliography 1885–2001 AD.” Nin 3
desses or mortals. Textual evidence confirms that images of
(2002): 33–114.
female nudity could serve to stimulate male libido. By con-
Assante, Julia. “The kar.kid/harimtu, Prostitute or Single
trast, when a woman or goddess is clothed, her breasts and
Woman? A Reconsideration of the Evidence.” Ugaritische
torso are hardly articulated at all. In the first millennium,
Forschungen 30 (1998): 5–96. An exhaustive treatment of the
clothed women appear only as captives on Assyrian reliefs,
subject.
in whose gendered visual language “woman” signified humil-
Bahrani, Zainab. Women of Babylon: Gender and Representation in
iation.
Mesopotamia. London, 2001. Summary of the history of
feminist and gender studies including their place (and lack
Although Ugarit and north Syria shared close cultural
thereof) in Mesopotamian studies; applies gender theory to
affinities with Mesopotamia, their artistic repertoire was
Mesopotamian art; useful bibliography on both feminist/
Egyptianizing. Ugaritic bronze figurines of the seminude
gender issues and Mesopotamia.
“smiting god” (probably Baal) recall pharaonic images that
Bottéro, Jean. Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia. Chicago, 2001.
shared Mesopotamia’s visual discourse of heroic maleness.
Useful recent survey often attuned to issues of gender and re-
Kings, both human and divine, are clothed. Female imagery
ligion.
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3380
GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN RELIGIONS
Cooper, Jerrold S. “Sacred Marriage and Popular Cult in Early
Michalowski, Piotr. “Sailing to Babylon, Reading the Dark Side
Mesopotamia.” In Official Cult and Popular Religion in the
of the Moon.” In The Study of the Ancient Near East in the
Ancient Near East, edited by Eiko Matsushima, pp. 81–96.
Twenty-First Century, edited by Jerrold S. Cooper and Glenn
Heidelberg, Germany, 1993.
M. Schwartz. Winona Lake, Ind., 1996. Addresses a variety
Cooper, Jerrold S. “Gendered Sexuality in Sumerian Love Poet-
of current interpretive issues relating to Mesopotamian liter-
ry.” In Sumerian Gods and Their Representations, edited by
ature, including gender studies; illuminating examples add
Irving L. Finkel and Markham J. Geller, pp. 84–97. Gro-
immeasurably to this short but comprehensive essay.
ningen, Netherlands, 1997. Contends that the “female
Pollock, Susan. “Women in a Men’s World: Images of Sumerian
voice” can be partially retrieved by a sensitive reading of the
Women.” In Engendering Archaeology, edited by Joan M.
Inanna-Dumuzi poetry cycle.
Gero and Margaret W. Conkey. Oxford, 1991. Demon-
Dalley, Stephanie, ed. Myths from Mesopotamia. Oxford, 1989.
strates the relevance of gender theory to Mesopotamian ar-
Accessible collection of the most important myths; helpful
chaeology.
introductions.
Rollin, Sue. “Women and Witchcraft in Ancient Assyria.” In Im-
Fleming, Daniel. The Installation of Baal’s High Priestess at Emar.
ages of Women in Antiquity, edited by Averil Cameron and
Atlanta, 1992. The most comprehensive study of religion in
Amelie Kuhrt. London, 1983. Cogent discussion of witch-
the north Syrian city of Emar; gender issues come up by vir-
craft and gender issues.
tue of the topic.
Roth, Martha T. Babylonian Marriage Agreements, 7th–3rd Centu-
Frymer-Kensky, Tikva. In the Wake of the Goddesses. New York,
ries BC. Neukirchener-Vluyn, Germany, 1989.
1992. Lucid summary of Mesopotamian goddess traditions
Roth, Martha T. Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia
with full awareness of gender issues; considers what is lost
Minor. Atlanta, 1995. Basic texts.
and gained in the monotheistic, goddess-less tradition of the
Bible.
Roth, Martha T. “Gender and Law: A Case Study from Ancient
Mesopotamia.” In Gender and Law in the Hebrew Bible and
Frymer-Kensky, Tikva. “The Marginalization of the Goddesses.”
the Ancient Near East, edited by Victor H. Matthews, Ber-
In Gilgamesh: A Reader, edited by John Maier. Wauconda,
nard M. Levinson, and Tikva Frymer-Kensky. Sheffield,
Ill., 1997. Asserts that the plethora of Sumerian goddesses
U.K., 1998. Practical demonstration of gender-studies theo-
was eclipsed by male deities as a reflex of growing imperial-
ry and the questions it generates.
ism in the later third millennium. For a slightly different per-
spective, see Westenholz, below.
Steinkeller, Piotr. “On Rulers, Priests, and Sacred Marriage: Trac-
Goodison, Lucy, and Christine Morris, eds. Ancient Goddesses:
ing the Evolution of Early Sumerian Kingship.” InPriests and
The Myths and the Evidence. London, 1998. Temperate in-
Officials in the Ancient Near East, Papers of the Second Collo-
troduction and three articles focusing on goddesses of the an-
quium on the Ancient Near East, The Middle Eastern Culture
cient Near East.
Center in Japan, edited by Kazuko Watanabe. Heidelberg,
Germany, 1999. More technical and more politically focused
Kessler Guinan, Ann. “Auguries of Hegemony: The Sex Omens
discussion of sacred marriage than Cooper (see above).
of Mesopotamia.” Gender and History 9, no. 3 (1997): 462–
479. Insightful gender-theory-based analysis of early first
Sweet, R. F. G. “A New Look at ‘Sacred Marriage’ in Ancient
millennium sex omens with regard to the “meaning and
Mesopotamia.” In Corolla Torontonensis: Studies in Honor of
emotion attached to male erotic desires and the way they
Ronald Morton Smith, edited by E. Robbins and S. Sandahl.
were located in a discourse of masculine hegemony”
Toronto, 1994. Argues that sacred marriage was solely meta-
(p. 462); considers the construction of binary oppositions in
phorical.
terms of male and female sexual aggression, the role of ani-
Tringham, Ruth, and Margaret Conkey. “Rethinking Figurines:
mals and gender constructs; the male and female gaze; the
A Critical View from Archaeology of Gimbutas, the ‘God-
ambiguous power constructs of sex between males.
dess,’ and Popular Culture.” In Ancient Goddesses: The Myths
Leick, Gwendolyn. Sex and Eroticism in Mesopotamian Literature.
and the Evidence, edited by Lucy Goodison and Christine
London and New York, 1994. Survey of Mesopotamian sex-
Morris. London, 1998. Judicious presentation of evidence;
ual social norms with particular attention to poetry/
sensitively addresses many axioms of the current goddess
mythology.
movement.
Leick, Gwendolyn. The Babylonians: An Introduction. London,
Van der Toorn, Karel. From Her Cradle to Her Grave: The Role
2003. Short historical and cultural survey centered on but
of Religion in the Life of the Israelite and the Babylonian
not limited to Babylon.
Woman. Sheffield, UK, 1994. Succinct survey of much that
Maier, John, ed. Gilgamesh: A Reader. Wauconda, Ill., 1997.
is known about religion in the lives of these ancient women.
Many of the articles are sensitive to gender issues.
Van der Toorn, Karel. Family Religion in Babylonia, Ugarit, and
Marcus, Michelle I. “Art and Ideology in Ancient Western Asia.”
Israel: Continuity and Change in the Forms of Religious Life.
In Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, edited by Jack Sas-
Leiden, 1996. Helpful source on women at Ugarit.
son, et al. New York, 1995. Notably considers gender in her
Westenholz, Joan Goodnick. “Goddesses of the Ancient Near
survey.
East, 3000–1000 BC.” In Ancient Goddesses: The Myths and
Marsman, Hennie. Women in Ugarit and Israel: Their Social and
the Evidence, edited by Lucy Goodison and Christine Morris.
Religious Position in the Context of the Ancient Near East. Lei-
London, 1998. Proposes that ancient Near Eastern goddesses
den, 2003. Long-needed, up-to-date survey; primarily inter-
cannot be reduced to biologically determined “mother god-
ested in retrieving the facts of women’s lives; minimal explic-
dess” functions, but must be seen in their complex variety
it incorporation of gender theory.
and specific social contexts.
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN RELIGIONS
3381
Winter, Irene J. “Women in Public: The Disk of Enheduanna, the
women throughout their lives. The Roman Mother by Suzan-
Beginning of the Office of EN-Priestess, and the Weight of
ne Dixon and The Family in Ancient Rome: New Perspectives
Visual Evidence.” In La femme dans le proche-orient antique
by Beryl Rawson are examples of subsequent studies that
(Compte rendu de la XXXIII rencontre assyriologique interna-
demonstrate this intimate relationship among religion, fami-
tionale), edited by Jean-Marie Durand. Paris, 1987.
ly, and society. Mary Beard’s work on Roman religion, par-
Winter, Irene J. “Sex, Rhetoric, and the Public Monument: The
ticularly the cults of Magna Mater and Vesta, marks the con-
Alluring Body of Naram-Sin of Agade.” In Sexuality in An-
vergence of the “third wave” in terms of gender study and
cient Art: Near East, Egypt, Greece, and Italy, edited by Nata-
classical studies. Informed by contemporary gender theory,
lie Boymel Kampen. Cambridge, U.K., 1996. “Masculinist”
Beard has uncovered the complexity of gender roles and how
study of the intersection of the male body, divinity, and royal
they were constructed, both male and female, in antiquity
rhetoric.
and demonstrated their divergence from the bipolarity of
MARY JOAN WINN LEITH (2005)
gender as played out or at least recounted in modernity.
In attempting to reconstruct women’s lives in the an-
cient world in the light of sparse hard evidence, religious
GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND
cults and their accompanying myths and rites represent a
ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN RELIGIONS
vital piece in the jigsaw. Religions reflect the experiences and
Scholars reading ancient texts from a feminist stance have
expectations, fulfilled and unfulfilled, of their adherents and
long identified the problematic of studying women’s experi-
thus present mirror images of particular times and places, al-
ence through men’s records of history and male accounts of
beit on a cosmic scale. Religion thus can offer another insight
religious beliefs and practices. In naming the problem, or de-
into women’s lives in the ancient world as the rich variety
constructing how history has been presented, the way is
of beliefs and practices in effect act out society, politics, and
made open to allow for reconstructions that are not necessar-
legislation of the day.
ily inscribed with the “male gaze.” Knowledge of the ancient
world is fragmentary not only because it lacks a credible pic-
The rich variety of beliefs and practices that make up
ture of women’s lives but also because there is a void when
the religions of the ancient Mediterranean reflects a long re-
it comes to those who belonged to anything other than an
lationship of intermingling of the Egyptian, Hellenistic, and
elite class or to specific geographical areas. In attempting to
Roman worlds. This intermingling can be traced to the as-
overcome these restraints, a variety of methodologies need
cendancies of the great empires of the ancient world, begin-
to be employed to read the variety of ancient ethnographic
ning with Alexander the Great in the fourth century BCE and
evidence available to reconstruct women’s experiences. The
the engagement between Egyptian and Hellenistic cultures
method of “reading against the grain,” for example, can be
and seen to culminate in the rich tapestry of religion that was
employed to examine prohibitive legislation aimed at
woven during the zenith of the Roman Empire. Some of the
women’s behavior and ask what were women actually doing
oldest beliefs and practices of the ancient Mediterranean
that prompted such prohibitions. In addition certain types
stem from Egypt, and these reappear throughout ancient his-
of evidence (e.g., epigraphic data from tombs, art, and arti-
tory as they are adopted and adapted for new contexts across
facts; domestic archaeological finds) become central rather
the various empires.
than peripheral. These can be studied as primary sources
GENDER IN THE ANCIENT WORLDS. When one examines
alongside written texts.
Egypt itself, one discovers that the evidence is particularly
A pioneering classical scholar in the field of gender and
scarce regarding the lives of women in ancient Egypt except
religion and in the use of alternative methodologies for re-
for those at the pinnacle of this highly stratified society. In
search was Jane Ellen Harrison (1850–1928). She argued, for
the time of the Middle Kingdom (2125–1650 BCE), for ex-
example, in her original thesis (1882) that the evidence from
ample, the wives and mothers of the pharaohs could wield
ancient Greek vases offered commentaries on myth and ritu-
significant influence and power, as witnessed by the evidence
al comparable with that of Homer’s Odyssey. As second-wave
from their tombs. From the early dynastic period the pha-
feminism began to make inroads into the academic world
raoh was identified with the sky god Horus and the son of
from the late 1960s and to gain credence in the disciplines
the sun god Re. His Great Royal Wife was fully human, and
of the humanities and social sciences, studies of gender in the
her role of producing the royal heir was of supreme impor-
ancient Mediterranean world began to emerge. The publica-
tance. The future king would be endowed with the unique
tion in 1975 of Sarah B. Pomeroy’s social history text God-
divine–human nature that would enable him to act on behalf
desses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves: Women in Classical Antiqui-
of both gods and human beings. In the time of the New
ty set a milestone for the subject and clearly demonstrated
Kingdom (1650–1069 BCE), Queen Hatshepshut succeeded
how religion cannot be separated out and studied in a vacu-
in claiming the throne on the death of her husband and half
um apart from other matters, family, economics, politics,
brother. She based her claim to the throne on her own divine
law, and so on. Religion in all its forms was an intrinsic part
birth, which is detailed on the walls of her mortuary temple
of life, intertwined with the seasons, birth, marriage, and
at Deir al-Bahri. The mural shows how the god Amun-Re,
death, and it resonated with the hopes and fears of men and
in the form of her father, Thutmose I, approaches her moth-
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN RELIGIONS
er Ahmose, who conceives the goddess-king, the female
tween domestic and public. A woman could develop a home-
Horus. Hatshepshut was depicted in the same manner as a
based industry in a larger household, for example, managing
male pharaoh, with a bare chest and short skirt (a guise used
slaves in the production and distribution of cloth. Further-
in the Hellenistic period to depict Cleopatra VII).
more the Punic Wars of the third century BCE resulted in a
huge death rate among men of the Roman Empire and left
Less specifically, ancient Egypt was a rich resource for
many women the sole heirs of the father’s, brother’s, or hus-
later empires that wished to broaden their religious as well
band’s estate. However, a noblewoman’s power, wealth, edu-
as territorial boundaries, and the Roman Empire in particu-
cation, and relative freedom were a world away from a slave
lar was eager to import Egyptian religious practices into its
woman’s powerlessness, poverty, illiteracy, and servitude.
cities across the empire and into the heart of Rome itself.
For many women living in Roma society, life was little differ-
Thus Egyptian myths with their accompanying cults offer
ent from women in ancient Greek society, and thus the
windows into the lives and expectations of men and women
myths and rituals of the gods and goddesses resonated with
not only in ancient Egypt but also throughout the ancient
their life experiences and their hopes and fears.
world. Their influence lasted until accession of Christianity
as the dominant religion (but also beyond that time, when
DEMETER AND PERSEPHONE. One goddess cult of ancient
their influence on that religion is taken into account). A key
Greece that belonged to the great mystery religions and was
example is the myth of Osiris and Isis, which can be traced
particularly popular with women, although not exclusively
back at least to the time of the first dynasty (beginning of
so, was that of Demeter. Athenians celebrated the mysteries
the fourth century
of this great cult at Eleusis as well as in the ancient Greek
BCE).
colonies of Sicily and southern Italy. This religion tended to
Within the Hellenistic world, women in ancient Greek
remain limited to the religious experience of Greeks and
society led secluded lives, residing in the private domestic
Greek colonists possibly because the central myth and ritual
sphere and protected from the public arena. In the upper
of the cult reflected so closely the lives and expectations of
echelon of Greek society women who were not slaves and
women in Greek society. This feature is illustrated by the
who were married to a head of a household led lives of seclu-
Homeric Hymn to Demeter, composed most probably in the
sion away from male company, spending most of their time
late seventh century or early sixth century BCE at Eleusis,
in the gynaikonitis, the women’s quarters. However high
which describes a young girl’s journey from puberty to wom-
their social ranks, women had no political voice or means of
anhood. It describes how Demeter grieves for her daughter
participation as citizens. Religious rituals, however, were an
Persephone (also called Kore, “maiden”), who was first ab-
exception to the norm and provided a public function for
ducted by Hades and taken to the underworld and then
women and a context in which they could contribute to the
given to him in marriage by Zeus. The stricken mother de-
welfare of the city-state. Moving down the social ladder, one
serts Olympus, the sphere of the gods, for the world of mor-
finds the sexes mingling more freely in the public arena,
tals and goes to Eleusis, where she asks the people to build
where female slaves, for example, worked alongside and
a temple for her. Unappeased, Demeter brings devastation
served men. Foreign women worked as entertainers for male
to crops and cattle, ignoring the intercessory pleas from
audiences, providing music, dancing, and escorts as well as
Zeus’s divine envoys. She asks only for a glimpse of her
sexual pleasures.
daughter. Zeus has no choice but to agree to Demeter’s
terms, and he sends his messenger Hermes to the underworld
In contrast to at least the women of high social rank in
to negotiate with Hades. Hades agrees to allow Persephone
Greek society, women living under the sociopolitical system
to see Demeter. Persephone pours out her heart to her moth-
of the Roman Empire enjoyed relative freedom. In the third
er and is consoled. Zeus decides to let mother and daughter
century BCE the notion of “free marriage” as one of the legal
remain together for two-thirds of each year, but Persephone
forms of marriage was introduced. In this new system a
must return to Hades for the remainder of the year. Content,
woman remained attached to her former family, she retained
Demeter allows the earth to be fertile once more, and the
her own property, and she had the freedom to divorce her
people of Eleusis continue their worship of her.
husband. This is in contrast to earlier types of marriage in
ancient Rome, in manu, for example, which literally means
The importance of the Demeter and Persephone myth
“in the hand of,” that is, a wife was under the full control
to Greek religion has been thought to stem from its connec-
of her husband. A Roman wife could have a high profile not
tions with the seasons and the crucial issue of fertility. The
only in household management, where she had the task of
centrality of female characters reflects the obvious links be-
overseeing male servants and slaves, but also in the education
tween women and birth. The depiction of marriage as begin-
of her children. Prior to coming of age, sons and daughters
ning with rape is a common feature of Greek myth, as is the
of noble families were educated together, but as adulthood
traumatic separation of young daughters from their mothers.
approached a sharp distinction was made between the sexes
The fathers are usually the instigators of this painful process,
when boys were prepared for citizenship and a public career.
and although the anguish is well documented, marriage itself
Roman society remained patriarchal to the core, but in nego-
as the normative institution within society is not questioned.
tiating its boundaries, women within the nobility could real-
THE ROMAN EMPIRE. The actual content of the Eleusinian
ize a limited emancipation that blurred the distinction be-
mysteries remains hidden from the scrutiny of modern schol-
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN RELIGIONS
3383
ars, but there is evidence for many religious activities and de-
were closely associated with goddesses, Adonis with Aphrodi-
votions that focused on Demeter, some of which continued
te, his consort, Dionysos with Semele, his mother. Some of
in popularity down into the Roman Empire. The Demeter
these cults had ceremonies designed to encourage women to
myth reinforces traditional Greek practices regarding
be uninhibited. Dionysos, for instance, was the god of wine,
women’s lives, in particular their rite of passage from daugh-
and his worship naturally provided occasions for uninhibited
ter to wife, mirrored by the Demeter myth. The myth is a
behavior. Rituals associated with Dionysos range from the
commentary on the way life is in Greek society, and by re-
rather sedate Lenaia (from lenai, another name for Diony-
membering it in the religious rites and devotions associated
sos’s devoted maenad), in which food and drink offerings ac-
with it, the values of that society are reinforced.
company the ceremonial entry of the god’s mask into the
sanctuary for worship, to the more erotic Anthesteria, the
Whereas the Demeter and Persephone devotions served
winter wedding festival between Basilinna, the wife of the ar-
the needs of women progressing from girlhood to woman-
chon basileus, and Dionysos.
hood, the devotions to Artemis and Hera focused on protec-
tion and success in childbirth and these cults were prohibited
THE RITES OF THE BACCHAE. More extreme, however, were
to slaves and foreigners. The third age of womanhood is rep-
the rites recorded in The Bacchae, a play written as early as
resented by the goddess Hecate, regarded in negative terms
the late fifth century BCE by Euripides (c. 480–406 BCE). The
as a haggish, cronelike demon and in positive terms as a god-
Bacchae are the women followers of Dionysos, and they are
dess who could protect, grant success, and act as an advocate.
also known by the more pejorative term maenads, from the
verb mainomai, meaning “to be driven mad.” The myth of
In contrast, the Greek myth of the Amazonian women
Dionysos is recounted in many ancient sources, but Euripi-
seems then to contradict one general presumption concern-
des drew the classic description of Dionysiac ecstasy, the
ing the lives of Greek women. It is about women who reject
source for accounts in later centuries.
marriage and the confines of domesticity. It describes a soci-
According to Euripides’ Bacchae, Dionysos introduced
ety that prefers matrilineal descent to patrilineal and a society
his rites in Thebes to avenge the injustices perpetrated
in which liberated women even engaged in active warfare. In
against his mother Semele, who had been dishonored by the
its earliest forms the myth may have functioned as a mirror
lies spread about by her sisters, Agave, Autonoe, and Ino. On
of a preclassical society. For instance, in the archaic epic of
hearing that Semele was pregnant, the sisters discounted her
the sixth century the Amazons are described as female war-
own truthful account that she had conceived through Zeus
riors who, with their Queen Penthesilea, who was killed by
and instead told the story that she had been impregnated by
Achilles, battled against Bellerophon and Herakles. Howev-
a mortal. They said that her father, Cadmus, had persuaded
er, the status of the Amazon stories clearly changed by the
her to lie and say it was Zeus. This, the sisters explained, was
fifth century as they began to fulfill a role within Athenian
why Semele had been struck dead by one of Zeus’s thunder-
society of representing an inversion of the natural and pre-
bolts. However, Dionysos explains that his mother had in
ferred status of women. The Amazon women are now depict-
fact been the victim of the jealous Hera’s thunderbolt. This
ed as the female counterparts of the centaurs, the mythical,
was shot while his father Zeus grabbed him from his moth-
bestial, and violent rapists. Their representations in later cen-
er’s womb, saving him from being a victim of Hera’s jealous
turies depict how alien such ideas would be to the patriarchal
plot.
nature of Greek society. They are said to live in a totally fe-
male society, only venturing out for sex so they can conceive
The revenge of Dionysos for his mother’s honor is di-
children. Only female babies are welcome, male offspring are
rected at his aunts. He induces insanity on them, and they
offered for adoption or castrated or even killed. Diodorus
and bands of women followers dance off to the countryside,
Siculus, writing in the first century BCE, describes how Ama-
wearing fawn skins with snakes around their necks, leaves
zon men behave like women—tending home and children
and branches in their hair, and each with a wand (thyrsos) in
and cultivating women’s skills, such as weaving. Thus the
her hand. They feed wild animals with their breast milk be-
Amazonians are held up as the antithesis to Athenian society.
fore they behave wildly—ripping animals apart, wrecking
villages, abducting children. They are impervious to the mis-
ADONIS AND DIONYSOS. The popularity of the Demeter and
siles hurled at them by the men of the villages, who suffer
Persephone myth and the religious devotions associated with
terrible wounds from the women’s wands. There are many
them as goddesses testifies both to the close bonds between
such details recounting the anarchic behavior of the Bacchae
women in Greek society and to how society sacrificed those
as they maniacally devour the countryside.
bonds to the “higher” cause of marriages arranged by men.
The participation of women in the male cults of Adonis and
Dionysos’s revenge reaches its climax when his aunt
Dionysos could suggest a certain dissatisfaction among
Agave dismembers what she perceives to be a wild animal but
women with their given status and role. Neither Adonis nor
is actually her own son Pentheus in disguise. She is allowed
Dionysos belongs to the essentially Greek hierarchy of gods,
to regain her sanity in time to recognize the torn body of her
the Olympians; both have foreign pedigrees. Adonis has a Se-
son just as she brings it to her father. The outcome is that
mitic name and is regularly associated with the dying and ris-
the dynasty of Cadmus is destroyed, Agave is exiled, and the
ing deities of the ancient Near East. In the male cults gods
city of Thebes becomes a center for the worship of Dionysos.
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The account of Euripides implicitly details many of the
discovers that Osiris has also been on sexual terms with their
features associated with Dionysiac rites known from artistic
sister Nephthys, who has given birth to a son. Nephthys left
impressions on vases down the centuries—the lively dancing
this baby exposed to die because she was actually married to
and dressing up in animal skins and various types of vegeta-
her other brother, the villain Typhon. Isis saves the child,
tion. The actual ceremonies remained the secret knowledge
named Anubis, who remains with her and becomes her at-
of initiates, and this secrecy motif was intensified by the rites
tendant and protector. Continuing her search for Osiris, Isis
being practiced at night, attracting many rumors and exag-
finds the treasure chest on the river shore at Byblos, and she
gerated imaginings from those outside the cult. The sexual
becomes pregnant, presumably by her dead brother, or she
nature of these rites seem to belong to the fantasies of exter-
may have already been pregnant by him (Plutarch does not
nal perception rather than the reality of the religion itself.
clarify this detail). Their child is Horus, a popular and signif-
icant figure in the rites associated with Isis and Osiris. Mean-
Classical scholars have had to weigh the evidence of the
while Typhon comes across the treasure chest again, opens
written accounts of the Dionysiac myths against what has
it, and cuts up his brother’s body into fourteen pieces, which
been discovered from classical representations in various art-
he scatters over the waters of the Nile. Distraught with news
works. There is insufficient external evidence from Euripi-
of this act, Isis combs the river marshes for the pieces and
des’ time to determine whether he based his account of the
finds them all save for the penis, which some fish have eaten.
myth on the actual practices of the Dionysos cult as he knew
Osiris then returns from the underworld and trains his son
it. It may be that his work actually provided the descriptions
Horus to avenge Typhon on his behalf.
on which later rites were based. According to the myth,
women are the main participants, the Bacchae. Pentheus is
During the Hellenistic period, the Greeks identified Isis
the only man mentioned, and he appears not as a man but
with Aphrodite, although she was much more than the god-
disguised as a wild beast.
dess of love. Transported to Rome, the Isis and Osiris rites
understandably lost their connections with the Nile. One
THE HELLENISTIC PERIOD. The evidence increases during
dramatic rite in which the image of the river setting survived,
the Hellenistic period. Plutarch (before 50–after 120 CE) re-
however, was the March festival of Navigium Isidis, richly
fers to women’s ecstatic rites associated with Dionysos, de-
described by Apuleius (c. 123–c. 170 CE) toward the end of
scribing how some women got trapped in severe weather
the second century CE. A great procession of women and
while they were celebrating winter rites for Dionysos. He also
men, mostly dressed in white linen, followed by priests carry-
described how a group of maenads, in their ecstatic state, had
ing the sacred objects and the gods themselves (i.e., a person
strayed in to the territory of the enemy, but thanks to the
dressed as Anubis and a cow representing Isis) made their
protection of the women of that town, Amphissa, they sur-
way to a nearby riverside (in Apuleius’s account it was at the
vived. It is also at this time that the cult of Dionysos spread
port of Cenchreae). A grand sailing boat was then purified
to Italy and then to Rome, noted later, in negative terms, by
by the high priest and launched by the devotees. Other rites
Livy (59 BCE–17 CE). Livy’s account of one particular episode
(e.g., the Festival of Isia) retained the clear pattern of the
that occurred in 186 BCE gave Bacchae-type rites their de-
myth, reenacting the death of Osiris and the mourning and
bauched, orgiastic, and corrupt reputations. Livy recounts
searching of Isis, culminating in the joy of resurrection. In
how a young man had to flee to avoid initiation into the cult
addition to the festivals there were daily rituals at the temple
at the shrine of Semele, which had introduced male partici-
in which the figure of Isis was cleaned and dressed.
pants. Livy’s descriptions of the Dionysian Bacchae included
the practice of male self-castration and gross ornamentation
The Isis cult was not exclusive to women, but because
for its male priests. Livy wrote his account some 150 years
two of the central characters, Isis and Nephthys, were female,
after the events he described, and it is heavily dependent on
women were given prominence in any ceremony that reen-
the work of earlier Roman historians, conservative characters
acted the myth. Apuleius’s description from the second cen-
such as the elder Cato (234–149 BCE). Livy’s later recon-
tury CE makes it clear that the cult of Isis was popular among
struction of the bacchanalian scandal betrays many traces of
women of all classes in Italy and the western provinces:
the moral outrage of his historian forefathers.
“Then followed a great crowd of the Goddess’ initiates, men
and women of all classes and every age, their pure white linen
ISIS. Isis was the focus of another Oriental cult imported into
clothes shining brightly” (Apuleius, Metamorphoses, 18, in
Roman culture. It had particular associations for women in
Graves, 1951). Pictorial evidence also exists. For example, in
terms of both its priesthood and its popularity. The Egyptian
a first century CE wall painting from Pompeii, a ritual at a
myth that lies at the heart of the rites of Isis is a familiar one
temple of Isis is depicted, and the popularity of this cult
of sibling rivalry. According to Plutarch’s version, a king of
among women is reflected by the number of female figures
Egypt, the god Osiris, has a brother, Typhon, and two sisters,
represented.
Isis and Nephthys. Typhon conspires against his brother to
gain power, luring him into an ornate treasure chest, which
The central focus of the cult of Isis is the relationship
he then seals and throws into the Nile. Isis, who has been
between a man and a woman. Its incestuous nature serves to
incestuously involved with Osiris since they shared the same
intensify the bond. It embodies perfect heterosexual love that
womb, goes looking for her lost brother. In her search she
triumphs even over death, and as such it supports the Greco-
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN RELIGIONS
3385
Roman ideal of the foundation of the family. It is tempting
that as a man he would have had no access to the shrine—it
to interpret civic support of this cult as an attempt to endorse
had no image of the goddess Vesta but contained a sacred
the family and the status quo of society and women’s devo-
phallus (fascinum), the Di Magni (i.e., household gods of
tion to it as their acquiescence. Alternatively the cult so per-
Troy), and a sacred Trojan image of Athena known as the
fectly represented the expectations of Greco-Roman women
Palladion. The Vestal Virgins as a group are unique in social,
that it provided sanction and sanctification for their lives.
political, and religious terms. Beard (1980), in recognizing
Another factor to explain the cult’s popularity among
their distinctive status, has noted similarities between them
women may have been linked to the countless military cam-
and aristocratic males as well as affinities with unmarried
paigns that characterized the years of the late republic and
women and matrons. The celibacy of the Vestal Virgins was
early empire, which left so many married women as widows.
jealously guarded, and Plutarch described that if any of their
Living in that reality, rites that focused on a couple separated
number was discovered to have broken her vow, she was cer-
by death yet reunited by a love stronger than death would
emonially buried alive.
surely have special significance for women.
The high priest of the cult was male. In fact the first em-
MAGNA MATER. The goddess Magna Mater, or Cybele, was
peror, Augustus (c. 27 BCE–14 CE), was elected high priest
imported into Rome from Pessinus in Asia Minor in 204 BCE
in 12 BCE, and when this happened he created a shrine to
and became one of Rome’s foremost cults. It was equally
the goddess Vesta in his own home on the Palatine. Even the
popular among men and women, although its rituals, which
emperor, as high priest of the cult, could not enter the
revolved around the jealously of the goddess over her lover’s
shrine—that privilege was reserved for its female virginal at-
infidelity, more explicitly reflect women’s experiences. As
tendants. He could as high priest, however, carry out their
was the practice in the case of foreign cults, it was given legal
execution. This office could be seen as yet another element
status in Rome through recourse to the Sibylline Books. It
in Augustus’s search for infinite power and immortality.
was a cult traditionally associated with the city of Troy, to
which the origin of the Roman race was traced, and therefore
The power of the Vestal Virgins was a visible reality in
could be regarded almost as an ancient Roman religion. In
many aspects of the lives of these females, but these were in
Rome an image of Magna Mater was set up in the heart of
effect young women without any sexual autonomy. They
the city on the Palatine Hill. Although not her consort, Attis
were offered in the selection process for the Vestal Virgins
is the individual most closely associated with the goddess.
at the age of six by their parents, and if chosen they were
The central theme of the many and varied legends describing
committed to that life for a minimum of thirty years. As
Attis’s relationship with Magna Mater focuses on the young
noted, their sexuality was controlled or rather restricted by
mortal Attis, caught up in an ecstatic frenzy instigated by the
the state, and any independent act to exercise their own wills
goddess because she was jealous of his relationship with an-
in this respect was met with execution by the hand of the
other woman. When in this frenzy Attis castrates himself and
male high priest. They did receive abundant privileges, such
dies, the goddess brings him back to life.
as attending senatorial dinner parties, going to the theater
with the imperial women, and guarding precious documents
One well-recounted aspect of the Magna Mater cult was
of state. These privileges reflect the belief among Romans
the taurobolium, the killing of a bull. This was a particularly
that these women were the true guardians of Rome, its purity
gory practice in which the animal was sacrificed in such a way
and its potency.
to ensure the sacrificer was spattered with its blood. This
B
messiness distinguishes the Magna Mater cult from the nor-
ONA DEA. Another popular cult in Rome, associated with
Roman matrons, was the cult of Bona Dea, the “good god-
mal cultic practice of Roman religion in which the priest re-
dess.” Her proper name was Fauna, understood as the daugh-
mained unstained throughout the sacrificial slaughter.
ter or sometimes the wife of Faunus, otherwise known as
VESTAL VIRGINS. In the context of women’s participation in
Pan. She was worshipped exclusively by women, and her offi-
religion in the Greco-Roman world, Vestal Virgins have fur-
cial annual nocturnal rite was celebrated in early December
nished popular images and language down the centuries of
in the house of the chief magistrate, led by his wife and assist-
Western culture, and this familiarity has tended to give them
ed by the Vestals. This was a cult particularly associated with
a prominence out of keeping with the religious situation of
the matronae, who were distinguished as a group by their re-
their time. Their numbers, for example, were minimal—six
spectability; that is, they were legally married and therefore
in total. They were a crucial factor, however, in Roman per-
able to produce rightful heirs, and they were freeborn. They
ceptions of the relationship between their city and the deities
wore particular clothes: a long dress (stola) and a distinctive
who protected it. The Vestal Virgins were chosen for their
headband. They were involved in many religious festivals in
unique office before they had reached puberty, between the
Rome, but the Bona Dea cult was a particular focus for them.
ages of six and ten. Once chosen they were celibate for thirty
In fact the Bona Dea cult seems to have been elitist not only
years and devoted to the task of tending the sacred fire of the
in terms of gender but also in terms of its popularity among
round temple of Vesta at the center of the Forum. This
the freed classes. Knowledge of the Bona Dea cult is, as so
shrine was the oldest of the Forum and—according to the
often, restricted to male descriptions, which are suspect be-
account of Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE) who noted, however,
cause men were excluded from all the preparations and cele-
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN RELIGIONS
brations. One detailed account comes from Cicero (106–43
been a particularly rich resource for women attempting to
BCE), who was directly involved because his residence as mag-
construct a spirituality with women’s experience at its core.
istrate was the venue for the December rite. His account is
Key feminist scholars who have drawn on goddess mythology
highly subjective because at the time (63 BCE) he was in-
from ancient Mediterranean cultures for contemporary
volved in a political struggle, and he interpreted particular
women’s spirituality include Carol Christ, Starhawk, and
happenings as signs to himself from the goddess. The next
Charlene Spretnak. These writers originally experienced tra-
year a man tried to infiltrate the festival, this time at the
ditional religion but use the resources of ancient goddess
house of Julius Caesar, who held the praetorship that year,
spirituality, that is, pretraditional religious experience, to
by disguising himself as a female harp player. The infiltrator
take them beyond those traditions to posttraditional goddess
was recognized as Clodius, a prominent member of Roman
spirituality.
elite society whose aim, it was alleged, was to seduce Caesar’s
wife during the celebrations. He denied the charge and was
SEE ALSO Cybele; Dionysos; Egyptian Religion, overview ar-
found not guilty, a result, according to Cicero, that came
ticle; Goddess Worship, article on Goddess Worship in the
from a bribed jury.
Hellenistic World; Greek Religion; Hellenistic Religions;
Isis; Thealogy.
This event formed the basis of Juvenal’s (c. 55–130 CE)
lively and erotic pastiche, which may be seen as a lurid un-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
dermining by male commentators of female religious prac-
Beard, Mary. “The Sexual Status of Vestal Virgins.” Journal of
tices (Juvenal, 1991, Satire 6). It would seem to be the case,
Roman Studies 70 (1980): 12–27.
however, that these rites did allow women an opportunity
Beard, Mary. “The Roman and the Foreign: The Cult of the Great
to behave in a more free and unrestrained manner than pub-
Mother in Imperial Rome.” In Shamanism, History, and the
lic events would normally allow. Hendrik H. J. Brouwer
State, edited by Nicholas Thomas and Caroline Humphrey,
paints a convincing picture from all the available evidence
pp. 168–169. Ann Arbor, Mich., 1994.
of the December rites, at which women could drink undilut-
Beard, Mary, John North, and Simon Price. Religions of Rome, vol.
ed wine, for example, and have boisterous songfests accom-
1: A History, vol. 2: A Sourcebook. Cambridge, U.K., 1998.
panied by female musicians. This party atmosphere devel-
Beard, Mary, and John North, eds. Pagan Priests: Religion and
oped when the ritual part of the evening—the sacrifice of a
Power in the Ancient World. London, 1990.
pregnant pig in front of the cult statue of Bona Dea brought
Blundell, Sue, and Margaret Williamson, eds. The Sacred and the
from the temple—was completed.
Feminine in Ancient Greece. London, 1998.
Greco-Roman religious practices are filled with diversity
Brouwer, Hendrik H. J. Bona Dea: The Sources and a Description
and variety on a huge scale. It is impossible to make general
of the Cult. EPRO 110. Leiden, Netherlands, 1989.
observations about religions in the light of the extreme diver-
Christ, Carol P. Laughter of Aphrodite: Reflections on a Journey to
sity, including a great number of variables, such as local po-
the Goddess. San Francisco, 1987.
litical interest, geographical features, and fusion of residual
Christ, Carol P. Rebirth of the Goddess: Finding Meaning in Femi-
culture with imported practices. It is clear, however, that reli-
nist Spirituality. New York and London, 1998.
gion expressed women’s experiences—emotional and physi-
Christ, Carol P., and Judith Plaskow, eds. Womanspirit Rising: A
cal—from becoming young women to their lives as mature
Feminist Reader in Religion. San Francisco, 1979.
matrons. Religion is not only a reflection of those experiences
Dowden, Ken. Religion and the Romans. London, 1992.
but a prescriber and reinforcer of them.
Fantham, Elaine, Helen Peet Foley, Natalie Boymel Kampen,
INFLUENCE ON CONTEMPORARY WOMEN’S SPIRITUALITY.
Sarah B. Pomeroy, and H. Alan Shapiro. Women in the Clas-
Religions of the ancient Mediterranean not only resounded
sical World: Image and Text. Oxford, 1995.
with the experiences of men and women in the ancient
Graves, Robert. Apuleius: Transformations of Lucius. New York,
world. In modern times the myths and cults of antiquity
1951.
have furnished contemporary religious trends. In the context
Harrison, Jane Ellen. Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion
of the West, along with its colonial history, the monolithic
(1903). Princeton, N.J., 1991.
religious system of Christianity was in the ascendancy from
Hawley, Richard, and Barbara Levick, eds. Women in Antiquity:
the time of Emperor Constantine in the early fourth century
New Assessments. New York and London, 1995.
until modern times, and it gave shape and form to Western
Heyob, Sharon Kelly. The Cult of Isis among Women in the Greco-
civilization and served as a means of defining tradition. In
Roman World. Leiden, 1975.
sum, religions of the ancient Mediterranean provide a “pre-
Juvenal. The Satires. Translated by Niall Rudd. New York, 1991.
traditional” range of religious expression that is reflected in
the contemporary period of the “posttraditional.” This has
Just, Roger. Women in Athenian Law and Life. London, 1989.
been true especially in the context of feminist spirituality,
Plaskow, Judith, and Carol P. Christ, eds. Weaving the Visions:
where traditional religion, identified as patriarchal, has often
New Patterns in Feminist Spirituality. New York, 1989.
been rejected or radically transformed. The goddess, who
Pomeroy, Sarah B. Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves: Women
takes various forms in ancient Mediterranean religions, has
in Classical Antiquity. New York, 1975.
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND CELTIC RELIGIONS
3387
Robinson, Annabel. The Life and Work of Jane Ellen Harrison.
Celts and more emphasis on the effects of literacy and the
New York, 2002.
introduction of Roman culture and Christianity. It is more
Sawyer, Deborah F. Women and Religion in the First Christian
difficult, therefore, to argue for Pan-Celtic deities or long-
Centuries. New York, 1996.
term continuance of religious behavior. The picture to
Snyder, Jane. The Woman and the Lyre: Women Writers in Classical
emerge from this reassessment suggests that there was no
Greece and Rome. Carbondale, Ill., 1989.
centralized Celtic pantheon, although some deities had ex-
tensive spheres of influence. Participation in religious life
Spretnak, Charlene. Lost Goddesses of Early Greece: A Collection of
also seems to have been more varied. The druids were an elite
Pre-Hellenic Myths. Boston, 1984.
religious caste functioning in western areas of Gaul, Britain,
Staples, Ariadne. From Good Goddess to Vestal Virgins: Sex and
and Ireland, and their role overlapped with that of bards and
Category in Roman Religion. London, 1998.
poets in the post-Roman world. The organization of religion
Starhawk. The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of
in other areas such as Galatia or Celt-Iberia is less well
the Great Goddess. San Francisco, 1979.
known. However, despite these limitations, it is possible to
Turcan, Robert. The Cults of the Roman Empire. Oxford, 1996.
consider some of the gender issues as they related to religion
among groups of Celts in the ancient world and in the early
Ward, Julie K. Feminism and Ancient Philosophy. New York and
London, 1996.
cultures of insular groups such as Ireland and Wales.
DEBORAH F. SAWYER (2005)
The Roman geographer Strabo (64 BCE–24 CE) makes
the tantalizing suggestion that gender tasks among the Celts
were the reverse of those among Romans. In the context of
religion, writers mention druids, and a few suggest the pres-
GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND
ence of female druids. According to the Roman historian
CELTIC RELIGIONS
Tacitus (c. 55–120 CE), black-robed, screaming women ac-
The ways in which gender identities are embedded in reli-
companied the druids during the Roman assault on their
gious rituals, symbols, institutions, and language reflect
stronghold on Mona (Anglesey) in 60 CE. The fourth-
changing social and political power structures, especially in
century CE Historia Augusta has three references to female
relation to women. One effect of this wider debate has been
druids in Gaul. Two utter spontaneous prophecies to two
to look to the past to provide paradigms in which access to
emperors, whereas the emperor Aurelian (c. 215–275 CE)
power and influence in the institutions of religious life have
consults Gaulish druidesses directly. Even if these women
been more equally balanced. Since ancient Greek writers first
were stereotyped figures of prophecy and magic, the links
identified the Celts as keltoi, this group has provided a pow-
among druidry, power, and women are clear.
erful symbol of otherness for the perception of women and
their function in religious contexts in Celtic society. The
Women appear elsewhere in religious roles. The Greek
issue of gender, and how this shaped concepts of sacredness
writer Plutarch (before 50–after 120 CE) mentions Camma,
in the religious behavior of the Celts, has been a topic of dis-
wife of a Galatian ruler and priestess of a goddess identified
cussion since the late nineteenth century, and ideas of Celtic
with Artemis who shared a poisoned drink with a suitor to
pagan and Christian spirituality have played a prominent
avenge her husband’s death. Although the drink of milk and
role in alternative spirituality movements since the second
honey had underworld associations and the rite took place
half of the twentieth century.
in the temple where Camma was a priestess, the passage em-
phasises her loyalty as a wife, rather than her religious role.
HISTORICAL SOURCES. The main sources for information
Two Roman historians, Tacitus (c. 55–120 CE) and Dio Cas-
about Celtic religion come from archaeological evidence, the
sius (c. 155–235 CE) described the revolt led by the famous
testimony of classical writers, and narrative material pre-
British queen Boudicca in 60 CE. Boudicca’s comment that
served by western Celtic groups, such as the Irish, Welsh, and
it was unusual for Britons to follow a woman war-leader may
Scots. Because much of the context has been lost or the com-
reflect Roman unease about women, rather than her actual
mentary has come from outsiders, these sources present cer-
words. The fact that she offered a hare to the tribal goddess
tain difficulties. Classical authors give information on reli-
before battle, combined with the after-battle atrocities such
gion and gender roles, but they often used Celtic behavior
as cutting off the breasts of captured women, may indicate
to comment on themselves. A number of mythological narra-
that Boudicca’s leadership had a religious dimension.
tives are preserved as later written texts, but the time gap be-
tween them and a more ancient past means that themes in
The Roman geographer Strabo quoted a description
medieval texts cannot be assumed to reflect the survival of
from the Greek writer Posidonius (second–first century BCE)
ancient religious practices. Another factor is the changed atti-
of an all-female cult among the Samnitae tribe. The women,
tude to the nature of Celtic culture. Whereas once scholars
identified as worshipers of Dionysos, inhabited an island off
assumed similarity and continuity between ancient Celts and
the western coast of France and only left to have sex to pro-
later cultures in Britain, Ireland, and Brittany, since the
duce children. An annual rite of reroofing a temple occurred
1980s there has been less emphasis on folk migrations and
during daylight hours on a single day. Any woman who
on supposed connections between continental and insular
dropped roofing material was torn to pieces. The description
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hints that the sacrificial victim was chosen in this way, be-
designated as witchcraft after the introduction of Christiani-
cause the account notes that the victim was jostled. Pom-
ty and continue into the twenty-first century. There is no
ponius Mela (first century CE) mentions an island on which
basis for such an extreme position, but possible negative gen-
a male deity sleeps while nine women priests attend a perpet-
der roles are indicated from a small number of burials, mostly
ual fire under a cauldron. There is a striking parallel between
older women, in which the heads or jaws have been removed
these early accounts and two later references. One occurs in
and placed beside the corpse. A striking occurrence of bnas
a medieval Welsh poem, “The Spoils of Annwn,” which de-
brictom (Gaulish, meaning “women of magic”) is inscribed
scribes a supernatural journey to a land where nine women
on a lead curse tablet from Larzac in France (c. 90 CE). The
keep a fire burning under a cauldron. The other, from medi-
exact meaning is unclear, but this, unlike other curses, indi-
eval Ireland, claims that the site of Saint Brigid’s Church at
cates that the women themselves have power to harm.
Kildare incorporated a pre-Christian sanctuary where
women tended a sacred flame.
Irish literature features female figures with supernatural
powers such as the Morrígan, Eriu, and Danu, who may be
The archaeological evidence includes images of female
late reflexes of Celtic land or sovereignty goddesses. In medi-
deities and inscriptions addressed to them. Men, who con-
eval Welsh literature, the character Rhiannon from a medi-
trolled the wealth, dedicated most of these monuments, but
eval Welsh tale, whose name means “Great queen” (Rigan-
women also feature as dedicatees. Most inscriptions date
tona), has been linked with the Gaulish and British goddess
from the Romano-Celtic period (first century BCE–fourth
Epona. Female druids and seers are mentioned in Irish
century CE) and indicate the importance of female deities
sources and druidic imagery clusters significantly around
rather than the position of women in religion. Devotion to
some of them. Fedhelm from the Ulster cycle (seventh to
deities did not follow strict gender lines, and men and
eleventh centuries CE) studied in Alba, a reflection of the
women alike left votives at shrines dedicated to both male
druid’s long apprenticeship as mentioned in classical sources,
and female deities. In so far as deities such as the dea nutrix
and appears with the sole purpose of uttering prophesies. Al-
were associated with childbirth or pregnancy, her devotees
though this material cannot directly reflect Celtic religion or
and perhaps officials were likely to be female, but the goddess
women’s roles in it, the pattern presented by the classical au-
Epona, associated with horses and horse craft, was popular
thors is one in which women participated in, rather than
among the Roman cavalry. A number of Romano-Celtic
were excluded from, ritual activity. Taken as a whole, archae-
statuettes of women suggest female religious activity, al-
ological evidence and narrative texts support rather than con-
though it is unclear, given the date of this material, whether
tradict this.
the activity was specifically Celtic. However, a bronze statu-
ette of a veiled woman from South Shields (Tyne and Wear),
Between the third and sixth century CE, Christianity was
a naked bronze female dancer from Neuvy-en-Sullias (Loi-
introduced to Gaul, Britain, and Ireland. The degree to
ret), and a wooden image of a veiled woman wearing a torc
which the new religion absorbed, subsumed, or coexisted
from Chaumelières (Puy-de-Dôme) are associated with
with pagan culture is a complex topic linked to the contro-
Gaulish or British religious sites and could depict devotees
versial concept of a distinctive Celtic Church. The cult of the
or officials. Chaumelières was the site of the sanctuary of
holy well has been the focus of much speculation on pre-
Sequana, goddess of the source of the Seine, and an impor-
Christian survival, but even here there is little direct archaeo-
tant healing center with an extensive dormitory and hospital
logical evidence for continuity between pagan deities and
complex for those seeking cures. Women probably played a
later saints. Nevertheless, hagiographers endowed both male
role in both religious and healing activities here and at similar
and female saints with pseudo-divine characteristics, and the
shrines. Religion was an aspect of public life open to women
complex cult of the Irish Saint Brigid of Kildare suggests that
in the ancient world, and other continental iconography de-
a pagan site was transferred to a holy woman, Brigid, who
picts women, either as devotees or officials, worshipping at
died in 524 CE. Women exercised considerable power and
altars or in processions. The names of Gaulish and British
influence in early Christian foundations in Ireland and
women priests are recorded in connection with classical cults,
Wales, although here too it is not clear how much of this car-
and at least one Gaulish woman dedicated a temple altar to
ried over from pagan structures and how much was the result
a native Gaulish goddess.
of increased status introduced by the new religion.
INTERPRETATION OF SOURCES AND LATER DEVELOPMENTS.
MODERN REVIVAL. Issues of gender in Celtic religion and
Religion, particularly an aspect like gender, is difficult to re-
in early Christianity have been informed by the revival of in-
constitute from archaeological evidence. However, it is possi-
terest in Celtic culture since the end of the nineteenth centu-
ble to infer some ritual significance from the placement of
ry. Romantic nationalism and Romantic feminism have un-
burials, such as the woman interred within a ritual enclosure
doubtedly over-interpreted the sources, but modern
at Libeniçe in Bohemia (fourth century BCE) or two distinc-
developments in paganism and Celtic spirituality draw cru-
tive female burials from Wetwang Slack in Yorkshire (third
cial metaphors from images of a powerful goddess figure who
century BCE)—one buried with an elaborate chariot and the
embodied female power in a unified pre-Christian world and
other with a sealed bronze box. It has been suggested that
the idea that such a figure was intimately bound up with the
native British rites continued as a countercultural religion
cycle of nature. Since the middle of the twentieth century,
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND AUSTRALIAN INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS
3389
women have become an important force in modern druidry
in New Directions in Celtic Studies, edited by Amy Hale and
and in the move toward a more inclusive spirituality. The
Philip Payton, pp. 69–91 (Exeter, U.K., 2000). Many Inter-
popularity of modern paganism and Celtic spirituality is
net sites contain information drawn from secondary sources
strengthened by the assumption that Celtic religion could
or personal experience. These sites attest to the enormous in-
survive domination by Roman culture and Christianity. Sup-
terest in women’s spirituality and to the importance of Celtic
posed survival, despite external domination, is an essential
images in providing metaphors for this to be expressed.
feature of countercultural rebellion, and the image of a unit-
JULIETTE WOOD (2005)
ed Celtic world in which women were given a voice in reli-
gion is powerful whatever the discontinuity between modern
religious developments and historical sources.
GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND
SEE ALSO Celtic Religion, overview article.
AUSTRALIAN INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS
Indigenous Australian women’s religious beliefs and prac-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
tices and the nature of gender relations in Aboriginal socie-
There is no overall scholarly study of gender in Celtic religion
ties continue to be the subject of considerable debate. Do
from the ancient to modern period; however, Philip Free-
women have ceremonies that are secret and sacred to them?
man’s WarWomen and Druids: Eyewitness Reports and Early
Do their rituals implicate the entire society or only women?
Accounts of the Ancient Celts (Austin, Tex., 2002) makes use-
Should gender relations be represented as egalitarian, com-
ful comments on the relevant classical references. A. Pelle-
plementary, or hierarchical? What has been the impact of the
tier’s La Femme dans la societé gallo-romaine (Paris, 1974)
colonization of traditional lands, the forced removal of chil-
considers the position of women in Gaul, whereas Lindsey
dren, and the policies of assimilation and self-determination
Allason-Jones’s Women in Roman Britain (London, 1989)
on women and men’s religious beliefs and relationships? Is
covers British society. Miranda Green’s Celtic Goddesses War-
it possible to generalize for the entire continent, or given that
riors Virgins and Mothers (London, 1995) surveys both soci-
ety and mythology into the early Christian period. Christina
Indigenous people live in different situations across the
Harrington’s Women in a Celtic Church: Ireland 450–1150
country, is it only possible to document change for specific
(Oxford, 2002) gives a detailed and authoritative view of reli-
groups?
gious life in Ireland, whereas Jane Cartwright’s Y Forwyn
PROBLEMS WITH THE SOURCES. For a number of reasons,
Fair, Santesau a Lleianod Agweddau a diweirdeb yng Nghym-
women’s voices are barely heard, especially in nineteenth-
ru’r Oesodd Canol (Cardiff, 1999) examines images of the vir-
century and early- to mid-twentieth-century sources. Indige-
gin, female saints, and nuns in medieval Wales. Elissa
nous women, women anthropologists, and historians women
Henken’s Welsh Saints, A Study in Patterned Lives (Wood-
have contested the validity of the male-dominated record. Si-
bridge, U.K., 1991) examines the hagiography of gender,
and Dorothy Bray’s “The Image of Saint Brigit in the Early
lences, cultural assumptions regarding the “proper role” of
Irish Church,” Etudes Celtiques 24 (1987): 209–215 consid-
women, and paradigms locating women outside the religious
ers the growth of this important cult, a theme developed by
domain have rendered women mute. Influential texts, such
Elva Johnston’s “The Pagan and Christian Identities of the
as Sigmund Freud’s Totem and Taboo and Émile Durkheim’s
Irish Female Saint,” in Celts and Christians New Approaches
The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life, written by theo-
to Religious Traditions of Britain and Ireland, edited by Mark
rists with no direct fieldwork experience in Australia, cast
Atherton, pp. 60–79 (Cardiff, 2002).
women as the profane and “other.” When women’s experi-
The study of gender in Celtic religion is linked to general attitudes
ence, self-knowledge, and woman-focused activities are con-
to the Celts and to the concept of Celtic Christianity. Two
fined to the realm of the everyday, the mundane, and the
articles by Wendy Davies, “Celtic Women in the Early Mid-
hearth and home, the question does not arise as to whether
dle Ages,” in Images of Women in Antiquity, edited by Averil
the ceremonies women perform may have significance be-
Cameron and Amélie Kuhrt, pp. 145–66 (London, 1983)
yond the profane business of women’s bodies. For these the-
and “The Myth of the Celtic Church” in The Early Church
orists, women have magic but nothing that could properly
in Wales and the West, edited by Nancy Edwards and Alan
be called religion. Thus when Géza Róheim, heavily influ-
Lane, pp. 12–21 (Oxford, 1992), help to clarify the issues
enced by Freud’s psychoanalytical approach, worked in the
and define the parameters of the argument. Gearóid Ó Cru-
1930s in Central Australia and addressed women’s lives, he
alaoich’s The Book of the Cailleach (Cork, 2003) surveys all
aspects of the “divine female” motif in Irish. The Scottish
asked about their everyday preoccupations but not about
journalist and folklorist Lewis Spence popularized the idea
religion.
of Celtic religion as benevolent and magical nature worship
In her 1979 article “Aboriginal Women and the Notion
in which women played an important role. Books such as Bo-
of ‘The Marginal Man,’” Catherine Berndt traced the ways
adicea, Warrior Queen of the Britons (London, 1937) and The
Magic Arts in Celtic Britain (London, 1945) have influenced
women in the records of nineteenth-century observers are
popular approaches to the subject. Good surveys of modern
routinely depicted as downtrodden slaves of their menfolk,
Celtic paganism and Celtic spirituality are Ronald Hutton’s
objects for sexual barter, and the instigators of fights. In this
The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles (Oxford, 1990)
schema women’s politics are cast as squabbles, and the deci-
and Marion Bowman’s “Contemporary Celtic Spirituality,”
sion-making power they enjoy by virtue of being the eco-
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3390
GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND AUSTRALIAN INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS
nomic mainstay for their hunting and gathering is rendered
who accompanied Baldwin Spencer on his travels through
invisible. The trend continued well into the twentieth centu-
central and northern Australia, Diane Bell found data that
ry. Denied agency, women are shadows in the landscape:
did not appear in their ethnographies—it did not mesh with
they cannot and do not speak directly of their lives, beliefs,
the evolutionary models of Spencer. But as she pointed out
and practices. Women are “feeders, breeders and follow the
in her 1983 Daughters of the Dreaming, it did indicate that
leaders” (Cawte, 1974, p. 140).
women’s affiliations to the Dreaming were not mediated
through men.
The written record is further impoverished because
most observers were men and, with the strict sex-division of
WOMEN SPEAK. The 1939 publication of Phyllis Kaberry’s
labor, they faced practical difficulties in undertaking research
Aboriginal Woman: Sacred and Profane established that In-
among Indigenous women. Those who were accompanied
digenous women had secret ceremonies. This was work un-
by their wives sometimes recorded their wives’ observations
dertaken by a woman who went into the field to study
on Indigenous women or those of the wives of missionaries.
women and who was prepared to interrogate Durkheim’s sa-
But more often, where they make reference to women, male
cred and profane dichotomy. Her portrait of independent
researchers have relied on Indigenous men for information
women, rich in ritual knowledge and expertise, stands in
regarding women’s activities and status. These men, howev-
stark contrast to the findings of W. Lloyd Warner that
er, have been reluctant or unable to discuss what is some-
women were born profane and made little sacred progress
times referred to as “women’s business.”
through life. Kaberry worked in the Kimberley region of
Western Australia and Warner in Arnhem Land in the north
Some insights are available from women who have set
of Australia, but regional differences do not adequately ex-
down their observations in fiction and diaries. Mrs. Aeneas
plain the divergent portraits. Kaberry’s monograph contin-
Gunn, drawing on her experiences in the Roper River region
ues to be read as a book about women in the Kimberleys and
of the Northern Territory, told the story of “Bett-Bett” in
Warner’s as a text on religion.
The Black Princess in 1905. For the most part the few trained
women who undertook fieldwork in Australia did not focus
Catherine Berndt’s work in the 1940s and 1950s con-
on Indigenous women. Some ignored women, preferring to
firmed and extended Kaberry’s findings to South Australia,
work on more “scholarly” prestigious topics. Some, like the
the Northern Territory, and other parts of Western Austra-
journalist and self-taught anthropologist Daisy Bates (1863–
lia. Likewise Annette Hamilton, working in the eastern
1951), lived among and wrote about Indigenous peoples in
Western Desert, documented the existence of women’s secret
Western and South Australia. Bates faithfully recorded as-
ceremonies in her 1979 Ph.D. thesis. On the basis of her
pects of women’s ceremonial lives, had little time for women,
fieldwork and land claim experience in Central Australia in
and as a product of their times, assumed that male authority
the 1970s and 1980s, Diane Bell detailed the breadth, depth,
was part of the “natural order” of things.
and power of women’s religious lives; explored their control
over women’s residential and ceremonial spaces; and demon-
Nancy Munn’s careful documentation of Warlpiri
strated that yawulyu (land-based ceremonies) and yilpinji
women’s ceremonies, sand drawings, and body paintings,
(love magic or emotional management ceremonies) are struc-
published in 1973 in Walbiri Iconography, added to the rich-
tured along the same principles of ritual reciprocity as men’s
ness of Central Australian desert ethnographies. But in pur-
ceremonies.
suing her structural analysis, Munn focused more on the
men’s ceremonies, including the secret ones she was privi-
Françoise Dussart, writing of her 1980s fieldwork with
leged to attend. She does not record having attended any se-
the Warlpiri of Central Australia, focused on the elements
cret women’s ceremonies. Her conclusion that men held the
of competition and obligation of both men and women ritu-
keys to cosmic order echoed the 1972 opinion of Kenneth
al leaders and revisited the centrality of kinship. Zohl Dé Ish-
Maddock, in Australian Aborigines, that women’s ceremonies
tar, working at Wirrimanu (Balgo, Western Australia) where
are small and personal whereas men’s ceremonies addressed
Catherine Berndt had spent many years, traced the internal
broader societal concerns. On the basis of more explicitly
struggles of this complex community in her 2003 Ph.D. dis-
feminist research and evidence in Aboriginal land claims,
sertation. Accounts of women’s art, music, and dance have
Maddock revised his position for the 1982 edition of that
further fleshed out dimensions of the dynamic and vibrant
work.
religious lives of Indigenous women. The ethnomusicologist
Linda Barwick’s 2000 recordings and accompanying texts are
In an effort to reclaim women from the sources and to
the first commercially available of the yawulyu style of Waru-
explore why Indigenous women do not see themselves as the
mungu women from Tennant Creek, Central Australia. Jen-
drudges of their society, women researchers began exploring
nifer Biddle’s article “Inscribing Identity: Skin as Country
the silences in the ethnographic and historical record. In the
in the Central Desert” offers a closer look at the significance
1845 journal entries of the explorer and administrator Ed-
of women’s body painting.
ward John Eyre, Fay Gale found evidence of women-only
ceremonies among the people of the southern Murray River
In land claims brought under the Aboriginal Land
region of South Australia for her 1989 article “Roles Revisit-
Rights (Northern Territory) Act (1976), women offered tes-
ed.” In rereading the 1901–1902 journal of Francis Gillen,
timony regarding their religious ties to land and their knowl-
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND AUSTRALIAN INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS
3391
edge of myth through yawulyu performances. A 1979 report
earned the right to know. In the stories of survival, there are
of Justice John Toohey, the then Aboriginal land commis-
glimpses of the continued importance of family attendance
sioner, made special mention of the significance of women’s
at various ceremonies, including funerals. These gatherings
ceremonies. In government-sponsored reports, Indigenous
serve to unite communities and celebrate kinship ties, as they
women across Australia have spoken out about their commu-
did in the premissionary days.
nity, family, and individual concerns.
Indigenous women continue to explore their relation-
The portrait of women’s religious lives that emerges
ship to feminism and the women’s movement. For some, the
from these accounts is that in the desert regions of central,
women’s movement offered new insights and opportunities.
western, and southern Australia and in the Kimberleys both
Others have explored distinctively indigenous modes of rep-
men and women have ceremonies that are closed to the
resenting their struggles as Indigenous women and express
other. However, there are also ceremonial moments where
ambivalence and sometimes hostility to what they see as a
each has a presence at the rituals of the other. Knowledge is
white women’s movement.
earned. The sages of the society are the “old people.” The
GENDER RELATIONS. Here also the record is impoverished.
nubile young wenches who caught the eye of some commen-
Throughout the nineteenth century and much of the twenti-
tators were not repositories of the sacred and secret law.
eth century, male dominance was accepted as an accurate de-
Bringing women into active voice in the ceremonial do-
piction of gender relations, which were usually discussed in
main has been the work of women. To explore what was
terms of role and status. Evidence of women’s rituals consti-
going on in women-only domains required a woman re-
tuted a challenge to this view, but it has not entirely dis-
searcher, one who could be trusted with women’s secrets.
lodged the model of male dominance as universally applica-
Catherine Berndt worked with women while her husband
ble. Rather, from the 1970s onward there is greater nuance
worked with men. They provided gendered perspectives on
and complexity to the way gender relations are presented.
the same communities, stories, and ceremonies, and their ac-
For Central Australia there is general agreement that
cess deepened as they aged. Bell described taking her two
women enjoy prestige and respect by virtue of their secret
children into the field in the mid-1970s and how she was in-
and sacred ceremonies, and this is apparent in their rights in
structed in the ceremonial responsibilities of a mother of a
and responsibilities for sacred sites and country. This con-
boy nearing the age of initiation and a girl approaching mar-
trasts with Arnhem Land, where polygyny is common, the
riageable age.
separation of the sexes is not as dramatically marked, and
By the 1980s Indigenous women were adding to an al-
women’s ritual activity does not have the wide reach of
ready extensive body of literature, but little of it addressed
women’s ceremonies in the desert regions.
religious beliefs and practices directly. Rather, they presented
In The Tiwi of North Australia (1960) C. W. M. Hart
autobiographical material, emphasized survival, and located
and Arnold Pilling describe older women as toothless old
women’s strengths within families and communities. As she
hags. In Tiwi Wives, researched in the 1960s but not pub-
documented the ravages of dispossession on her people in
lished until 1971, Jane Goodale found Tiwi women to be
New South Wales in her 1978 film My Survival as an Aborig-
wise individuals. Unlike the practice throughout most of the
inal, Essie Coffey highlighted the strength she derived from
Australia continent, Tiwi men and women of Melville and
her family. Hyllus Maris and Sonia Borg told the history of
Bathurst Islands are initiated at the same ceremonies, but
two hundred years of occupation of Indigenous lands in
women are not expected to be innovators. That is men’s
Women of the Sun, the 1983 four-part television series with
work. Goodale characterized male-female relations as struc-
a woman as the central figure in each episode. Sally Morgan’s
turally unequal.
1987 international best seller, My Place, traced her quest for
identity through a maze of secrets in her Western Australian
In their contributions to the 1970 landmark publication
family.
of Woman’s Role in Aboriginal Society, Isobel White surveyed
the literature and concluded that women were not pawns or
Many more stories of survival in the face of loss and
chattels of men but “junior partners” (White, 1970, p. 26),
trauma came to light in 1996 with the publication of Bring-
whereas Catherine Berndt opted for a “two sex model, de-
ing Them Home, a report on the “stolen generations,” chil-
pendence and interdependence” (Berndt, 1970, pp. 39–48).
dren forcefully removed from their parents in the name of
Diane Barwick provided a nuanced account of Indigenous
assimilation. Other women are now coming forward to share
women’s strategies in nineteenth-century Victoria as they
their stories. Doris Kartinyeri’s Kick the Tin (2000) told her
took advantage of the opportunities afforded by mission and
story for future generations.
government stations to transform their roles within tradi-
tional patriarchal society and to enjoy the status of emanci-
Although women’s ceremonial life was imperiled by
pated women (Barwick, 1970, pp. 31–38).
missionary activity and government policies of assimilation,
particularly in the heavily settled part of Australia, fragments
In 1979 John Bern, working in the Roper River area and
of knowledge of the beliefs and practices of earlier genera-
echoing Warner’s pronouncement on women’s profane lives,
tions have survived and are held dear by those who have
argued that religion is the domain where status is conferred,
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND AUSTRALIAN INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS
and religion is a male domain. A year later Hamilton ex-
Myths are redolent with sexual imagery and make note
plored what might constitute a challenge to this ideology.
of the aberrant and the taboo. Thus sex between mothers-in-
She argued that in the eastern Western Desert women’s ma-
law and sons-in-law leads to social disorder. Women’s yilbin-
trilineal ties, autonomous religious lives, and lower polygyny
ji songs of Central Australia may be used to attract or spurn
rates than farther north in Arnhem Land constituted a struc-
a lover and to restore harmony.
tural impediment to the consolidation of male dominance.
Fred Myers, working with the Pintupi of Central Australia,
In the central desert regions yawulyu ceremonies are the
has conceded that women’s ceremonies are of importance
responsibility of senior women, and through their perfor-
but, like Maddock’s 1982 revised position, sees the scale of
mance they make the country “come up green” and speak
men’s ceremonies, their elaborate nature of preparations,
of “growing up” the country as one “grows up” children. In
and their integrative scope as indicative of their greater
Warlpiri one is kirda for the country of one’s father and
importance.
kurdungurla for the country of one’s mother’s father. Other
rights flow through mother’s mother and father’s mother,
Echoing the work of Kaberry and Hamilton, Diane Bell
place of birth, and a number of idiosyncratic factors.
in 1983 wrote of female autonomy and the complementarity
of the sexes in Central Australia. She argued that the life on
In the preparation of sacred objects for a ceremony,
settlements (reservations) provided many opportunities for
women may sing and speak of the significance of the stories
women’s ceremonies and indeed intensified the need for
that give meaning to their actions. Songs and designs painted
those ceremonies that concern resolution of conflict.
on bodies, the ground, and ritual paraphernalia function as
Women on cattle stations (ranches) have fewer opportunities
mnemonics and may be explored in greater detail in associat-
for large gatherings of women but often have been able to
ed myths. Stories may be told when women are out hunting
remain closer to their sacred places and country.
and gathering, and it is here that children first learn to name
their country.
In her reconsiderations of women and anthropology in
1984, Kay Saunders called for a reintegration of male and
Adults tell myths, but the audience may be children, or
female perspectives. Reviewing the last twenty-five years of
it may be highly restricted on the basis of gender, age, family,
the twentieth century, Francesca Merlan, in “Gender in Ab-
and country affiliations. As one ages and grows in wisdom,
original Social Life: A Review” (1988), noted the difficulty
the inside meanings of stories become available. This layering
presented by the range of views and claims that much of what
of knowledge may take one from a simple story told to scare
purports to address gender relations too often focuses on
children, such as the Mulyewongk (bunyip) of South Austra-
women’s position in the society. Lester Hiatt, in Arguing
lia, to deeper and deeper meanings of significance to men
about Aborigines, recognizes that age and gender are critical
and male initiation and to women and child rearing.
factors in any conceptualization of gender relations but with
his characterization, “double gendered gerontocracies,” al-
GENDER IN PUBLIC. Controversies regarding the value to be
lows that the weight attached to either may or does vary
accorded to research findings by women working with
across the continent (Hiatt, 1996, p. 77).
women persist and extend beyond the walls of academe. Be-
tween 1994 and 2001 the weight accorded to the claim that
MYTH AND RITUAL. There are myths that explore themes of
a group of Ngarrindjeri women in the southeast of Australia
sexuality, sexualized power, and gender relations; myths that
had secret knowledge of sacred sites was contested in a num-
are known to women, and ones that are the domain of men;
ber of legal cases. Diane Bell and Chris Kenny provide dia-
and gendered versions of the same myth wherein women and
metrically opposed readings of the Ngarrindjeri issues. Ulti-
men emphasize aspects of ancestral activities that are relevant
mately the women were vindicated in the decision by Justice
to their roles. From South Australia come men’s stories of
John von Doussa in 2002 in the Federal Court, but the hear-
the whale, kondoli, and the theft of fire, his jealously guarded
ings, media coverage, and anthropological and community
possession, and those of women about the old people riding
divisions generated by the matter illustrate how contentious
whales and calling to whales, as if these large warm-blooded
“women’s business” remains. The lives of the women pursu-
creatures were kin. Both women and men talk of the return
ing protection for the sites had been profoundly altered by
of the whales to the waters of the Southern Ocean as a proph-
the missionary presence and assimilation policies—including
ecy of the return of strength to their culture and com-
the forced removal of children—and there was little in the
munities.
ethnographic record to support their claims. However, the
Women feature in a number of Dreaming stories, some
assertion of several Ngarrindjeri men and women that
of which, like that of the Seven Sisters (the Pleiades) and the
the Seven Sisters Dreaming traveled through their country
Mungamunga, traveling women who traverse the continent,
could be substantiated from a number of sources. The politi-
interact with other Dreamings and establish rites of passage
cized women of the so-called “settled south” were pitted
for women. In her 1965 article Catherine Berndt enumer-
against the traditional women of the “remote” communities
ated examples of present-day male ownership of myths that
and their authenticity as believers contested. Women-
once belonged to women, the most well-known being the
focused accounts were called biased, and the reflexive ac-
Djang’kawu sisters from northeastern Arnhem Land.
counts where the researcher discussed the impact her pres-
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND AUSTRALIAN INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS
3393
ence has had on the collection of data were said to lack the
Bell, Diane. “White Women Can’t Speak?” Feminism and Psychol-
objectivity of earlier positivist accounts.
ogy 6, no. 2 (1996): 197–203. Summary of the controversy
over a 1988 paper by Bell concerning intraracial rape, the si-
Since the late 1980s the issue of violence against women
lence of feminists for fear of being called racist, and the male
has emerged as a highly emotive issue. Numerous reports
bias of the Australian legal system in advocating for Indige-
have documented the increasing incidences of rape and phys-
nous women victims of male violence and Jackie Huggins’s
ical abuse of women and children, and this has led to a lively
insistence that this violence against women is not the busi-
debate concerning gender relations in traditional society and
ness of white women.
the weight to be accorded to the legacy of the gendered vio-
Bell, Diane. Ngarrindjeri Wurruwarrin: A World That Is, Was, and
lence of the colonial frontier. Anthropologists and historians
Will Be. Melbourne, 1998. A historically grounded ethnog-
have debated the nature of the transformation of gender roles
raphy of the Ngarrindjeri of South Australia and the Hind-
on the frontier. Berndt argued that women were advantaged
marsh Island affair.
by their privileged access to the hearth and home of the colo-
Bell, Diane. Daughters of the Dreaming. Melbourne, 1983; 3d ed.,
nizers. Bell argued that women’s lives were privatized by their
2002. An explicitly feminist ethnography of women’s reli-
domestication and that during the self-determination era
gion at Warrabri (Ali-curang) with Warlpiri, Kayetj, Alya-
men were groomed as leaders and negotiations were male to
warr, and Warumungu women; based on doctoral research
and land claim experience.
male. Assumptions regarding women’s chattel-like status fu-
eled the argument that violence against women was tolerated
Bern, John. “Ideology and Domination: Toward a Reconstruction
of Australian Aboriginal Social Formation.” Oceania 50, no.
in “traditional” society. In response to Bell’s call to all Aus-
2 (1979): 118–132. Based on fieldwork in the Roper River
tralians to pay attention to intraracial rape, Indigenous
region.
women, such as Huggins, have argued that this is their busi-
Berndt, Catherine H. “Women’s Changing Ceremonies in North-
ness. This debate continues, as Bell documented in “White
ern Australia.” L’Homme 1 (1950): 1–88. M.A. thesis; docu-
Women Can’t Speak” and as “Tidda’s Manifesto” illustrated.
mentation of the ceremonial lives and impact of cattle sta-
Traditional religion is tied to place and firmly embed-
tions (ranches); song texts and body designs.
ded in the kinship system. For a number of reasons, however,
Berndt, Catherine H. “Women and the ‘Secret Life.’” In Aborigi-
including dispossession of land, forceful removal of children,
nal Man in Australia, edited by Ronald M. Berndt and Cath-
work requirements, and education, many people no longer
erine H. Berndt, pp. 238–282. Sydney, 1965. Examines
live on their ancestral land. New spiritualities, in dialogue
song, ritual, and myth from women’s perspective; locates
within context of complementary relations between men and
with different Christian modalities, formulations of social
women in ritual and ceremonial spheres.
justice, environmentalism, and ecofeminism, have emerged.
Berndt, Catherine H. “Digging Sticks and Spears; or, The Two-
The hierarchical ordering of ancestral powers within these
Sex Model.” In Women’s Role in Aboriginal Society, edited by
new theologies privilege male-identified beings, whereas
Fay Gale, pp. 39–48. Canberra, 1970. A model of gender re-
some of the New Age romanticizations of the noble savage
lations based on exploration of domestic, economic, and reli-
and the earth as mother articulate a female principle.
gious domains.
Berndt, Catherine H. “Aboriginal Women and the Notion of the
SEE ALSO Anthropology, Ethnology, and Religion; Austra-
‘Marginal Man.’” In Aborigines of the West: Their Past and
lian Indigenous Religions, overview article; Durkheim,
Their Present, edited by Ronald M. Berndt and Catherine H.
Émile; Ecology and Religion, overview article; Freud, Sig-
Berndt, pp. 28–38. Nedlands, Western Australia, 1979. Lit-
mund; Magic, article on Theories of Magic; Ritual; Totem-
erature survey of historical and contemporary material pri-
ism.
marily from Western Australia.
Berndt, Ronald M., and Catherine H. Berndt. The Speaking Land:
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Canberra, 1970. Ethnohistorical analysis of changes in
Berndt, Ronald M., and Catherine H. Berndt, with John E. Stan-
women’s role and status following the Board of Protection
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of Aborigines 1860 decision to settle tribes in Victoria on su-
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with two remarkable elders, Albert Karloan and Margaret
Barwick, Linda. Yawulyu Mungamunga: Dreaming Songs of Waru-
“Pinkie” Mack, in the 1940s, revised in the 1990s, and pub-
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3394
GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND AUSTRALIAN INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS
chiatric anthropology and an exploration of the possible alle-
tion (now Mimili), South Australia; argues the region is in
viation of acculturation problems by sociomedical means.
flux; analysis of mode of production in relationship to repro-
Coffey, Essie. My Survival as an Aboriginal. 1978. Documentary
duction and symbolic production.
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Hamilton, Annette. “Dual Social Systems: Technology, Labour,
holism, deaths in custody and poverty; filmed in Coffey’s
and Women’s Secret Rites in the Eastern Western Desert of
hometown, Brewarrina, in the far northwest of New South
Australia.” Oceania 51, no. 1 (1980): 4–19. Separation of the
Wales.
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cret religious lives.
Daylight, Phyliss, and Mary Johnstone. Women’s Business: Report
of the Aboriginal Women’s Task Force. Canberra, Australia,
Hart, C. W. M., and Arnold R. Pilling. The Tiwi of North Austra-
1986. An inquiry into Aboriginal women’s involvement in
lia. New York, 1960. A study of a system of influence and
critical social, political, and economic issues, including land
power based on woman as currency and male competition
rights; recommendations to the commonwealth government;
for control of this “good.”
based on an Australiawide, twelve-month consultative pro-
Hiatt, Lester R. Arguments about Aborigines: Australia and the Evo-
cess by a team of thirteen Indigenous women.
lution of Social Anthropology. New York, 1996. Explores
major controversies in Australian anthropology; includes the
Dé Ishtar, Zohl. “Holding Yawulyu: White Culture and Black
chapter “The Woman Question.”
Women’s Law.” Ph.D. diss., Deakin University, 2003. Re-
search at Wirrimanu (Balgo), Western Australia; her role in
Kaberry, Phyllis M. Aboriginal Woman: Sacred and Profane. Lon-
establishing Kapululangu, a women’s camp and cultural cen-
don, 1939. Revised doctoral dissertation; based on field-
ter; the politics of the community (including intra- and
work in early 1930s; portrays women as complex social per-
inter-black and white politics).
sonalities.
Kartinyeri, Doris E. Kick the Tin. Melbourne, 2000. Firsthand ac-
Durkheim, Émile. The Elementary Form of the Religious Life. New
count of the struggles of a member of the “stolen genera-
York, 1915. Classic account of religion, sacred and profane,
tions” taken at birth and raised in the Colebrook Home in
draws on Australian material.
South Australia.
Dussart, Françoise. The Politics of Ritual in an Aboriginal Settle-
Kenny, Chris. It Would Be Nice if There Was Some Women’s Busi-
ment: Kinship, Gender, and the Currency of Knowledge. Wash-
ness. Potts Point, Australia, 1996. An involved journalist’s
ington, D.C., 2000. Based on doctoral and subsequent re-
defense of the proposition that the Ngarrindjeri women fab-
search at Yuendumu in Central Australia; traces how ritual
ricated their religious beliefs to thwart development of the
leaders function as individuals, women, Warlpiri, and mem-
Hindmarsh Island bridge.
bers of residential kin groups.
Little, Janine. “‘Tiddas in Struggle’: A Consultative Project
Fergie, Deane. “Secret Envelopes and Inferential Tautologies.”
with Murri, Koori, and Nyoongah Women.” SPAN: Jour-
Journal of Australian Studies 48 (1996): 13–24. Account of
nal of the South Pacific Association for Commonwealth Litera-
the logic pursued in investigating the secrets of the Ngarrind-
ture and Language Studies, no. 37, 1993. Includes discussion
jeri women in the Hindmarsh Island case.
of Jackie Huggins and the development of the “Tiddas Man-
Freud, Sigmund. Totem and Taboo. New York, 1950.
ifesto,” “white feminism,” and the benefits that flow to white
women from the dispossession and oppression of Koori peo-
Gale, Fay. “Roles Revisited: The Women of Southern South Aus-
ple.
tralia.” In Women Rites and Sites, edited by Peggy Brock,
pp. 120–135. Sydney, 1989. A reconciliation of the nine-
Maddock, Kenneth. The Australian Aborigines: A Portrait of Their
teenth-century literature on the role and status of Indigenous
Society. Ringwood, Australia, 1972; rev. ed., 1982. Revisits
women—primarily those living at Point McLeay (Rauk-
the claim that women’s ceremonies centered on narrow, divi-
kan)—with perspectives of women in the twentieth century.
sive, and personal interests and concedes that women may in-
deed celebrate their relationship to land and broad cohesive
Gillen, Francis James. Gillen’s Diary: The Camp Jottings of F. J.
themes similar to men.
Gillen on the Spencer and Gillen Expedition across Australia,
Maris, Hyllus, and Sonia Borg. Women of the Sun. Paddington,
1901–1902. Adelaide, 1968. Gillen, special magistrate and
Australia, 1983. The book based on the award-winning tele-
protector of the Aborigines, Alice Springs, worked with Bal-
vision drama.
dwin Spencer, professor of biology at the University of Mel-
bourne; Gillen spoke several of the local languages and re-
Merlan, Francesca. “Gender in Aboriginal Social Life: A Review.”
corded the daily activities of women.
In Social Anthropology and Australian Aboriginal Studies: A
Contemporary Overview, edited by Ronald M. Berndt and R.
Goodale, Jane C. Tiwi: A Study of the Women of Melville Island,
Tonkinson, pp. 15–76. Canberra, 1988. Detailed literature
Northern Australia. Washington, D.C., 1971. Based on doc-
review; includes critique of reconstructions of “traditional”
toral research, traces woman’s life cycle from birth to death;
culture and calls for rereading the literature on sexuality and
social structure of Tiwi society; importance of matrilineality
reproduction in a wider social context.
and patrilineality.
Moreton-Robinson, Aileen. Talkin’ up to the White Woman. Saint
Gunn, Mrs. Aeneas. The Black Princess (1905). Sydney, 1977.
Lucia, Australia, 2000. A critique of the exclusionary and
Jeannie Gunn (1870–1961) worked at Elsey Station, North-
racist practices of middle-class white feminism.
ern Territory.
Morgan, Sally. My Place. Freemantle, Australia, 1987. Autobiog-
Hamilton, Annette. “Timeless Transformations: Women, Men,
raphy; a search for truth that implicates Morgan’s whole
and History in the Western Australian Desert.” Ph.D. diss.,
family and frees her mother and grandmother to tell their
University of Sydney, 1979. Fieldwork at Everard Park Sta-
stories.
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND OCEANIC RELIGIONS
3395
Munn, Nancy D. Walbiri Iconography: Graphic Representations
lander Children and Their Families. Sydney, 1997. Report of
and Cultural Symbolism in a Central Australian Society. Chi-
the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission on
cago, 1973. An exploration of visual art and communications
the “stolen generations.”
systems; examines the totemic designs as a representational
structure and sociocultural symbolism; based on doctoral re-
DIANE BELL (2005)
search at Yuendumu, Central Australia in the 1950s.
Myers, Fred R. Pintipu Country, Pintupi Self: Sentiment, Place, and
Politics among Western Desert Aborigines. Washington, D.C.,
GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND
1986. Based on doctoral research in Central Australia at
OCEANIC RELIGIONS
Papunya, Yayayi, and beyond with senior Pintupi men.
Oceania, a vast area encompassing a variety of social and reli-
Pattel-Gray, Anne, ed. Aboriginal Spirituality: Past, Present, and
gious systems, is often divided into three regions: Polynesia,
Future. Blackburn, Australia, 1996. Draws on papers from
Melanesia, and Micronesia. In Polynesia, with its chiefs and
the First National Conference on Aboriginality and Percep-
ascribed ranks, a woman’s position depends more on rank
tions of Christianity, South Australia, 1990, of explorations
than on gender. The populations of Polynesia are historically
by Indigenous scholars and church and community leaders
and theologians of their spirituality in relationship to Chris-
related, and there are similarities in social patterning
tianity.
throughout the region, including the system of hereditary
ranking. Sherry Ortner observes: “Sensualism, eroticism, and
Róheim, Géza. “Women and Their Life in Central Australia.”
a high level of sexual activity are actively cultivated through-
Royal Anthropological Institute Journal 63 (1933): 207–265.
out the area. Homosexuality is unstigmatized. Relations be-
Rich data, but assumes women’s activities concern magic,
not religion.
tween men and women are relatively harmonious and mutu-
ally respectful” (Ortner, 1981, p. 359). Melanesia, to the
Saunders, Kay. “‘The Old Order of Things’: Women and Anthro-
west, shows greater diversity in social organization, whereas
pology Reconsidered.” Hecate 10, no. 1 (1984): 68–73. A
Micronesia, to the north, is closer to the chiefly patterns of
historian’s overview.
Polynesia. The Melanesian cultures of highlands New Guin-
Toohey, John. Land Claim by the Alyawarra and Kaititja. Report
ea are often described as egalitarian, but the egalitarianism
by the Aboriginal Land Commissioner Toohey to the minis-
refers to relations among men and not to social relations
ter for Aboriginal affairs and to the administrator of the
across genders. Traditionally the peoples of Oceania have en-
Northern Territory. Canberra, Australia, 1979. Makes refer-
ence to the performance of women’s ceremonies as evidence
gaged in subsistence horticulture. People grew crops such as
of their rights and responsibilities in land.
taro, sweet potato, breadfruit, bananas, coconuts, and vari-
ous green vegetables. Gardening, supplemented with cash
Von Doussa, John. “Reasons for Decision.” Thomas Lincoln Chap-
cropping and wage labor, remains the basis of their econo-
man, Wendy Jennifer Chapman, and Binalong (Receivers and
Managers Appointed) (in Liquidation) v. Lumins Pty Ltd,
mies and is an important metaphor for life’s work.
Deane Joanne Fergie, Cheryl Anne Saunders, Robert Edward
APPROACHES. Those who have studied gender and religion
Tickner, and Commonwealth of Australia. Federal Court of
in Oceania have approached their subject from various per-
Australia, No. SG 33 of 1997. The Federal Court decision
spectives. A male bias pervades the observations of early mis-
of 2001 finding that the Ngarrindjeri women had not delib-
sionaries and colonial officials in the Pacific, and much early
erately fabricated their religious beliefs to thwart develop-
anthropological study was done by men who lacked access
ment.
to the religious practices and ideas of Pacific women. At the
Warner, W. Lloyd. A Black Civilization: A Social Study of an Aus-
beginning of the twenty-first century the large majority of
tralian Tribe. New York, 1937. Based on doctoral research
the peoples of Oceania were Christian, and thus Christian
with the Murgin at Milingimbi in the Northern Territory;
understandings were reflected in their ideas and practices. At
focus on kinship and social structure.
the same time, as many young people moved to urban cen-
Watson, Lillian. “Sister, Black Is the Colour of My Skin.” In Dif-
ters for education and work, understandings of gender de-
ferent Lives: Reflections on the Women’s Movement and Visions
rived from ancestral traditions and from Christianity were
of Its Future, edited by Jocelynne A. Scutt, pp. 45–52. Ring-
changing.
wood, Australia, 1987. Autobiographical account of life in
Queensland; born in 1940; experienced searing racism; am-
Margaret Mead, the pioneering anthropologist who
bivalence toward and recognition of the importance of
studied male and female identity in several societies in Ocea-
strong women’s movements.
nia, also used her research as a basis for exploring “male” and
White, Isobel M. “Aboriginal Women’s Status: A Paradox Re-
“female” in the United States. For those who have followed
solved.” In Woman’s Role in Aboriginal Society, edited by Fay
her, there has been a convergence between interest in gender
Gale, pp. 1–29. Canberra, 1970. A literature review; includes
relations in their home cultures and in the cultures they
consideration of women’s rights, the extent to which they are
study. In the last three decades of the twentieth century, as
enforced, and consequences of breaching the rules of the so-
scholars worldwide turned their attention to the cultural
ciety.
construction of gender, a profusion of studies focused on
Wilson, Ronald. Bringing Them Home: Report of the National In-
Oceanian societies. Marilyn Strathern’s doctoral dissertation,
quiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Is-
later published as Women in Between (1972), presented the
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND OCEANIC RELIGIONS
mediating roles played by women of the Mount Hagen area
valuables. The postmarital residence pattern is bilocal.
of Papua New Guinea and foreshadowed the feminist an-
Women, Lepowsky maintained, “are construed as life-givers,
thropology that soon challenged the ways scholars studied
nurturing children and yams, and feeding the heirs of the de-
Oceania. Strathern is remarkable not only for her feminist
ceased in mortuary ritual” (Lepowsky, 1993, p. 302).
anthropology but also for her interrogation of the relations
FERTILITY, SPIRITS, AND POWER. Food and fertility are
between feminism and anthropology. In The Gender of the
major concerns of Oceanian communities and are the foci
Gift (1988) she suggested that the study of gender relations
of ritual. It could be argued that the religions of Oceania
in Melanesia has been distorted by the assumptions of West-
consist of symbolic processes directed to the fertility of land
ern anthropologists who have imposed several Eurocentric
and community. Throughout Oceania agricultural labor is
binary oppositions—such as nature and culture, female and
divided between the sexes, with men clearing land and break-
male, subject and object, domestic and public—on their
ing up the soil for new gardens and women doing the plant-
Melanesian data. Her observation could be extended to all
ing and weeding. The actual distribution of tasks varies from
of Oceania.
place to place, and in many societies men take care of “male”
crops, such as bananas, whereas women are responsible for
Much of the post–World War II writing on the patrilin-
staple “female” crops. Their cooperation is represented in the
eal societies of highlands New Guinea emphasized male
conjunction of male and female in garden rituals. In some
domination, male cults, and male fears of menstrual pollu-
places a couple will have sex in a new garden before planting
tion. Later studies gave more attention to understandings of
takes place. In male cults of the New Guinea highlands there
women’s roles and female spirits in fertility-oriented cults
are “father” and “mother” officiants, both of whom are male.
and rituals. In the early 2000s accounts of violence toward
Thus gender is not only a social reality but also an idiom for
women in Papua New Guinea and other parts of the Pacific
thinking about the fruitfulness of vegetal and social life.
caused researchers to ask to what extent violence has a tradi-
tional mandate and to what extent it is the result of rapid
In Oceania economics and religion are not separate do-
and disorienting political and socioeconomic change. Some
mains. Practical physical work and symbolic work (ritual) in-
scholars of highlands New Guinea societies, among them Al-
tersect in gardening, fishing, and exchange activities. Oceani-
etta Biersack and Lisette Josephides, have argued that men
an societies put a great emphasis on wealth exchanges. Men
take advantage of women just as in capitalist societies those
and women participate differently in these exchanges, with
with means exploit the working classes. In analyzing the rela-
men taking the more public role in oratory and the transac-
tionship between masculinity and motherhood in an Eastern
tion of valuables and women supporting their husbands and
Iatmul (Papua New Guinea) society, Eric Silverman drew on
brothers by such activities as raising pigs, weaving mats, pre-
the distinction the literary theorist Mikhail Bakhtin makes
paring tapa, providing food, and offering hospitality to
between the “moral” and the “grotesque.” Eastern Iatmul
guests. At the same time women also have exchange net-
men, according to Silverman, “idealize an image of mother-
works—mainly with other women—in which mats, baskets,
hood that is nurturing, sheltering, cleansing, fertile, and
net bags, and food products are transacted.
chaste, in a word, moral. But men also fear an equally com-
The religions of Oceania vary in their ideas about and
pelling image of motherhood that is defiling, dangerous, ori-
practices concerning spirits and gods. Everywhere people in-
ficial, aggressive, and carnal, hence, grotesque” (Silverman,
teract with a variety of gods and spirits. Spirits of the dead
2001, p. 2). The ideology and ontology of Eastern Iatmul
are believed to have an ongoing relationship with the living.
masculinity are established, he argued, through “an unresolv-
Following death, the spirit of the deceased is encouraged by
able dialogue with motherhood” (Silverman, 2001, p. 159).
gifts and entreaties to move on to its next destination. Many
Describing the situation on Vanatinai, literally “Moth-
societies have practiced ancestor veneration, inviting the de-
erland,” a small island southeast of the main island of New
ceased members of the community to join in periodic festi-
Guinea in the Louisiade Archipelago, Maria Lepowsky de-
vals. In some areas people retain the skulls of the deceased
picted male-female relationships as markedly different from
for ritual presentation of food and dance. In chiefly societies
those of the highlands. Vanatinai, she says, is a place where
cults honor the spirits of chiefs and high-ranking members
“there are no ideologies of male superiority and female inferi-
of noble lineages. In highlands New Guinea the male cults
typically honor the collective spirits of the patriline and in
ority.” In this matrilineal society, “Both women and men
many societies provide for the initiation of males (Godelier,
give and receive ceremonial valuables, foodstuffs, goods
1986; Herdt, 1982).
made by women such as clay cooking pots, sleeping mats,
and coconut-leaf skirts, and goods made by men such as
Where male cults flourish or once flourished, a female
carved hardwood bowls and lime spatulas” (Lepowsky, 1993,
spirit may also be venerated. The Female Spirit, known as
p. viii). Women and men may both lead mortuary rituals and
Payame Ima among the Duna of Papua New Guinea, is asso-
participate in a range of ritual activities, and women figure
ciated with parts of the environment, with other spirits, with
prominently in myth as shapers of the culture. From their
human welfare, and with witchcraft (Stewart and Strathern,
mothers and their mothers’ brothers, women and men equal-
2002, pp. 93–109). She dwells in the high forest where the
ly inherit land, the use rights over forest and reef areas, and
wild pandanus nut trees grow and is regarded as an owner
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND OCEANIC RELIGIONS
3397
of these trees. She also dwells in forest pools, and people may
a turtle or a shark) in order to marry him. In another version
cast pieces of pork into these pools as offerings to her. She
Hina is seduced by Tuna (Eel) while bathing. The trickster
can possess men and women and thereby endow them with
hero Maui realizes what is happening and kills the eel. Hina
abilities such as the power to heal, to divine, or to identify
buries her lover’s head, and it grows into the first coconut
witches. She may endow ritual experts with the powers nec-
palm or, in a version narrated by the Maori of Aotearoa–New
essary to ensure the growth of boy initiates. These ritual ex-
Zealand, the lover is chopped into many pieces that grow
perts must be bachelors at the time the relationship is estab-
into the different species of eel. Some versions of the Hina
lished and remain so while they carry out their role in the
myth tell that the heroine climbed up to the moon, where
initiation cult. Payame rewards her male devotees with shiny,
she can still be seen seated under a banyan tree beating tapa
healthy skin.
cloth. Maori narratives maintain that the moon is the true
husband of all women, an idea found among many peoples
In her form as the Yuro Ima, the spirit of the Strickland
of Oceania.
River, she directs wild game, including wild pigs and casso-
waries, so that hunters can catch them. She also gives inspira-
Whereas culture heroes and heroines may lay down pat-
tion to the singers of the pikono epic cycles that recount some
terns for human behavior, myths also explore the tensions
of her own actions in helping humans. Payame Ima has a
between males and females. In many New Guinean cultures
dangerous side, however. Gabrielle Stürzenhofecker points
it is narrated that women were the trustees of ritual sacra
out that for the Duna, witchcraft is conceived of as a pre-
such as bamboo flutes until they were stolen by men and
dominantly female power that men see as threatening their
came to be played in the male cult to impersonate the spirits
control over women. Witches are portrayed as mobile and
(Silverman, 2001; Gillison, 1993). When men play the flutes
attracted by valued foods, characteristics usually associated
in the context of the men’s cult, they are doing something
with men. The Female Spirit, she says, is “described as both
that originally, the narratives say, belonged to women. More-
originator of, and the protector against, female witchcraft”
over their ritual activities are held to produce on a social level
and “powerfully encapsulates the duality inherent in the rela-
what female reproduction does on a biological level. Gillian
tions between the sexes” (Stürzenhofecker, 1998, p. 10).
Gillison describes how, among the Gimi, men and women
Comparable understandings of witchcraft are found
have their separate but complementary sets of myths that in-
throughout Oceania. A rash of witch accusations and killing
form the understanding of kinship, marriage, and exchange
of witches in the Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New
relationships (Gillison, 1993).
Guinea in the 1990s may well be a scapegoating response to
Oceanian cultures understand that power resides in in-
social changes that have disempowered men.
dividual, social, and cosmic life. Ritual is the means to tap
In Polynesia and also in parts of Melanesia and Micro-
into power. Even in modern circumstances it is usual for
nesia, sacred power is denoted by the related terms mana and
women to carry out rituals for the “growing up” of children,
tapu. Mana is understood as a state of being in which a per-
for the fruitfulness of crops, for healing, and for success in
son or object is temporarily or permanently under the influ-
attracting men. Similarly men carry out rituals for fishing
ence of gods, spirits, or powers. The mana, or supernatural
and hunting, for success in exchanges, for healing and the
power, of chiefs is a largely innate and inherited quality.
overcoming of misfortune, and for finding and keeping sexu-
Tapu, often glossed as “forbidden,” may, when used in refer-
al partners. Some, but not all, cultures in Oceania have ritu-
ence to gods, chiefs, and temples, also be translated as “sa-
als for the making of men (Godelier, 1986; Herdt, 1982;
cred.” The “sacred maid” of western Polynesia is at the same
Langness, 1999) and the making of women (Lutkehaus and
time powerful and forbidden. In Samoa she is supposed to
Roscoe, 1995).
be a chief’s sister’s daughter but might in fact be his daughter
Many societies in Oceania employ traditional processes
(Mead, 1949). She leads a group of unmarried girls and unti-
for entry into marriage. These usually involve the exchange
tled men’s wives who are responsible for hosting visitors to
of wealth items between the families of the couple and, in
the village. Unlike other unmarried young women, the sa-
the case of patrilineal societies, require a larger payment on
cred maid is under strict sexual constraint and is expected to
the part of the man’s supporters to compensate for the child-
retain her virginity until marriage. The prestige of the village
bearing capacity and labor that are transferred from the
is vested in her.
woman’s family to the man’s family. Traditionally marriage
M
in Oceania marked not only the union of a couple but the
YTH AND RITUAL. In Oceania, as in other regions of the
alliance of groups. Marriages that are entered into in tradi-
world, the identities and relationships of men and women
tional ways are usually also celebrated with Christian cere-
are explored in myth and song. A myth widespread in Poly-
monies, and indeed some people have only a Christian
nesia tells of a woman called Hina (in some places Sina or
ceremony.
Ina) who lived long ago and who established women’s activi-
ties, such as the making of tapa cloth. In one version of the
Periodic rituals to empower the land and to restore the
myth Hina falls in love with a handsome chief, Tinirau (or
collective good punctuate traditional Oceanian religious sys-
Sinilau), who lives on a faraway island. She runs away from
tems. If fertility is a major focus of ritual, the restoration of
her family and swims across the sea (or rides on the back of
well-being through healing processes is its complement. Ev-
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3398
GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND OCEANIC RELIGIONS
eryone knows some herbal remedies as well as spells and ritu-
early 1940s a Mekeo prophetess, Philo of Inawai’i, experi-
al actions for healing, but specialist healers, both male and
enced dreams and revelations in which she understood that
female, command a larger repertoire. Some inherit their heal-
the mother of Jesus, “Our Mother Mary heavenly chief,” was
ing practice and are trained in it by a parent or other relative.
addressing her and asking her to work for the renewal of faith
Others may receive healing power through a religious experi-
in her Catholic community (Fergie, 1977, p. 163). Part of
ence. While overall there are more male than female healers,
Philo’s message was that traditional values and Christianity
the situation differs from place to place, and even societies
are not incompatible. There were also male leaders in Philo’s
that once relied exclusively on male practitioners have seen
movement, some of whom took an anti-European and an-
women assume the practice of healing.
timission stance. With the coming of World War II to Papua
WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP. In the old Pacific, women of high
New Guinea, the Inawai’i movement faded. Philo married,
rank in the chiefly societies exercised social and ritual roles,
and when she was interviewed by Deane Fergie in the 1970s,
and throughout the area women participated in rituals con-
she was working as a healer in her village.
cerned with land and garden fertility and with the growth
Philip Gibbs describes the leadership of women in the
and health of children and animals. Senior women initiated
God Triwan movement, which started in the Catholic Pom-
the young, and there were women who functioned as healers.
pabus parish in the Enga Province of Papua New Guinea in
Women priests are documented in the Solomon Islands
1989 and spread to other parishes. The movement, which
(Burt, 1993, pp. 58, 138, 145, 271). Since the arrival of
is characterized by divination and prophecy and, as in Philo’s
Christianity, which came first to the eastern parts of Ocea-
movement, devotion to Mary, was still active in the early
nia—to Tahiti in 1797 and to Hawai’i in 1820—and then
twenty-first century. A number of scholars have described
made its way westward, women have also assumed roles of
the emergence in Christian communities in Papua New
leadership in Christian communities. Some have become
Guinea of “spirit women,” Christian spiritualists who share
pastors in Protestant denominations, although not all de-
much in common with traditional male spiritualists embark-
nominations permit female ministers; some have served as
ing on soul journeys and acting as mediums (Lohmann,
catechists and evangelists; many have become Catholic and
2003, pp. 53–54).
Anglican sisters. A missionary couple from the Cook Islands,
Ruatoka and his wife Tungane, went to Papua in 1873 and
Lorraine Sexton describes a women’s movement known
served there for the rest of their lives. The first Papuan to be
as Wok Meri (in Tok Pisin, “women’s work”) that began in
baptized, Aruadera, turned to Christ during a Sunday service
the Eastern Highlands and Simbu Provinces of Papua New
in which Tungane was presenting the Christian message.
Guinea in the 1960s. Groups of women under the direction
of senior women, called “big women,” accumulated money
All the Christian denominations in the Pacific have fos-
and entered into exchange relationships with other groups.
tered women’s groups, and women’s fellowships have fre-
A mother group symbolically gave birth to daughter groups,
quently been a base for social activism. While Christianity
with women tracing their Wok Meri ancestry through several
provided some scope for women’s agency, European mis-
generations. Members of the groups told Sexton that they
sionaries tended to impose Western understandings of ap-
were protesting against men’s wastefulness in using money
propriate female behavior and family patterns on Pacific Is-
to buy beer and play cards and that they were showing their
landers, resulting in changes in dress, housing, and domestic
own competence and setting an example for both women
life (Jolly and Macintyre, 1989).
and men to follow. Thus Wok Meri spoke to the responsibil-
A variety of religious and social movements, some of
ity women assume for their families and communities in a
which have been dubbed “cargo cults,” emerged in Oceania
time of change. From the “sacred maids” of Samoa, to Chris-
in response to colonial and missionary activity. Women have
tian evangelists, to spirit women and “big women,” the agen-
played a role in these movements as mediums and diviners
cy of women in Oceania has been shaped both by social envi-
and sometimes as leaders. In Samoa a religious movement
ronments and by innovations in times of transition.
that came to be known as the Siovili Cult, after its male
founder, arose about 1830 shortly after the introduction of
SEE ALSO Cargo Cults; Christianity, article on Christianity
Christianity by the London Missionary Society and lasted
in the Pacific Islands; Gardens, article on Gardens in Indig-
until about 1865. Siovili preached the imminent arrival of
enous Traditions; Melanesian Religions; Micronesian Reli-
God’s son, Sisu, with judgment to follow. God spoke
gions; Polynesian Religions; Spirit Possession, article on
Women and Possession; Taboo; Witchcraft, article on Con-
through Sisu by way of Siovili and other mediums, many of
cepts of Witchcraft.
whom were women. The leaders also carried out healings. It
seems that this movement was a bridge between the old reli-
gion in which families and local communities paid homage
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Jolly, Margaret, and Martha Macintyre, eds. Family and Gender
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leaders among the Bimin-Kuskusmin of the West Sepik
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Province of Papua New Guinea.
conversion to Christianity.
Sexton, Lorraine. Mothers of Money, Daughters of Coffee: The Wok
Josephides, Lisette. The Production of Inequality: Gender and Ex-
Meri Movement. Ann Arbor, Mich., 1986. A study of the
change among the Kewa. London, 1985. Examines men’s con-
symbolism and economic import of a women’s movement.
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND AFRICAN RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS
Shore, Bradd. “Sexuality and Gender in Samoa: Conceptions and
of exchange in the Trobriand Islands that goes beyond the
Missed Conceptions.” In Sexual Meanings: The Cultural
work of Malinowski and Powell to highlight the power of
Construction of Gender and Sexuality, edited by Sherry B.
women in Trobriand society.
Ortner and Harriet Whitehead, pp. 192–215. Cambridge,
U.K., 1981. A discussion of Samoan understandings of sex
MARY N. MACDONALD (2005)
and gender using a distinction among biological, psychologi-
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Silverman, Eric Kline. Masculinity, Motherhood, and Mockery: Psy-
GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND
choanalyzing Culture and the Iatmul Naven Rite in New Guin-
AFRICAN RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS
ea. Ann Arbor, Mich., 2001. A study of masculinity, ritual,
and maternal representation among the people of Tam-
Gender has been variously defined in diverse contexts. For
bunum village in the Middle Sepik of Papua New Guinea.
this entry, however, gender may be understood to refer to de-
fined capacities and attributes assigned to persons based on
Stewart, Pamela J., and Andrew Strathern. Gender, Song, and Sen-
sibility: Folktales and Folksongs in the Highlands of New Guin-
their alleged sexual characteristics. Gender, then, is a con-
ea. Westport, Conn., 2002. An exploration of male-female
struct within a people’s living experience, embedded in the
relationships as expressed in songs, folktales, and spirit cults.
base of their philosophy and manifested at theoretical and
Stewart, Pamela J., and Andrew Strathern. Remaking the World:
pragmatic levels of their polity. Because gender is never inde-
Myth, Mining, and Ritual Change among the Duna of Papua
pendent of other social systems, it would be futile to consider
New Guinea. Westport, Conn., 2002. A discussion of how
it as a fixed and immutable construct; rather, it is a process.
the Duna have remade their myths and rituals in response
Further, gender classifications permeate a culture’s cosmic
to influences of government, Christianity, and economic de-
perception and may be discernible in its language, storehouse
velopment. Includes a chapter on cults and a chapter on the
of wisdom, rituals, and philosophy. Gender thus presents it-
Female Spirit.
self in every sector of a culture’s experience of everyday life
Strathern, Marilyn. Women in Between: Female Roles in a Male
and philosophy of life. Gender classifications may be evident
World, Mount Hagen, New Guinea. London, 1972. A study
in perceptions of the ecosystem and supernatural forces.
of sex roles in Medlpa society.
HISTORICAL GENDER STUDIES IN AFRICAN RELIGIOUS TRA-
Strathern, Marilyn. “Self-Interest and the Social Good: Some Im-
DITIONS. History as a reference to past centuries will be mis-
plications of Hagen Gender Imagery.” In Sexual Meanings:
placed if applied to the study of gender in African religious
The Cultural Construction of Gender and Sexuality, edited by
traditions, which include African indigenous religions,
Sherry B. Ortner and Harriet Whitehead, pp. 166–191.
Christianity, and Islam. The latter two religions are classified
Cambridge, U.K., 1981. Explores the contrast between per-
as African religious traditions because of their influence on
sonal and social goals as they are pursued by women and men
in the Mount Hagen area of Papua New Guinea.
African culture. No longer can Islam and Christianity be de-
scribed as foreign religions to Africa, as the people, through
Strathern, Marilyn. The Gender of the Gift: Problems with Women
the prism of culture, have produced unique brands of Chris-
and Problems with Society in Melanesia. Berkeley, Calif.,
1988. Strathern asks what is involved in cross-cultural com-
tianity and Islam (Olajubu, 2003). This misplacement of
parison and suggests that the study of gender relations has
history may occur because basic assumptions concerning
been distorted by the assumptions of Western anthro-
gender are conceptualized in Africa, rather than because of
pologists.
a deliberate attempt to ignore them (King, 1995) or as an
Strathern, Marilyn, ed. Dealing with Inequality: Analysing Gender
indication of ignorance about gender studies in religion. Af-
Relations in Melanesia and Beyond. Cambridge, U.K., 1987.
rican concepts of gender are integral to the people’s religious
Ten essays, most based on Melanesian research, that explore
experience and by implication their social life as well. Conse-
the relations of equality and inequality between men and
quently, to perceive and pursue as a separate field the study
women and that grapple with the difficulties inherent in a
of gender in African religious traditions would be misguided.
Western observer’s assessment of non-Western social rela-
tionships.
Possible reasons for granting cognizance to the study of
gender in religion in Africa since the 1970s are multifarious.
Stürzenhofecker, Gabrielle. Times Enmeshed: Gender, Space, and
First, the global attention accorded to “women’s issues” or
History among the Duna of Papua New Guinea. Stanford,
Calif., 1998. Explores the fluidity of a social environment in
the “female question” has influenced the need for scholars
which gendered personhood and agency develop in contexts
to delineate African gender construction within and outside
of changing power relationships and spheres of cooperation
of religion. Second, there arose the need to differentiate Afri-
between the sexes.
can conceptions and construction of gender from gender
Tuzin, Donald. The Cassowary’s Revenge: The Life and Death of
construction in other cultures. Third, interpretations given
Masculinity in a New Guinea Society. Chicago, 1997. A study
to gender construction in African ritual practice by some
of the abandonment of the male cult among the Ilahita Ar-
non-African scholars may be described as controversial, espe-
apesh of Papua New Guinea and of the relationship of men
cially when compared to interpretations given by Africans
and women in Ilahita culture.
participating in such rituals. Fourth, a good understanding
Weiner, Annette B. Women of Value, Men of Renown: New Per-
of gender construction is essential to an understanding of Af-
spectives in Trobriand Exchange. Austin, Tex., 1976. A study
rican religious traditions. Religion is a belief system permeat-
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND AFRICAN RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS
3401
ing all sectors of lived experiences. It exerts a profound influ-
Cosmological accounts in Africa thus prescribe and en-
ence on people’s conception of gender. Indeed, in Africa
trench complementary gender relations that find expression
religion is the basic principle from which gender construc-
in the religious interactions of men and women, as well as
tion is derived.
in their relations in the polity. Consequently, female leader-
Works by scholars on gender in African religious tradi-
ship roles and access to power in religion are anchored on
tions give a prime importance to ritual and the fluidity of Af-
divine provisions that are validated by these cosmological
rican gender construction. Issues of cross-dressing, female
narratives. Again, these narratives confirm the African prefer-
cultic functionaries, and spirit possession are critically ana-
ence for areas of specialization for the female and the male.
lyzed to substantiate the multidimensional complexities of
Whereas the obvious area of authority in the polity is in the
gender construction in African religious traditions.
custody of men, women control the base of men’s public au-
thority through mystical powers. An example of such power
MYTHIC CONTEXTS IN CONSTRUCTING GENDER. The un-
is demonstrated by the Iya Mi group of the Yoruba, where
derlying basis of African gender issues could be located in the
the women wield tremendous influence in an informal and
people’s mythology, especially in cosmological myths. Myth,
often invisible but effectual way. Men are seen on the thrones
as a conveyor of meaning for that which history offers no ex-
and in official settings as rulers, yet perceived as unable to
planation, provides a paradigm for gender construction and
stand without the help of the invisible base. In general, in-
power relations. Myth supplies explanations for values and
terdependency and mutual sustenance mark African gender
meanings in people’s lives. As a model for human activity,
relations.
myth elucidates the connections between the supernatural
and the natural. Consequently, the roles played by the female
In African indigenous religions, deities who serve as
and male personae in mythical narratives have profound
lieutenants to the supreme being are both female and male.
implications for the expected roles of females and males in
These gods and goddesses derive their authority and function
society. Some prominent attitudes on gender are signified in
from God. The conduct and interaction of goddesses in Afri-
African mythological narratives, including, fertility, mother-
can religious narratives provide models for female roles at the
hood, cleansing, healing, deviance, and interdependent gen-
religious and social levels. For instance, goddesses are usually
der relations, as well as ambiguous perceptions of the body
represented as “givers” of children, as being in charge of bo-
and of blood. These attitudes are reflected in narratives on
dies of water, and as possessing healing abilities for effecting
traditions of the goddesses, sacred power, rituals, and cos-
physical and psychological well-being. Consequently, a study
mology.
of goddesses would provide tools for evaluating and analyz-
African cosmological accounts often submit that God,
ing the status of women in African indigenous religions, as
the supreme being, created the world, nature, animals, and
well as for assisting in analysis of the inherent gender dynam-
humans. Also, the consensus is that God created the first hu-
ics in the traditions. For example, just as goddesses assume
mans as male and female, “even if the exact methods of creat-
maternal roles to ensure fertility, motherhood and fertility
ing man differ according to the myths of different peoples”
are important features assumed for African women. Mystical
(Mbiti, 1969, p. 93). The Boshingo of Luanda’s cosmologi-
dimensions of feminine empowerment reinforce roles that
cal myth, for example, states that Bumba (God) was in terri-
are linked to female procreative attributes.
ble pain at the beginning of time, and retched and strained
Female religious alliances, such as the Iya Mi association
and vomited up the sun. After that, light spread over every-
among the Yoruba, wield tremendous cultural influence, and
thing. Later, Bumba vomited the moon, stars, animals, and
often link their powers to the women’s access to fertility and
last of all, humans (Eliade, 1967). Moreover, some African
motherhood (Olajubu, 2003, p. 17). Similarly, African in-
creation myths record tension in gender relations and the
digenous religions often ascribe to women the ability to heal.
sanction of God for mutual respect between male and female
This healing aptitude may be exhibited by women as individ-
(Badejo, 1996; Olajubu, 2003). The Yoruba cosmological
uals in their capacities as priestesses and healers, or in a col-
myth states that Olodumare (God) sent seventeen primordial
lective as a religious group, such as the zaar cults of Ethiopia,
divinities to earth at the beginning of time, Osun being the
Somalia, Egypt, and Eritrea. As wives to gods, goddesses are
only female among them. The sixteen male divinities ignored
said to possess independent mystical powers, which they dis-
Osun and excluded her from all decisions. In reaction to this,
play independently or in conjunction with their husbands.
Osun gathered all women together and formed the Iya Mi
Goddesses are sometimes perceived as wives in polygamous
group, which disrupted the smooth running of the universe
settings, just as polygamy often prevailed as a widespread so-
with their powers, and the earth became ungovernable for
cial practice in Africa.
the sixteen other primordial divinities. Olodumare advised
them to make peace with Osun so that all might be well
In addition, goddesses are presented as industrious be-
again. This they did, and everything returned to normal
ings who are often well off financially. In the same vein, Afri-
(Badejo, 1996, Olajubu, 2003). References to God’s distri-
can women are hardworking and prosperous, sometimes
bution of power to the female and the male in different areas
more so than their husbands. Similarly, African indigenous
may also be discerned from some of these accounts (Adedi-
religions conceive of women as possessing mystical powers,
ran, 1994).
which they are at liberty to use in the service of a personal
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND AFRICAN RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS
agenda. Some refer to this mysticism as “witchcraft.” Often,
digenous religions bestows temporary respect and authority
allegations of witchcraft indicate some level of fear or awe
on women in some contexts, while in others it extends per-
concerning women’s lives and physiology, although these in-
manent benefits to the social status of women.
dications do not obliterate cases of witchcraft.
Symbols persistently reinforce the complexity of gender
Goddesses are closely connected to the governance of
construction in African indigenous religions as conveyors of
some African communities. Osun, the goddesses of cool wa-
meaning in diverse contexts. Such symbols can occur as
ters in Osogbo, Nigeria, is closely connected with the sover-
works of art, such as the sculpted birds that appear on ele-
eignty of the town and the king. Osun is recognized as the
ments of authority (e.g., crowns, staffs of office) among the
owner of the land on which Osogbo stands. She is reported
Yoruba (Nigeria), or they can be hidden, such as the dance
to have defended the people during wars, and provides for
steps that are performed during the Nandi (Kenya) female
the people as well, including the provision of money, health,
initiation rites. An overriding principle for symbolism is in-
and peace. Appreciation for her care is demonstrated yearly
terdependency in terms of gender relations. Symbols rein-
in an elaborate festival that attracts devotees from within and
force the authority of women who engage in their sphere of
outside Nigeria (Olupona, 2000). The king of Osogbo
specializations (e.g., fertility), just as symbols reinforce the
(Ataoja) rules in behalf of Osun; her support is crucial to the
authority of men (master of the herd); neither could subsist
success of every endeavor in the land. Indeed, the state in
without the other. Again, from these symbols, we may infer
which Osogbo is located is named after her. The relationship
that the assumption of a total exclusion of females or males
between Osun and the king and the indigenes of Osun State
from any particular sphere in these indigenous religions is er-
is that of mother and children.
roneous.
SYMBOLIC CONSTRUCTION OF GENDER STUDIES IN AFRI-
The introduction of Christianity to Africa began in the
CAN RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS. As a social category, gender
early centuries of the Christian era with the establishment of
appears to influence the work of many scholars; this influ-
the Ethiopian and Coptic churches, though European mis-
ence is reflected by their research in African religious tradi-
sionary activities spanned (intermittently) the fourteenth to
tions, as well as in African economics, government, and the
nineteenth centuries. Missionaries who introduced Chris-
media. Many scholars offer tangential evidence of their inter-
tianity to Africa relegated women to the domestic domain,
est in gender studies in their writings on subjects other than
a division entrenched in biblical interpretations. However,
religion. Some of these scholars are Kemene Okonjo (1978),
with the emergence of the African independent, charismatic,
Filomena Steady (1987), Karin Barber (1991), Bolanle Awe
and Zionist churches, the need to renegotiate gender rela-
(1992), Molara Ogundipe-Leslie (1994), Ifi Amadiume
tions became a relevant issue. Contributing to this need was
(1998), Mary Kolawole (1998), Anne Wynchank (1998),
the mass movement of worshipers from orthodox churches
and Oyeronke Oyewumi (1999). Many other scholars focus
to the African independent, charismatic, and Zionist church-
their analysis of gender on African Christian, Islamic, and
es because African culture influenced the prevailing rituals
traditional religions: Judith Gleason (1987), Niara Sudarkasa
in these churches. As examples of such influence, women as-
(1987, 1996), Teresa Okure (1989), Rabiatu Ammah
sumed roles of leadership and symmetry of form in leader-
(1992), Deidre Crumbley (1992), Teresa Hinga (1992),
ship cadres. Nearly all gender studies of African Christianity
Musimbi Kanyoro (1992), Anne Nasimiyu-Wasike (1992),
began because of these developments. Examples of such
Mercy Amba Oduyoye (1992, 1995), Sophie Oluwole
works include publications by J. Renita Weems (1991),
(1993), J. Lorand Matory (1994), Amina Mama (1995),
Amba Mercy Oduyoye and Musimbi Kanyoro (1992), Mu-
Diedre Badejo (1996), Flora Edouwaye S. Kaplan (1997),
simbi Kanyoro and Nyambura Njoroge (1996), W. Musa
Dorcas Akintunde (2001), Mei-Mei Sanford and Joseph
Dube (2001), and M. Teresa Hinga (2002).
Murphy (2001), and Oyeronke Olajubu (2003).
The history of gender studies in Islamic Africa is recent.
On the one hand, there is the attempt to tease out feminist
Previously, gender studies in African indigenous reli-
passages from the QurDa¯n and strip away patriarchal interpre-
gions have focused on rituals and symbols. Emanating from
tations that hindered previous appreciation. Such passages
these studies are notions of fluidity in gender construction
include the prophet Muh:ammad’s statements enjoining re-
and the complexity attending gender as a social tool for reli-
spect and appreciation for women and equity between the
gious analysis. This focus is especially true in light of other
male and female. Emphasis in this regard has been on taqwa
competing categories, such as seniority and lineage affilia-
(piety), which is required of all adherents irrespective of sex
tion. African indigenous religions exhibit ritual features of
by Allah (Mernissi, 1995 and Wadud, 1999).
transvestitism and interchangeable gender characteristics.
Another feature is that women traditionally assume roles of
There is the perspective that prioritizes the influence of
leadership as priestesses, diviners, and healers. Furthermore,
African culture in paradigms concerning women, and this in-
African religions view women as predominant participants
fluences the women’s understanding and practicing of Islam.
in spirit possession. Scholars have propounded theories from
A model is the leadership role of women in African culture,
different perspectives to explicate spirit possession and its im-
now manifested in various Islamic forms. This trend has
plication for gender studies. Spirit possession in African in-
manifested in two main ways. Some women following Islam
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND AFRICAN RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS
3403
in Nigeria claim divine calling to devote all their time to
tations and assumptions for female status become evident.
prayers and healing practices for clients who come to them.
Whereas some myths may describe women as unable to keep
This has consequently elevated the status of such women in
secrets, women in certain domains are indeed the keepers of
Islam. Second, because of the identified need to take the Af-
secrets.
rican culture seriously for the propagation of Islam, women
Gender relations often manifest themselves as a cultural
are now installed as chiefs in the mosque’s structures. Titles
fluidity corresponding to a ritual domain of indigenous reli-
among the Yoruba of Nigeria include the Iya Addini (woman
gions. This fluidity tends to reinforce complex gender con-
leader) and Otun Addini (assistant to the woman leader).
structions. For instance, legendary goddesses are known to
It may be surmised then that an understanding of gen-
possess “wives” (devotees, votary maids, and mediums), just
der constructions in Africa is significant to any meaningful
as certain gods do. Some community rulers are considered
analysis and evaluation of African religious traditions.
to be “wives” of their affiliate deities, who may be perceived
as male or female (Matory, 1994). Moreover, certain Yoruba
RIGIDITY AND FLEXIBILITY IN GENDER CONSTRUCTION:
priests of S:ango are transvestites who take on the role of the
THE RITUAL SPHERE. The realm of ritual has proven versa-
male “wives” of the deities by wearing female costumes and
tile for displaying gender construction and deconstruction.
plaiting their hair in a feminine style. Alternatively, when
Central to these attempts is the perception in African cul-
under the influence of certain deities, some female mediums
tures of blood, especially menstrual blood. The presence or
of various religious groups exhibit characteristics generally
absence of menstrual blood contributes significantly to the
associated with males. For example, while possessed by
construction of gender in religion. In its absence, the patriar-
S:ango (Elegun S:ango), female mediums become “aggressive”
chy views the female to be as pure as a virgin and fit for the
under S:ango’s masculine authority.
habitation of the deity in the form of, for example, votary
maids, adolescent girls dedicated to certain deities until the
African cultures often correlate group solidarity with
age of marriage. These girls are forbidden to engage in sexual
gender construction. Group formations are expected of fe-
relations and their upbringing is closely monitored. Votary
males in many sectors of the African polity, including eco-
maids bring messages to the adherent at worship or festival
nomics, religion and social settings. While females practice
periods during spirit possession sessions, and observe diverse
group solidarity in many African religious traditions, males
types of taboos to reinforce their separation unto the deity
cannot be said to do the same. To explain this widespread
concerned. River goddesses are often known to have votary
practice of female solidarity, scholars of religion have pro-
maids. In the presence of menstrual blood, the patriarchy
pounded various theories. Whereas some perceive such soli-
views the female, usually a wife, as suspect, even though she
darity as resistance against patriarchal suppression, others see
is extolled as a mother. This ambiguous status of the female
it as an attempt to create an alternative space to empower
accommodates serious compromises for power relations be-
women. In any case, clearly the motif of female group forma-
tween the genders. In addition, access to power and authority
tion forms a salient feature of African religious traditions.
are consequences of these classifications. In African indige-
CONTEMPORARY FEMINIST SCHOLARSHIP AND AFRICAN RE-
nous religions, then, menstrual blood evokes joy and yet in-
LIGIOUS TRADITIONS. Available research and publications on
stills limitation. However, among some Africans, limitations
gender and religions in Africa are few. Nonetheless, publica-
are not a consequence of contamination but a means of
tions by African female scholars on gender are increasing,
avoiding a clash of powers. The sacred domain is perceived
which explains the significant impact such works have had
as the abode of power, just as menstrual blood, which con-
on the study of African religious traditions. Although their
tains potential life, is considered a conveyor of power. Thus,
focuses vary, these works generally pursue the following set
there is a need to separate these two realms of power to avert
of goals (sometimes a single work may fulfill two or more of
a clash; this is particularly true of the Yoruba belief system.
these conditions): (1) to offer analysis of gender construc-
tions in African religious traditions from the feminine per-
African dual perspectives on blood restrict women’s ac-
spective by allowing women to tell their stories rather than
cess to sacred space during menstruation. Often this restric-
imposing constructed meanings on data; (2) to seek para-
tion is temporary, but it could explain the prevalence of post-
digms and models from past African religious experiences,
menstrual women in leadership cadres. However, current
spanning history and mythology for the construction of gen-
research shows increasing numbers of women of childbearing
der relations in contemporary African religious life; (3) to
age in positions of leadership in African indigenous religions,
offer new feminist interpretations and meanings for familiar
and priestesses may be of any age. In addition, there are fe-
but patriarchal narratives in African religious tradition and
males who occupy important positions in male religious
to utilize this for balanced gender relations; and (4) to correct
groups. Such women play symbolic roles, ranging from keep-
assumed meanings for certain aspects of African rituals by
ers of secrets, to the “mothers” of males, including the iya
taking serious cognizance of meanings ascribed to such ritu-
magba (“Magba’s mother” of the Egúngún Yoruba religious
als by the participants.
group). These female roles exemplify the African notion of
interdependency, mutuality, and compassion of gender rela-
African scholars of religion are beginning to restructure
tions. Furthermore, the ambivalence marking African expec-
the academic constructions of gender by exposing the biased
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3404
GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND AFRICAN RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS
implications proffered by colonial constructions of gender.
Africa, edited by Mercy Amba Oduyoye and Musimbi R. A.
The colonial experience in Africa instituted a disruption of
Kanyoro, pp. 74–86. Maryknoll, N.Y., 1992.
gender structures by separating the integrated African do-
Awe, Bolanle. Nigerian Women in Historical Perspective. Lagos,
mains of public and private space. This divisiveness, howev-
Nigeria, 1992. The author supplies information on some
er, was attenuated in African religious traditions by an en-
prominent women in Nigerian history to serve as role models
trenched cultural recognition accorded female leadership
for contemporary women and to place on record their
prescribed in oral narratives. Viewed from a different per-
achievements.
spective, the exposure of African religious traditions to the
Badejo, Diedre. Osun Seegesi: The Elegant Deity of Wealth, Power,
African diaspora since the 1970s has been tremendous. This
and Femininity. Trenton, N.J., 1996. Focuses on the Osun
exposure is particularly true of Yoruba religion, which can
river goddess in Osogbo, Osun State, Nigeria by explicating
the many sides of the goddess-economic dynamism, fecundi-
boast of adherents in every continent of the world. The
ty, and wisdom.
movement of practitioners of Yoruba religion travels both
ways between the continent and the diaspora. Priests and
Barber, Karin. I Could Speak Till Tomorrow: Oriki, Women, and
the Past in a Yoruba Town. Edinburgh, 1991. Analyses the
priestesses of Yoruba religion travel to the Americas and Eu-
Yoruba genre of praise names and poems for individuals and
rope to train and educate adherents, just as some adherents
families. Oriki is an integral aspect of Yoruba identity con-
visit Africa regularly for training and renewal of energies.
struction and a storehouse of information on every aspect of
Consequently, this exposure has produced reliable research
the people’s philosophy.
that compares and contrasts indigenous African religions
Benard, Elizabeth, and Beverly Moon, eds. Goddesses Who Rule.
with their variations in the Americas, especially Brazil, Cuba,
Oxford, 2000. A collection of essays on certain goddesses
and other parts of the Caribbean (Benard and Moon, 2000;
closely linked to governance across the globe.
Sanford and Murphy, 2001).
Boddy, J. Wombs and Alien Spirits: Women, Men and the Zaar Cult
Such innovative research contributes to African scholar-
in Northern Sudan. Madison, Wis., 1989. Examines the dif-
ship by advocating cooperation among practitioners of dia-
ferent connotations given to women’s reproductive functions
from a religious perspective.
sporic and continental African religions. This cooperation
has informed conferences, workshops, and symposia on the
Crumbley, Deidre. “Impurities and Power: Women in Aladura
Churches” Africa 62 (1992).
continent, as well as in the United States and Europe. The
exchange of gender studies and religious traditions between
Davis, Angela. “Sex—Egypt.” in Women: A World Report, edited
the diaspora and Africa is producing fresh perspectives in un-
by Anita Desai, Toril Brekke, et al, pp. 325–348. London,
1985. Examines the conceptions in Egypt about sex and
derstanding religious rituals.
women and the consequences emanating from such posi-
Academic materials for investigating African religious
tions.
traditions from a female perspective are now available in
Dube, W. Musa, ed. Other Ways of Reading: African Women and
print and on the internet. Consequently, feminist scholars
the Bible. Atlanta, 2001. A collection of essays that considers
on gender and African religious traditions are establishing
women in local churches and their participation in reading
women’s studies departments and gender institutes in Afri-
and interpretation of the Bible in Africa.
can universities. Examples of such centers include the Afri-
Eliade, Mircea. From Primitive to Zen. London, 1967. Displays an
can Gender Institute at the University of Cape Town, South
array of excerpts of some aspects of many indigenous reli-
Africa, and the Institute of Women and Gender studies at
gions worldwide, including Native American, African and
the Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda.
Mesopotamian.
Gleason, Judith. Oya: In Praise of an African Goddess. Boston,
SEE ALSO Gender Roles; Menstruation; Spirit Possession, ar-
1987. An examination of Oya, the Yoruba goddess of winds
ticle on Women and Possession.
and the river Niger. It attempts to show the dynamism in
Yoruba gender construction.
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Oluwole, Sophie. Womanhood in Yoruba Traditional Thought.
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der construction of some cultures by presenting the multidi-
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Peel, J. D. Y. “Gender in Yoruba Religious Change.” Journal of
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changing influence of Christianity on males and females
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Sanford, Mei-Mei, and Joseph M. Murphy, eds. Osun Across the
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Waters: A Yoruba Goddess in Africa and the Americas. Bloom-
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Enquiry. Translated by Mary Jo Lakeland. Oxford, 1995. An
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Andrea Benton Rushing, and Sharon Harley, pp. 3–21.
Washington, D.C., 1987. Identifies and explicates the brand
Nasimiyu-Wasike, Anne. “Christianity and the African Rituals of
of feminism that accommodates African culture and de-
Birth and Naming.” In The Will to Arise: Women, Tradition,
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and the Church in Africa, edited by Mercy Amba Oduyoye
and Musimbi R. A. Kanyoro, pp. 40–54. Maryknoll, N.Y.,
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Societies.” In Women in Africa and in the African Diaspora,
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Oduyoye, Amba Mercy. Daughters of Anowa: African Women and
and Sharon Harley, pp. 73–87. Washington, D.C., 1987.
Patriarchy. New York, 1995. A consideration of oppressions
Attempts to show that the issue of oppression between the
faced by women in Africa and the role of religion in this situ-
male and female was alien in indigenous societies due to the
ation.
interdependent modalities utilized in the community.
Oduyoye, Amba Mercy, and Musimbi R. A. Kanyoro, eds. The
Sudarkasa, Niara. The Strength of Our Mothers: African and Afri-
Will to Arise: Women, Tradition, and the Church in Africa.
can American Women and Families, Essays and Speeches. Tren-
Maryknoll, N.Y., 1992.
ton, N.J., 1996.
Ogundipe-Leslie, Molara. Re-Creating Ourselves: African Women
Wadud, Amina. Quran and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text
and Critical Transformations. Trenton, N.J., 1994.
From a Woman’s Perspective. New York, 1999. An attempt
Okonjo, Kemene. “The Dual Sex Political System in Operation:
to highlight the QurDa¯n with serious consideration for the
1960 Women and Community Politics in Midwestern Nige-
quest for women’s empowerment.
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS
Weems, J. Renita. “Reading Her Way through the Struggle: Afri-
Spanish conquistadores and the Jesuits who were unable to
can Women and the Bible.” In Stony the Road We Trod: Afri-
distinguish sexual identity in native terms from unlawful sex-
can American Biblical Interpretation, edited by Cain Hope
ual acts.
Felder, pp. 57–77. Minneapolis, 1991. Considers African
women’s attempt to relate the bible to daily experiences and
Proper recognition of the insights of earlier researchers
to resolve challenges that arise in this process.
should be given. The spectrum of those who studied Native
Wynchank, Anny. “ ‘The Sons Who Sell their Mothers’ and ‘The
American culture ranges from the onset of colonization into
Devouring Calabash’: Two Recurring Gender Myths in
the twenty-first century and in manners as diverse as enlight-
Western and Southern African Tales.” In Gender Perceptions
ened description (e.g., parts of the Jesuit Relations) to hostile
and Development in Africa, edited by Mary Kolawole,
rejection of cultural forms. In the broad phylum of objective
pp. 121–132. Lagos, Nigeria, 1998. Attempts to analyze Af-
scholars, ethnologists and anthropologists (male and female)
rican gender construction through the prism of tales, an im-
have contributed significant portrayals. Worthy of note is the
portant genre of literature in Africa.
work of Ruth Landes among the Ojibwa and Ruth Dens-
OYERONKE OLAJUBU (2005)
more’s ambitious project to record (and thus preserve) the
ritual music of many diverse peoples. The presence of such
women in the ranks of social scientists opened the door to
appreciation of women’s contribution to culture and its core
GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND
of religious meaning.
NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN RELIGIOUS
TRADITIONS
Despite the criterion of scientific objectivity, however,
To pursue the theme of gender in North American Indian
each observer brings a structured view of particular reality to
religious traditions is to bring the construction of gender,
the efforts to encounter and understand a different people.
long in process, of ancient civilizations into dialogue with the
Thus in the New World, as in Asia, the predominant frame
concerns of the present. It necessarily involves a task of iden-
of reference was that of the Western world. It could not have
tifying carefully what gender means in traditional native cul-
been avoided in fact. But this perspective has often clouded
tures and defining the ways, past and present, that this aspect
the view of native peoples. It is certainly the case that the
of culture can be assessed. Moreover it requires a critical ap-
strong influence of Christianity caused the perception of
praisal of the propriety and accuracy of the conclusions made
women, of native religion, and of the central place of women
by those interpreters who were not inside the culture. Espe-
in society to be distorted in perception and description.
cially it demands a clear presentation of the relation of gen-
There are of course some great exceptions to this, but they
der and religion, because this varies greatly from Western to
are not the predominant view.
traditional cultures.
FEMALE CONCEPTS OF SACREDNESS. A powerful example of
THE CONSTRUCTION OF GENDER. The construction of gen-
cultural dissonance is reflected in the early views that native
der—indeed even the understanding of it—always takes
religious traditions were pagan and based on superstition.
place in the wider project of imagining the shape of the cos-
Scholars of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (e.g.,
mos as a whole. It is well known that the foundational insight
James Walker, Owen Dorsey, Ruth Benedict, and William
of North American Indian traditions is that everything is dy-
Fenton), in their earnest efforts to portray and understand
namically alive, with relationships rather than rules as its
the meaning of the dense ritual complexes across the conti-
laws. In such a world nothing and no one stands alone, but
nent, rescued the great body of native religious insights from
each is related to every other and the whole. Thus all is holy,
vanishing. The growing contributions of contemporary na-
sacred. The primary quality of each aspect is the spiritual na-
tive scholars—women and men—have created a more realis-
ture of its being, which underlies the unique form that com-
tic and profound view of indigenous native religious beliefs
municates its identity. This identity is not the external form
and practices.
but the complex reality of the inner life of that being. Gender
as such is clearly related to this spiritual identity and is deeper
One particular aspect that merits attention is the fasci-
than sexual marks of differentiation. These outer forms may
nating dialogue between native concepts of the sacred and
change over a lifetime; the inner identity does not.
those of Western Christianity. In concert with the emergent
feminist movement, women scholars have emphasized the
Significantly native peoples have a more diverse recogni-
particularity and richness of native concepts of the sacred.
tion of gender as it manifests itself in human life. Is it the
This is a large subject; thus it is only possible to give a few
early encounter with dualism that caused the western Euro-
examples.
pean world to see gender as only dual and complementary,
male or female? Native peoples, over a long period of histori-
In one of the earliest works on gender in native America,
cal experience, recognized a third and even a fourth gender.
The Sacred Hoop (1986), Paula Gunn Allen offers a richness
Perhaps this cultural difference explains the cognitive dismay
of description as she strives to recover the feminine in native
experienced by the European travelers as well as the curiosity
traditions. From her own perspective as a Laguna Pueblo
of the early anthropologists and ethnologists. Among the dis-
woman, she describes the overwhelming feminine aspect of
torted reactions were the harsh punishments dealt by the
the southwestern peoples but also reveals the parallels in
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3407
other areas of the country. It is clear from her reflections and
Iroquois origin story the Sky-Woman is the first of the Peo-
memories that there is the closest connection between a
ple Above to begin the process of external creation. As she
creatrix, Thought Woman, and the structure of reality as it
falls from the Sky World, she is supported by birds with their
proceeds from her sacred work.
wings outstretched until at last a creature of the waters offers
her a resting place. Her rescuer is Grandmother Turtle, and
At the center of all is Woman, and nothing is sacred
it is from the initial encounter of these persons that Iroquois
. . . without her blessing, her thinking. . . . She is a
spirit who pervades all, who created all reality and lan-
life begins. The theme of women’s power continues, as Sky-
guages. This originating power is female in her primacy
Woman’s child gives birth to the twin sacred persons who
and potency. She is the mother of all, and as her surro-
will establish the full creation. Similarly in the Lakota story
gate, Mother Earth enfolds and nurtures all creation.
of the White Buffalo Calf Woman a Sacred Woman comes
(Allen, 1986, pp. 13–14)
from Wakan Tanka and brings the great gift of the Sacred
Pipe, then and now the symbol of the people’s link to the
Thus the Keres people see her as the source of all life, bringer
Great Mystery. In the Cheyenne story of creation Maheo,
of corn, agriculture, weaving, social systems, religion, ritual,
the All-Father, makes man and woman from two ribs taken
memory, and so on. In her vast presence she is honored as
from his side (implying an equal origination). And among
Mother and Father of all peoples and all creatures. Her
the Navajo, Changing Woman is crucial to the creation of
power is manifest in generativity and so is much broader
the Navajo and their world. Her presence is believed to en-
than maternity. Earth and women are linked as homologous
sure cosmic balance, and each girl is initiated into her role
parts of creation; their sacred role stems from their relation
and image during Kinaaldá, the female initiation rite.
to Thought Woman.
THE CONSTRUCTS OF GYNECOCRACY. Allen then demon-
These stories attest to the high regard for the feminine
strates that this feminine aspect of the sacred is related to so-
in creation. This respect traditionally had great influence in
cial structures of gynecocracy—a distinctive feature of native
shaping the life roles of native women. It is well known that
society that she sees as the predominant form of North
the Iroquois League valued the advice and wisdom of women
American peoples before the coming of the Europeans. This
so much that the representative sachems could not be named
is borne out by the current structures of Pueblo life, especial-
or selected without the consent of the women. Historically
ly the Hopi, but also by the central role held by women in
women had the power to temper the balance of power of the
the confederacies of the Northwest and Southeast. Less obvi-
war chiefs by counterbalancing them with men who sought
ous to the British was the powerful role of women among
peace. Even in the early twenty-first century the proper pro-
the Iroquois, but early records of encounter noted the high
tocol for Atatarho, the chief of the sachems, is to have a
place of women among the Creek and Cherokee, because
woman as his mediator. Thus the traditional customs witness
they were encountered in diplomatic missions.
to the essential balance of male and female to ensure right
order.
There is a rich and growing literature on the subject of
gender by native scholars and interested others. Credit
Among the agricultural peoples (e.g., the Hopi), the
should be given to one of the first pioneers, the Lakota an-
women owned the fields and therefore the store of food that
thropologist Beatrice Medicine. She initiated work by native
was the source of their people’s lives. Women were also ex-
women (e.g., Paula Gunn Allen, Patricia Albers, Marla Pow-
pected to have talents in craft making (beading, pottery), and
ers) who set about telling the stories of women in Native
often there is a mythic person who is considered to impart
America. This is not to say that early students did not depict
this gift (e.g., Spider-Woman, Double-Faced Woman). The
the life and development of native women. The shifting of
power of female fertility received great respect; in fact periods
history, however, ensured that what most caught their atten-
of fertility necessitated that a woman stay away from ritual
tion were the men who, throughout the nineteenth century,
spaces as well as from hunters and warriors. Her power was
emblazoned across history the image of the heroic warriors
viewed not as impurity but as a power capable of interfering
and buffalo hunters who were fighting for the very survival
with and subverting male power. A woman was viewed by
of their culture.
many nations as the heart of her people. The Cheyenne say
it well: “A nation is not conquered until the hearts of its
In reality survival of a tribe depended on the full cooper-
women are on the ground.”
ation of all its members. Because biology makes women the
bearers of children, they are also the keepers of the hearth.
A crucial part of any study of gender rests on the ways
Yet in many native societies this was only one aspect of a
it is constructed in any society. Before the advent of sociolo-
much broader area of responsibility. All over the continent
gy and psychology, this issue was considered a natural di-
women have traditionally been associated with the earth. As
mension of traditional education. As such it was taught in
previously noted, all reality is gendered, and the connection
an imitative and exponential way, not as part of logical dis-
of women to the great source of nurture that is the earth re-
course (though this too had its place, specifically at puberty
veals the enormous holiness and power with which she is en-
ceremonies, in which care was given to define sexual and gen-
dowed. This powerful connection appears in many nations
der roles). But traditional education involves a broader meth-
in the great stories that preserve their heritage. Thus in the
od than classroom learning. An entire clan group was respon-
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3408
GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS
sible for imaging the roles adults have in contributing to the
the people. The role of healing is central to indigenous reli-
support of the whole group. Thus an intensive web of in-
gions and in North America involved both genders. Because
struction accompanied a child from earliest years to the
it was a uniquely important spiritual calling, this role was
major threshold of adult initiation. This was true for girls
usually entered through a call in a dream or a vision and a
and boys in a framework that allowed notice to be taken of
period of specific instruction by an elder, experienced reli-
those who did not quite fit the category.
gious authority. This vocation was not restricted to men, but
WOMEN IN RITUALS. The place of women in rituals, and the
a different path was usual for women. In the many stories
links perceived between them and the rationale and goal of
that exist of medicine women, it is clear that they could not
the ritual, is perhaps most strikingly seen in rites of initiation.
exercise their full spiritual power until they were past meno-
One strong example (representative of many others) can be
pause. Specifically, although they could offer herbs for heal-
found in the Navajo ceremony of Kinaaldá. In origin and
ing, they were not to engage in the profound act of spiritual
purpose it illustrates the feminine aspect of ritual practice as
healing. Similar to the principle that menstrual blood could
well as the connection between such rites and the common
interfere with the exercise of power, in carrying out her role
good that ritual aims to support. The rite of Kinaaldá derives
the medicine woman did not risk the conflict of sacred pow-
from the Navajo story of their creation or emergence. In it
ers. Among the many tribes in which the medicine tradition
a powerful spirit, miraculously placed on the earth’s surface,
was inherited (nonlinearly), women also served the people.
creates the first humans from her own flesh. She is called
In some places (e.g., California) only women became medi-
Changing Woman because she embodies all the seasons of
cine people.
life as well as of nature. She is unvaryingly benevolent and
WOMEN IN SOCIETY. The role of males in traditional native
continues to nurture her people, especially through Blessing-
societies varied with regard to geographical location, modes
way, the chantway that is her gift, and through Kinaaldá.
of subsistence, and the shape of major cultural myths. But
What occurs in this Navajo ritual is a careful process in-
seen against the broad background of the prehistoric past, all
tended to make the pubescent young girl a Navajo woman
had internalized the primary occupation of ancestors—the
in potency and reality. This is accomplished by molding the
endeavor to win survival through hunting. The skills and
girl into the image of Changing Woman and encouraging
perceptual acuteness needed for successful hunting created
her to earnestly begin to emulate her model’s qualities as
an ideal that perhaps found its apex in the Plains Indian buf-
woman through her contributions to the people. Thus physi-
falo-hunting culture. But strong masculine images were
cal strength, endurance, creativity, fruitfulness, and many
noted in most cultures Europeans encountered, and these
skills and qualities are transferred to her during this special
emerge in the accounts shared by the people themselves as
time when she is especially open to formative influences. The
they surveyed their oral histories. Here, as with the female
initiate is instructed to invite Changing Woman into her life,
gender, the essence of the male person was regarded as in
and in the realism of Navajo belief, this does happen. Thus
process and as eventually completed in a spiritual encounter
the young woman is considered to be a special source of
with sacred power. This reveals that the virtue associated
power for life and healing during this time. The rich ceremo-
with the strong male image were not merely natural but part
nial details of dress, painting, and ritual acts portray the
of a complex relationship with the creative power that fills
transformation of the young girl into this powerful and be-
all life.
nevolent spirit. Through this she is prepared to contribute
The myths tell of the first peoples looking for a home-
to her people in life-giving ways throughout her life.
land and sources of life. They are portrayed as knowing their
The remembered traditions of the peoples of North
weakness and welcoming the interventions by gods or spirits
America reveal that the role of women in society and ritual
who come to assist them.
is of utmost importance. Thus the varying ways of conduct-
A paradigmatic story comes from the Navajo, who fall
ing the sun dance on the Plains insisted on the presence of
into error regarding the essential balance of men and women,
the Sacred Woman at the heart of the ritual. This example
male and female, in life on Mother Earth. They are gently
demonstrates that, even in cultures that in historic times
led to reunite by the intervention of a spirit who manifests
were seen as masculine (i.e., the warrior tradition that was
the vitality and rightness of that balance in himself. In the
so obvious to the invaders from the east), the whole could
Lakota story of extended beginnings, the prototypical war-
not be complete without the sacred presence of women. Any
rior, Stone Boy, works arduously to make the earth safe for
study of the elaborate ritual acts that made up the sun dance
the people, and in the story of the founding of the League
shows the profound understanding that the feminine is a
of the Hodenosaunee, the prophet Deganawidah finds it
necessary, constituent part of cosmic reality. Thus it is com-
necessary to temper the uncontrolled warlike nature of Ata-
plementarity, rather than emphasis on a male or female hier-
tarho, whom he defeats by skillful diplomacy. A powerful
archy, that most accurately represents the religious under-
transformation takes place when the ferocious warrior chief
standing of native peoples of North America.
surrenders his passions and agrees to be the servant of all—
The sun dance represents not only thanksgiving for the
the chief of chiefs who holds the council fires together. The
gifts of life but also a primary moment to bring healing to
Iroquois honor this memory of the shift from uncontrolled
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS
3409
aggression to diplomatic means to achieve harmony both
GENDER RECOGNITION. Because sacred power is inextrica-
within and around them.
bly related to gendered living, it is not surprising that the
Because the male was required to support not only his
freedom and creativity of that sacred power is ultimately the
family but all those in need, much depended on developing
key to gender in Native America. Although the roles of
a pattern of learning that relied on fostering certain verities.
women and men are clearly defined, they also are not strictly
Courage was paramount, but skill in tracking, patience in
limited to sexual identity. It is not uncommon to find men,
waiting, and the will to endure privations—often for long
as among the Hopi, who do the weaving or to find women
periods of time—were also crucial. These skills, although im-
who are capable of excelling in manly arts. Apparently it is
portant, are minor compared to the habits of mind and soul.
hard to limit the creative power of the sacred. Thus no one
Thus many people valued generosity and altercenteredness
was surprised when a sister of a Cheyenne warrior, seeing
and viewed the whole as contributing to the attainment of
him struck from his horse in battle, raced to take his place.
honor. Much was expected of the man, and the burden this
Though Buffalo Calf Road Woman is vividly remembered,
could impose was often felt as heavy. Anthony F. C. Wal-
it was viewed as natural for her to assume that role.
lace’s study of the Seneca, based on a lifetime of work by oth-
More tellingly the recognition of other genders can be
ers, such as William Fenton, illustrates how such pressure
traced to a similar foundation. This aspect of gender has been
was in need of a means to release it without shaming the war-
rior. He notes the wisdom of a community that paid great
captured in some early accounts, mostly in an objective way.
attention to dreams, seen as early as the 1600s, as “wishes of
Women such as Ruth Benedict (1887–1948), Alice Kehoe,
the soul” and the acumen of soul that instituted a way private
Ruth Landes (1908–1991), Margaret Mead (1901–1978),
dreams could be enacted at the Midwinter (New Year’s) Fes-
and Ruth Underhill (1883–1994) actually strove to present
tival and answered in appropriate ways by the community.
sensitive descriptions based on intensive conversations in the
It is important to note here that the Iroquois, remembered
field. But the real breakthrough occurred only in the last
by history as fearsome warriors, were actually part of a matri-
quarter of the twentieth century with the work of Walter
archal society and that one of the most highly regarded war-
Williams, Sabine Lang, and Paula Gunn Allen among others.
rior societies on the Plains was that of the Cheyenne, who
What their contributions reveal is that a large range of gender
were renowned for their courage and discipline and spirit of
issues have escaped the net of scholarship. The reasons are
sacrifice. Their allies and friends the Lakota remarked that
understandably many. So much of native culture has been
the Cheyenne women deserved as much honor as their men,
interpreted by outsiders looking in that the deepest parts of
being famed for their character and the extraordinary com-
sacred traditions have been carefully guarded. Part of that re-
panionship, which they provided in peace and war.
ality is the long-standing recognition of the existence of more
than two genders, framed by the steady opposition of Chris-
The activities that occupied warriors concerned the sup-
tian Euro-Americans. Sadly some of these prejudices have
port and defense of the people—both very serious responsi-
crossed over during the difficult period of forced education
bilities. They were also encouraged to hone their skills in
that had assimilation as its goal. Traditional language, cus-
sports and gaming and did so with relish, but the reality of
toms, and values were targeted for extinction. An inevitable
their role was never far from their minds. Even though the
part of this was the imposition of mores that are culturally
level of aggression was magnified greatly by the dislocations
alien to the native peoples. Thus the subject of diverse mod-
and impact of colonization, raiding had a large part in life
els of gender is often met with embarrassment, and some per-
on the Plains and the severely impacted Northeast. One ex-
sons whose identity is neither male nor female have met with
ample shows what was really at stake in such skirmishes.
intolerance on their own reservations.
Many peoples vied for honor by successfully getting away
with horses or other goods by skillful stealth. The highest
There is, however, a powerful lesson to learn from the
honor in fact was credited to the person who had the bravery
traditional understanding (admittedly complex) of gender
to get close enough to a living enemy to touch him or her
diversity. The kinship circle, which embraces all of life for
and escape with his or her own life intact.
a native person, includes a variety of gendered persons whose
More seriously, in the epic years of the final battles for
place in the community is determined by careful identifica-
freedom of the northern Plains Indians, the Lakota and
tion of recognized gender characteristics. Thus the designa-
Cheyenne each had a band of volunteers who joined sacred
tion of someone as a winkte among the Lakota or as a nádleeh
societies such as the Kit Fox Society or the Dog Soldiers.
among the Navajo rests on qualities that indicate a person’s
Each man had vowed to defend his people to the point of
role in society rather than sexual identity. Growing contem-
death. The Dog Soldiers wore a sash that, dismounting, they
porary research reveals a traditional past in which wide gen-
tied to the ground in the forefront of the battle. They under-
der variety was regarded as part of the natural order. In some
stood the price and were willing to pay it. The descendants
societies such persons were believed to possess special powers
of the warrior societies of North American Indians have vol-
that could help the community flourish. The term two-spirit,
unteered to fight in the major battles of the twentieth and
in favor at the beginning of the twenty-first century, has been
twenty-first centuries. They have continued to distinguish
chosen to indicate the connection of such persons to the spir-
the vital heritage from which they come.
itual world, in particular their special place in ritual.
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS
Early anthropological research brought the biases and
unique form of repression. The emerging voices and research
categories of the Western worldview to the study of gender
in the twenty-first century of mainstream gay activists and
variances. Faced with a complex image of wide diversity in
their eagerness to lift from oppression victimized others
this area, the reports of these scholars could neither embrace
holds a promise of a battle that could result in a better reso-
nor appreciate the rich universe of meaning they had en-
lution.
countered. One example is the common use of the French
Clearly, there is an innate link between gender and
term berdache, which is not only taken from a foreign context
North American Indian religious traditions. Due to its limit-
but is also burdened with a specific meaning (e.g., homosex-
ed scope, it can only be a summary of an exceedingly rich
uality, transvestism, hermaphrodism) unsuited to the broad-
field. Through the early efforts of anthropologists and eth-
er universe that emerged at early encounters. Although this
nologists to describe and understand them, through the great
term was intended as a positive description of North Ameri-
generosity of the people who were convinced of the need to
can Indian customs, it could not begin to translate the rich
speak, and now through the growing numbers of Native
diversity in balance with a view that all things are in dynamic
Americans who are speakers for themselves, a rich tapestry
process toward the cosmic purpose of everything that ex-
of variegated beauty is emerging. Their world is so much
ists—hozho. The rich diversity in gender is not exceptional
older than that of Euro-Americans, and their insights into
but rather a vital dimension of a multifaceted reality. The
the nature of reality enrich the story of the world’s religions.
classification given by Wesley Thomas at the 1993 Wenner-
They speak of wholeness, of complementarity, mutuality,
Gren Conference in Washington, D.C., offered four main
and of harmony. Their image of difference is one that strives
classifications known by the Navajo: feminine female, mas-
for unity yet preserves distinctness as the proper order of cre-
culine male, masculine female (nádleehi), and feminine male
ation.
(nadleehi). He notes that a crucial difference separates West-
ern and traditional Navajo concepts relating to gender, sexu-
SEE ALSO Cosmology, overview article; Gender Roles;
ality, and sexual relationships. Thus a relationship between
Gynocentrism; Lakota Religious Traditions; Mead, Marga-
a female-bodied nádleeh (masculine female) and a woman or
ret; Navajo Religious Traditions; North American Indian
Religions, overview article; Shamanism, article on North
one between a male-bodied nadleeh (feminine male) and a
American Shamanism.
man are not seen as homosexual in traditional Navajo
culture.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
That gender was distinguished from sex is clarified in
Albers, Patricia, and Beatrice Medicine (Lakota). The Hidden
a seminal paper (never published but widely circulated) by
Half: Studies of Plains Indian Women. Lanham, Md., 1983.
the highly regarded Lakota anthropologist Beatrice Medicine
An early sociological study of the life and culture of Native
American women.
in 1979, revised as part of Patricia Alber and Beatrice Medi-
cine’s, The Hidden Half: Studies of Plains Indian Women
Allen, Paula Gunn. The Sacred Hoop. Recovering the Feminine in
Native American Traditions. Boston, 1986. An engaging ex-
(1983). Beatrice Medicine notes that the traditional vocation
position of the depths of the feminine dimension in Native,
of the winkte included roles as ritualist, artist, specialist in
American traditions, especially in the Southwest, by a Lagu-
production of women’s crafts, herbalist, seer, namer of chil-
na Pueblo scholar.
dren, and (perhaps most interesting) rejection of the war-
Bataille, Gretchen M., and Kathleen Mullen Sands. American In-
rior’s role. Among the highly disciplined Plains Indians, the
dian Women: Telling Their Lives. Lincoln, Neb., 1984.
warrior’s place was greatly esteemed. To reject it required
Beck, Peggy, and Anna Lee Walters. The Sacred: Ways of Knowl-
conviction and courage. Thus the winkte occupied a unique
edge, Sources of Life. Tsaile, Ariz., 1977.
place in traditional Lakota society, as did the equivalent in
Deloria, Vine, Jr. God Is Red: A Native View of Religion. New
many other cultures. It was Beatrice Medicine’s intent to ex-
York, 1973. Revised edition, Golden, Colo., 2003.
amine the changes wrought by urbanization imposed by the
DeMallie, Raymond, and Douglas Parks, eds. Sioux Indian Reli-
Bureau of Indian Affairs. For the young men and women
gion: Tradition and Innovation. Norman, Okla., 1987.
transplanted to urban and intertribal settings, adaptation was
Irwin, Lee, ed. To Hear the Eagles Cry: Contemporary Themes in
a difficult process. One of the dimensions of native life that
Native American Spirituality. American Indian Quarterly 20,
did not transfer well was the area of gender diversity. In a
nos. 3–4 (1996) and 21, no. 1 (1997).
larger society unable to deal with ambiguities, labels were
Hall, Robert L. An Archaeology of the Soul: North American Indian
hastily applied. The distinction between gender and sex is
Belief and Ritual. Urbana, Ill., 1997.
perhaps too foreign for general acceptance, and certainly the
Hazen-Hammond, Susan. Spider Woman’s Web: Traditional Na-
circumstances of invasive cultural drifts onto the reservations
tive American Tales about Women’s Power. New York, 1999.
complicated this area of culture. Thus the traditional context
Jacobs, Sue-Ellen, Wesley Thomas, and Sabine Lang. Two-Spirit
has been harder to retain, both on and off traditional lands.
People: Native American Gender Identity, Sexuality, and Spiri-
Medicine sadly notes that native winkte have experienced
tuality. Urbana, Ill., 1997. An intriguing report of a confer-
discrimination not only in the mainstream society but also
ence designed to bring Native Americans into dialogue with
at home. Thus a dimension of native spiritual understanding
scholars of the dominant society on gender issues in contem-
that has so much to offer the Western world has suffered a
porary America.
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

GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND MESOAMERICAN RELIGIONS
3411
Lang, Sabine. Men as Women, Women as Men: Changing Gender
menting men’s more formal roles in ritual events. Influenced
in Native American Cultures. Austin, Tex., 1998.
by the women’s movement in the 1970s, anthropologists,
Powers, Marla N. Oglala Women: Myth, Ritual, and Reality. Chi-
historians, and art historians brought a critique of Eurocen-
cago, 1986.
tric assumptions about religion and gender to their research
Schwarz, Maureen Trudelle. Molded in the Image of Changing
on Mesoamerican religions. Their studies indicate the signif-
Woman: Navajo Views on the Human Body and Personhood.
icant economic, social, and spiritual roles women filled in
Tucson, Ariz., 1997.
Mesoamerica before and after the Spanish invasion. Subse-
quent scholarship has avoided sweeping generalizations by
St. Pierre, Mark, and Tilda Long Soldier. Walking in the Sacred
focusing on the local variations in gender arrangements and
Manner: Healers, Dreamers, and Pipe-Carriers—Medicine
Women of the Plains Indians. New York, 1995.
religious beliefs and practices across time and space. These
studies have changed the way scholars view many traditional
Vecsey, Christopher, ed. Religion in Native North America. Mos-
dichotomies, such as the domestic/public, sacred/secular,
cow, Idaho, 1990.
and natural/cultural spheres.
Wallace, Anthony F. C. The Death and Rebirth of the Seneca. New
York, 1970.
Feminist critiques of the marianismo/machismo dichot-
Williams, Walter L. The Spirit and the Flesh: Sexual Diversity in
omy proposed by the political scientist Evelyn Stevens exem-
American Indian Culture. Boston, 1986.
plify progress in refining understandings of gender in Me-
soamerica. In a 1973 article, “Marianismo: The Other Face
KATHLEEN DUGAN (2005)
of Machismo,” Stevens based marianismo on the Virgin
Mary and defined it as “the cult of female spiritual superiori-
ty which teaches that women are semi-divine, morally superi-
GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND
or to, and spiritually stronger than men” (Stevens, 1973,
MESOAMERICAN RELIGIONS
p. 91). Feminist scholars, such as Marysa Navarro, have criti-
cized marianismo for labeling nonindigenous women
Religion forms an integral part of everyday life for indige-
throughout Latin America as passive, self-sacrificing, and de-
nous peoples of Mesoamerica. Indeed, religious beliefs and
pendent; for lack of grounding in any specific cultural, geo-
practices cannot be separated from politics, healing, produc-
graphic, or historical context; and for ignoring the many
tion, and other aspects of life. This article explores the rela-
ways that Latin American women have participated in politi-
tionship between religion and gender in Mesoamerica, or
cal movements to challenge gender inequalities.
Middle America, a region extending from Central Mexico to
Honduras. The area designates the territories where the an-
PRE-COLUMBIAN PERIOD. Gender roles are never static
cient Aztec and Maya cultures flourished. Contemporary de-
across time, geography, or social groups. Prior to the ascen-
scendents of these cultures have retained core elements of the
dancy of the Aztec state, gender roles in central Mexico had
Mesoamerican cultural tradition despite a legacy of imperial-
an egalitarian base, and gender was more fluid and negotiable
ist invasions. The sections below on the pre-Columbian and
than the first European chroniclers reported. In “Gendered
colonial periods focus on the Nahuatl-speaking ethnic
Deities and the Survival of Culture,” the anthropologist June
groups of Central Mexico, including Mexicas, commonly re-
Nash documents how changes in Aztec political structure
ferred to as Aztecs. The section on contemporary religions
transformed religious symbols and the position of women
focuses on Mayas of Chiapas, Mexico.
relative to that of men. Prior to the development of state-
RESEARCH ON GENDER IN MESOAMERICAN RELIGIONS. A
level societies, the core social unit in Mesoamerican societies
gendered perspective on Mesoamerican religions began to
was kinship-based, composed of clans. Later these clans be-
emerge in the scholarly literature in the 1960s. Prior to this
came the basis for complex social stratification. During the
time scholars were mainly preoccupied with male forms of
formative period of what became the Aztec state (beginning
power in both the material and spiritual realms. The Spanish
around 800 CE), many deities were dual gender or androgy-
chroniclers who came to Mesomerica in the sixteenth centu-
nous figures. Coatlicue, Mother of the Gods, embodied op-
ry included Bernardino de Sahagún, Alonso de Zorita, Diego
posites: life and death, night and day, light and dark, and
Durán, and Toribio Motolonía. They were influenced by
male and female. But by the time of the reign of Itzacóatl
Christian beliefs and practices and by their patriarchal ideol-
(1429–1440), the Aztec empire was a military state with dis-
ogy. Their writings give little attention to the important role
tinct class and gender stratification. During this period,
women played in religion or in other aspects of life, although
Huitzilopochtli, the male sun god and war deity, replaced
they do describe the gender dualities of Mesoamerican deities
earlier androgynous deities.
and the independence of women.
Significant class distinctions within the Aztec state di-
Ethnographers conducting research before the 1960s
vided the nobles, who held political office and controlled the
tended to generalize from data about men to communities
economic resources, from the macehuales (commoners) who
at large, although they did note the gender specialization that
paid rent and made up the majority of the population. Gen-
characterized Mesoamerican life. They reported that involve-
der roles varied by class. The daughters of the nobles attend-
ment in religion was a daily aspect of life for women, comple-
ed the calmecac (school for the elite) and could become
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND MESOAMERICAN RELIGIONS
priestesses. Commoners of both genders filled important rit-
church encouraged native women to submit to their hus-
ual roles in their homes and fields.
bands’ authority and to endure violent behavior, further un-
dermining traditional complementary roles.
Although the Aztec state denied women leadership
roles, they had equal rights with men legally and economical-
Native women were not passive in the face of these
ly. They were active producers, healers, and priestesses. A
abuses. Kellogg explores the religious and spiritual roles
number of scholars describe gender parallelism among Aztec
women used to gain power and deal with the violence and
women, with males and females filling different but comple-
stresses of colonial life. They served as midwives, curanderas
mentary roles. Most women’s work was centered in the home
(healers), sweepers of the church, and guardians of young
and included weaving, spinning, sweeping, cooking, and car-
women. As guardians, matrons escorted, advised, and pro-
ing for children. These tasks were highly valued and had a
tected young girls in schools run by the church. In both
sacred significance; the home was a place of power. Aztecs
Nahua and Maya communities, women also became mem-
compared women’s work in childbirth to men’s roles as war-
bers of cofradías, religious cofraternities dedicated to the cult
riors. While priests swept the temples, women swept their
of a particular saint or aspect of the Christian deity. These
homes to defend them against danger and chaos. Wives of
offices allowed women some continuity in authority roles as
warriors swept not only at dawn but at noon and dusk, mark-
priestesses and helped maintain a parallel gender structure in
ing the sun god’s path and assuring their husbands’ success
government.
in battle. As further assurance, women placed their weaving
During the sixteenth century, the Spanish attempted to
shuttles, symbols of their husbands’ weapons, on temple
enforce their belief system by linking the once-powerful fe-
altars.
male deities and women’s roles as healers and midwives to
COLONIAL PERIOD. The Spanish colonization of Me-
evil and sorcery. In spite of these associations, some female-
soamerica in the sixteenth century led to dramatic changes
oriented beliefs, symbols, and practices persisted. Especially
in the social and spiritual lives of the locals. Millions of indig-
in central Mexico among the Nahuas, female deities were
enous people were killed by disease, warfare, overwork, and
powerful symbols of fertility, sexuality, important foods, and
murder. Whole villages were relocated and given new Chris-
other resources. Friars saw these deities as symbols of pagan
tian names. By the early 1600s, Catholic churches had re-
beliefs that needed to be expunged. They were never entirely
placed Aztec ceremonial centers. Men and women were
successful in eliminating them, however, due in part to their
pressed into service and forced to pay tribute in the form of
fear of entering native homes or places of worship, which
woven goods and agricultural products.
they believed were tainted by the devil and would endanger
Spanish colonial priests and friars brought with them
their souls.
dualistic philosophical premises that profoundly contradict-
During the colonial era, the Virgin Mary was the only
ed those of the indigenous people. They emphasized free
major sacred female figure Christianity had to offer to the
will, for example, while indigenous people tended to stress
indigenous people. Many women reported that they com-
collective will, particularly at the household level, where mar-
municated with the Virgin as well as with Jesus, God, the
riages were tied to household production. In Weaving the
saints, and demons. These women were viewed as mystics if
Past, the ethnohistorian Susan Kellogg describes how the
they lived in convents, where they were tightly controlled.
Spaniards focused on married couples rather than the ex-
The Monastario of Corpus Cristi, the first convent for indig-
tended family groupings that were so important in Me-
enous women, was established in Mexico City in 1724. Only
soamerica. Friars exhorted young women to protect their vir-
the daughters of the indigenous nobles were accepted as nov-
ginity and to seek enclosure through acting modestly,
ices in the convent. Most indigenous women did not live in
covering their bodies fully, and staying home as much as pos-
convents, and they were often punished for their revelations.
sible. In some parts of Mesoamerica, priests constructed
In or outside of convents, women’s intimate communica-
dwellings where young betrothed men and women came to
tions with spiritual beings challenged the male church hierar-
stay until marriage. Yet priests gave no practical instructions
chy’s authority as the only legitimate mediators between
to women and their daughters on how to sequester them-
human beings and spiritual beings.
selves when they were forced to work outside their home to
Over the years native peoples infused the basic Catholic
provide tribute and to survive.
symbol of the Virgin Mary with new meanings. They found
Physical intimidation of women became part of the fab-
in her both an ally and a symbol of their empowerment and
ric of life in colonial society. In indigenous communities, the
liberation. She is often associated with revitalization move-
tensions between native and colonial views of proper gender
ments initiated by indigenous people during the colonial era.
roles undoubtedly fueled the increasing violence toward na-
Several of these movements incorporated armed uprisings,
tive women. Men were forced into patriarchal roles in socie-
which simultaneously resisted Spanish domination and reas-
ties where gender equality and cooperation remained a
serted indigenous beliefs and practices. A vision of the Virgin
strong principle, and in response to these stresses, many na-
inspired the 1712 revolt in the Mayan community of Cancuc
tive men resorted to hitting their wives and sometimes to
in Chiapas. A young woman named María de Candelaria re-
murder. Alcohol abuse was often a factor in the violence. The
ported that the Virgin Mary had appeared to her and asked
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND MESOAMERICAN RELIGIONS
3413
that a chapel be built. When the local Spanish priests refused
father/ancestor/protector deity, called Totilme’il in Tzotzil-
to recognize the visitation, thirty-two indigenous towns
speaking towns and Me’tiktatik in Tzeltal-speaking towns,
joined in a revolt against Spanish control. Their leaders
is important in daily life. Androgynous conceptions of deities
claimed that Saint Peter, the Virgin Mary, and Jesus had
exist as well. In San Pedro Chenalhó, Holy Cross, one of the
called them to create an indigenous priesthood and to liber-
three patron deities, is said to be androgynous and capable
ate themselves from Spanish power. Over a six-month period
of both benevolent and malevolent acts. Dual and androgy-
in 1712 and 1713, Spanish soldiers and their supporters sup-
nous deities in contemporary Mesoamerican communities
pressed the uprising. Subsequently, colonial officials institut-
suggest that fluid and complementary symbols of gender
ed minor economic reforms to placate the indigenous popu-
exist alongside patriarchal ones.
lation, however these reforms had little effect on reducing
Catholicism. Beginning in the 1960s, the Latin Ameri-
their impoverishment.
ca Catholic Church underwent dramatic changes. The his-
THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. Prior to the mid-twentieth cen-
toric meetings of the Second Vatican Council between 1962
tury, most Mayan peoples of southern Mexico and Guatema-
and 1965 and the Latin American bishops meeting in Medel-
la practiced a form of folk Catholicism commonly referred
lín, Colombia, in 1968 emphasized the structural roots of
to as Traditionalism, which creatively combines beliefs about
poverty and called on the church to take concrete actions to
Mayan deities with local understandings of Catholicism.
end injustice. A progressive Catholicism began to spread in
Central to Traditionalism are prayer, pilgrimages to places
regions of Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and
of sacred significance, and festivals carried out in honor of
Nicaragua. It followed the “preferential option of the poor,”
saints on important feast days. By the 1970s and 1980s thou-
placing marginalized peoples at the center of the church’s
sands of indigenous peoples throughout Mesoamerica began
work. Although class rather than gender was the primary
to abandon Traditionalism in favor of Protestant churches
concern, the Catholic Church attempted to involve women
and progressive Catholicism.
more fully in its work by training them as workshop leaders
Traditionalism. In indigenous communities in Mexico
and catechists.
and Guatemala, women play important roles that assure the
Since the 1970s in Mesoamerica, women have been par-
physical as well as emotional, social, and spiritual well-being
ticularly active in Christian base communities, small groups
of both individuals and communities. For example, women
of men and women who meet to discuss their faith and inter-
take on important cargos, work on behalf of their communi-
pret the conditions of their lives through the lens of Catholic
ties, literally burdens or weights. Women’s cargos include re-
doctrine. Through participation in base communities and in
citing prayers, preparing traditional foods, weaving ceremo-
other lay roles, women perform important social, religious,
nial cloths and garments, and working alongside their
and political work in their communities. They also question
husbands in a year-long series of obligations to a particular
traditional gender roles, like the division of domestic tasks.
saint. Women often receive the call to serve a cargo from a
Many women began their work in social activism in the
saint in a dream or vision. After receiving the call, they re-
Catholic Church. For example, Rigoberta Menchú, an indig-
quest their husbands’ assistance to fill the cargo. In many in-
enous woman of Guatemala and Nobel Peace laureate, first
digenous communities, cargo service underscores the com-
became involved in social activism as a catechist. In her 1984
plementarity and interdependence between males and
autobiography, Menchú recalls the powerful experience of
females.
reading biblical stories of men and women who struggled to
Women gain status and heat, a sign of spiritual strength,
lead their people from oppression.
by working as midwives, healers, and cargo holders. Concep-
In the 1970s in Mexico’s southeastern state of Chiapas,
tions of human development among many Mesoamerican
women throughout the Catholic diocese of San Cristóbal de
peoples see a person starting life in a cold state and then be-
Las Casas began to participate in local groups in which they
coming hotter and hotter as he or she matures through serv-
read the Bible and discussed their problems. The most signif-
ing his or her community. At death a person returns to a cold
icant problems women face are poverty, racism, alcohol, and
state. Women can acquire as much heat as men if they fulfill
domestic violence. In 1992 these grassroots groups became
many duties for their communities. Women who communi-
formally linked through the Diocesan Coordination of
cate with powerful Christian and native deities on behalf of
Women (CODIMUJ). In hundreds of local groups through-
individuals and their communities are respected for their
out the diocese, the women of CODIMUJ meet to critique
heat and knowledge. These women also enjoy significant in-
unequal gender relations and also to challenge structural
dependence, often traveling long distances in the night to
forms of oppression, such as racism, political repression, and
visit people in need of their services.
destructive economic policies.
Several key conceptions of deities from pre-Hispanic
Protestantism. Many indigenous people in southern
times survive in contemporary Mesoamerica. In highland
Mexico and Guatemala began to convert to Protestantism
Chiapas, earth, moon, caves, water, and the Virgin Mary are
beginning in the 1970s, with the Pentecostal and Presbyteri-
believed to embody powerful female spiritual forces. The sun
an churches attracting the largest numbers of converts.
is associated with a male god and Jesus Christ. A mother/
(Studies estimate that 20 to 30 percent of the residents of
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3414
GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND MESOAMERICAN RELIGIONS
Guatemala and Chiapas are Protestant.) Through affiliation
prayer, and dream analysis; using a falsetto voice to show re-
with Protestant churches, poor women find support in sur-
spect for elders who have held community cargos; contribut-
viving dramatic social and economic changes and in some
ing to pilgrimages three times a year to water holes and other
cases for challenging gender subordination.
sacred places; and weaving and wearing traditional clothing
brocaded with ancestral cosmological motifs.
The anthropologist Linda Green notes that evangelical
churches in Guatemala provide a safe space where Mayan
SEE ALSO Christianity, article on Christianity in Latin
widows of the civil war create new forms of community and
America; Gender Roles; Liberation Theology; Mesoamerican
share emotional, psychological, and material support. Protes-
Religions, article on Contemporary Cultures.
tant congregations allow native people to reestablish a lost
sense of community by creating fictive kin ties, calling one
BIBLIOGRAPHY
another hermano (brother) and hermana (sister). As people
Burkhardt, Louise. “Mexica Women on the Home Front: House-
reconstruct their lives in times of social upheaval, they draw
work and Religion in Aztec Mexico.” In Indian Women in
on past and present events, creatively blending indigenous
Early Mexico, edited by Susan Schroeder, Stephanie Wood,
and Robert Haskett. Norman, Okla., 1997. See pages 25–
worldviews with Christian ones. For example, it is not un-
54. Burkhardt explores the religious significance of domestic
common for Protestant converts to seek the assistance of tra-
occupations viewed as women’s work among Mexicas.
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Carrasco, Davíd. Religions of Mesoamerica: Cosmovision and Cere-
in new Christian churches, men and women redefine gender
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Mayan religions from the pre-Hispanic period through the
lems, such as alcoholism, domestic violence, and spousal
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Clendinnen, Inga. Aztecs: An Interpretation. New York, 1991. A
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study of Tenochtitlan on the eve of the Spanish Conquest;
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includes chapters on male and female roles.
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of a broader autonomy movement that sends a powerful mes-
Water of Hope, Water of Sorrow. Austin, Tex., 2000. Ethno-
sage to outsiders that indigenous peoples can control their
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in San Pedro Chenalhó, Chiapas, Mexico, from indigenous
a variety of ways, sometimes converting to new religions after
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their kinswomen convert, other times punishing their kin-
Eber, Christine, and Christine Kovic, eds. Women of Chiapas:
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Making History in Times of Struggle and Hope. New York,
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in Chiapas: structural violence and armed conflict, religion
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of civilian support bases who provide material aid to Zapat-
temala. New York, 1999. An ethnography describing the
istas and implement Zapatista programs. The EZLN is a sec-
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Joyce, Rosemary A. Gender and Power in Pre-Hispanic Mesoameri-
Seventh-day Adventists, and Traditionalists among others.
ca. Austin, Tex., 2000. Comprehensive exploration of Me-
It differs from previous revolutionary models in respecting
soamerican gender and power relations from Olmec culture
the religious choice of each member. Members of Zapatista
through the sixteenth century, applying Judith Butler’s per-
base communities commonly pray before meetings, read the
formance theory to suggest how Mesoamericans constructed
Bible together, and attend religious celebrations.
more fluid and variable gender systems than previously as-
sumed.
Women play central roles in base communities by re-
Kellogg, Susan. “From Parallel to Equivalent to Separate but Un-
evaluating their ancestral traditions and bolstering those that
equal: Tenochca Mexica Women, 1500–1700.” In Indian
serve their own and their households’ well-being. The tradi-
Women in Early Mexico, edited by Susan Schroeder, Stepha-
tions women say they want to preserve are those that do not
nie Wood, and Robert Haskett. Norman, Okla., 1997. See
require centralized or hierarchically organized leadership and
pages 123-143. An overview of the changing legal and social
in which women have considerable authority. These include
status of Mexica women from the late pre-Hispanic era to the
preparing altars to welcome back the souls of deceased loved
early eighteenth century.
ones on the Day of the Dead; preparing traditional foods
Lavrin, Asunción. “In Search of the Colonial Woman in Mexico:
daily and for special ceremonies; healing through herbs,
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND SOUTH AMERICAN RELIGIONS
3415
can Women: Historical Perspectives, edited by Asunción
women’s movements in Mexico, El Salvador, Brazil, and
Lavrin. Westport, Conn., 1978. See pages 23–59. An explo-
Chile.
ration of women’s roles in colonial Mexican society. The
Stevens, Evelyn. “Marianismo: The Other Face of Machismo.”
study focuses on white urban women but also discusses other
Female and Male in Latin America: Essays, edited by Ann Pes-
social and ethnic groups.
catello. Pittsburgh, Pa., 1973. See pages 89-101. Describes
Lavrin, Asunción, ed. Sexuality and Marriage in Colonial Latin
the concept of marianismo, or the cult of female superiority,
America. Lincoln, Neb., 1989. An edited book examining re-
which Stevens applies to mestizas throughout Latin America.
ligion, sexuality, marriage, and divorce in Latin America
Tuñón Pablos, Julia. Women in Mexico: A Past Unveiled. Translat-
from a historical perspective.
ed by Alan Hynds. Austin, Tex., 1998. An overview of Mexi-
Menchú, Rigoberta. I, Rigoberta Menchú: An Indian Woman in
can women’s lives from pre-Hispanic times through the
Guatemala. Edited by Elizabeth Burgos-Debray. London,
1980s. Explores the relationship between myths about
1984. The life story of an indigenous woman of Guatemala.
women and the historical realities of their lives.
Includes discussion of the role of Catholicism in Guatemala
and Menchú’s work as a catechist in her efforts to combat
CHRISTINE EBER (2005)
CHRISTINE KOVIC (2005)
social injustices.
Nash, June. In the Eyes of the Ancestors: Belief and Behavior in a
Mayan Community. Prospect Heights, Ill., 1970. Ethnogra-
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND
tal-speaking Maya township of Amatenango del Valle, high-
SOUTH AMERICAN RELIGIONS
land Chiapas, Mexico. Provides detailed descriptions of the
Religion is central to South American society. Daily life and
gendering of roles and social spaces and local adaptations to
major events are marked, celebrated, and aided by the perfor-
economic and political changes.
mance of religious rituals derived from a range of traditions,
Nash, June. “Gendered Deities and the Survival of Culture.” His-
including Andean, Inca, shamanism, Catholicism, and Prot-
tory of Religions 36 (1997): 333–356. A gendered historical
estantism. In agricultural areas planting and harvesting are
analysis of the transformation in conceptions of female and
imbued with religious meaning. Marriage, healing, and even
male Mesoamerican deities from pre-Aztec to contemporary
times.
travel require celebration of religious rituals. Religion in
South America also reflects and reproduces gender norms in
Navarro, Marysa. “Against Marianismo.” In Gender’s Place: Femi-
the society. Forms of veneration, rituals of healing, rites of
nist Anthropologies of Latin America, edited by Rosario Mon-
toya, Lessie Jo Frazier, and Janise Hurtig. New York, 2002.
reconciliation, and specific religious cults follow gender lines.
See pages 257–272. Critique of marianismo, a term coined
RESEARCH ON GENDER AND RELIGION IN SOUTH AMERICA.
in 1973 by Evelyn P. Stevens to describe women’s status in
The gender specificity of religious belief, practices, and ritu-
Latin America. Navarro argues that marianismo is an ahi-
als in pre-Colombian South America defied the logic of the
storical and essentialist fabrication.
Spanish who invaded the region in the sixteenth century.
Rosenbaum, Brenda. With Our Heads Bowed: The Dynamics of
The principle characteristics of Andean and Inca religion are
Gender in a Maya Community. Albany, N.Y., 1993. Ethnog-
gender parallelism and complementarity, which reflect and
raphy exploring gender ideologies, roles, and relations in San
reinforce social organization. By contrast, Spanish Mediter-
Juan Chamula, a highland Maya township of Chiapas,
ranean monotheistic religion in which a supreme male deity
Mexico.
dominated supported a patriarchal model of the society in
Rosenbaum, Brenda. “Women and Gender in Mesoamerica.” In
which men presided over the family and society. Spanish
Legacy of Mesoamerica: History and Culture of a Native Ameri-
chroniclers misunderstood Andean and Inca religion and
can Civilization, edited by Robert M. Carmack, Janine
condemned religious practices that defied the patriarchal
Gasco, and Gary H. Gossen. Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1996.
model by suggesting they were the work of the devil. Inca
See pages 321–352. Survey of Mesoamerican gender roles,
worship of a masculine Sun as the principle deity and of the
relationships, and ideologies from pre-Columbian to present
times and an overview of current issues in the study of
feminine Moon as its counterpart seemed to the Spanish a
women and gender in Mesoamerica.
result of diabolical intervention. Although they did not un-
derstand them, Spanish chroniclers recorded their observa-
Sahagún, Fray Bernardino de. Florentine Codex: General History
of the Things of New Spain. Translated by Arthur J. O. An-
tion of gendered practices of worship and of male and female
derson and Charles E. Dibble. 13 vols. Santa Fe, N. Mex.,
deities. Their accounts provide researchers with insight into
1952–1983. A sixteenth-century treatise on Aztec culture
the gendered cosmology and practices of pre-Colombian
with a detailed account of gender roles from the colonial
South American society. Spanish clergy, including Pedro de
period.
Cieza de León, José de Acosta, Cristóbal Albornoz, Pablo
Schroeder, Susan, Stephanie Wood, and Robert Haskett, eds. In-
José de Arriaga, Bernabé Cobo and Martin de Murua, whose
dian Women in Early Mexico. Norman, Okla., 1997. Edited
goal was to eradicate local religion and establish Catholicism,
volume of essays by ethnohistorians describing the lives of
also provide much of the available source material for under-
women in pre-Columbian and colonial Mexico.
standing pre-Colombian South American religion. Andean
Stephen, Lynn. Women and Social Movements in Latin America:
and Inca manuscripts, including the Huarochirí Manuscript,
Power from Below. Austin, Tex., 1997. Focuses on grassroots
and the accounts of Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala and “El
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND SOUTH AMERICAN RELIGIONS
Inca” Garcilaso de la Vega provide knowledge from an indig-
providing nourishment. She cannot, however, realize her
enous perspective. Researchers have examined these accounts
procreative powers without a male celestial counterpart and
using gendered categories of analysis to gain insight into the
is often paired with Illapa (or Rayo), the god of thunder and
female, male, and androgynous components of Andean and
lightning, who dominates the heavens and provides the rain
Inca religion.
necessary for crop production. Pachamama is also inextrica-
bly linked with Pachatira, a temporal and material dimension
Archaeological evidence has also provided insight into
of the earth associated with masculinity. Pachamama and
the gender specificity of religion and ritual in South Ameri-
Pachatira appear to represent different aspects of the pacha’s
can society. Archaeological remains are subject to different
nature as both a nurturing figure, yet also a potentially angry
interpretive challenges because analysis of them reflects con-
force that may punish people and requires their worship and
temporary assumptions about gender and worship. As a re-
sacrifice in exchange for sustaining them. Pachamama/
sult, women’s roles depicted in artifacts were sometimes ig-
Tirakuna may appear as distinct manifestations of Mother
nored or misinterpreted. For example, in 1980 Anne-Marie
Earth with Tirakuna seen as sacred places identified as “Fa-
Hocquenghem and Patricia J. Lyon identified a figure with
thers” and Pachamama as the earth as a whole. Thus, rather
long braids and feminine dress depicted in a Peruvian Moche
than being completely separate, Pachamama/Tirakuna are
“Sacrifice Scene” as a Moche priestess. Their interpretation
distinct manifestations of a gendered Mother Earth.
was contested by researchers who identified this figure as
male. Only in 1991 when the remains of a tomb where the
Pierre Duviols observed that gender parallelism tran-
ritual had been enacted in practice was found and the partici-
scended life so that when elite Andean people died, they were
pant’s bones were identified as female did researchers concur
transformed into two entities: a mallqui, the mummy of the
with Lyons and Hocquenghem that the image in the picture
live person and the feminine half that represented the seed
was that of a woman. Even with this recognition, the female
of future generations, and the huaca, the masculine half, a
figure was ascribed lower status than that of her male coun-
phallic rock that represented the inseminating force. Thus
terparts in the Sacrifice Scene. Two men depicted in the Sac-
like the Pachamama/Tirakuna the individual reflected a uni-
rifice Scene often were identified as Moche warrior-priests
fied whole that was nonetheless gender distinct. Similarly
and rulers, whereas the female figure was identified as a
Andean couples are known as the single composite word,
priestess rather than a ruler.
warmi-qhari (woman-man), suggesting that couples repre-
sent a unified whole. This assumption is reflected in the
Irene Silverblatt’s influential book, Moon, Sun, and
mandate that only couples may perform religious cargos—
Witches (1987), was among the first to provide a gendered
elective offices held for a one-year term by male community
analysis of Andean and Inca religion and the impact of Span-
members charged with responsibility for overseeing civil and
ish Conquest. Using Spanish sources, Silverblatt concluded
religious activities crucial to indigenous communities’ surviv-
that gender parallelism and complementarity were core char-
al—like that of fiesta sponsors.
acteristics of Andean cosmology and of the organization of
RELIGION, GENDER, AND STATE EXPANSION: INCAS TO
religious cults. She argued that the Incas used gender ideolo-
SPANISH. From 1200 to 1400
gies and religious practices to extend their control over Ande-
CE the Incas embarked on a
program of expansion and conquest over surrounding Ande-
an communities. Kathryn Burns’s Colonial Habits: Convents
an communities, which would lead them to control an area
and the Spiritual Economy of Cuzco, Peru (1999) carried a
that spanned a third of the South American continent. Irene
gendered analysis of religion into the colonial period. She
Silverblatt argues that the Incas, recognizing Andean reli-
demonstrated that the Spanish used religion and gender to
gious practices and beliefs, used gender ideologies to mask
assert control over the Incas and to establish a colonial order.
their control. They sought to graft Inca divinities onto local
Burns examines the Spanish foundation and development of
Andean religious structures, thereby using them to establish
two Catholic convents in the Inca capital of Cuzco. She ar-
legitimacy and authority. Central to this assertion was the
gues that, by facilitating an inextricably linked exchange of
Incas’ establishment of a masculine Sun as the principal deity
prayer and material resources with the people of Cuzco,
from whom all Inca men descended and who presided over
women religious played a central role in what she describes
the Inca kingdom, and a feminine Moon from whom all Inca
as the spiritual economy of colonial society. This research is
queens descended and who presided over the earth and the
complemented by ethnographic studies (e.g., Allen, 1988,
sea. Thus the Inca kings were said to be sons of the Sun, and
Glass-Coffin, 1998) that illustrate the centrality of gendered
the Inca queens were the daughters of the complementary
practices of religion in contemporary Andean society, sug-
feminine Moon. The Incas made Mamacocha (Mother Sea)
gesting that elements of pre-Colombian religious ideals of
a descendant of the Moon and proclaimed her mother of all
Andean parallelism and complementarity survived Spanish
waters: streams, rivers, and mounting springs. Andean cos-
conquest.
mology asserted that Pachamama’s daughters embodied
ANDEAN PARALLELISM. Andean parallelism and complemen-
highland products and provided Andean people with knowl-
tarity are perhaps best illustrated by Pachamama and Pacha-
edge of them and methods of cultivation. Saramama was as-
tira. Pachamama, literally Mother Earth, is said to embody
sociated with maize; Axomama, with potatoes; Cocamama,
the generative forces of the earth and to sustain society by
with coca; Coyamama with metals; and Sañumama, with
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GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND SOUTH AMERICAN RELIGIONS
3417
clay. The Incas used this ideology by claiming that an Inca
to transform the daughters of Inca queens and Spanish con-
queen, Mama Huaco, had introduced the sowing of corn in
quistadores into culturally Spanish women who might either
the Andes, thus attributing to her the base for the survival
become nuns to serve God or marry Spanish men. Among
of Andean communities and the Inca kingdom. The Incas
the first entrants to the convent was the last Inca ruler’s six-
thus used Andean cosmology to expand their empire.
year-old daughter. These girls were wrested violently from
their Inca mothers so they might be transformed. Although
The Incas also used gender and women to extend their
the purpose of Santa Clara convent was to create culturally
control over communities through a system of female cults,
Spanish girls of the mestiza women, the conquistadores’ ef-
marriage, and sacrifice. Chaste girls, acllas, were selected
forts were thwarted by the Spanish Abbess Francisca de Jesús
from Andean communities and they became virginal wives
and the small minority of Spanish nuns who distinguished
of the Sun. They were separated from their communities and
themselves from their mestiza counterparts by donning a
sent to acllawasis (aclla houses) located in each province’s
black veil. The black veils established the Spanish nuns as
state-run capital. After they were selected these virginal girls
culturally superior to the mestiza nuns who were forced to
might become permanent servants to Inca divinities, or they
wear white veils. Spanish nuns thereby reproduced the racial
might marry Incas or other men chosen by Incas. Those girls
distinction the Spanish conquistadores sought to eradicate
who served the deities were taught “women’s tasks” includ-
through religious training of mestiza girls. Both the Inca and
ing spinning, weaving, and the preparation of chicha and spe-
the Spanish requisitioned daughters of the defeated to serve
cial foods that they provided for the service to the Inca king
as participants in religious cults and as their spouses. Gender-
and gods. Although some Andean girls were selected as acllas,
specific religious imposition was central to the expansion of
others were chosen for sacrifice. The number of human sacri-
the Inca and Spanish states.
fices appears to have increased during the Inca Empire and
new ideals about human offerings developed. The Inca di-
Whereas mestiza girls entered Santa Clara convent, An-
rected and controlled human sacrifice and used a variety of
dean girls could enter beatas founded in Cuzco at the end
methods, including strangulation, burial, cremation, remov-
of the seventeenth century, the Spanish golden age in the re-
al of heart and offering blood and heart while burning the
gion. In contrast to Santa Clara convent where mestiza girls
body, and throat cutting in which the victims blood was of-
were subject to the authority of Spanish nuns and distin-
fered. The Inca also buried victims alive or left them to die
guished from them by a white veil marking their inferiority,
of exposure on mountains after they had been made insensi-
Andean girls in beatas were autonomous. They redefined
ble by drink or blows to the head.
themselves and established themselves as honorable women
by virtue of their religious faith, practice, and knowledge. In-
These sacrifices were gender and age specific. Male sacri-
digenous women became abbesses of the beatas and even de-
fices often involved bloodletting, whereas female sacrifices
fended themselves and their community against Spanish offi-
consisted of death by a nonblood-releasing means and burial.
cials. They thus enjoyed greater autonomy than both their
Most sacrifices were of prepubescent children who were se-
mestiza counterparts and Andean and mestizo men who were
lected by their communities for their beauty and brought to
barred from becoming clergy or directing their own semi-
the Inca capital, Cuzco, where they were presented in a pub-
naries. Andean women who did not enjoy the formal protec-
lic ceremony. After the ceremony the children of the capa
tion of the church were subject to abuse, including rape, by
cocha ritual were returned to their communities where they
Spanish clergy.
were buried alive and then established as a local cult often
overseen by their own family members. These sacrifices en-
RITUALS OF HEALTH AND HEALING. Gender parallelism and
hanced the community’s privilege within the Inca kingdom
complementarity remain central to contemporary South
and that of the girls’ fathers and family members within their
American religion and are evident in rituals of marriage,
own communities. It provided a means of expanding Inca
health, and healing. The interdependence of men and
control.
women is considered a natural state of things and is reflected
in the term warmi-qhari (woman-man) to refer to a couple.
The Spanish sought to establish patriarchal Catholicism
Formal marriage with a Catholic religious ceremony usually
in the Andes, and they introduced a distinct conception of
occurs many years after a couple has been established and has
sin. Although they did not understand Andean gender paral-
had children and often occurs in the context of a larger reli-
lelism or complementarity, the Spanish nonetheless used
gious fiesta. Single adults are considered unnatural and can-
gender to assert their authority and to expand their control.
not fulfill specific religious or civic cargoes in the communi-
Because the Spanish did not share the same culture with the
ty. Marriage also continues to serve as a means of allying
Andean and Inca people they sought to conquer, they relied
distinct social groups with girls from less powerful families,
on force and violence. Burns observes that during a brief re-
who are considered “more Indian,” marrying boys from
spite in the violent conflict that threatened to destroy the na-
more powerful families.
scent colonial society in Peru, the conquistadores established
Santa Clara Catholic Convent in the Inca capital of Cuzco.
Religious fiestas, which mark specific points in the har-
Half a century later a second convent would be built in
vest and celebrate communities’ founding saints, require
Cuzco atop the ruins of acllawasi. Santa Clara’s purpose was
sponsorship by couples within each community. Some fiestas
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3418
GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND SOUTH AMERICAN RELIGIONS
require two sponsors because together they form a warmi-
of Tobacco Smoke and is saved by his wife who transforms
qhari. The junior sponsor in a fiesta is said to act like a
into a frigate bird and covers the light shaman with her body
woman, suggesting the fluidity of gender and its relation to
and wings to save him from the seizure.
specific roles. During fiestas, although men and women share
CATHOLICISM AND PROTESTANTISM. Until the 1960s most
the same physical space, they are separated within it to con-
men and women in South America identified themselves as
form with the Andean ideals of a masculine and feminine.
Catholic, although their practices might have included dis-
Rituals of health and healing conform with the ideal of
tinctly indigenous elements. In the 1950s and 1960s a new
a gender division of labor and are infused with religious belief
form of Catholicism strongly influenced by the Second Vati-
and practice. Joseph W. Bastien found, for example, that in
can Council and the rise of liberation theology was estab-
Bolivia misfortune rituals designed to eliminate misfortune
lished in many South American countries. This Catholicism,
are usually carried out by a warmi yachaj (female diviner),
which emphasized the transformative potential of this life
whereas a qari yachaj (male diviner) performs good-fortune
rather than focusing on salvation in the next life, had an espe-
rituals to set in motion favorable events. The symbolic sys-
cially strong impact among women. In rural communities,
tem of the Bolivian Aymara people avers to men stability and
indigenous women came to serve as Catholic catechists
mountains and contrasts them with women associated with
whose role was to discuss church doctrine and the bible with
rivers and a natural cycle of dissolution and renewal. Women
their communities. In urban communities, especially those
are seen to be especially appropriate for performing misfor-
composed of recent migrants from rural areas, Catholic
tune rites because their menstrual cycle enables them to expe-
women formed associations for prayer and community ser-
rience a flow like that of rivers. The flow of blood cleanses
vice. Comedores populares (community kitchens) were estab-
them just as one needs to be cleansed of misfortune by re-
lished by women with the assistance of lay and religious
turning it to a river so it can follow the natural cycle of disso-
Catholic leaders. Through these associations women began
lution and renewal. Male diviners, by contrast, help to fix
to redefine their place in society and their relations with men.
good fortune by offering symbols of llama fat and fetus to
During the same period of the 1960s and 1970s, a num-
the earth shrines of the region.
ber of Protestant denominations, as well as Jehovah’s Wit-
Men become shamans by encountering and surviving
nesses, Church of Latter-day Saints, and other religious
the masculine Illapa (Rayo), or lightning. The highest sha-
groups, began to attract converts in South America. Protes-
mans survive this encounter three times. By contrast, women
tants have, so far, received the greatest attention from re-
become midwives by recognizing their calling in dreams or
searchers. Those who have focused on women’s conversion
giving birth to children seen as special or unusual. The
emphasize the opportunity that Protestantism offered
dreams of midwives often include images of the Virgin Mary
women to escape the system of fiestas, which was associated
or Catholic saints who may appear among herbs in a garden,
with alcohol consumption and costly expenditures. Lesley
which become central to the women’s curative role. There
Gill suggests that Protestantism offered women migrants in
is a confluence of Andean and Catholic imagery in the calling
new urban communities a means of explaining and coping
of the midwife suggesting that conversion to Protestantism
with suffering. She also argues that Protestantism allows
may be incompatible with the traditional practice of mid-
women to exert indirect control over abusive or neglectful
wifery.
spouses. Finally, Gill emphasizes that many women identify
simultaneously as Protestant and Catholic or may go through
In Northern Peru men and women work as curanderos,
a series of conversions rather than retaining a fixed religious
participating in the same tradition of curing through a mesa
identity. By converting to a new faith, women and men
and the ingestion of the San Pedro cactus. Men are, however,
change their religious beliefs and practices and gain a means
more openly associated with this tradition of healing, where-
of transforming gender norms and thus their relations with
as women are often identified as brujas, sorceresses who
each other and with society. Indeed, because religion is cen-
transform themselves into black cats, ducks, pigs, and goats,
tral to South America, where it reflects and reproduces gen-
engage in reunions with the devil, and cast spells. Bonnie
der norms, it is also central to understanding changes in gen-
Glass-Coffin attributes this distinction to a fiction created by
der and society.
Spanish clergy who identified female curanderas as witch-
es—a perception that became popularized. One result of this
SEE ALSO Inca Religion; Liberation Theology; Shamanism,
perception is that it is more difficult to find female curand-
article on South American Shamanism.
eras because they hide their practices.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Among the Warao in Venezuela, couples serve together
Primary Sources
as shamans. The wife of a male light shaman comes to be
Cobo, Bernabé. History of the Inca Empire (1653). Translated by
known as shinakarani (Mother of Seizure) because of her
John Howland Rowe. Austin, Tex., 1979. Bernabé Cobo, a
ability to save her husband from seizures resulting from ritu-
seventeenth-century Spanish Jesuit missionary, provides an
alized nicotine consumption. The shinakarani’s role is mod-
overview of Andean customs and a treatise on Inca legends,
eled after that of the experience of the first light shaman, who
history, and social institutions which offers insight into gen-
suffers a nicotine seizure when he enters the celestial House
der and religion in pre-Colombian society.
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

GENDER AND RELIGION: GENDER AND SOUTH AMERICAN RELIGIONS
3419
de Acosta, José. The Natural and Moral History of the Indies
Southern Andes provides core insight into religion and gen-
(1604). Translated by Clements R. Markham. New York,
der by focusing on religious rituals and the structure of fami-
n.d. José de Acosta, a Spanish Jesuit missionary who traveled
ly and community.
throughout the New World and worked extensively in
Bastien, Joseph W. Healers of the Andes: Kallawaya Herbalists and
Southern Peru, the heart of the Inca Empire, offers insight
Their Medicinal Plants. Salt Lake City, 1987. Anthropologi-
into Andean and Inca religion and society with reference to
cal account of healers, their methods, rituals, and medicines
gender.
in the Andes of Bolivia with some specific insight into gen-
de Arriaga, Father Pablo José. The Extirpation of Idolatry in Peru
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(1621). Translated by L. Clark Keating. Lexington, Ky.,
Bruhns, Karen Olsen, and Karen E. Stothert. Women in Ancient
1968. Father Pablo José de Arriaga was responsible for im-
America. Norman, Okla., 1999. Broad overview of secondary
posing Catholic orthodoxy by violently destroying the last
literature in anthropology, archaeology, history, and art his-
vestiges of Inca and Andean religion in Peru’s indigenous
tory which provides insight into women in ancient America
communities in the seventeenth century. The account details
with their role in religion providing one component of the
the religious practices de Arriaga found and his efforts to de-
overview.
stroy them with incidental references to gender.
Burns, Kathryn. Colonial Habits: Convents and the Spiritual Econo-
de Betanzos, Juan. Narrative of the Incas. Translated and edited
my of Cuzco, Peru. Durham, N.C., 1999. Historical account
by Roland Hamilton and Dana Buchanan. Austin, Tex.,
of the establishment of two Catholic convents in the Inca
1996. Juan de Betanzos, a Spanish official who married an
capital of Cuzco during the Spanish colonial period and the
Inca woman and learned Quechua, provides one of the earli-
role of women in the emerging colonial society. The author
est accounts of Inca and Andean religion.
emphasizes the centrality of religion in transforming mestiza
girls into culturally Spanish women who would worship the
de Molina, Cristóbal. Relacion de las fabulas y ritos de los Incas
Spanish God, become conquistadores’ wives, and participate
(1573). Lima, Peru, 1943. Instruction to Spanish clergy and
in the spiritual economy of the society.
officials for discovering Inca sites of worship provides insight
into Inca religious practices.
Burns, Kathryn. “Beatas, ‘decencia’ y poder: la formación de una
elite indígena en el Cuzco colonial.” In Incas e indios cris-
de Murua, Martin. Historia del origin y geneologia real de los Incas
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(1590). Madrid, 1946. Sixteenth-century Spanish Chronicle
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of the Incas by Fray Martin de Murua.
Brief article examining the foundation of Andean beatas as
Duviols, Pierre. Cultura andina y repression: Procesos y visitas de
a counterpart to Spanish Catholic convents. Illustrates the
idolatries y hechicerias. Cajatambo. Siglo XVII. Cusco, Peru,
role religion might play in granting Andean women a mea-
1986. Compilation of documents from the extirpation of
sure of autonomy.
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Cadena, Marisol de la. “Matrimonio y etnicidad en comunidades
andinas (Chitapampa, Cusco).” In Más allá del Silencio: Las
Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala, El Primero nueva cronica y buen go-
Fronteras de género en los Andes, compiled by Denise J. Ar-
bierno (1631?). Edited by John Victor Murra and Rolena Ad-
nold. La Paz, Bolivia, 1997. Article uses an anthropological
orno, Mexico City, 1980. Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala, a
approach to examine the relationship between ethnicity and
native Quechua speaker from Peru, provides a unique ac-
marriage strategies in contemporary southern Peru.
count of Inca religion and society and prescriptions for creat-
ing a just society combining Spanish and Andean norms.
Castro Aguilar, Rosa. “Religion and Family: Catholic Experiences
The text combines a written history of the region with nearly
in Peru.” In Christianity and Social Change, and Globaliza-
four hundred drawn images depicting daily life under the
tion in the Americas, edited by Anna L. Peterson, Manuel A.
Incas, the Spanish Conquest, and colonial society.
Vásquez, and Philip J. Williams. New Brunswick, N.J.,
2001. Article examines the role that liberation theology and
Garcilaso de la Vega, El Inca. Royal Commentaries of the Incas and
post–Vatican II Catholicism played among women in poor
General History of Peru (1609, 1616). Translated by H. V.
urban settlements in contemporary Peru.
Livermore. Austin, Tex., 1966. El Inca Garcilaso de la Vega
Chávez Hualpa, Fabiola. “Mujeres que curan, mujeres que creen:
was the son of an Inca princess and a Spanish conquistador
un perfil de la medicina feminina.” In “Despierta, remedio,
who wrote his account of Inca society and history from
cuenta . . . ”: adivinos y medicos del Ande, compiled by Mario
Spain. Provides insight into the Inca elite family structure as
Polia Meconi. Lima, Peru, 1996. Chapter focusing specifi-
well as into specific practices of worship.
cally on women as part of a larger compilation of work on
The Huarochirí Manuscript. Translated by Frank Salomon and
traditional practices of health and healing in the Andean
George L. Urioste with annotations and introductory essay
region.
by Frank Salomon. Austin, Tex., 1991. Seventeenth-century
Gill, Lesley. “Religious Mobility and the Many Words of God in
account written in Quechua of mythology and rituals of An-
La Paz, Bolivia.” In Rethinking Protestantism in Latin Ameri-
dean people in the region of Huarochirí which provides in-
ca, edited by Virginia Garrard-Burnett and David Stoll. Phil-
sight into gender and has been used to suggest the centrality
adelphia, 1993. Article examines the role that contemporary
of an androgynous ideal in Andean gender relations.
Protestantism plays in offering women a means of transform-
Secondary Sources
ing gender relations and gaining a measure of autonomy in
Allen, Catherine J. The Hold Life Has: Coca and Cultural Identity
contemporary Andean society.
in an Andean Community. Washington, D.C., 1988. Anthro-
Glass-Coffin, Bonnie. The Gift of Life: Female Spirituality and
pological account of contemporary community life in the
Healing in Northern Peru. Albuquerque, 1998. Anthropolog-
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

3420
GENDER ROLES
ical account focusing specifically on female curanderas in
(1935), feminist studies made a distinction between sex, re-
northern Peru, while also providing insight into the experi-
garded as biological, and gender, which is culturally con-
ence of a woman researcher who sought to become a curand-
structed. Thus with few exceptions, one is born male or fe-
era.
male according to chromosomal makeup and secondary
Harris, Olivia. “Complementarity and Conflict: An Andean View
sexual characteristics. One is socialized into masculine or
of Women and Men.” In Sex and Age as Principles of Social
feminine roles through culture. The link between maleness
Differentiation, edited by J. S. La Fontaine. London, 1978.
and masculinity and femaleness and femininity is made to
Article provides key insight into gender complementarity in
appear natural and therefore unchangeable, constructing
contemporary Andean society.
power and dominance hierarchies that generally leave men
Matteson Langdon, E. Jean, and Gerhard Baer, eds. Portals of
in control of women and children. Gender hierarchies are le-
Power: Shamanism in South America. Albuquerque, 1992.
gitimized by recourse to ideology, ritual, and mythology.
Overview of Shamanism in South America with some specif-
ic details about gender.
Gayle Rubin coined the term sex/gender systems to de-
Murra, John V. The Economic Organization of the Inca State.
scribe the way in which kinship systems define roles and sta-
Greenwich, Conn., 1980. Analysis of the organization of the
tuses in a manner that often contradicts genetic relationships.
Inca state using Spanish chronicles to reconstruct the physi-
An example of this is woman-woman marriage among the
cal, political, and economic structure of society.
Nuer of the Sudan. Fatherhood is defined through the pay-
Rostworowski de Diez Canseco, María. Estructuras Andinas del
ment of cattle as bride-price. Where a woman owns cattle,
poder: Ideología religiosa y política. Lima, Peru, 1983. Among
she can acquire a wife and will be regarded as the social father
the first works to include an analysis of the role of gender in
or pater of children born to her wife, regardless of the identi-
Andean power structures.
ty of the biological father or genitor. Rubin pointed out that
Sánchez, Ana. “Pecados secretos, públicas virtudes: El acoso sexual
every individual and each new generation has to learn to
en el confesionario.” Revista Andina 14 (1996): 121–148.
enact their sexual destinies and their statuses within the sys-
Article focuses specifically on the Catholic rite of confession
tem. Sex and gender are not biological facts that emerge of
and its association with clerical abuse of Andean, Spanish,
and by themselves but are historical creations of specific so-
and mestiza women.
cieties. Oppression is experienced not only as a woman but
Sikkink, Lyn. “El poder mediador del cambio de agues: género y
as a result of having to be a woman, that is, by taking on fem-
el cuerpo politico condeño.” In Más allá del Silencio: Las
inine roles. Phyllis Chesler argued that psychological differ-
Fronteras de género en los Andes, compiled by Denise J.
ences between the sexes are also the result of sex-role condi-
Arnold. La Paz, Bolivia, 1997. Analysis of gender and social
tioning and that expectations of feminine roles are
and political structure in contemporary Andean Bolivian
dysfunctional. To successfully conform to the stereotype of
community.
femininity in Western society is a prescription for failure or
Silverblatt, Irene. Moon, Sun, and Witches: Gender Ideologies and
madness.
Class in Inca and Colonial Peru. Princeton, N.J., 1987.
Among the first works to examine gender and religion. Pro-
In contemporary Euro-American societies there is a ten-
vides key insight into gender parallelism and complementari-
dency to regard genetics (and therefore biological sex) as es-
ty and the Inca’s use of gender to extend control over Andean
sential and deterministic, with a gene to explain every aspect
people.
of behavior. Among social scientists, however, there is a
Wilbert, Johannes. Tobacco and Shamanism in South America.
move toward seeing sexuality as part of gender relations, the-
New Haven, Conn., 1987. Overview of secondary literature
oretically inseparable from them rather than possessing an es-
detailing the practices, rituals, and beliefs of tobacco shamans
sential prior ontology. Sexual violence against women and
in South America with some reference to gender specificity
violence against gay men are the result of institutional struc-
of practices.
tures, ideologies, and practices that assign greater value to
SUSAN FITZPATRICK BEHRENS (2005)
masculinity and to heterosexuality than to femininity and
homosexuality. Governments and religious organizations are
among those institutions that seek to maintain and repro-
GENDER ROLES. Gender roles are the culturally de-
duce the gender roles that permit such violence.
fined behaviors deemed appropriate for a man or a woman.
A theoretical focus on the body has also undermined the
A role is essentially performative. One learns how to play a
distinction between sex and gender. Judith Butler, in her in-
masculine or feminine role, what is acceptable and what is
fluential work Gender Trouble (1999), argues, following a La-
not, how one should behave, think, evaluate oneself and oth-
canian perspective, that the loss of the maternal body leads
ers in a gendered manner. While age, ethnicity, class, and
to a perpetual displacement of the object of desire and that
many other factors also have culturally prescribed norms,
gender identity is a refusal of that loss “encrypted” on the
gender is the most universal and salient social organizing
body. Gender, described by Butler as a “literalizing fantasy,”
principle.
then appears as “natural fact.” “Becoming” a gender involves
SEX AND GENDER. Following Margaret Mead’s influential
“a laborious process of becoming naturalized, which requires
work Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies
a differentiation of bodily pleasures and parts on the basis of
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GENDER ROLES
3421
gendered meanings” (Butler, 1999, p. 89). Cultural norms,
control and manipulation of these forces is left to women
referred to by Butler as “the law,” that prescribe heterosexual-
and to sacred natural symbols; men are largely extraneous to
ity and gender roles and proscribe homosexuality and incest,
this domain and must be careful lest they antagonize earthly
give the appearance of being subsequent to sexuality. In reali-
representatives of nature’s power (namely women). Sanday
ty they are the effects, temporally and ontologically, of cul-
argues that men are not unequivocally aligned with “culture”
ture; the product of culture rather than prior to or outside
(defined as the transcendence of the natural givens of exis-
culture (Butler, 1999, p. 94).
tence by means of systems of thought and technology). They
are part of nature not only in their physicality but also in
THE “NATURALNESS” OF GENDER ROLES. In the seminal ar-
their need or desire to kill. “Men hunt animals, seek to kill
ticle “Is Female to Male as Nature Is to Culture?” (1974)
Sherry Ortner argued that a defining characteristic of human
other human beings, make weapons for these activities, and
societies is that they are engaged in a process of generating
pursue power that is out there” (Sanday, 1981, p. 5). These
and sustaining systems of meaning that enable them to tran-
more exterior life-taking activities of men are referred to as
scend the most basic, natural limits of existence. Rituals, for
an outer orientation. Societies vary in the extent to which
instance, are a way of manipulating and regulating the rela-
they value an inner or outer orientation, the powers of
tionship between natural forces and human life. Culture is
women and respect for reproduction versus the role of men
seen as something that works on and transforms nature and
and their more destructive externalized power. This is not a
in that sense is superior to it. According to Ortner, women
dichotomy between nature and culture, terms that are in fact
are seen as closer to nature than men because of their biology
hard to define and that arguably have no cross-cultural refer-
and childbearing role. Women’s more intimate form of relat-
ence. Sanday’s survey of “simpler societies” led her to con-
ing can be seen simultaneously as a more natural and “lower”
clude that there is a basic conceptual symmetry between the
and as a morally superior “higher” position—as either ignor-
sexes in which “women give birth and grow children; men
ing or transcending social categories. Feminine symbols also
kill and make weapons. Men display their kills (be it an ani-
demonstrate this polarized ambiguity. Women can be exalt-
mal, a human head, or a scalp) with the same pride that
ed (as goddesses, dispensers of justice, and occupants of the
women hold up the newly born” (Sanday, 1981, p. 5).
moral high ground) or debased (as witches, dispensers of the
The variations in sex-role plans found in different socie-
evil eye, castrating mothers). In either case the symbolic
ties show that they are cultural constructions rather than ge-
woman is “rarely within the normal range of human possibil-
netic. Historical and political factors as well as the environ-
ities” (Ortner, 1974, p. 86). If culture is thought of as superi-
ment in which people live affect the ways in which they
or to nature, it is a small step to viewing men as superior to
interact. Sex-role plans in turn change the social and natural
women.
environment. Sanday identified four basic templates relating
Ortner later clarified her position, stating that while the
to the sexes. These can be segregated or merged, with deci-
distinction between “nature” and “culture” is not universal,
sion-making powers vested in one sex or shared. These four
the “problem of the relationship between what humanity can
types can be combined in various ways. Among the Mbuti
do, and that which sets limits upon those possibilities, must
of the Ituri Forest in central Africa, for example, the sexes
be a universal problem” (Ortner, 1996, p. 179). Gender is
are merged and decision-making powers shared. Among the
always situated at what Ortner refers to as the nature-culture
Iroquois confederacy of North America, on the other hand,
border—the body. In most if not all societies the two sets
sexual differentiation was extreme, while decision making
of oppositions, nature and culture and female and male,
was still shared between the sexes. In both these societies the
“move into a relationship of mutual metaphorization” so
sex-role scripts give women both secular and religious power.
that “gender becomes a powerful language for talking about
Their cosmologies and rituals display a generally positive at-
the great existential questions of nature and culture” and vice
titude to the world and the place of humans within it. In so-
versa (Ortner, 1996, p. 179). The asymmetry of these cate-
cieties in which decision making is shared, female or paired
gories, in which the masculine and culture are valued above
deities are given prominence. In societies in which males
the feminine and nature, reflects the notion that culture is
dominate and women are relegated to a subordinate role in
about the transcendence of nature.
both sacred and secular domains, there is an emphasis on a
male godhead. The sexes are also invariably segregated, as
NATURE, GENDER, AND MYTHOLOGY. In her book Female
among the Hausa of northern Nigeria or Yanomamo of Ven-
Power and Male Dominance (1981) Peggy Reeves Sanday
ezuela and Brazil.
contests Ortner’s claim that because men are associated with
culture and it is culture’s job to control nature, men are uni-
The environment appears to be a crucial variable in de-
versally regarded as having the right to control women. San-
termining gender roles and the valuation given to men and
day does admit to the “permeability between the categories
male symbols or women and female symbols. Where large
of female and nature” in some societies but not all. She refers
game is hunted, whether or not these animals are a nutrition-
to such societies as having an inner orientation with a “recip-
ally important part of the diet, Sanday argues that the major
rocal flow between the power of nature and the power inher-
source of power is seen as a supreme being who resides in
ent in women” (Sanday, 1981, p 5). In such societies the
the sky or in animals. In fact any environmental tension,
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

3422
GENDER ROLES
whether created by food scarcity, climactic unpredictability,
SEE ALSO Anthropology, Ethnology, and Religion; Culture;
warfare, or political uncertainty, tends to move a society in
Feminism, article on Feminism, Gender Studies, and Reli-
the direction of an outer orientation, male dominance, and
gion; Gender and Religion, overview article, article on His-
androcentric mythology. Sanday suggests that there is trans-
tory of Study; Power.
ference of anxiety from the external world, which is beyond
control, to women, who may be taken as symbolic represen-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
tatives of the natural world. A lack of environmental security
Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of
Identity. New York and London, 1999.
therefore correlates with control of women and male domi-
nation. If, on the other hand, the world is experienced as be-
Chesler, Phyllis. Women and Madness. Garden City, N.Y., 1972.
nign, an inner orientation develops in which both the envi-
Connell, R. W. “Making Gendered People: Bodies, Identities,
Sexualities.” In Revisioning Gender, edited by Myra Marx
ronment and women are seen as partners rather than as
Ferree, Judith Lorber, and Beth B. Hess, pp. 449–971.
sources of danger to men and to society as a whole.
Thousand Oaks, Calif., 1999. A focus on gender often
TRANSCENDING, CONFOUNDING, AND SUBVERTING GEN-
means in practice a focus on women (to redress the mascu-
line bias in so much “ungendered” literature). That is largely
DER. There are many ways in which heterosexual masculine
true of this theoretically rich collection of essays.
and feminine roles are challenged, undermined, reworked,
and transformed in societies around the world. Such inci-
Doniger, Wendy. Splitting the Difference: Gender and Myth in An-
cient Greece and India. Chicago and London, 1999. The reli-
dences reveal the ways normative gender roles based on bio-
gious studies scholar has produced a fascinating account of
logical sex require concerted social effort to construct and
gender.
maintain and are far from “natural” and self-evident. One
Evans-Pritchard, E. E. Kinship and Marriage among the Nuer. Lon-
of the most widely reported examples of multiple genders is
don and Oxford, 1951.
the berdache, “two spirits” or “man woman” found among
Hastrup, Kirsten. “The Semantics of Biology: Virginity.” In De-
more than 150 First Nation groups in the Americas. While
fining Females, edited by Shirley Ardener, pp. 49–65. Lon-
sometimes described as an institutionalized form of gender
don 1978.
reversal in which a person of one anatomical sex takes on the
King, Ursula, ed. Religion and Gender. Oxford, and Cambridge,
roles, attire, and status of the opposite sex, the variety of
U.K., 1995. A specific focus on gender and religion that
practices actually involved have led some scholars to use the
combines theoretical papers with case studies and specific ex-
term “third sex” or to think in terms of multiple genders. It
amples.
is argued that Rubin’s distinction between sex and gender
Linn, Priscilla Rachun. “Gender Roles.” Encyclopedia of Religion,
(and sexuality) cannot be universally applied and that other
1st ed., Vol. 5, pp. 495–502. New York, 1987.
societies conceive of the human person in ways that make
Low, Alaine, and Soraya Tremayne, eds. Women as Sacred Custodi-
no sense of such distinctions. In many cases North American
ans of the Earth? Women, Spirituality, and the Environment.
“two spirits” have specific religious or occupational roles and
New York and Oxford, 2001. The editors bring spirituality
may have a mythological account of origins distinct from
into the equation with their interdisciplinary collection of es-
that of men or women, so that it makes more sense to con-
says.
ceive of them as a third gender than as people who simply
Mead, Margaret. Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Socie-
cross gender, according to Will Roscoe’s book, Changing
ties. New York, 1935.
Ones: Third and Fourth Genders in Native North America
Miller, Barbara Diane, ed. Sex and Gender Hierarchies. Cam-
(1998).
bridge, U.K., 1993. Another interesting comparative work
that includes human and primate examples, evolutionary
Another example of a group that transcends a binary
theory, and contemporary ethnographic studies of gender.
gender classification is the hijra of India, anatomical males
Ortner, Sherry B. “Is Female to Male as Nature Is to Culture?”
who identify and dress as females, forming a religious caste
In Woman, Culture, and Society, edited by Michelle Zimba-
with their own mother goddess. Like the classical Galli of
list Rosaldo and Louise Lamphere, pp. 67–88. Stanford,
Greco-Roman mythology or eunuchs in much of the ancient
Calif., 1974.
world, the gender roles assigned to such a “third sex” are
Ortner, Sherry B. “So, Is Female to Male as Nature Is to Culture?”
linked to specialist religious and administrative functions.
In Making Gender: The Politics and Erotics of Culture, by
They may be chosen by the individual or assigned by others.
Sherry B. Ortner, pp. 173–180. Boston, 1996. A focus on
gender often means in practice a focus on women (to redress
In Western religious tradition nuns have also been described
the masculine bias in so much “ungendered” literature). That
as a “third sex” (Hastrup, 1978). They share many features
is largely true of this theoretically rich collection of essays.
of the hijra in the sense of forming a separate religious “caste”
Roscoe, Will. Changing Ones: Third and Fourth Genders in Native
that both ignores (through celibacy) and transcends (by tak-
North America. New York, 1998.
ing on some roles normally reserved for male priests) norma-
Rubin, Gayle. “The Traffic in Women: Notes on the ‘Political
tive heterosexuality. Western gay and lesbian people have
Economy’ of Sex.” In Toward an Anthropology of Women, ed-
also utilized the notion of multiple genders as a way of over-
ited by Rayna R. Reiter, pp. 157–210. New York and Lon-
coming the prescriptive binary gender roles associated with
don, 1975. This is a rich collection of ethnographic and the-
compulsory heterosexuality.
oretical accounts of women’s roles in various societies.
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

GENEALOGY
3423
Sanday, Peggy Reeves. Female Power and Male Dominance: On the
of descent. Thus, human founders of clans and lineages are
Origins of Sexual Inequality. Cambridge, U.K., and New
held to be the primary sources of the vigor and continuity
York, 1981.
of their descendants, as are totemic ancestors. In both sys-
Sanday, Peggy Reeves, and Ruth Gallagher Goodenough, eds. Be-
tems, the natural species exemplify the traits of continuity
yond the Second Sex: New Directions in the Anthropology of
and social immortality that human societies seek through
Gender. Philadelphia, 1990. An anthropological contribu-
their own genealogies.
tion to gender studies.
As a process, differentiation appears as the signifier of
FIONA BOWIE (2005)
forces that promote growth and development. The natural
evolution commonly depicted in creation myths begins with
relatively amorphous beings and proceeds systematically to
final stages of specificity. This understanding of the natural
GENEALOGY. As formal structure, genealogy is fore-
direction of life underlies the metaphoric assumption that
most an intellectual discipline. Its concern is with recording
takes the contrast between the chaotic and the structured in
and putting into systematic order the histories of families,
ritual and myth to be analogous to the contrast between the
differentiating them by rules of descent and allocating to
deathlike and the vigorous in social life. Accordingly, genea-
each a share of those enduring human valuables that consist
logical systems—the primary promulgators of differentia-
of privileges and honors, titles and powers. Although
tion—are impelled to drive toward singularity, to single out
grounded in myth and circumscribed by tradition and, thus,
families and persons for special distinction as principal bear-
seemingly a rote and rigid subject, genealogy is to be under-
ers of vital powers.
stood rather as a product of informed speculative reasoning
about metaphysical, specifically ontological, matters. Its sub-
Essentially, all the systematic modes of differentiation
ject matter goes beyond the listing of pedigrees. It identifies
upon which genealogical systems are constructed express
and differentiates the forces and generative sources that give
some concept of generative powers. The rules of primogeni-
shape to and regulate the entire universe of life. From its cos-
ture and of relative seniority of descent generally concern the
mological concepts, it draws implications for human con-
special nature of powers presumed to lie in primacy, that is,
duct and for the structure of the social order. Most directly,
in the original conditions that generated forms and natural
genealogies connect human families with their mythical ori-
processes. The rules of descent by gender (matriliny,
gins, joining them as kinfolk within the universal communi-
patriliny, bilaterality) stem from the distinctive generative
ty of gods, spirits, and other forms of life.
powers of femininity and masculinity. The rules governing
P
direct and collateral lines reflect closeness to the central
RINCIPLES OF GENEALOGY. The genealogical discipline ex-
ercises a controlling influence upon everyday life, for it is the
sources, and those that differentiate between long and short
source of the morality and of the principles of systematic
genealogies involve issues of inherent longevity. Each mode
order that bind systems of descent into clans, lineages, and
of descent has the added significance of being the appropriate
similar groupings. Among tribal societies especially, the ge-
mode of transmission of powers, and each member of a gene-
nealogical order frequently dictates all social relations. In
alogical chain has stature as a designated and graded con-
early and more complex traditional societies, where only roy-
veyor.
alty and related families come within its scope, the genealogi-
In substance, the characteristic modes of genealogical
cal system acts as the focus of authority. In sum, for pre-
transmission impose a powerful order upon social structures.
industrial societies the genealogical discipline is unitary and
They regulate marriage and other social relations, and they
unifying, joining the social and the religious forms by dem-
determine the formal lines of social divisions and the charac-
onstrating that society is an extension of the mythical era of
ter of dependency in subordinate branches. In keeping with
original creations. From this unitary perspective, the gods,
the general idea of a genealogical system as an organism that
spirits, and ancestral beings who brought human beings into
grows and branches, lineages are quite commonly envisioned
existence are themselves drawn into the human sphere. In
as vegetative.
more recent times, genealogical interest has been reduced.
The social and cosmological implications of genealogi-
Stripped of its religious and cosmological associations, gene-
cal differentiation are realized most fully in lineage struc-
alogy serves, at most, the general purpose of celebrating eth-
tures. In contrast to clans, which only imply and therefore
nicity.
generalize their putative connections to founders, lineages
The general model for making genealogical distinctions
depend upon true pedigrees, upon the real chain of names
is drawn from nature. This is most clearly exemplified in to-
and their sequences, and often upon the sequences of out-
temic systems, whose family lines are represented as descend-
standing events that demonstrate the potency and special
ed from animals or other distinctive natural forms. Each line
quality of the names. Genealogical traditions and related rit-
of descent appears as a species and therefore stands as one
uals evoke, reanimate, and, in some sense, reincarnate ances-
among all the other natural varieties of life. In nontotemic
tors. Remembering the long line of ancestors by name (in
systems, the special qualities attributed to particular human
Polynesia, as far back as ninety-nine generations) is an act
ancestors serve the same purpose of distinguishing the lines
of piety that, even in tribal societies, imposes the technical
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3424
GENEALOGY
requirement of creating the scholarly and priestly craft of of-
The rank of the sibs was preordained and revealed in the
ficial genealogist for royal and noble lines.
order of birth from an underground dwelling that brought
into being the first set of fraternal ancestors, the founders of
Aristocracy, understood as a social system in which a
sibs. The names of their descendants have entered into the
singular descent line has come forward as the focus of genera-
genealogies of the sibs, to be inherited in alternate genera-
tive powers, may take shape among clans as well as among
tions by the grandchildren. The personal names, like “souls,”
lineages, drawing upon their common genealogical rules. But
carry the immortality of the descent lines and, the Cubeo be-
it is the specificity of the lineage and its greater adeptness for
lieve, promote the growth of the children who bear them.
drawing fine distinctions that endow royalty with the extra
degree of moral authority for governing. The lineage is so
The names are but one of four elements that enter into
much the social instrument of royalty that it readily becomes
the substance of the genealogies. The others are sacred trum-
its own characteristic form of organization. Even among trib-
pets and flutes that bear the names and represent the original
al societies, among whom organic unities are the common
ancestors; the life souls that are apportioned to each of the
norm, it is not exceptional for chiefly lines to be the exclusive
sibs; and, finally, the figure of a sacred anaconda, in whose
protagonists of the lineage system, and for all others to fall
elongated form the sibs are imagined as ranked segments ex-
into a binlike category of relatively generalized descent. The
tending from the head to the tail. The anaconda symbolizes
Kwakiutl and some Polynesians, who are discussed below, il-
the animal nature of human beings and their kinship with
lustrate what are, in effect, the social fractures in a system of
the animal world. These four elements characterize the
descent.
Cubeo genealogical structure as a complex conveyor of vital
forces that ensure their ethnic continuity and are therefore
It may seem paradoxical that lineages, although they are
central to their religious and ritual purposes, namely, to
buttressed by deeply held human convictions about the
maintain connections with founding ancestors. “When we
binding powers of common descent, should, in fact, pro-
remember our ancestors,” the Cubeo proclaim, “we bring
mote, as a matter of principle, countertenets of antagonisms,
them to life.” For them, the act of re-creating the ancestors
oppositions, and structural divisions. Yet, these forms of di-
in memory is comparable to the original creation, when the
visiveness are not accidental but are the complements of sys-
Creator willed people into existence by means of his own
tems that transmit singular powers. Powers must demon-
imaginative thought.
strate efficacy; efficacy invites contention. As a consequence,
aristocratic lineages must sustain themselves, not by their ge-
The correspondence of the hierarchical order of the sibs
nealogical authority alone, but by the abilities of their actual
to the order in which the first ancestors emerged is also, in
rulers to balance sometimes conflicting claims of birth and
essential respects, a memorial to the circumstances of their
force.
origins; they are designated by genealogical relations as older
S
brother/younger brother, and as grandparent/grandchild; by
YSTEMS OF GENEALOGY. Thus, their orderly premises not-
withstanding, genealogical systems are variable. They are
an original distribution of ritual powers, as chiefs, priests,
subject to the vicissitudes of history that ultimately erode the
shamans, warriors, and servants; and, by their place as seg-
most formidable structures, as well as to the variability that
ments of the body of the sacred anaconda, they are assigned
is allowed by their rules and to the ambiguities of situation
a fixed order of residence along the rivers they occupy. The
that disturb any social order. One cannot hope to describe
highest ranks, corresponding to the head of the anaconda,
the varieties of genealogical systems encyclopedically. The
live toward the mouth of the river; the servants, toward the
following examples from tribal societies and from ancient
source. Thus the genealogical system—recapitulating in each
and more recent civilizations are not necessarily the most
generation the generative conditions of origins as an action
characteristic, but they call attention to special features that
of creative remembering—encompasses the main areas of
pertain to the general nature of genealogies.
Cubeo social and religious existence.
The Kwakiutl. A similar genealogical system, but one
The Cubeo. The Cubeo, tropical forest Indians of the
notable for the unusual significance it attaches to hereditary
Colombian Vaupés, exemplify genealogical aristocracy as de-
personal names, prevails among the Kwakiutl Indians of
veloped within the constraints of a subsistence economy.
Vancouver Island. The qualities commonly attributed to per-
Even within the meager material setting of slash-burn root
sonal names imply the presence in them of spiritual or magi-
horticulture, supplemented by fishing and hunting, the rudi-
cal powers, a “name soul,” as, for example, among the Inuit
mentary form of aristocracy exhibited by the Cubeo resem-
(Eskimo). The Kwakiutl seem to have elevated the concept
bles, in many formal respects, the hierarchical structures and
of name soul to a high level of concreteness, thereby bringing
the patterns of dominance and subordination of the more
to the surface a mystical attribute of names that in other cases
complex civilizations, indicating that aristocracy may be less
exists only by implication. Their treatment of names suggests
a product of material than of genealogical factors. Cubeo so-
how pedigrees may indeed constitute a great chain of being.
ciety is an organization of ranked, exogamic, and patrilineal
sibs (clans), who are joined together in a confraternity (phra-
In Kwakiutl genealogies, each personal name stands for
try) for what are largely ritual purposes. The sibs exchange
a desirable attribute of being, ordinarily a special power, and
wives with those of similar rank in a corresponding phratry.
the ensemble of ancestral names covers the range of attributes
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GENEALOGY
3425
and powers that govern life and death and control valued
not automatically and indisputably the gift of inheritance. Its
possessions. Even as it is a specified segment of the patterned
possessor has also to demonstrate worthiness by standing up
mosaic of life forces, each name also has existence as a being,
to challenge. Nevertheless, although the conviction that the
as a spiritual personage who is attached to and yet may have
powers that animate and bestow efficacy move by the genera-
an existence apart from its bearer. The bearer is no ordinary
tive forces of genealogical rules may yield to the acid test of
being either, having been set apart and sanctified in having
actual events, it is never abondoned. When lower ranks win
met the genealogical qualifications of seniority. Among the
royal power by force, as they occasionally do, from time to
Kwakiutl tribes, which once numbered in the tens of thou-
time, they are still obliged to discover genealogical authority
sands, only a very small number of personal names are of this
for their new office. Genealogical guilds guard the sanctity
type; all others are scorned as “made-up.” The real names are
of royal and noble pedigrees.
the exclusive property of a nobility of chiefs, the secular and
Polynesian societies differ in the way each has managed
religious leaders. The remainder are the names of common-
to sustain the shifting balances between the genealogical and
ers, people who cannot claim descent from mythical an-
the pragmatic. The Maori of New Zealand exemplify rela-
cestors.
tively close adherence to traditional genealogical criteria. The
The chiefly or spiritual names possess an autonomy con-
Samoans, the Easter Islanders, and the Mangaians demon-
gruent with their character as ancestral incarnations, and, as
strate a greater flexibility in following the traditional rules of
such, they impose their natures upon those who bear them.
descent. The emergent states and stratified societies of
Under certain circumstances they stand apart entirely. Thus,
Tonga, Tahiti, and Hawaii, for example, reveal a seemingly
a chief who possesses several names, some belonging to dif-
typical developmental cycle that moves from traditionalism
ferent divisions of the tribe, might engage in ritual transac-
to greater openness and, finally, to the consolidation of he-
tions with his distant name as though it were another person.
reditary rule, but within the framework of a markedly re-
He might present this name with gifts, or, under other cir-
structured social order.
cumstances, go through a sham marriage with a name at-
Major civilizations. The histories of major civiliza-
tached for this purpose to his arm, for example. Kwakiutl
tions—those of classical Greece, Japan, or England, to take
genealogies are histories of the acquisition and descent of all
but three examples—show their genealogical life as compara-
such names and of their intrinsic properties. Chanted at all
ble, in many respects, with that in tribal societies. Hesiod as-
important ceremonial events, the family history is a reposito-
sembled from the body of Homeric mythology a genealogical
ry of its accumulated powers and capacities.
order of the gods that allotted to each of them appropriate
Polynesian societies. Cubeo and Kwakiutl genealogical
honors, titles, and cosmological functions, and described
systems are noteworthy examples of aristocracy that is deeply
“how the gods and men sprang from one source.” Theogony
enlaced in mythological and shamanistic conceptions and,
emerges as one aspect of cosmogony. The gods, humans, and
therefore, politically undeveloped. Polynesian societies offer
the fully differentiated natural order evolve in these genea-
contrasting examples. Perhaps because their religions are
logical tales within a turbulent atmosphere, in a setting of
more fully theistic and relatively free of these other associa-
disputes for power among contending forces, very much as
tions, the Polynesians were able to move in another direc-
they do in tribal creation myths. The patterns set by the gods,
tion. Upon similar genealogical principles, and upon an
the immortals, in their evolution define the courses of
equally undifferentiated economy, Polynesian societies pro-
human history.
duced such relatively modern institutions as socioeconomic
The genealogists of archaic and preliterate Japan assem-
stratification and centralized territorial states. Thus, the ca-
bled from ancient myths a comparable cosmogony. Heaven
pability of a genealogical system to evolve or to elaborate a
and Earth, initially formed from Chaos, after several genera-
new social order is never a function of rules of descent alone.
tions produced the god Izanagi and the goddess Izanami,
New patterns emerge when genealogical rules are joined to
who gave birth first to the islands of Japan, then to other
an appropriate religious doctrine. In Polynesia, that doctrine
gods, and, finally, after many generations and much social
has been based upon a concept of mana, a force that animates
disorder, to humans. The first mikado was granted sover-
all of nature and characterizes the energetic properties of all
eignty by the sun goddess and, as a link in the succession of
substance. In principle, mana descends from the gods to the
the gods, became the center of the national religious cult.
human generations in measured proportions as defined by
Similarly, each distinguished family or clan also claimed its
the genealogical rules. Senior lines are richly endowed with
derived divinity from other gods and from ancestral associa-
mana and are energized and hence ennobled by it; the junior
tion with emperors. The Japanese chronicles of hereditary ti-
descent lines are left behind as the weakly endowed com-
tles authenticated the social and religious organization.
moners.
Christianity, in principle, breaks with the tenet of the
Conceptualized as an efficient force manifested objec-
traditional genealogical order that claims divine descent, but
tively in results—on the battlefield, in the fields of produc-
it leaves essentially untouched the issues of sanctity and an
tion, in the perfection of craft skills, in personal charisma,
even deeper concern with singularity and inequality. Even
in the efficacious management of religious rituals—mana is
the egalitarian Quakers in England succumbed to the temp-
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3426
GENEALOGY
tation of differentiating major from minor family lines. As
also of the Colombian Vaupés, that examine genealogical
for English royalty, it had found in the Roman Catholic
conceptions from structuralist and symbolist perspectives are
church, itself the heir to the political institutions of the
Christine Hugh-Jones’s From the Milk River: Spatial and
Roman Empire, the questionable but powerful bases for
Temporal Processes in Northwest Amazonia (Cambridge,
claiming the “divine right of kings” as an authority for abso-
U.K., 1979) and Stephen Hugh-Jones’s The Palm and the
lute power. The Glorious Revolution of 1688 set that thesis
Pleiades: Initiation and Cosmology in Northwest Amazonia
(Cambridge, U.K., 1979). Taken together, the bibliogra-
to rest, and later monarchs settled for the moderate option
phies in these three works are close to all-inclusive for this
of divine approval.
region. The best single-volume access to the very extensive
Through the long course of English history, the cons-
literature on the Kwakiutl from the writings of Franz Boas
tant principle of monarchy, starting with the Celtic rule of
and his native collaborator, George Hunt, is Boas’s difficult
the fourth century
but authoritative study, The Social Organization and the Se-
BCE, is one of singular descent from di-
vinely graced or otherwise extraordinary leaders. Except for
cret Societies of the Kwakiutl Indians (1895; reprint, New
York, 1970). A recent and useful interpretation of Kwakiutl
kinship with the royal house, no other fixed principles for
culture and society that draws upon much of the Boas and
succession to the throne, as for example primogeniture, were
Hunt texts is my The Mouth of Heaven: An Introduction to
established in England before the thirteenth century. As is
Kwakiutl Religious Thought (New York, 1975), which in-
common in such systems, genealogical authority fostered so-
cludes a bibliography of the published Boas field studies.
cial unity when it was strong and wars for succession when
There is no better introduction to the nature of Polynesian
it was weak. Social and cultural unity has been the aim and,
societies than the writings of one of Polynesia’s native sons,
to a considerable extent, the accomplishment of the genea-
Te Rangi Hiroa (Sir Peter Buck), of Maori descent and one-
logical order—which achieved its apotheosis in aristocracy—
time director of the Bernice P. Bishop Museum at Honolulu.
until relatively recent times.
His greatest work is The Coming of the Maori (Wellington,
1952), an intimate yet anthropologically professional study.
NONGENEALOGICAL SUCCESSION. Tibetan Buddhism, or
My Ancient Polynesian Society (Chicago, 1970) focuses more
Lamaism, illustrates the contrary qualities of a dynastic order
directly on genealogical issues because it is a study of varia-
from which genealogical succession has been totally ban-
tions in the forms of Polynesian aristocracy.
ished. In the fifteenth century, the monastery of Dge lugs pa
On the subject of the genealogies of the Greek gods, the principal
(Geluk pa), a celibate order and the original seat of the Dalai
sources are Hesiod’s Theogony and Works and Days, conve-
Lama dynasty, promulgated a doctrine of successive reincar-
niently available in the English translation by Hugh G. Eve-
nations as the mode of accession to divine authority. They
lyn-White in his The Homeric Hymns and Homerica (Cam-
believed that the Dalai Lama would be reborn in some infant
bridge, Mass., 1967). As background on the ancient period,
unrelated and unknown to him, and that through this rein-
M. I. Finley’s The Ancient Greeks (New York, 1977) is both
carnation, he would continue his work of enlightenment.
authoritative and succinct. For Japanese sources, the general
Discovered after an exhaustive search that brought to light
work of choice is George B. Sansom’s familiar classic, Japan:
his divine traits and evidence of an earlier existence, the new
A Short Cultural History, rev. ed. (New York, 1962), to be
used, however, in conjunction with the source book on the
Dalai Lama was trained for his post during an interim regen-
Japanese genealogical and historical chronicles, as compiled
cy. The Tibetan doctrine set aside traditional considerations
by Ryusaku Tsunoda, Wm. Theodore de Bary, and Donald
of individuality and family distinction so that the divine
Keene, Sources of Japanese Tradition, 2 vols. (New York,
presence, a manifestation of the Buddha, would appear di-
1958). On the genealogies of the royal lines of England, G.
rectly, albeit in human form. However, whatever forcefulness
M. Trevelyan’s History of England, new illust. ed. (London,
this system gained through directness of access to the reli-
1973), the Oxford History of England, especially volume 3,
gious source was at least partly dissipated by the dispersal of
and Austin Lane Poole’s Domesday Book to Magna Carta,
its constituencies. Unaffiliated to a systematic line of succes-
1087–1216 (Oxford, 1955), are particularly noteworthy for
sion, Lamaist adherents were free to join any one of numer-
their historical insights.
ous monasteries, each of which was headed by an abbot, him-
New Sources
self the incarnation of a lesser lama.
Bakker, Egbert J., Irene J. F. de Jong, and Hans van Wees. Brill’s
Companion to Herodotus. Leiden and Boston, 2002.
SEE ALSO Dalai Lama; Names and Naming; Preanimism.
Balsamo, Gian. Pruning the Genealogical Tree: Procreation and
Lineage in Literature, Law, and Religion. London, 1999.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Detienne, Marcel. Writing of Orpheus: Greek Myth in Cultural
Meyer Fortes was perhaps the most original and perceptive of an-
Contact. Translated by Janet Lloyd. Baltimore, 2002.
thropological authorities on genealogical issues. His Kinship
Nanji, Azim. Mapping Islamic Studies: Genealogy, Continuity, and
and the Social Order: The Legacy of Lewis Henry Morgan (Chi-
Change. Berlin, 1997.
cago, 1969), a central work on the subject, is a most useful
Simons, D. Brenton, and Peter Benes. Art of Family: Genealogical
summary and refinement of his position with a rich bibliog-
Artifacts in New England. Boston, 2002.
raphy of theoretical and ethnographic sources. For the
Cubeo, the only work thus far is my The Cubeo: Indians of
Toullelan, Pierre-Yves, and Bernard Gille. Mariage franco-tahitien:
the Northwest Amazon, rev. ed. (Urbana, Ill., 1979), based on
histoire de Tahiti du XVIIIe siècle à nos jours. Tahiti, 1992.
field work. Two exceptional studies on Barasana Indians,
Ulanov, Ann Belford. Female Ancestors of Christ. Boston, 1993.
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GENETICS AND RELIGION
3427
Walens, Stanley. Feasting with Cannibals: An Essay on Kwakiutl
ic” also refers to the growing group of interventions into the
Cosmology. Princeton, 1981.
code of the molecule itself, first by testing and then by at-
I
tempting to alter the code into more auspicious variations.
RVING GOLDMAN (1987)
Revised Bibliography
Genetics in this last sense began with studies of plant
and animal heredity. Working primarily with fruit flies, ge-
neticists began creating—with exposure to radiation—the
GENETICS AND RELIGION. Science in general,
same sort of distinctive phenotypical variations observed in
and molecular genetics and the new science of genomics in
nature within species; through breeding the geneticists noted
particular, contest with claims of faith on the same terrain.
how the variation was transmitted and how it was expressed.
Genetics is a complex, irreducible set of knowledge about the
This was a technique that followed biblical accounts of
large molecule DNA, which by its structure and function
Jacob’s goat herd, in which Jacob bred spotted goats to in-
transmits information about how proteins are made and
crease his portion of the herd, drawing on centuries of accu-
folded in particular ways. DNA regulates the biochemical
mulated wisdom in agricultural societies. Gregor Mendel
properties of all living cells. The unique feature of DNA is
(1822–1884), an Austrian monk, also relied on the tradition
that it is the structure for the replication of coded informa-
of observing phenotypes, breeding, and noting hereditary
tion of the sort that can be transmitted across generations.
traits. Fruit fly geneticists, then, drew on all of this material,
This information is held in the DNA molecules in the cells
and in the 1960s, after the invention of the electron micro-
of the human gametes—sperm and eggs that recombine to
scope, were able to see the long chains of chromosomes along
found a fertilized egg do so by recombining pieces of the
which the DNA was arranged in patterns. They were able
DNA of each into a newly composed molecule with the
to view how variations such as white and not red eyes, wrin-
codes from each genetic parent.
kled or frizzled wings inside of smooth ones, or winglessness
altogether could be predicted by linking trait to gene and
INTRODUCTION. The ability to recombine DNA is a feature
therefore apply “forward genetics” (the breeding of a strain
of all living organisms and offers a defining and definitive
of model organisms from these variations).
set of norms and explanations for behaviors and biological
processes that are highly conserved across many species. Ge-
Later advances allowed the gene itself to be diced and
netic codes are so similar that much human genetic informa-
spliced (using chemicals to cut the gene at specified intervals)
tion is shared with other mammals, especially related pri-
and then recombined to make new strains of mice or flies
mates. Mutations in these codes, often as small as a single
or worms entirely. These new strains would breed true be-
allele difference, have been traced as causative to devastating
cause the trait spliced into the gene would persist. In fact,
diseases, and many more diseases are being identified as hav-
given the way that the genetic code is already highly con-
ing genetic difference as their causation. It is likely that ge-
served across species in nature, slices of DNA from one or-
netic causation in a more complex fashion will be found to
ganism could be—and were—spliced into other species en-
be the cause for many diseases, including many long thought
tirely, giving rise to a host of “created” organisms capable of
to be behavioral, such as depression, schizophrenia, and ad-
enacting the DNA instructions of one species inside the body
dictive behavior. This story is the largely acceptable story of
of another. Such knowledge led to an explosion of interest
modern molecular biology.
and capacity to understand many tricky problems in medi-
cine, such as how addiction, mental illness, and cognition
As such, genetic explanations for how the world func-
might function; how embryos develop; and how immune
tions, what can be known about the world, what one can
systems regulate response and apoptosis—all breakthrough
hope for in the future, what a self is, what a family means,
insights that have already transformed clinical medicine.
and the role of free will all challenge what has historically
been the province of religion—a moral location in which
Hence, the science itself suggested a use, much as the
what humans desire and what they can achieve have long
structure of DNA suggested a function. It is both the obser-
been mediated. In large part, genetics and religion ask the
vation and notation of the world of molecular biology—its
same sort of questions: What does it mean to be human?
structure—and the alteration of the world at the molecular
What does it mean to be free? And what must I do about
level—its function—that raise concerns about genetics in the
the suffering of others?
communities of faith and in the scholarship of religion.
Further complicating the issue is that “genetics” refers
The issues can be grouped into several sorts of concerns,
to both the acquisition of the knowledge of how the mole-
each of which has generated a considerable literature of com-
cules of DNA and RNA copy information and build pro-
mentary and response. Without exception, the articles of so-
grams within the cell—how the intricate “machineries” and
cial and religious critiques of genetic science begin with the
pathways are reconstructed—as well as to how the molecules
admission that genetic science holds enormous potential, yet
are interpreted, categorized, and cataloged. It has long been
their authors then write about their concerns and fears—
understood that how humans define, name, abstract, and
rooted in the final analysis—that use of impermissible
group nature shapes how they see the world and provides a
knowledge might lead to humans “playing God” (Peters,
sense of self and possibility within the world. Finally, “genet-
2003).
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GENETICS AND RELIGION
ISSUES OF THE WORLD TO COME. For many commentators
ISSUES OF PATERNITY AND HERITAGE. Linking the resistance
(such as Audrey Chapman, Leon Kass, and Francis Fukuya-
about the genetic elimination of illness—and the pushing
ma) the problem of genetics is that humans have a particular
back of death and aging—is the idea that one’s genetic self
telos. The ends of human life are shaped, in the view of these
is the true self, the essential identity. This raises problems for
commentators, by both the finality of death and the sense
religious scholars on the many fronts of the issue. For some,
of an afterlife. “The world to come” is the world in a resur-
the idea that genetic identity is fixed supports the argument
rected body, in an afterlife, or in a messianic age. In this
that the DNA, once created, is the self as an integrated sys-
sense, then, the present moment, and the embodied life, is
tem at conception. For others, issues of a DNA heritage are
meant to be one of befallenness and affliction, not the source
troubling if the DNA is “taken” from them, and the sample
of perfection or the site for the final telos of human life. For
molecule used in any way. Additionally, ethical problems can
many, including Stanley Hauerwas and Sondra Wheeler, the
arise when genetic knowledge is used to suggest that illness,
proper regard toward illness is one of witness and of comfort
behavior, or traits are traceable to ethnogeographic evolu-
in the knowledge that “this story is not the end of the story
tionary narratives. It is true, finally, that for all religious
for persons of faith.” For medical researchers, the outcomes
scholars, the genome mapping and the haplotype grouping
for which they strive are to provide a future based in a steady
of human phenotypes raises issues of ethnicity, family, kin-
accumulation of advanced scientific knowledge that will lead
ship, membership, and identity. Should genetic relatedness
to greater control over the outcome and the prevention of
be privileged over other kinship ties? Is it proper to seek one’s
illness and injury. When researchers speak of curing genetic
genetic origins, and to what purpose? Can valuations and sta-
illness with heritable genetic interventions, and of cures both
tus (such as the Cohen status for Jews) long understood to
in this generation and in the next, many religious scholars
orally transmitted and trusted be challenged by genetic
and clergy with strong views of a heaven then fear a “post-
testing?
human future.” It is, for them, a future in which perfected
humans are no longer subject to illness, disability, or even
ISSUES OF ILLNESS AND SUFFERING. For early Christians, the
death. Is the “world to come” brought about by human cre-
act of healing was a core component of the liturgy (James
ativity and effort? Or ought human yearning strive toward
Keenan). A central problem that religion sought to address
a divine reward? If aging and death are events to be mediated
was that of befallenness and the role of the healer, which
by religious faith, can such pivotal events be altered, either
manifested itself in two ways. First, religious faith and the
temporally or fundamentally, without destroying the fragility
act of prayer was seen, throughout much of antiquity, as at
and vulnerability that makes one human? Genetic research,
least as effective as a cure when medical and surgical inter-
argues these scholars, is dangerous in its very structure, for
ventions were largely futile. Second, illness was understood
its precise aim is to alter the future, to seek control over the
as predominately spiritual in nature, and causation for illness
ultimate causation.
was linked in many traditions to a failure to understand—or
to comply or properly enact—one’s relationship to God,
To be sure, not all religious scholars take the position
gods, or, for some Eastern religions, the path of spirituality
that the future is fundamentally sacred, nor that the particu-
itself. Hence addictive patterns, aggression, or schizophrenia,
lar condition of humanity in the early twenty-first century
as well as tuberculosis, leprosy, and plague, were all linked
is the defining moment of humanity. For Jewish and Islamic
to personal or larger social flaws. The response, therefore,
scholars, among them Robert Gibbs, Laurie Zoloth, Elliot
that made sense to people in such cases was a proper regard
Dorff, and Abdul Aziz Sachedina, the duty to heal and the
for one’s relationship to the divine world and word. Priests
obligations embraced by medicine are a form of charity and
became the source of healing.
debt restoration. In these traditions, as well as in some argu-
ments advanced by Hindu and Buddhist scholars, the duty
However, genetic causation reconfigures causality—
to the world to come entails medical research, healing, and
especially if the disease can be modeled and studied in ani-
an ongoing effort on behalf of one’s progeny. For Jewish
mals (the core method for understanding diseases genetical-
scholars—whose tradition has at best a muted set of texts
ly). If mice can be made more or less aggressive or more or
about the afterlife—one’s world to come is the world of the
less fearful by genetic alterations, as evidenced by the work
next generation. Hence, the idea that humanity is itself con-
of Lee Silver, then what is the role of moral activity and of
stituted in its morbidity and mortality is a weaker claim.
religious training in the moral path? If addictive behavior (in-
Such scholars note that the condition of the human person,
cluding sexual behavior) can be traced to genetic allelic varia-
and most especially the human life span—which doubled in
tion, then what is the role of judgments in such cases? Fur-
the last half of the twentieth century—is not fixed, but has
ther, because most genetic researchers understand the
in fact remarkably improved. These scholars are generally
complexity of the gene-to/in-environment relationship, then
more supportive of genetic research, for they proceed from
if the malfunction of genes in particular environmental loca-
a model that suggests improved health, greater freedom from
tions triggers diseases and disease susceptibility, what use is
disease, and lessening infant and maternal mortality (the re-
it to pray for reversal, or to hope that correct moral activity
sults of earlier research) have led to increasing capacities for
will result in a cure? What is to be made of claims that the
human pursuits.
“gene in my body makes me a glutton?” Does the search for
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GENETICS AND RELIGION
3429
a genetic predisposition to sexual orientation make behavior
ences—provided support for social contract theories by argu-
more or less acceptable to faith communities?
ing that humans were largely alike, that skin color made no
clinical difference of distinction. The issue of justice as
Here again, the responses vary. For many Christian
shaped by human identities and differences has long been
scholars, including Stanley Hauerwas, Lisa Sowle Cahill, and
understood as a matter of human capacity shaped by both
Leon Kass, the activity of suffering calls forward a response
moral choice and by environment.
that places Christianity at the center. For Jewish scholars,
most notably Emmanuel Levinas, “suffering is nothingness
Genetic knowledge complicates this and makes it visi-
. . . is evil itself” (Levinas, 1988). In this view, one must
ble: in fact, it will warrant a confrontation of a serious prob-
turn to any means—including genetic research and thera-
lem, one noted by scholars in disabilities studies for decades.
pies—to address the suffering of the other. In direct contrast
Genetic knowledge will reveal human differences and simi-
to the Christians who fear genetics as a gesture towards that
larities in unexpected ways, and people will begin to under-
which makes people “post-human,” the response is that mo-
stand not only single gene protein causation, but propensities
dernity and medicine is the basis of humanity.
for variation that underlie complex and common diseases
ISSUES OF ENHANCEMENT OF CAPACITIES AND THE ISSUE OF
and predispositions and propensities. These will suggest
JUSTICE AND EQUALITY. Religious scholars have been wary
pathways to difference, diseases, traits, and behavior. Social
of a trajectory of healing both for its own sake as well as with
relationships and social categories had long been assumed to
a slippery slope potential in that genetic research intended
match obvious phenotypical variation. However, in the post-
for curing illness—such as muscle tissue repair in muscular
genomic era, human understanding will become increasingly
dystrophy—could then lead to enhancement—for example,
complicated.
muscle tissue repair for athletic prowess. This enhanced
Theories of justice based on the changing knowledge
world would be one of brutalized beings. These scholars be-
base are still in contention. What will the response be when
lieve it would be a world in which unenhanced “wild
it is found that humans are not precisely “equally endowed”?
types”—likely to be the poor—would be even further disad-
And, how will humans create theories of justice and just poli-
vantaged as a result of class and ethnogeographic fates.
cy based on significant and fundamental inequality in pro-
Because religion seeks to address fundamental issues of
pensities or in potential difference? How will social ethics be
justice, the problem of difference is a primary concern. The
reconceptualized in a world that is, on a biological level, fun-
project of genetic research (and the gene banking projects in
damentally unjust? Is it possible to go beyond the require-
particular), as well as the clinical translation of the genome
ments of the law to protect privacy and confidentiality—
project, brings to the forefront concerns of justice on a tangi-
problems that were first imagined in the early years of genetic
ble, local level. It is here that the similarities and differences
research and that are now being enacted? Is it possible to
between humans can be found. This is not only true on a
achieve a creative and truly bold reflection on how these
species level, at which regions are mapped in search of single
newly understood “selves” function as citizens in a world that
nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) patterns to provide answers
is rent by robust difference in ability yet connected by rela-
about population genetics, but also true at the cross-species
tionships across previously understood categories? And what
level, where homologs and orthologs are used to define high-
will the meaning of genomic relationships be for theories of
ly conserved regions of the human genome and to set up
justice and citizenship?
model organism systems to track genetic difference and dis-
ISSUES OF IDENTITY, ETHNICITY AND CITIZENSHIP. When
eases. It is the powerful combination of this data—this way
the Lemba of Southern Africa claimed to be Jews (Tudor
of understanding biology and this new computational ability
Parfitt, Mark Thomas) or when the Melungians of Appala-
to use the data—that will allow humans a keener under-
chia claimed to be Portuguese (Carl Elliott) the claims were
standing of the ways in which they differ. Biological differ-
widely considered dubious at best, and fanciful at worst. In
ences are, in fact, laden with variations in value that are at
the age of genetics, African Lemba and American Melun-
times instrumental, and, as well, symbolic. Humans value
gians are tested for variations on the Y chromosome, as well
some differences more than others, however. For example,
as in the mitochondrial DNA, to more fully investigate such
as rational actors, we value rationality; as embodied beings,
claims. The claims of religion have long sought definitions
we value strength, potency, and longevity.
along the call of nationalisms. Genetic knowledge in this
Theories of justice, however, rely on insights that differ
area, as well, provides a powerful deconstruction of some
from those of science, which holds to the seventeenth-
narratives, while it reifies others.
century ideas of natural reason, close observation, and objec-
ISSUE OF GENESIS NARRATIVE: HUMANITY AND FREEDOM.
tive methodology to study nature in its particulars. The basis
Of all the protuberance in the field of genetics and religion,
for modern-day ideas of justice were created, in part, by dis-
none is as resonant as the claim that in seeking genetic
courses about freedom and liberty, and made possible by ra-
knowledge, the very “book of life” itself (Watson, 2003) is
tionality and democracy: a self was able to make a clear social
revealed. By seeking such knowledge, the act of creation (the
contract in a society governed by law. The emerging science
most godlike divine act) is challenged by hubristic scientists.
of the twentieth century—both the social and the natural sci-
If the reach toward the forbidden knowledge is completed,
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GENETICS AND RELIGION
can catastrophe be far behind? In fact, the Abrahamic narra-
not only for medicine but also for significant social discourse
tive of Genesis in the Hebrew Scripture—and echoed in other
and thoughtful critical responses to personal and public
creation narratives in other sacred texts—is that of violation,
health issues that potentiate poverty and despair.
fall, and redemption or escape. For Jewish thinkers like Ra-
The dramatic promise of genetics and genomic research
chel Adler, humanity’s acts are rather more complex, as they
offers an opportunity for the deepest and most reflective civic
are in some of the reconsideration of Christian narratives,
debate on the nature, meaning, and intent of human identity
such as those of Ted Peters.
and difference. It poses questions of what is humanity, free-
The challenge to the essential narrative of genesis by ge-
dom, and free will, as well as illuminates the problems of
netics can be seen in at least two ways. First, genetic sciences
what is to be done about the suffering of others. How will
deconstruct the boundaries of the nuclear family by allowing
the engine of scientific knowledge drive policy, practice, and
the separation of genetic heritage, gamete production, and
culture as people collectively confront the ethical, legal, and
the development of an embryo in a woman’s womb. Ga-
social implications of human genomic and genetic research?
metes can be generated, but some detractors fear that ga-
How does humanity attend to issues regarding access, human
metes will also be commodified, sold, advertised, and fertil-
rights, the autonomous consent of subjects, and the fragile
ized outside the norms of a passionate embrace—and even
freedom of the research enterprise itself? What new lan-
more so outside the bounds of a nuclear family. The genesis
guages, theories, and policies of ethics, theologies, philoso-
drama of infertility and the promised fecundity has been sim-
phies, and law will need to be created along with the creation
ilarly addressed by advanced reproductive techniques and so-
of genomic knowledge? And who should craft these new con-
phisticated genetic screening. Additionally, embryos are the
cepts? What policy should emerge to define the ethical
subject of discourse long before the birth in the debate of
boundaries for the use of genomics?
what is the moral status of embryos? Genetic knowledge al-
Now that the basic science of bioinformatics and geno-
lows humans to imagine the self in smaller, more atomized
mics has allowed the sequencing of the human genome and
parts, rather than as an inevitable whole, and the genesis nar-
several other animal models, the pace of application and use
rative of the singularity of the family has to now be reread
of DNA sequencing, haplotype mapping, proteinomics, and
in this new context. The second challenge to the essential
SNP patterning will accelerate. As new and more complex
narrative of genesis by genetics is that the genesis narrative
genomic data sets are made public, new research strategies
questions the ability and limits of human naming, manipula-
envisioned, and biological processes at the heart of all medi-
tion, and control of nature
cine elucidated, this new data and analysis, as well as the
I
translational research it allows and promotes, will engender
SSUES OF NATURE. Catholic moral theology and many na-
tive religious traditions, as studied by Mary Churchill, con-
new issues for the application and use of genetics.
tend that nature itself has moral boundaries and moral limits.
The use of this information also engenders new chal-
To violate them, suggests Leon Kass, is at the risk of “moral
lenges in a social understanding and use of genomic knowl-
repugnance” (Kass, 2002), in that certain uses or even inves-
edge regarding the complex human relationships that make
tigations in genetics or genomics threaten to undermine a
up a just human society. New theories of justice will be need-
moral universe at the most basic of foundations. Nature, in
ed for the new persons and the new identities framed by the
this argument, is normative. Its existence suggests moral au-
social and scientific knowledge of human and animal models
thorities that predate human habitation, and thus humans
of genomics. Genomics will reveal differences and unexpect-
(seen here as outside of nature and therefore a threat to it)
ed similarities among us that will challenge long-held ideas
can illegitimately befoul nature by radically altering it quick-
about health, disability, and behavior, thus creating complex
ly or imprudently. Other theologians, including Laurie Zo-
challenges in how a fair society is structured. Such differences
loth and Ronald Green, have used terms such as tikkun olom
and identities create new relationships, with new possibilities
(repair of the world) within Jewish thought. Additionally,
for alliances and divisions.
Peters has argued strongly that human persons are “created
Such abilities and disabilities are also weighted differ-
co-creators” (Peters, 2003), and thus entitled to intervene
ently—and not neutrally—in our society and this raises four
across nature’s boundaries. This leads to the question: Does
challenges in genetic research. First, how will humans learn
human free will also include the free will to investigate in this
from such data and how will these create new and complex
way? Religious scholars vary in their answers.
theories, languages, and practices of social justice? Second,
CONCLUSION. Genomic and genetic research has trans-
how can humanists, lawyers, and social scientists understand
formed both humankind’s fundamental knowledge of biolo-
the new science, methods, and cultures of basic biological re-
gy as well as its basic strategies for transforming the under-
search engendered by genomics? Third, how can the public
standing of illness, aging, and disability. These historic
understand and participate in genomic knowledge, and how
developments offer extraordinary promise for the translation
can medical personnel guide this translation of basic science
of basic knowledge into concrete clinical responses for the
to the clinic? And, fourth, how can policy leaders shape new
prevention and treatment of disease and the improvement
science and health care policy for a new era of genomic
of human health and welfare. Such knowledge offers hope
knowledge?
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GENNEP, ARNOLD VAN
3431
Religion in the late twentieth and early twenty-first cen-
and David Wood, pp. 156–167. London and New York,
turies played a prudential role in this debate—often invoking
1988.
the precautionary principle as their positions: avoid the ac-
Parfitt, Tudor. “Constructing Black Jews: Genetic Tests and the
tion if there is doubt about its safety or consequence. Yet
Lemba—The Black Jews of Southern Africa.” Developing
even this claim rests on a notion of fated inevitability—that
World Bioethics, 3, no. 2. (2003): 112–118.
a course is set in motion and will unfold unless humans inter-
Peters, Ted. Playing God? Genetic Determinism and Human Free-
vene. However, inaction changes the future as surely as does
dom. New York, 2003.
action. As genetic knowledge increases, scholars will need to
Sachedina, Abdul Aziz. Testimony for the National Bioethics Advi-
turn to the text of their faiths and reason and raise new ques-
sory Committee. Washington, D.C., 2000.
tions. Can religions be another source of wisdom in guiding
Silver, Lee M. Remaking Eden: Cloning and Beyond in a Brave New
changes as they occur? Will the concerns of religion’s voice
World. New York, 1997.
be heard—and heard fairly—by the science community?
And, furthermore, will all voices—including the religious
Thomas, Mark G., et al. “Y chromosomes Traveling South: The
Cohen Modal Haplotype and the Origins of The Lemba—
voice in support of research science—be fairly heard?
The ‘Black Jews of Southern Africa.’” American Journal of
Long before science began to shape the modern world,
Human Genetics 66 (2000): 674–686.
religious faith struggled to incorporate contemporary
Watson, James D., with Andrew Berry. DNA: The Secret of Life,
changes into its world—the theories of Galileo and Charles
New York, 2003.
Darwin, for example, were first rejected, then widely accept-
Wheeler, Sondra. “Parental Liberty and the Right of Access to
ed—and the centuries-long relationship between faith tradi-
Germ-Line Intervention: A Theological Appraisal of Parental
tions and the world that surrounded them created religions
Power.” In Designing Our Descendants: The Promises and Per-
of tremendous vigor, creativity, and energy. Further research
ils of Genetic Modifications, edited by Audrey R. Chapman
is needed to track the relationship between science and reli-
and Mark S. Frankel. Baltimore, 2003.
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Zoloth, Laurie. “Uncountable as the Stars: Inheritable Genetic In-
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Cahill, Lisa Sowle. Sex, Gender, and Christian Ethics. Cambridge,
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Chapman, Audrey R., and Mark S. Frankel. Designing Our De-
scendants: The Promises and Perils of Genetic Modifications.
Baltimore, 2003.
GENGHIS KHAN SEE CHINGGIS KHAN
Churchill, Mary. “A Theology of Family.” In Sacred Rights: The
Case for Contraception and Abortion in World Religions, edited
by Daniel C. McGuire. Oxford, 2003.
GENNEP, ARNOLD VAN (1873–1957), French an-
Dorff, Elliot N. Testimony for the National Bioethics Advisory Com-
thropologist, was born in Ludwigsburg, Germany, his father
mittee. Washington, D.C., 2000.
a descendant of French emigrants. When van Gennep was
Dorff, Elliot N. To Do the Right and the Good: A Jewish Approach
six, his parents divorced, and his mother returned to France
to Modern Social Ethics. Philadelphia, 2002.
with him. Several years later she married a doctor who had
Fukuyama, Francis. Our Posthuman Future: Consequences of the
a summer practice at a spa in the French province of Savoy.
Biotechnology Revolution. New York, 2002.
Van Gennep’s attachment to this region, which he consid-
Gibbs, Robert. Why Ethics? Signs of Responsibilities. Princeton,
ered his adopted homeland, dates from these years. He was
N.J., 2000.
to travel through Savoy, village by village, collecting ethno-
Johnston, Josephine, and Carl Elliott. “From the Guest Editors.”
graphic and folkloric materials.
Developing World Bioethics, 3, no. 2. (2003): iii–iv.
Kass, Leon R. Life, Liberty and the Defense of Dignity: The Chal-
Van Gennep had a diversified and original university
lenge for Bioethics. San Francisco, 2002.
education at the École Pratique des Hautes Études and the
Green, Ronald M. The Human Embryo Research Debates: Bioethics
École des Langues Orientales in Paris; his studies included
in the Vortex of Controversy. Oxford, 2001.
general linguistics, ancient and modern Arabic, Egyptology,
Harrington, Daniel J., and James F. Keenan. Jesus and Virtue Eth-
Islamic studies, and studies of the religions of primitive peo-
ics: Building Bridges Between New Testament Studies and
ples. He possessed a rare gift for learning languages. For
Moral Theology. Lanham, Md., 2002.
seven years he was in charge of translation at the Ministry
Hauerwas, Stanley. Suffering Presence: Theological Reflections on
of Agriculture in Paris, but he gave up this post, the only one
Medicine, the Mentally Handicapped, and the Church. Notre
that the French government ever offered him, in order to de-
Dame, Ind., 1986.
vote himself to his personal research. From 1912 to 1915,
Levinas, Emmanuel. “Useless Suffering.” In The Provocation of
he taught ethnology at the University of Neuchâtel in Swit-
Levinas: Rethinking the Other, edited by Robert Bernasconi
zerland. After being expelled for having expressed doubts
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

3432
GENSHIN
concerning Swiss claims to total neutrality during World
SEE ALSO Rites of Passage, overview article.
War I, he made his living by the publication of numerous
articles and periodic reports, lecturing, and commissioned
BIBLIOGRAPHY
translations.
Belmont, Nicole. Arnold Van Gennep: The Creator of French Eth-
nography. Translated by Derek Coltman. Chicago, 1978.
His voluminous production can be divided into two pe-
Gennep, Arnold van. Manuel de folklore français contemporain. 9
riods separated by his most important work, Les rites de pas-
vols. Paris, 1937–1958.
sage (1909). The concept that he discovered here permitted
him, during the second part of his life, to devote himself en-
Gennep, Arnold van. The Rites of Passage. Translated by Monika
B. Vizedom and Gabrielle L. Caffee. Chicago, 1960.
tirely to the ethnography and folklore of France. In the first
part he had been occupied with the problems posed by the
Gennep, Ketty van. Bibliographie des œuvres d’Arnold van Gennep.
English school of anthropology, concerning totemism,
Paris, 1964.
taboo, the original forms of religion and society, and the rela-
New Sources
tionships between myth and rite. But he had approached
Belier, Wouter W. “Arnold Van Gennep and the Rise of French
these anthropological commonplaces with a certain originali-
Sociology of Religion.” Numen 41 (May 1994): 141–162.
ty. For example, in his study, based on documents collected
Schjo⁄dt, Jens Peter. “Initiation and the Classification of Rituals.”
in Madagascar, of the problems of taboo, he not only sees
Temenos 22 (1986): 93–108.
the expression of religious institutions and attitudes but also
Zumwalt, Rosemary Lévy. The Enigma of Arnold van Gennep
emphasizes the social effects of taboo, which creates, main-
(1873–1957): Master of French Folklore and Hermit of Bourg-
tains, or transforms the order of nature, and which consoli-
la-Reine. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, 1988.
dates the bonds between a single clan’s members, between
NICOLE BELMONT (1987)
animal and human members of a clan, between ancestors and
Translated from French by Roger Norton
descendants, and between humans and gods. Taboo, he be-
Revised Bibliography
lieved, is both a social and religious institution. The appear-
ance of his work L’état actuel du problème totémique (1920),
which purported to be a provisory summation of works on
totemism, was in reality, as Claude Lévi-Strauss says, the
GENSHIN (942–1017), also known by the title Eshin
“swan song” of speculations on totemism. The personal the-
So¯zu, was a Japanese Buddhist priest of the Tendai sect and
oretical position of van Gennep in this work is pre-
patriarch of Japanese Pure Land Buddhism. Genshin was
functionalist: Totemism has as its function to maintain the
born in the village of Taima in Yamato Province (modern
existing cohesion of the social group and to assure its conti-
Nara prefecture) to a family of provincial gentry named
nuity, which the totem symbolically represents.
Urabe. By his mid-teens he had entered the Tendai priest-
hood and had become a disciple of Ryo¯gen (Jie Daishi, 912–
Van Gennep’s main contribution remains the idea of
985), one of the most eminent clerics of the age. Little is
“rites of passage,” which he put forward and developed in the
known of Genshin’s early career except that he presided at
book of that title. By rite of passage he means any ceremony
an important Tendai ceremony in 973 and five years later,
that accompanies the passage from one state to another and
when he was thirty-six, wrote a learned treatise on Buddhist
from one world, whether cosmic or social, to another. Each
metaphysics (abhidharma), the Immyo¯ronsho shiso¯i ryaku-
rite of passage includes three necessary stages: separation,
chu¯shaku.
boundary, and reaggregation (or the preliminal, the liminal,
and the postliminal). Van Gennep also introduced other im-
Shortly thereafter, Genshin’s interests seem to have
portant ideas. By emphasizing “ceremonial sequence,” van
changed. In 981 he wrote a work on a Pure Land Buddhist
Gennep demonstrates the importance of the process of “un-
theme, the Amida Butsu byakugo¯ kambo¯ (Contemplation
folding” in rituals and in the relations that exist between ritu-
upon Amida Buddha’s wisdom-eye), and in 985 he complet-
als. He also introduces the concept of the “pivoting” of the
ed the work for which he is chiefly known, the O
¯ jo¯yo¯shu¯ (Es-
sacred—that is, the idea that the sacred is not an absolute
sentials of Pure Land rebirth). The O
¯ jo¯yo¯shu¯ was one of the
but rather an alternating value, an indication of the alternat-
first works on a Pure Land theme to have been composed
ing situations in which an individual finds himself. Every in-
in Japan. It signaled not only a shift in Genshin’s interests
dividual, in the course of his life, passes through alternations
but also the beginning of a transition in the history of Japa-
of sacred and profane, and the rites of passage function to
nese Buddhism. In this work Genshin quotes 654 passages
neutralize for the social group the harmful effects of the im-
from some 160 Buddhist scriptures on the most important
balances produced by these alternations.
themes of Pure Land Buddhism—on the sufferings of the six
paths of transmigration and especially the torments of hell,
Van Gennep was a nonconformist with regard to his
on the pleasures and advantages of Amida (Skt., Amita¯bha)
ideas, which obliged him to live at the periphery of academic
Buddha’s Pure Land, and on the way to achieve transmigra-
institutions. His most original contribution in the field of
tory rebirth into Amida’s Pure Land, the cultivation of nem-
anthropology was to show profound connections between
butsu (reflection on the Buddha). This latter subject is treat-
the social and religious spheres.
ed in voluminous detail. There are descriptions of methods
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GEOGRAPHY
3433
of difficult, meditative nembutsu (kannen nembutsu, envisu-
thought up to Genshin and an analysis of the nembutsu theo-
alizing Amida’s form and meditating on his essence), of easy,
ry and practice of the O
¯ jo¯yo¯shu¯. In Japanese, Ishida Mizu-
invocational nembutsu (sho¯myo¯ nembutsu, calling on the
maro’s Kanashiki mono no sukui: O
¯ jo¯yo¯shu¯ (Tokyo, 1967)
name of Amida Buddha in deep devotion), of nembutsu for
summarizes Genshin’s life and the Pure Land teachings of
ninety-day sessions, and of nembutsu for the hour of death.
the O
¯ jo¯yo¯shu¯. Ishida has also edited the O¯jo¯yo¯shu¯ and trans-
The faith that should accompany nembutsu and abundant
lated it into modern Japanese in his O
¯ jo¯yo¯shu¯: Nihon Jo¯dokyo¯
no yoake, 2 vols. (Tokyo, 1963–1964).
confirmation of its efficacy and merits are set out as well.
Throughout the work, Genshin repeatedly deplores the suf-
ALLAN A. ANDREWS (1987)
ferings of this world and urges his readers, whether they be
rich or poor, laity or clergy, to seek emancipation through
reliance on the compassion of Amida Buddha. The O
¯ jo¯yo¯shu¯
became one of the most popular works on a Buddhist theme
GEOGRAPHY. A deeply rooted aspect of human behav-
in the history of Japanese literature.
ior, the ordering of space is an activity that consists of estab-
lishing differences between places in terms of varied func-
In the year following the completion of the O
¯ jo¯yo¯shu¯,
tions and degrees of meaning. Among peoples of diverse
Genshin and other Pure Land devotees, both clergy and lay-
religious traditions, the most significant places are identified
men, formed a devotional society called the Nujugo Zam-
with special spiritual presences, qualities that set certain lo-
mai-e (Nembutsu Samadhi Society of Twenty-five). Gen-
cales apart from ordinary, profane space. Charged with su-
shin’s O
¯ jo¯yo¯shu¯ no doubt served as an inspiration and guide
pernatural power, sacred places function as fixed points of
to the devotional exercises of this society.
reference and positions of orientation in the surrounding
In Genshin’s life and works can be seen the beginning
world. With the passage of time, sacred places become in-
of a shift in Japan from elite, monastic Buddhism to popular,
vested with accumulations of mythical and historical mean-
devotional Buddhism. The O
¯ jo¯yo¯shu¯ itself is an attempt to
ings in complex layers of cultural memory. When joined by
reconcile these two types of faith. It teaches, for example,
paths, processional ways, or great routes of pilgrimage, sacred
that meditative nembutsu is the highest form of spiritual cul-
places form networks that may embrace local village or tribal
tivation, because it can bring about enlightenment in the
lands, large nations, or vast regions of the globe occupied by
present life, but that simple invocational nembutsu is excel-
major civilizations. These networks form sacred geogra-
lent also, especially for laypeople and sinners, because it can
phies—webs of religious meaning imposed upon the land—
result in rebirth in the next life into Amida Buddha’s Pure
where natural features and human-made symbols establish
Land and eventual enlightenment there. Thus Genshin’s
communication between the earthly and the spiritual, em-
major significance lies in his contribution to the growth of
bodying collective values and shared norms of conduct. Sa-
a Pure Land movement in Japan.
cred geographies form a unifying ground, a lasting source of
remembrance and renewal for the most important aspects of
For the common people, he vividly depicted the Pure
individual and communal life in many cultural traditions.
Land Buddhist worldview of painful transmigration in this
world versus the bliss of Amida’s Western Pure Land, instill-
The creation of sacred geographies is behavior partly an-
ing a fear of the former and deep longing for the latter. To
terior to the development of culture, for it stems from the
the intelligentsia and clergy, he introduced the vast literature
marking, exploitation, and defense of territories that join hu-
of continental Pure Land Buddhism and an elaborate struc-
mankind to the larger animal kingdom. But the articulation
ture of Pure Land, especially nembutsu, theory and practice.
of landscapes with symbolic imagery and the way in which
For all Japanese, he offered the possibility of salvation based
such landscapes are made to reflect layers of mythology and
only on sincere devotion and simple nembutsu practice. Gen-
history also correspond to patterns of thought and complex
shin’s teachings were a major inspiration for Ho¯nen (1133–
ways of recording meaningful events that seem peculiar to
1212), founder of the Jo¯doshu¯ sect of Japanese Buddhism,
humankind. The widely different ways in which sacred geog-
and Genshin is considered one of the seven patriarchs of the
raphies have been organized show how humans have sought
Jodo¯ Shinshu¯ sect.
to grasp the perceived world and how they have explained
their place within the cosmic schema. An examination of sa-
SEE ALSO Buddhism, article on Buddhism in Japan; Nianfo.
cred geographies thus points to patterns of environmental
cognition and ordering and to the wide range of spatial defi-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
nitions that have evolved in response to different cultural
Major works of Genshin, in addition to the O
¯ jo¯yo¯shu¯, include the
needs, historical circumstances, and ecological possibilities.
Ichijo¯ yo¯ketsu (Essentials of the one vehicle) and Kanjin
ryakuyo¯shu¯ (Essentials of esoteric contemplation). For his
This article focuses on four examples of sacred geogra-
complete works, see Eshin So¯zu zenshu¯, 5 vols. (Sakamoto,
phy. They correspond to the symbolic landscapes of peoples
Japan, 1927–1928).
of strikingly different social and cultural complexities who
Works on Genshin in English are few. My study The Teachings
inhabit regions of varied ecologies. The first example is from
Essential for Rebirth: A Study of Genshin’s O
¯ jo¯yo¯shu¯ (Tokyo,
the Australian Aborigines, whose gathering and hunting life
1973) gives an outline of the development of Pure Land
in an austere desert environment was connected to systems
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3434
GEOGRAPHY
of sacred places embedded within nature and unmarked by
humankind. The ancestral heroes were not distant entities
monumental art or architecture. These places, arranged in
but integral components of the land, and they were made
certain patterns within tribal territories, were thought to
part of the experience of daily life through religious reenact-
have been established by ancestral heroes in the Dreaming—
ments of events of the Dreaming. Joined by a network of sa-
the time of first creation. The second example is from the
cred places, the land itself became symbolic, affirming a co-
Maya Indian community of Zinacantan in southern Mexico,
herence of the physical and mythological domains. Among
a farming people whose culture stems from an ancient native
the Aborigines, sacred geography was the source of authority
heritage. These Indians have evolved a pattern of centraliza-
as well as the source of tribal identity. The latter was based
tion in their sacred geography that echoes similar structures
on a title to the land that went back to the time of first cre-
among other peoples of sedentary farming life. The third ex-
ation.
ample is from imperial China, where ancient beliefs concern-
Z
ing the worship of earth, water, and sky were expressed at
INACANTAN. Conquest, colonialism, and the advances of
industrial civilization have often spelled destruction or major
great mountain shrines and in the sacred precincts of the im-
alteration for traditional religions. In North America, forc-
perial capital. In China is found the creation of a sacred geog-
ible removal of Indian populations from old homelands fre-
raphy closely tied to the concerns of a powerfully centralized
quently meant social disintegration for those whose religious
state. The last example touches upon the sacred geography
sense of belonging to a specific landscape had been de-
of medieval Europe. Though politically disunited, the peo-
stroyed. But colonial cultures have also often produced a
ples of Europe followed routes of pilgrimage to the periphery
range of creative adaptations, as subjected peoples evolved
of Christendom and held Jerusalem, the Sacred City, to be
syncretistic religions in which ancient sacred geographies
the center of their world.
continued to play traditional functions. Latin America,
ABORIGINAL AUSTRALIA. The Australian Aborigines are
among Indian communities in former Spanish possessions
counted among the oldest human races. Their ancestors mi-
from the Rio Grande Valley in New Mexico to the Bolivian
grated from Southeast Asia perhaps thirty thousand years
Andes of South America, is especially rich in such instances.
ago, when land bridges between New Guinea and Australia
were almost certainly exposed. Throughout the millennia the
Among many examples that could be discussed, the
Aborigines pursued an austere gathering and hunting life
community of Zinacantan in the high, forested mountain
that was admirably adapted to their barren habitat. The Neo-
country of Chiapas, southern Mexico, is particularly well
lithic agricultural revolution never reached these isolated
documented. The inhabitants are a Maya people, ultimately
lands, where nomadic bands traveled within well-defined
descended from those who built city-states in southern Mexi-
tribal territories, following seasonal rhythms in the unending
co, Guatemala, and the Yucatán Peninsula during the first
search for food. But the inhabitants did not perceive the nat-
centuries CE. Today, these farming people live in hamlets dis-
ural environment in economic terms alone; it was also seen
persed throughout the hills, around a civic and religious cen-
as a storehouse of memory, replete with supernatural mean-
ter that consists of a church, school, and administrative
ings. The flat, seemingly featureless terrain contained an in-
buildings.
visible, magical domain in which hills, rocks, water holes,
The visible sacred geography of Zinacantan incorpo-
and groves were charged with sacred powers and mythical as-
rates mountains, caves, water holes, and human-made crosses
sociations. Though apparently obeying the randomness of
erected at shrine sites at determined locations around the
nature, such features were seen as well in terms of a specific
civic and religious center. Mountains have important eco-
order; people expressed their connection to them through
nomic meaning in the life of Zinacantan, but certain peaks
pictographs, rock alignments, wooden sculptures, caches for
are also considered to be homes of ancestral deities who live
totemic objects, and ceremonial places designed according to
within. These ancestors control the mists and vapors that rise
prescribed rules of organization.
to form rain clouds on the peaks; they are able to direct the
The sacred sites of the Aborigines marked places where
rain clouds over the community. Crosses, placed on path-
events in the Dreaming took place. This concept, which is
ways around the mountains surrounding the Zinacantan
central to Aboriginal cosmogony, concerns a time when he-
center, were borrowed by the Indians from the symbolic
roes and heroines wandered over a land where there were no
forms of Spanish Christianity. But the crosses are not seen
hills, water holes, or living things. The paths and camping
in Christian terms; they are perceived as spiritual openings
places of these heroes are sacred places described in myths.
for communication with ancestral beings. Cave shrines are
The ancestral heroes also brought fire to the people as well
also places for communication with Yahval Balamil, the earth
as the laws by which people live; many such heroes eventually
lord, who dwells beneath the surface of the land; he may also
transformed themselves into trees, boulders, and other natu-
be reached through prayers in caves, at sinkholes, and at
ral features, thus creating the landscape that exists at present.
springs throughout the Zinacantan domain. Sacrificial offer-
A symbolic order that related to the time of origins and the
ings are regularly made, especially at the sites of cross shrines.
travels of creators, rather than the cardinal directions, was
They are most often performed by people walking on cere-
called into being. In these austere settings, no sharp divisions
monial circuits around the whole community. Shamans are
were made between animals, plants, inanimate objects, and
the main ritualists, performing prayers and making offerings
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GEOGRAPHY
3435
on behalf of patients. Processions of other worshipers may
and nature. But both the emperor and the mountain were
also follow ceremonial circuits, usually moving in counter-
subordinate to Heaven, for it was through the mandate of
clockwise direction. The village church and its Christian im-
Heaven that all harmony and validation derived. These rela-
ages are also frequently included in the processional itiner-
tionships were spelled out in the elaborate system of monu-
aries. The circuits around Zinacantan are a way of
ments with which Tai Shan was equipped. At the summit,
establishing boundaries, a way of saying “This is our sacred
an open circular platform was constructed for the Feng sacri-
center, through which the holy river flows and around which
fices, which consisted of burnt offerings to the heavens.
our ancestral gods are watching over us.” Circuits are repli-
Below, toward the base of the mountain, a polygonal open
cated on many levels around individual fields, houses, or
altar was constructed for the Shan sacrifices in honor of the
other objects, symbolically establishing property rights as
earth. Between these key altars were a host of subsidiary tem-
well as marking social spaces in the Zinacantan world. The
ples dedicated to lesser nature divinities, ancestral heroes,
community and land at Zinacantan are infused with the
and various miraculous saints and hermits. There were also
sense of being whole and sacred; sacred geography places the
commemorative monuments to various emperors, a school,
living community in an intimate religious bond with its nat-
a library, a Confucian temple, and many other sacred places
ural setting and with the ancestors and gods that dwell within
scattered among the crags and groves. The whole site was si-
that setting.
multaneously a symbol of the land, the empire, and the cos-
mos—a great unifying topographic icon.
IMPERIAL CHINA. The sacred geographies of tribes or small
agrarian communities are usually encompassed by paths or
The symbolic order that governed Tai Shan also in-
roadways within relatively restricted zones. But the develop-
formed the cosmic imagery of ritual centers within the impe-
ment of ancient empires embracing vast regions and diverse
rial capital. In Beijing, sacred enclosures featured open plat-
populations posed different problems of spatial symbolism.
form altars to the sky and earth, with subordinate temples
For rulers, the problem was to create symbolic orders that
to the sun, moon, and agriculture, each with its own comple-
might tend to unify such disparate domains and polities.
ment of satellite monuments, altars, and secondary build-
Great ritual centers were designed to communicate the reli-
ings. The Chinese love of order, hierarchy, and classification
gious and political concerns of state organizations. The sym-
governed the orientation and symbolic ornament of the tem-
bolic structure of such places expressed the idea of a sacred
ples, with their gleaming white marble and carved imagery
geography in microcosm, through the use of monumental art
of mountains, clouds, water, and earthly or celestial dragons.
and architecture.
These cosmic figures expressed the notion of a sacred geogra-
phy in abstract form, becoming universal symbols. The mag-
In China, where continuity of religious themes has been
nificent altars, with their surrounding concourses and pro-
maintained over millennia, imperial ritual was especially fo-
cessional paths, formed the setting for imperial rites where
cused on two outstanding places. The first was a sacred
the emperor offered sacrificial covenants to heaven and earth.
mountain, Tai Shan, the central and most important of five
The sacrifices expressed a complementary relationship to one
sacred mountains associated with the cardinal directions and
another. The mysterious, limitless heights of heaven and the
center. The worship of mountains has an ancient history in
regular movements of the celestial bodies symbolized Heav-
China, attested by early texts that describe peaks and the ap-
en’s regulative power to keep the universe in stable order and
propriate rites to be celebrated there. Some were local shrines
to produce the proper succession of seasons. This power was
affecting small areas, but others were majestic sovereigns that
especially important to an agricultural people, and through
extended their influence over immense regions. These old
sacrificial acts the emperors expressed the harmony of a well-
beliefs surrounded Tai Shan, and the sacred place gradually
ordered society within the universal schema.
was invested with imperial monuments throughout the cen-
turies. In effect, the mountain became a symbol of the cos-
MEDIEVAL EUROPE. The sacred geographies of the Far East
mos and the state. The mountain was given royal title during
and among the Indian peoples of the Americas tend to ex-
the Tang dynasty in 725, inaugurating a practice followed
press a correspondence between humanity and nature and to
by successive emperors. These honorific names underlined
be arranged in patterns of centralization. By contrast, the sa-
the conception of the mountain as a producer of life forces.
cred geography of medieval Europe did not focus on a single
It was identified with rain clouds and fertility and figured as
European capital but was cast instead as a vast network that
an object of worship in spring rites of planting and at the fall
ran through many lands, leading to pilgrimage cities at the
harvest season. It was also seen as a symbol of stability and
extremities of Christendom. From central and southern
permanence and as a preventer of droughts, floods, and
France, pilgrimage routes ran south over the Pyrenees, con-
earthquakes. Indeed, it was a divinity with a sacred force that
verging on a road that led across northern Spain to Santiago
could be touched by prayers and sacrifice.
de Compostela, the tomb of the apostle James. Another
route threaded down the Italian Peninsula to Rome. There,
Just as the mountain was a symbol of order in the natu-
amid the ruins of antiquity, the pilgrim might meditate upon
ral environment, so did the emperor personify the social and
the early saints and martyrs and visit the old Lateran—the
moral order. A close relationship developed between ruler
Mother Church and seat of the earthly Vicar of Christ. But
and mountain, for the emperor was the pivot between society
the most perilous of routes led farther south to the port of
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3436
GEOGRAPHY
Brindisi, and from there by ship across the Mediterranean,
Beyond such essential functions, sacred geographies are
to the most distant, mysterious, and sacred of all goals, the
as varied as religions. These differences are the result of spe-
city of Jerusalem.
cific cultural and historical factors as well as geographical
conditions. The circumstances of a wandering life in an iso-
The physical realities of this complex geography were
lated region; the need to form or unify a state organization;
translated in terms of a mythological hierarchy on thirteenth-
the pattern of an early chain of missions or military con-
century maps. These charts reveal a vision in which the hori-
quests; the lasting prestige and sacred quality of an ancient
zontal surface of the earth was shown as a flat disc, with Jeru-
civic and religious center—these and countless other factors
salem, the Holy City, marked clearly at the center. The out-
may determine how sacred geographies are shaped. By incor-
line of the Mediterranean Basin was summarily drawn, as
porating the imagery of history and related information, sa-
were the features of Europe. Peripheral and unknown regions
cred geographies make visible a cultural or ethnic domain
were shown to be the realms of bizarre or fabled races, some-
and signal territorial possession.
times held at bay behind great walled enclosures. On a verti-
cal axis above Jerusalem, the Savior presided over the celestial
The study of sacred geography is especially important
sphere, while ferocious demons patrolled the infernal regions
in understanding the processes of cultural history, particular-
below. Such imagery was not primarily meant to illustrate
ly among peoples whose traditions are not documented in
an actual, material geography but rather a spiritual landscape
writing or whose traditions may be recorded in partly deci-
whose central earthly icon, Jerusalem, could be interpreted
phered hieroglyphic texts and figural imagery. In Africa,
on different levels. It was the Holy City of Palestine, the goal
Oceania, and the Americas, where the native spiritual and
of pilgrims and crusaders; a symbol of the church; a meta-
intellectual heritage was largely transmitted orally, major ar-
phor for the Christian soul; and an analogy for the heavenly
chaeological sites must be decoded without textual sources,
Jerusalem, the final Promised Land.
and early European reports of contact are colored by an
Indo-European outlook. Among these peoples, the broad
Such patterns were repeated in microcosm throughout
patterns of sacred geography provide indispensable insight
Christendom in the art and architecture of cathedrals. In
on the role of religious thought and symbolism in the evolu-
France, where these buildings reached their highest expres-
tion of civilization.
sion, sculpture, architecture, and stained glass formed a sym-
bolic code to show the order of nature, to represent an ab-
SEE ALSO Center of the World; Cosmology; Deserts; Gar-
stract of history, and to summarize spiritual values. Within
dens; Jerusalem; Lakes; Mountains; Oceans; Rivers; Sacred
the soaring naves of the great cathedrals, at once mysterious
Space.
and secure against the outside world, the assembled congre-
gation saw the mirror of creation. Yet, like the maps, these
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bastien, Joseph W. Mountain of the Condor. Saint Paul, 1978.
buildings represented an essentially interior world, express-
ing the aims and aspirations of the innermost consciousness
Berndt, Ronald M., and E. S. Phillips, eds. The Australian Aborigi-
nal Heritage. Sydney, 1973.
of the community. Such sacred places, joined in the larger
network of routes to distant centers of faith, formed a sacred
Campbell, Tony. Early Maps. New York, 1981.
geography of a tradition that denied the physical world to
Chavannes, Édouard. Le Tai Chan: Essai de monographie d’un culte
emphasize instead theological, conceptual, and belief-
chinois. Paris, 1910.
oriented values that urged people to rise up, away from the
Combaz, Gisbert. Les temples impériaux de la Chine. Brussels,
earth, above animals, plants, and inanimate objects, toward
1912.
a transcendent God.
Harrington, John Peabody. The Ethnogeography of the Tewa Indi-
ans. Twenty-ninth Annual Report of the Bureau of American
CONCLUSION. This article summarizes the structure of four
Ethnology, 1907–1908. Washington, D.C., 1908.
sacred geographies in societies that range from the level of
Hiatt, L. R. “Local Organization among the Australian Aborigi-
tribal bands to complex civilizations. In all cases, sacred geog-
nes.” Oceania 32 (June 1962): 267–286.
raphies have the functions of creating a sense of place and
Hiatt, L. R. “Ownership and Use of Land among the Australian
of creating a certain order in the world. Through the use of
Aborigines.” In Man the Hunter, edited by Richard B. Lee
symbols, networks of meaning are imposed upon the land;
and Irven DeVore, pp. 99–102. Chicago, 1968.
such spatial orders clarify the difference between places by
Sirén, Osvald. The Imperial Palaces of Peking. 3 vols. Paris, 1926.
illustrating what is thought to be significant in the perceived
Stanner, William E. H. “Aboriginal Territorial Organization: Es-
world. These symbols may be natural features, such as moun-
tate, Range, Domain and Regime.” Oceania 36 (September
tains, lakes, or rivers; they may be pictographs or markings;
1965): 1–26.
or they may be elaborate works of art and architecture ac-
Townsend, Richard F. “Pyramid and Sacred Mountain.” In Eth-
companied by writing. In the context of a landscape, such
noastronomy and Archaeoastronomy in the American Tropics,
symbolic systems communicate the difference between sa-
edited by Anthony F. Aveni and Gary Urton, pp. 37–62.
cred and profane space and answer the universal theme of es-
New York, 1982.
tablishing connections between a population and a time and
Turner, Victor, and Edith Turner. Image and Pilgrimage in Chris-
place of origin.
tian Culture. New York, 1978.
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

GEOMANCY
3437
Vogt, Evon Z. Zinacantan: A Maya Community in the Highlands
lying framework for all other Western systems of geomancy.
of Chiapas. Cambridge, Mass., 1969.
The fundamental common feature of geomancy is a pattern
Wheatley, Paul. The Pivot of the Four Quarters: A Preliminary En-
of binary oppositions of markings grouped into sixteen com-
quiry into the Origins and Character of the Ancient Chinese
binations of four positions. In both the Arab system and that
City. Chicago, 1971.
of medieval Europe (ars punctatoria), points or lines were
drawn on sand in a pattern based on chance. In the Yoruba
New Sources
Gartner, William G. “Archaeoastronomy as a Sacred Geography.”
system (Ifa), which has been particularly well described,
Wisconsin Archaeologist 77, no. 3–4 (1996): 128–150.
markings are based on the casting of palm kernels or cowrie
shells according to prescribed procedures. For each of the re-
MacDonald, Mary N. Experiences of Place. Cambridge, Massachu-
setts, 2003.
sulting figures, from among a total of 256 possible combina-
tions and permutations there is a set of verses that the diviner
Park, Chris C. Sacred Worlds: An Introduction to Geography and
(babalawo) will have memorized to interpret the pattern and
Religion. London; New York, 1994.
to apply to the case at hand. In general, the aim of this prac-
Richer, Jean. Sacred Geography of the Ancient Greeks: Astrological
tice is not to divine future events but to discover the super-
Symbolism in Art, Architecture, and Landscape. Albany, 1994.
natural causes of present situations and their remedies.
Scott, Jamie S., and Paul Simpson-Housley. Sacred Places and Pro-
In the European system the sixteen figures are related
fane Spaces: Essays in the Geographics of Judaism, Christianity,
to astronomical signs of the planets and the zodiac; the
and Islam. New York, 1991.
scheme also includes four elements and four qualities. Al-
Scott, Jamie S., and Paul Simpson-Housley. Mapping the Sacred:
though various authors have offered divergent interpreta-
Religion, Geography and Postcolonial Literatures. Amsterdam;
tions of this system, its basic structure is remarkably constant
Atlanta, GA, 2001.
and has been integrated into different philosophical concep-
Stoddard, Robert H., and E. Alan Morinis. Sacred Places and Pro-
tions with striking flexibility.
fane Spaces: The Geography of Pilgrimages. Baton Rouge,
1997.
The system of medieval European geomancy appears to
have had a brief revival in the occultism of the nineteenth
RICHARD F. TOWNSEND (1987)
century. The African systems are still viable, and forms of the
Revised Bibliography
Yoruba practice, in particular, have even been discovered in
the Americas, notably in Cuba and Brazil.
Less complex systems of geomancy, apparently unrelat-
GEOMANCY is a form of divination based on the inter-
ed to those of the West, are to be found in Tibet in the form
pretation of figures or patterns drawn on the ground or other
of “stone divination” and “pebble divination.” These systems
flat surface by means of sand or similar granular materials.
each have their own sets of rules, recorded in manuals. They
The term is also used for the interpretation of geographic fea-
are quite distinct from those discussed above.
tures. Among the Chinese, in particular, this practice of geo-
mancy is rooted in traditional philosophic conceptions of the
The term geomancy is also used to refer to feng-shui
relationship that exists between human beings and the vital
(“winds and waters”), the traditional Chinese technique for
forces of their environment and the need to achieve a harmo-
determining propitious locations for towns, dwellings, and
nious balance between the two to ensure well-being.
tombs. This system, which is still in very widespread use,
concerns the distribution over the earth, by winds and water
The Western form of geomancy, widespread in the Arab
currents, of various terrestrial and atmospheric emanations
world, was also of importance in medieval Europe, where it
that are believed to exert important influences on people. In
was closely linked with alchemy and astrology. Geomancy of
addition to being a system of calculations for establishing fa-
this kind is likely to have originated in the ancient Near East
vorable sites, geomancy is also a method for discerning the
and may also have been developed further by Greek mathe-
causes of human illness and suffering. Geomancers may
matical speculations. In the eighth and ninth centuries, dur-
claim that these causes lie in the negative influences on peo-
ing the period of Arab cultural florescence and expansion, it
ple of badly placed residences or of the unfortunate position-
became systematized and was then widely distributed from
ing of the tombs of ancestors, who consequently send illness
its center to Byzantium and across North Africa and into
and misfortune to their descendants as expressions of anger.
Spain. From Spain it was also probably spread along a second
Moreover, a given dwelling or tomb, which was originally
route into Christian Europe. From Egypt and North Africa,
well placed, may, in time, have its geomantic position shifted
geomancy was carried south with Islam and then even be-
as a result of changes in the area, such as new constructions
yond, so that it is now found both in West Africa (for exam-
that produce an alteration in the balance of positive and neg-
ple, among the Yoruba of Nigeria) and in East Africa, includ-
ative currents. A geomancer will not only divine such causes
ing Madagascar.
but will also seek to remedy the situation by recommending
The Arab system called ram Dl (“sand”) is based on com-
reburial at a better spot, changing the position of a tomb, or
plex mathematical calculations and involves conceptions of
urging the building of a wall or other structure to modify the
an orderly universe. Its numerical order provides the under-
direction of the currents. Because of the belief that illness
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3438
GEOMETRY
may be due to such influences, geomancers must be included
in any list of traditional Chinese diagnosticians and medical
practitioners.
SEE ALSO Divination.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bascom, William R. Ifa Divination. Bloomington, Ind., 1969.
Bascom, William R. Sixteen Cowries: Yoruba Divination from Afri-
ca to the New World. Bloomington, Ind., 1980.
Caslant, Eugène. Traité élémentaire de géomancie. Paris, 1935.
Ekvall, Robert B. Religious Observances in Tibet. Chicago, 1964.
Granet, Marcel. The Religion of the Chinese People. Translated by
Maurice Freedman. New York, 1975.
Jaulin, Robert. La géomancie: Analyse formelle. Paris, 1966.
F IGURE 1 . Geometric Symmetry. Simple design sequences, such
New Sources
as appear on Neolithic pottery, weaving, and basketry, suggest
Ambelain, Robert. La géomancie arabe et ses miroirs divinatoires.
applied knowledge of propositions in geometry and arithmetic.
Portes de l’étrange. Paris, 1984.
Asim, Ina. Religiöse Landverträge aus der Song-Zeit. Heidelberg,
of time, of the degree of civilization attained, or of concomi-
1993.
tant skill in the realistic depiction of natural objects such as
Canova, Giovanni. Scienza e Islam: atti della Giornata di studio.
animals, human faces, leaves, and landscapes. Creation
Rome and Venice, 1999.
myths inherited from Mesopotamia and Egypt of the third
ERIKA BOURGUIGNON (1987)
and second millennia BCE and later from Palestine, China,
Revised Bibliography
and Greece, as well as those recorded in modern times in the
Americas, Africa, and Oceania show that the act of divine
creation is universally conceived as an ordering, a shaping
and selection that brings a world, a cosmos, into being. Dur-
GEOMETRY. During the last two millennia BCE, the pe-
ing the Neolithic period, the abstract geometrical motifs that
riod that produced most religious texts, geometry (lit., “earth
ornament dress, vessels, walls, and other artifacts found in
measurement,” from Greek gaia, ge, “the earth,” and metrein,
the earliest shrines and villages were expressions of an intu-
“to measure”) was essentially a “geometrical algebra” with a
itive identification of order with the sacred and a consequent
focus on number. Problematic allusions to number and
mobilization of aesthetic feeling in control of design.
space, which abound in sacred texts, are presumably inspired
by this early mathematical protoscience. During the much
In A History of Mathematics (1968), Carl B. Boyer ob-
later development of Christianity and Islam, Euclidean ge-
serves that pottery, weaving, and basketry, from the time of
ometry—based, so it seemed, on irrefutable deductive logic
their Neolithic origins, “show instances of congruences and
built from definitions, postulates, and theorems—became
symmetry, which are in essence parts of elementary geome-
the rational paradigm for all sciences, including theology.
try.” To Boyer, “simple sequences in design”—such as trans-
The discovery of other geometries in the last two centuries
lations, rotations, and reflections (see figure 1)—“suggest a
has brought the realization that Euclidean geometry is mere-
sort of applied group theory, as well as propositions in geom-
ly a special case within a wider realm. Efforts to rid mathe-
etry and arithmetic.” Formal propositions did not appear,
matics of its logical paradoxes have taught that perfect consis-
however, until the Greeks initiated them in the fifth and
tency and certainty are unattainable in rational thought.
fourth centuries BCE. Group theory was not developed until
These developments, together with a new awareness of the
the last two centuries; only recently has it been extended to
complexity of physical space and a better understanding of
cover the geometric symmetries in space that were already a
how culture shapes perceptions, have dramatically altered
concern in Palestinian stoneware, for instance, as early as
philosophical dogmatism, making ancient and Eastern
10,000 BCE. The oldest mathematical texts, dating from circa
modes of thought more congenial to the modern West and
1900 to 1600 BCE, show that geometry developed historically
contributing to the problems of contemporary religion.
as “the science of dimensional order,” in close alliance with
N
arithmetic and algebra, although “the ‘spaciness’ of space and
EOLITHIC CULTURES (6000–3500 BCE). In southeastern
Europe and the Near East, Neolithic peoples decorated the
the ‘numerosity’ of number are essentially different things”
surfaces of cult objects with geometric motifs—circles, ovals,
(Alfred North Whitehead, An Introduction to Mathematics,
parallel lines, chevrons, triangles, squares, meanders, and spi-
1911).
rals. These abstract designs came to abound in the folk arts
“There is a direct correlation between complexity of
of most of the cultures of the globe, seemingly irrespective
weaving and sophistication of arithmetic understanding,”
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GEOMETRY
3439
2
1
1
F I G U R E 4 . Geometrical Algebra. The square root of 2 can be
F I G U R E 2. Geometrical Algebra. Ancient Egyptians
visualized as the diagonal of a square.
approximated the area of a circle by a square with sides eight-
ninths of its diameter. Attention is on the numerical answer.
b
b
F IGURE 5 . Geometry of the Plane. A triangle inscribed in a
semicircle is a right triangle.
a
century BCE), who also assumed an origin in Egypt, but be-
cause “there the priestly caste was allowed to be at leisure.”
a
ANCIENT EGYPT. Chief sources of knowledge of early Egyp-
tian geometry are the Moscow Papyrus (c. 1890 BCE) and the
F IGURE 3 . Geometrical Algebra. The binomial (a + b2) = a2 +
Rhind Papyrus (c. 1650 BCE). The emphasis here is always
2ab + b2 can be visualized as a problem in geometry.
on calculation, so that their geometry “turns out to have been
mainly a branch of applied arithmetic” (Boyer, 1968). The
concept of geometric similarity is applied to triangles, and
there is a rudimentary trigonometry. There is a good approx-
Walter A. Fairservis notes in The Threshold of Civilization
imation to π in the formula that computes the area of a circle
(1975). In a settlement like that at Çatal Hüyük in central
by constructing a square on eight-ninths of its diameter (see
Turkey, occupied before 6500 BCE, the frame posts of the
figure 2). In addition, the Egyptians knew the formulas for
houses are filled in with sunbaked bricks made from molds,
elementary volumes and correctly calculated the volume of
furnishing strong economic motivation for knowing precise-
a truncated pyramid.
ly “how many bricks were necessary for each wall”; hence,
Modern scholars, however, are disappointed to find so
“counting and notation were very much a part of the cultural
little cause for the high estimation in which the Greeks later
scene.” Far cruder artifacts—sequences of notches incised in
held Egyptian science. Respect for the organizational and en-
bone, studied by Alexander Marshack (1972)—suggest “sys-
gineering skills required for the building of palaces, canals,
tems of lunar and other notation” that push the origins of
and pyramids, for example, is tempered by the realization
arithmetic far back into Paleolithic times, twenty-five thou-
that such civic projects entail little more then what Otto
sand and more years ago. Modern archaeologists and anthro-
Neugebauer (1969) calls “elementary household arithmetic
pologists are thus producing alternative theories to those of
which no mathematician would call mathematics.” Neugeb-
Herodotos (fifth century BCE), who believed geometry began
auer concludes: “Ancient science was the product of a very
in Egypt, motivated by the necessity of reestablishing bound-
few men; and these few happened not to be Egyptian.” Of
aries after the annual Nile floods, and by Aristotle (fourth
far greater interest is what was happening in Babylon.
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3440
GEOMETRY
Tetractys
Algebraic value
Arithmetic example
point
o
( )
1
line
o o
a b
2 3
plane
o o o
a 2 ab b 2
4 6 9
solid
o o o o
a 3 a 2b ab 2 b 3
8 12 18 27
F I G U R E 6 . The Pythagorean Holy Tetractys. Note the modern algebraic formula and the Pythagorean arithmetic example in smallest
integers.
Reciprocal Arithmetic
Reciprocal Tones
27
18
12
8
B
E
A
D
9
6
4
E
A
D
3
2
A
D
1
D
2
3
D
G
4
6
9
D
G
C
8
12
18
27
D
G
C
F
F IGURE 7 . Plato’s Timaeus Cross (X). This pattern reveals at a glance the Platonic theorem that between square numbers there is one
geometric mean and between cube numbers there are two. The result is continuing geometric progression in every direction around
the center. This construction is a stage in the process by which Plato develops the cubes of 2 and 3 into the model “world soul.”
Arithmetic doubles are known as octave equivalences to a musician and as modular identities to a mathematician.
BABYLON. Several hundred baked-clay tablets about the size
between the areas of a pentagon, hexagon, and heptagon and
of the palm of the hand, incised with neatly crowded rows
those of squares built on one side were closely approximated,
of cuneiform inscriptions, provide more information about
as was the value of π. A geometric concept of similarity is
the mathematical sciences in Babylon circa 1900 to 1600 BCE
applied to circles, and perhaps also to triangles. An angle in-
than exists for any other place or time preceding the Elements
scribed in a semicircle is known to be a right angle (see figure
of Euclid, circa 320 BCE. Standard tables of multiplication
5). The Pythagorean theorem (which holds that the square
of reciprocals and a place value notation on base sixty facili-
on the hypotenuse of a right triangle is equal to the sum of
tated computation at a level Neugebauer compares with that
the squares on the other two sides) was understood in all its
of Europe in the early Renaissance, more than three thou-
generality a thousand years before Pythagoras. One tablet,
sand years later.
known as Plimpton 322, develops a set of fifteen “Pythagore-
an triplets” (three numbers defining right triangles, such as
Babylonian geometry, like that of Egypt, was still “ap-
3,4,5) in a sequence in which acute angles vary by approxi-
plied algebra or arithmetic in which numbers are attached
mately one degree. This “prototrigonometry,” unsuspected
to figures” (see figure 3). The ratio between the side and di-
until the tablet was translated, is one of the most astonishing
agonal of a square (i.e., the square root of two) was computed
mathematical achievements of the ancient world. It demon-
correctly to about one part in a million (see figure 4). Ratios
strates empirical knowledge of a general formula:
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GEOMETRY
3441
Assuming integers p and q with p > q, and taking p =
HARMONIC COSMOLOGY IN CHINA AND GREECE. The natu-
2 and q = 1, the 3,4,5 triplet emerges as follows:
ral, or counting, numbers (1, 2, 3, . . . , infinity) are a pri-
SIDE
SIDE
HYPOTENUSE
mordial image of order. Developed systematically into Py-
thagorean triplets, they lead to a prototrigonometry of the
2 pq
p2 - q2
p2 + q2
plane. Applied systematically to the geometry of a vibrating
2 (2 x 1) = 4
4 - 1 = 3
4 + 1 = 5
string, they link the magical realm of tone with the numbers
It was from the Babylonians, rather than from the Egyp-
that measure the world. To use economical modern con-
tians, that the Greeks inherited the fund of empirical insights
cepts, the octave ratio 1:2 becomes the cyclic module (Plato’s
that they transformed into an exact science. The example just
matrix, or “universal mother”) in which the even numbers
cited—in which the ratio of the musical octave, 2:1, is trans-
are “modular activities” (doubling and halving merely pro-
formed into the Pythagorean triplet 3,4,5—is the foundation
duce further “octave identities”) and the odd numbers are
of Plato’s cosmogony, and it may turn out to be one of the
“modular residues” (meaning that they define new pitches
most important clues to the numerology of the ancient
within the octave matrix). To build a scale, the simplest pro-
world.
cedure is to follow the old Chinese rule of adding or subtract-
ing one-third (from any reference pipe or string length). This
GREEK TRANSFORMATION OF EGYPTIAN AND BABYLONIAN
is the geometrical analogue of the musical procedure of tun-
KNOWLEDGE. Researchers are still trying to unravel the story
ing by ear: A subtraction of one-third correlates with the mu-
of how the Greeks, in less than three centuries (600–300
sical interval of an ascending perfect fifth (3:2); an addition
BCE), transformed geometry—inherited essentially as an art
of one-third correlates with the descending perfect fourth
of making arithmetical relations visible—into a science based
(4:3). To avoid fractions in the arithmetic, the reference
on definitions, postulates, and theorems (and appealing
length must contain one factor of three for every “tone child”
therefore to an invisible logos). Material inherited from Egypt
to be generated. The Chinese pentatonic (five-tone) scale
and Babylon through Thales (c. 585 BCE), and Pythagoras
must therefore be generated from 3;s4 = 81.
(c. 550 BCE) was riddled with confusion between exactness
Tone
C
G
D
A
E
and approximation. A new “dialectical” spirit arose with Par-
Number
81
54
72
48
64
menides (c. 475 BCE) and his followers. Precise definition,
always elusive, was the new goal that Socrates (d. 399
Operation
-1/3
+1/3
-1/3
+1/3
BCE)
applied to moral and ethical questions by appealing to “har-
Rearranged into scale order, this number sequence has
monic” examples from the Pythagorean geometry of the vi-
a reciprocal “twin” that defines frequency ratios:
brating string. Plato’s affection for dialectics and his empha-
Tone
C
D
E
G
A
sis on abstraction bore unexpected fruit in Aristotle’s
Length ratio
81
72
64
54
48
rejection of his teacher’s Pythagorean methods: “Dialectics
is merely critical where philosophy claims to know” (Meta-
Frequency
64
72
81
96
108
physics 1004b). Aristotelian “first philosophy” developed a
Both Chinese and Greek cosmology are projections
new syllogistic rigor in the generation after Theaetetus (c.
from this tonal geometry, reducible to continued operations
414–c. 369 BCE) and Eudoxus (c. 400–c. 350 BCE), who
with the prime number 3. Note that the defining operation
changed the method and enlarged the scope of mathematics.
started on 34 = 92 = 81. Ancient China was conceived as
Another generation later, Euclid’s Elements completed the
1/81 part of the whole world, that is, as 1/9 of one of the
mathematical transformation so successfully that the only
nine “great continents.” China was also considered to be di-
traces of earlier Greek mathematics that survive must be
vided into nine provinces, so that each Chinese province was
gleaned from his work. Little else was deemed worth
1/729 of the whole world; now 36 = 93 = 729 is the base
copying.
for the same tuning calculation when it is extended through
seven tones for the complete diatonic scale, also standard in
For current understanding of geometrical symbolism in
China in the fifth century BCE. At about the same time,
ancient religions, the Greek transformation has almost no
Philolaus, a Greek Pythagorean philosopher, conceived the
meaning. Although Christianity and Islam are historically
year as made up of “729 days and nights,” a number that
young enough to have been affected by the transformation,
would seem to come from nowhere but such a musical cos-
their holy books show virtually no influence of the new
mology. Plato linked the seven tones in this set to the sun,
Greek science. (A possible notable exception is the opening
moon, and five planets; later, Ptolemy (second century CE)
line of the Gospel of John: “In the beginning was the Logos.”)
linked the scale to the zodiac.
Plato, the first author in history whose works have survived
intact, made an extended commentary on the mathematical
The numbers 64 and 81, on which the alternate scale
bias in his philosophy and offers the richest insight into the
progressions commence, and the number 108, largest in the
intentionality that inserted so many mathematical elements
set of pentatonic frequency values, are immortalized in vari-
in ancient mythology. The musical geometry at the heart of
ous ways. In China there are 64 hexagrams in the Yi jing divi-
his mathematics was common to both East and West; its
nation text. The numbers 82 = 64 and 92 = 81 have been
simplest pragmatic formula is found in China.
the favored squares on which to construct the Hindu fire
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3442
GEOMETRY
altar since Vedic times (c. 1500 BCE). The number 108,
much,” the Greek ideal, had its counterpart in Confucian
upper limit in the set, is the number of beads in the Buddhist
concepts of morality and behavior. Thousands of years earli-
rosary. The tuning pattern itself has recently been discovered
er, the Egyptians had conceived the scales of Maat as the
(but without numbers) on an Old Babylonian cuneiform
“great balance” on which the heart of the deceased was figu-
tablet from circa 1800 BCE.
ratively weighed to test its fitness for immortality. Thus the
The set of twelve consecutive tones generated by the
wisdom literature of the ancient world shows remarkable
above procedure constitutes a chromatic scale. In ancient
parallels between cultures.
China each twelve tones in turn became the tonic of the stan-
The historical record is so fragmented, however, that in-
dard pentatonic scale for a particular calendric period.
terpretation of geometric symbols remains speculative. Mod-
Throughout Chinese history the bureau of standards re-
ern studies in the neurophysiology of vision and in related
mained wedded to a tonal geometry: The length of a pitch
psychological inferences suggest that schematic, geometric
pipe (an end-blown hollow tube) sounding the reference
relations play decisive roles. The universal acceptance of the
tone determined the standard for both weights and volumes.
octave ratio 1:2 is further evidence of human psychophysical
Each new regime established a new reference pitch; today
norms that could generate correspondence between cultures
there is the record of dozens of succesives changes in the bu-
that were never in contact. While they can neither fully doc-
reau of standards as the reference pitch oscillated over the
ument the paths of cultural diffusion nor even claim that dif-
range of about the interval of a sixth.
fusion is necessary, researchers cannot entirely rid themselves
Unless one knows the musical procedure, the Daoist
of suspicion that there was a great deal more diffusion than
formula for the creation of the creation of the world sounds
can be proven.
mystical: “The Dao [the Way] produced one, the one pro-
duced two, the two produced three, and three produced the
PROBLEMS IN ANCIENT GEOMETRIC SYMBOLS. It is easy to
ten thousand things [everything].” The creation myth related
imagine that the ancient stone circles that abound in Europe
by Plato in the Timaeus similary develops the world’s har-
and America linked people to events in the sky—that the
monical soul and body from the numbers 1,2, 3. Pythagore-
twenty-eight poles arranged in a circle for the lodge of the
ans frankly announced that, to them, “All is number,” and
Arapaho Indians’ Sun Dance, for instance, may correspond
Aristotle quotes them as saying, “The world and all that is
to twenty-eight lunar mansions; that the twelve sections of
in it is determined by the number of three.” Plutarch de-
the Crow tribe’s lodge for that ceremony may allude to the
scribes planetary ditances in the Philoaus system as “a geo-
months of the year; and that other cultures possessed similar
metrical progression with three as the common ratio.” For
symbols of earth, sky, and calendar (Burckhardt, 1976). But
eight hundred years Greek astronomers toyed with varations
many familiar symbols are more puzzling. Why, for instance,
on this planetary motion (c. 1600 CE) while still looking for
did the Pythagoreans take a five-pointed star (see figure 9)
the right tones to associate with each celestial body. East and
as their special symbol? Is it because each line cuts two others
West, the “geometry” of heaven and earth was musical and
in “mean and extreme ratio” (meaning that the whole lines
profoundly trintarian while astronomy was being gestated.
is to the longer segment as the longer is to the shorter) so
that the figure symbolizes both “continuing geometric pro-
The Greek view of this tonal-planetary geometry points
in the direction of a more abstract mathematical system. The
gression” (the world’s “best bonds,” for Plato) and a victory
Pythagorean “holy tetractys” was a pebble pattern symboliz-
over the “darkness” of the irrational? Could the Hindu
ing continuing geometric progression from a point through
“drum of S´iva” (see figure 10)—with its inverted triangles
a line and a plane to the “solid” dimension (see figure 6).
and the interlocked triangles of the star-hexagon (see figure
Plato takes advantage of the double meanings of integers
11), prevalent in Indian and Semitic cultures—be related to
(both as whole numbers and as reciprocal fractions) to gener-
the Pythagorean symbols in figures 6 and 7?
ate the material for a seven-tone scale at the cube dimension
The so-called Pascal triangle (see figure 12), containing
(33=27; see figure 7). Nicomachus (fl. c. 100 CE), writing an
the coefficients for the expansion of the binomial
introduction to Plato, simplifies the double view of the mul-
(a+b)2,3,4,5,6 was known to Pingala (c. 200 BCE) as Mount
tiplication table 2 x 3 up to the limit of 36 = 93 = 729 (see
Meru, the Hindu-Buddhist holy mountain. Pingala inter-
figure 8.) Stones, musical tones, planets, numbers, and ge-
preted this triangle as showing the possible variations of
ometry are all part of one vast Pythagorean synthesis, replete
meter built from monosyllables, disyllables, trisyllables, and
with symbolic cross-reference and a supporting mythology.
so on. Could this “Mount Meru” be related to the holy
An exasperated Aristotle mocked it; Euclid made it obsolete.
mountains of other Eastern religions? Is the Pythagorean
The problem of “excess and deficiency” with which a
tetractys simply the Greek form of older holy mountains? Is
musician wrestles in adjusting the geometry of the string by
it significant that the Sumerian symbol for mountain is a tri-
ear had its arithmetical analogue in the ancient problem of
angular pile of bricks (see figure 13), aligned in a pattern Py-
making approximations between the areas of a circle and
thagoreans found useful for numbers? Is the hourglass shape
square and the volumes of a sphere and cube. Thus harmon-
of the later Buddhist holy mountain simply a geometric vari-
ics was a paradigm for an ethics of moderation; “nothing too
ation of the “drum of S´iva”?
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GEOMETRY
3443
1
2
4
8
16
32
64 = F
3
6
12
24
48
96 = C
9
16
36
72
144 = G
27
54
108
216 = D
81
162
324 = A
243
486 = E
729 = B
F IGURE 8 . Nicomachus’s Triangle. Nicomachus presents Plato’s
reciprocal material in figure 7 in the form of a multiplication
table for 2 x 3, extended to 36 = 93 = 729 to avoid fractions.
Note that he describes the numbers written out from left to
right rather than arranged in the form of the Greek letter chi
(X) that Plato specified.
F I G U R E 9 . Pythagorean Symbol. Each line cuts two others in
"mean and extreme" ratio.
Translation of the ancient Babylonian mathematical
texts now makes clear that the computational sophistication
achieved four thousand years ago was so great that the sacred
texts of all peoples must be studied with new alertness for
evidence of rational—and not merely poetic—inspiration.
The old Sumerian-Babylonian gods possessed straightfor-
ward numerical “nicknames” (used for scribal shorthand) in
sexagesimal (base sixty) notation; the three great gods—Anu-
An, whose numerical epithet was 60 (written as a large 1),
Ea-Enki, associated with 40, and Enlil, associated with 50—
are functional equivalents of Plato’s 3,4,5 Pythagorean ge-
netic triad. Could some of the ancient religious mythology
turn out to be mathematical allegory?
It seems curious that the ancient Greek altar at Delphi
is built on cubic dimensions, as are the chapel of the Egyp-
tian goddess Leto that Herodotos saw in the city of Buto, the
F IGURE 1 0 . The Drum of S´iva. Note the hourglass shape
Vedic fire altar, the Holy of Holies in Solomon’s temple, and
attributed to Mount Meru, and compare with Plato’s Timaeus
the ancient Sumerian ark (first to “rescue a remnant of man-
pattern in figure 7.
kind from the flood”). The name of the most sacred Islamic
shrine, the KaEbah at Mecca, literally means “cube,” and the
advances in geometry, but the great wave of development
city of New Jerusalem in the Book of Revelation is also mea-
that had begun scarcely four hundred years earlier was spent.
sured in such dimensions. All of these cubic consonances be-
tween various religions suggest that poetic religious imagina-
Later Hindu talent has been mainly arithmetic and alge-
tion has had a geometrical, “protoscientific” component for
braic; theorems on the areas and diagonals of quadrilaterals
a very long time.
in a circle were contributed by Brahmagupta (c. 628 CE). Im-
portant Arab contributions to the solution of cubic equations
GEOMETRY SINCE EUCLID. The thirteen books of Euclid’s
by the method of intersecting conics were summarized by
Elements culminate in a treatment of the five regular, or Pla-
EOmar Khayyam (c. 1100 CE). European development has
tonic solids—tetrahedon, cube, octahedron, dodecahedron,
been rapid since Kepler’s time; it was Kepler who introduced
and icosahedron—each with uniform sides and angles and
the concepts of the infinitely great and the infinitely small,
all capable, when replicated, of closely packing three-
which Euclid had carefully excised from consideration. The
dimensional, abstract space. Euclid mastered the transforma-
invention of analytic geometry by Pierre de Fermat and René
tional symmetries of these “rigid” bodies.
Descartes in the seventeenth century led to a new integration
of geometry and algebra.
In the third century BCE Archimedes did important
work on the area of the surface of a sphere and of a cylinder
The contributions of Euclid’s Elements to the invention
and on their respective volumes, and Apollonius carried the
and development of the physical sciences during all these
study of conic sections (ellipse, parabola, and hyperbola) to
centuries is inestimable. His kind of logical, geometrical ar-
its highest development. Later Greek authors made further
gument is the basis for Archimedes’ formalization of the laws
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3444
GEOMETRY
F IGURE 1 3 . Sumerian Symbol for a Mountain. The triangular
arrangement is the pattern that Pythagoreans found useful for
numbers.
tions of mathematics. For example, one of the several new
geometries that appeared, projective geometry, has nothing
F I G U R E 1 1 . Star Hexagon. Indian and Semitic symbol.
to do with measurement. Several “non-Euclidean” geomet-
rics, by N. I. Lobachevskii, Wolfgang Bolyai, and G. F. B.
Riemann, omit Euclid’s famous sixth postulate concerning
parallel lines, always somewhat suspect, to create equally log-
Number of
Total Number of
ical geometries of even wider generality.
Syllables
1
Variations
The favored status of Euclidean geometry has evaporat-
1
1
1
2 = 21
ed. There are no longer any assumptions that command uni-
versal assent, no systems of logic powerful enough to validate
2
1
2
1
4 = 22
themselves even in mathematics. Mathematics has thus lost
3
1
3
3
1
8 = 23
some of its certainty even while multiplying its powers. Ein-
stein’s notion of “space-time,” with its curvatures and para-
4
1
4
6
4
1
16 = 24
doxes, has relegated Euclidean geometry to the role of a con-
venient tool for certain modern intuitions within a severely
5
1
5
10
10
5
1
32 = 25
limited local space. Space perception itself has been proved
culturally biased; intuition can be taught new tricks. Space
6
1
6
15
20
15
16
1
64 = 26
has also multiplied its hallowed three dimensions beyond any
possibility of imagining; today the number of its dimensions
is the number of independent variables in various formulas.
With the shattering of mathematical certainty and the
F IGURE 1 2 . Pascal’s Triangle. Known to Pin˙gala (ca. 200
ending of the idolatry of Euclidean rationalism, Western sci-
B.C.E.) as “Mount Meru,” the Hindu and Buddhist holy
entists in particular have felt a new attraction to the philo-
mountain.
sophical skepticism of Vedic poets and to Daoist and Bud-
dhist feeling for how the world behaves. The ancient
worldview was created in imagination; today imagination is
of the lever; for the Greek development of astronomy as a
still proving more powerful than logic. In the ferment of this
physical science (by Hipparchus, Ptolemy, and others); for
present age, mathematics and physics are committed, per-
Galileo’s work on the dynamics of the inclined plane; for
haps more clearly than ever—but as an act of faith rather
Kepler’s laws of planetary motion; for Newton’s laws of plan-
than of reason—to the primordial affection for symmetry,
etary gravitational dynamics; and for an endless host of relat-
guided less by reason than by aesthetic feeling for elegance
ed physical sciences. Euclidean geometry, still being im-
and beauty.
proved today, has thus been one of the Western world’s most
powerful engines of progress. The Elements has been “the
SEE ALSO Circle; Numbers; Quaternity; Sacred Space.
most influential textbook of all times” (Boyer, 1968), and it
was long assumed to be as certain a guide to geometry as the
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bible to absolute truth. God, it was confidently asserted, is
For a basic textbook in Euclidean geometry and in the various
a geometer.
non-Euclidean modern geometries, see H. S. M. Coxeter’s
Introduction to Geometry (1961; reprint, New York, 1969),
During the nineteenth century, which Boyer calls the
notable for the elegant compression it achieves by rigorous
“golden age of geometry,” this almost-perfected world of tra-
pursuit of symmetry and of the “group” of transformations
ditional, Euclidean-inspired mathematical physics exploded
this includes. The history of geometry is set within the wider
with a creative energy, leading to a crisis in the very founda-
context of the whole of mathematics and the contributions
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

GERMANIC RELIGION: AN OVERVIEW
3445
of nations and individuals treated with great fairness in Carl
GERMANIC RELIGION: AN OVERVIEW
B. Boyer’s A History of Mathematics (New York, 1968). On
From the linguistic point of view, the Germanic people con-
the early period, Otto Neugebauer’s The Exact Sciences in
stitute an archaic branch of the Indo-European family. The
Antiquity, 2d ed. (New York, 1969), has become a classic.
earliest Germanic culture that archaeologists identify as such
The transformation of Egyptian and Babylonian empirical
is the so-called Jastorf culture, a cultural province of northern
knowledge into Greek science is studied in B. L. van der
Europe in the Early Iron Age (c. 600
Waerden’s Science Awakening, translated by Arnold Dresden
BCE) covering present-
(New York, 1963). Richard J. Gillings’s Mathematics in the
day Holstein, Jutland, northeast Saxony, and western Meck-
Time of the Pharaohs (Cambridge, Mass., 1972) is an effort
lenburg. When Germanic tribes entered into written history
to balance the somewhat negative views of mathematicians
in the works of classical authors such as Caesar and Tacitus,
toward Egyptian science.
they had spread south towards the Rhine and the wooded
hills of southern Germany, so that their closest neighbors
A splendidly illustrated study of Paleolithic stone and bone count-
ing records is Alexander Marshack’s The Roots of Civilization
were the Celts in Gaul. To the east their neighbors were the
(New York, 1972). Neolithic symmetry in pottery and weav-
Balts and the Scythians and Sarmatians, Iranian tribes that
ing designs is richly illustrated in Marija Gimbutas’s The
roamed the plains of Russia. To the north they were in con-
Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe, 6500–3500 B.C. (Berkeley,
tact with the Sámi and the Finns. Although the Germanic
Calif., 1982). Modern concepts of symmetry are formalized,
people were primarily pastoralists, they also practiced agri-
with great respect toward ancient craftsmen who explored it
culture and hunting. Their social organization was originally
intuitively, in Hermann Weyl’s Symmetry (Princeton, N.J.,
geared towards egalitarian communalism, but as contact with
1952).
the Roman Empire changed economic conditions, a more
Applications of traditional geometry to religious art and architec-
diversified society developed in which wealth and rank tend-
ture can be found in Robert Lawlor’s Sacred Geometry: Phi-
ed to prevail, although nominally power still rested in the
losophy and Practice (New York, 1982) and Titus Burck-
hands of the Thing, the assembly of all free men able to carry
hardt’s Art of Islam: Language and Meaning, translated by J.
arms.
Peter Hobson (London, 1976). A stone-by-stone analysis of
the geometry employed by the several builders of a great ca-
The post-Roman era saw the establishment of Germanic
thedral is masterfully displayed in John James’s The Contrac-
kingdoms in England and Scandinavia, some of which re-
tors of Chartres, 2 vols. (Beckenham, U.K., 1980).
mained pagan for a surprisingly long time. The English
For a development of the tonal-geometrical symbolism hidden in
adopted Christianity early in the seventh century, the Danes
ancient religious and philosophical texts, see my books The
in the 960s, the Norwegians around 995 to 1000, and the
Myth of Invariance (New York, 1976), The Pythagorean Plato
Swedes not until the twelfth century. During the Viking age,
(Stony Brook, N.Y., 1978), and Meditations through the
pagan Scandinavian communities established themselves in
Quran (York Beach, Maine, 1981).
Ireland, the Isle of Man, and northern and eastern England,
and eventually accepted Christianity as they became assimi-
New Sources
lated. Iceland, which was settled in the late ninth century,
Gray, Jeremy. Ideas of Space: Euclidean, Non-Euclidean and Rela-
tivistic. New York, 1989.
was also a pagan Scandinavian country, although it was not
a kingdom. Subject to the same missionary pressures as Nor-
Lachterman, David Rapport. The Ethics of Geometry: A Genealogy
way, Iceland accepted Christianity in 999 or 1000. The
of Morality. New York, 1989.
pagan Scandinavian communities in Orkney, Shetland, and
Magnani, Lorenzo. Philosophy and Geometry: Theoretical and His-
the Faroe Islands were converted at about the same time.
torical Issues. Boston, 2001.
SOURCES. Our knowledge of Germanic religion comes from
Mlodinow, Leonard. Euclid’s Window: The Story of Geometry from
many different sources. A large number of Bronze Age rock
Parallel Lines to Hyperspace. New York, 2001.
carvings in southern Scandinavia are often referenced in de-
Romano, David Gilman. Athletics and Mathematics in Corinth:
scriptions of the religion’s earliest phase, but these have to
The Origins of the Greek Stadion. Philadelphia, 1993.
be interpreted with caution. For one thing, it is not certain
that the creators of these carvings were Germanic. For anoth-
Szulakowski, Urszula. The Alchemy of Light: Geometry and Optics
er thing, the sets of pictures they present are particularly
in Late Renaissance Alchemical Illustration. Symbola and Em-
blemata Studies in Renaissance and Baroque Symbolism, vol.
complex and mix many different kinds of symbols: ships,
10. Leiden, 2000.
chariots, men plowing, people reveling to the sound of lurs
and other musical instruments, worshipers carrying solar
ERNEST G. MCCLAIN (1987)
disks, and imprints of feet and hands. To call one figure
Revised Bibliography
among those the “spear god,” for example, because of its larg-
er size, and identify it as the spear-carrying Óðinn is conjec-
tural at best. We cannot altogether dismiss the testimony of
GERMANIC RELIGION
these petroglyphs, but quite possibly they are part of a kind
This entry consists of the following articles:
of nature cult that cannot be fully connected with the pan-
AN OVERVIEW
theon later worshiped in the same places. Indisputably Ger-
HISTORY OF STUDY
manic are gravesites and bog finds that provide information
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

3446
GERMANIC RELIGION: AN OVERVIEW
about funeral rites and sacrificial offerings. Monuments from
Snorri’s version probably reflects the older tradition, because
the Roman period bear inscriptions with the names of Ger-
the idea of an empty space and a world of mere potentiality
manic deities, and classical writers refer to Germanic gods
preceding creation seems to belong to the ancestral heritage
under their interpretatio Romana. The fourth- and fifth-
of the Germanic people (cf. the well-known cosmogonic
century “Age of Migration” and the following period, when
hymn of the R:gveda [10.129]: “There was neither nonbeing
the Germanic kingdoms became established in western Eu-
nor being; nor was there space nor the sky above”).
rope, yield only meager documentation of the religion of the
people who precipitated the downfall of the Roman Empire.
The first parts of the cosmos to emerge were Niflheimr
However, place-name studies show the geographic extent of
(“dark world”), the sunless, misty world of death that lies in
the cults of various gods, the antiquity of those cults, and the
the north, and the blazing hot world of Muspell (the fire that
nature of a god’s powers (for example, whether a god was
would consume the earth) in the south. The antiquity of the
worshiped by fishermen on the seacoast or by farmers in the
association of death with the north is seen in Stone Age
interior), and the large number of runic inscriptions tell us
graves, which are oriented in this direction. Much later, the
something about pagan gods, priests, magic, and the remem-
main or high seat in medieval Scandinavian houses—called
brance of the dead. In literary sources such as chronicles,
ondvegi (way of the spirit) and supposed to be the seat of the
saints’ lives, legal texts, and instructions to priests, Christian
ancestor—is located to the north. And in magical rites, water
authors mention the pagan gods by name as they describe
flowing northward is related to the kingdom of death. The
their cults and the actions taken by missionary kings and
antiquity of the concept of a fiery southern realm is seen in
bishops and evangelizing saints against their worship. A con-
the occurrence of the Old High German word muspilli in a
siderable number of Scandinavian myths are transmitted in
tenth-century Bavarian eschatological poem, where it desig-
the lays of the Poetic Edda, some of which may date to the
nates the universal fire at the end of the world. In Niflheimr
ninth century, but the bulk of our information about Scandi-
was a well called Hvergelmir (“resounding kettle”), from
navian mythology comes from the thirteenth-century retell-
which eleven rivers flowed. According to Snorri, the showers
ings and explanations compiled by Snorri Sturluson in his
pouring out of Niflheimr whipped up the rivers, and the
Prose Edda. The sagas describe life in pagan Iceland, Norway,
spray froze, so that layer after layer of ice piled up in Ginnun-
and Sweden and contain numerous details on religious prac-
gagap. The sparks and glowing embers flying out of Muspell
tices and specific forms of worship, as well as on the shift
met the hoarfrost and the ice, and from the slush and heat,
from paganism to Christianity. Like the other texts from the
life emerged in the shape of an anthropomorphic being
pens of Christian authors, the sagas have to be used with cau-
named Ymir or Aurgelmir. From this primal giant sprang the
tion as a source of information on early Scandinavian belief
dreadful brood of the frost giants, whom he engendered by
and rites, but some of that information is certainly credible
sweating out a male and a female from under his left arm.
because it is confirmed by other kinds of evidence. Christian
In addition, one of his legs begat a son with his other leg.
authors also copied a few charms and spells, which shed light
Here Snorri has merged two traditions that the Lay of Vaf-
on particular aspects of popular religion and superstition.
þrúðnir keeps separate: in stanza 21 of the poem, Ymir is
One non-Christian source is the Arab diplomat Ibn Fadlan,
named as the giant involved in the formation of the world,
who in 921 was on his way to the Bulgar court when he en-
but in stanzas 29–35, Vafþrúðnir, the oldest living giant, ex-
countered a group of Scandinavian traders (Ru¯s’) on the
plains to Óðinn that the genealogy of the giants began with
Volga. They had stopped to perform funeral rites for one of
Aurgelmir, who fathered Þrúðgelmir, who fathered Bergel-
their companions who had died on the trip, and Ibn Fadlan’s
mir, who fathered Vafþrúðnir himself.
account of the cremation, accompanied by the drugging and
No direct source is available for the account of the ori-
killing of a woman to serve the deceased in the next world,
gin of the gods that Snorri gives next: the melting rime has
is an amazing piece of early ethnography.
taken the shape of a cow, Auðumla, whose name contains
THE CREATION MYTH. In the Prose Edda, Snorri gives a
the Old Norse word for “riches” and another term connected
complete description of creation that combines a number of
with the English dialect word hummel or humble (hornless
older sources that are not always consistent with each other.
cow), presumably designating a “rich hornless cow.” This
The major Eddic poems used by Snorri are the Lay of Vafþrú-
cow feeds Ymir with the milk flowing from her udders, a tra-
ðnir and and the Lay of Grímnir, which more or less duplicate
dition paralleling that of the primeval cow in Indo-Iranian
each other, and Vo˛luspá (Prophecy of the Seeress); but he also
mythology. Auðumla gets her own food by licking the salty
derives some details from sources lost to us and adds some
ice blocks, which she shapes into another primal being, Búri,
deductions of his own. Quoting Vo˛luspá (st. 3), Snorri stress-
who begets a son, Borr. Borr marries Bestla, the daughter of
es that at the beginning of time there was nothing but a great
the giant Bölþorn (“evil thorn,” a term still used in the Jut-
emptiness called Ginnungagap (“a void filled with magical
land dialect [bo⁄ltorn] to designate a “scrappy, violent per-
forces”). According to the poem, “When Ymir lived, in earli-
son”). Borr and his wife have three sons: Óðinn, Vili, and
est times, there was neither sand, nor sea, nor chill waves,”
Vé. The three divine brothers kill the giant Ymir, and the
whereas Snorri’s prose explains, “In the beginning not any-
flow of blood gushing from his wounds drowns all the frost
thing existed; there was no sand, nor sea, nor cooling waves.”
giants except Bergelmir, who escapes mysteriously with his
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GERMANIC RELIGION: AN OVERVIEW
3447
family to continue the race. Now the three gods set about
Óðinn. In Saxon, [H]irmin is the god corresponding to
building the earth. The body of Ymir is carried into the mid-
Mars, and the name for the axis mundi is Irminsul. In Old
dle of the great void; his blood forms the sea and the lakes,
High German, the compound irmingot [mighty god] occurs
his flesh the earth, his skull the sky (with a dwarf at each cor-
in the poem Hildebrandslied.) The tribe of the Istaevones of
ner, as if to hold it up), his hair the trees, his brain the clouds,
the Weser-Rhine area are not related to any specific deity,
his bones the mountains, and so on. Sparks flying from Mus-
but their name is perhaps connected with Gothic aistan,
pell form the stars and heavenly bodies, and the gods order
meaning “honor” or “worship.”
their movements, determining the divisions of time. The re-
The idea of dismembering a giant to create the world
sulting world is circular, surrounded by a vast ocean. In the
is found also in Middle Eastern and other traditions. An Ira-
middle of the earth the gods establish Miðgarðr (“dwelling
nian myth preserved in Manichaeism is the closest to that
place in the middle”), a residence for mankind that is
of Ymir, as it equates a giant’s skin with the sky, his flesh with
strengthened by a fence made from Ymir’s eyebrows, and
the earth, his bones with the mountains, his hair with plants,
they provide land on the shore for the giants to settle down.
and his blood with the sea. Here there can be no question
The next task of the gods is the creation of man. Finally, they
of mutual influence, diffusion, or borrowing from a common
build Ásgarðr (“dwelling place of the Æsir”), their own
source. Taking into consideration the Purus:a myth in the
residence.
R:gveda (10.90), which explains in a similar way the origin
A number of elements of the Eddic creation myth point
of the world and society through the sacrifice of primal man
to very old traditions. For example, the cow is a typical fertil-
and the projection of his bodily parts into the macrocosm,
ity symbol, and Auðumla reminds us of the celestial cow in
it is clear than the Germanic creation story is a reflex of an
Middle Eastern and South Asian myths. Further, in the myth
old Indo-European myth. Bruce Lincoln (1986) has elabo-
of Ymir, two motifs have apparently merged: the engender-
rated the complex data about creation in various Indo-
ment of primeval beings and the creation of the world from
European traditions into a coherent scenario in which the
parts of his body. The idea of an ancestral progenitor is al-
first priest, *Manu-, kills his twin brother, *Yemo-, the first
ready found in the classical sources about Germanic religion:
king, thus performing the first sacrifice. As a result of this
Tacitus, in the second chapter of his Germania, tells of Tuis-
act the world is created, and *Manu- fashions the earth and
to, born from the earth, who begets Mannus, the common
heavens as well as the three social classes from his brother’s
ancestor of the Germanic tribes. These names are quite re-
body. The female bovine that appears in the European ver-
vealing. Tuisto is related to the English word two and desig-
sion of the myth originally fed and cared for the twins before
nates a bisexual being (cf. Ger. Zwitter). This androgynous
the creative act. Against this background, many of the archa-
ancestor resembles Ymir, who has other parallels in Indo-
ic elements in the Germanic tradition appear in a new and
Iranian mythology, where the Old Indic Yama (cf. Av. yima,
broader light.
“twin”) is supposed to have had incestuous relations with his
THE GERMANIC COSMOS. After its creation, the Germanic
twin sister. Mannus not only corresponds to the English
cosmos consisted of nine worlds. Man lives in the center of
word man but also has striking parallels in India, where
the universe, and the major Germanic traditions concur in
Manu is the ancestor of man, and in ancient Phrygia, where
calling his dwelling place “the central abode” (Goth., Mid-
the ancestor of the Phrygians is Mánes.
jungards; OHG, Mittilgart; OE, Middangeard; ON, Miðga-
rðr). But the center is also where the gods built their resi-
The three main Germanic tribes derive their names
dence, Ásgarðr. It is described as spacious, with numerous
from the sons of Mannus, and in at least two cases show simi-
dwellings, surrounded by a beautiful green pasture, Iðavöllr,
lar associations with deities. The Inguaeones, a tribe from the
and by a palisade built by a giant. In addition to these places
North Sea region, is linked with the minor god *Ingw[az],
and Niflheimr and Muspell, there were also Álfheimr
the male counterpart of the mother goddess. An Old English
(“world of the [light] elves”), Svartálfheimr (“world of the
runic poem indicates that he was venerated in southern Scan-
dark elves”), Vanaheimr (“world of the Vanir”), Jötunheimr
dinavia (indeed, the Danes are called Ingwine [“friend of
(“world of the giants”), and Útgarðr (“outer abode”), the
Ing”] in the Old English poem Beowulf, lines 1044 and
dangerous world of demons, giants, and other frightening
1319), and his association with Freyr is illustrated by the Old
creatures.
Norse compound Yngvifreyr (Gmc. *Ingwja-fraujaz). Al-
though little information is provided about his cult, he is un-
Germanic myth evinces a real fear of this no-man’s-land
doubtedly associated with fertility, as is shown by the runic
outside the settlement, and the idea of the frontier is there
poem’s reference to his wagon (cf. the sacred wagon kept in
all the time, with the gods serving to ward off dangers from
the grove of the Earth Mother, Nerthus. Yngvi is also consid-
the wild. The islanders and the people along the shore be-
ered the ancestor of the Yngling dynasty in Sweden. The
lieved that a universal ocean surrounds the earth, with an un-
tribe of the (H)erminones, whose territory extended from the
fathomable abyss at the horizon and a huge snake curling at
lower Elbe southward into Bohemia, derive their name from
the edge to hold the world together. The serpent is called the
Germanic *ermina-/*ermuna- (mighty, lofty), a common di-
Miðgarðr serpent or Jörmungandr; according to Snorri, this
vine epithet. (In Old Norse, Jörmunr is another name for
monstrous ophidian bit its tail—a concept that does not
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GERMANIC RELIGION: AN OVERVIEW
occur in the Eddic poems but that is quite common in East-
such as Valglaumir, Gjöll, and Sliðr, which, according to
ern religions and that was introduced in Scandinavia by me-
Vo˛luspá (st. 35), “is filled with swords and knives.” This pic-
dieval Christian scholarship. The symbol (similar to the
ture is apparently influenced by Christian visionary litera-
ouroboros in Jungian psychology) may be borrowed, but the
ture; similar is st. 27 of the Lay of Grímnir, which also men-
concept is old, as the name Jörmungandr shows. Connected
tions the river Geirvimul (“swarming with spears”). There is
with jörmungrund (meaning “earth” in st. 20 of the Lay of
a bridge over Gjöll, guarded by a giantess. The Greek hell-
Grímnir), jörmun- (also a name of Óðinn) is an adjective
hound Kerberos also has his parallel in Eddic tradition: the
meaning “great, powerful, lofty,” and gandr means “magic
lay Baldr’s Dreams (sts. 2 and 3) mentions a dog that comes
wand.” The compound eormengrund also appears in Beowulf
out of Hel. The realm of Hel is also surrounded by a fence
(line 859).
whose gates open only for the dead.
When the gods go out into the world, it seems that the
The sky is the abode of the gods in the later conception
universal ocean does not exist for them, for in every direction
of the Germanic people, which transfers Ásgarðr to heaven.
they move on solid ground. The north and the east are par-
The changing views of Valho˛ll are a typical example of the
ticularly dangerous, being the abodes of demons, and the
shift. Originally, it was a subterranean hall for warriors killed
south will become so at the end of time, at Ragnaro˛k, when
in combat. Later it was connected with Óðinn and became
the fire giant Surtr (“black,” cf. English swarthy) will lead a
the heavenly residence of his heroic retinue. These are
host of monsters against the gods in their last battle. To the
human warriors who die in battle and who will form Óðinn’s
west lies the ocean. The old Germanic tradition of ship buri-
army against the monsters at Ragnaro˛k. According to Snorri,
als implies the concept of a world of the dead beyond the sea,
the warriors amuse themselves by fighting each other during
a view perhaps borrowed from the Celts and manifested in
the day and feasting every evening. (The contrast between
the Irish legends about the “islands of the blessed.” This con-
Hel and Valho˛ll was presumably meant to encourage men
cept is also reflected in the idea of a ship of death (made from
to fight to the death, for all other kinds of death would send
the fingernails of corpses) that sails from the world of the de-
the deceased to Hel.) Valho˛ll is a huge palace with 540 doors
mons at Ragnaro˛k.
so large that 800 warriors can exit through each (Lay of Grím-
nir, sts. 23–24). Over the gate and gable a wolf and an eagle
For the Germanic people in Norway, Útgarðr must have
are mounted, just as Charlemagne is said to have had an eagle
been represented by the high mountains and the arctic terri-
nailed on his palace.
tories to the north. The road is over land; Skírnir (servant
of the god Freyr) rides to Útgarðr on Freyr’s horse (the Lay
Like the netherworld, the sky is linked with the world
of Skírnir, st. 10), and the adventures of Þórr always take him
by a bridge, this one guarded by the god Heimdallr; it is
eastward. There lie the realms of the giant Hymir, who lives
called Bilröst (“wavering road”) or Bifröst (“shivering road”),
at the “end of the world”; of the giants Þrymr and Hrymr
names signifying the rainbow. In st. 29 of the Lay of Grímnir,
(Vo˛luspá 49); and the “iron forest” (ON, járnviðr), where the
the “bridge of the gods” is described as “ablaze with flames.”
brood of demons is born (Vo˛luspá 39). There is a great river
Here the concept may represent the Milky Way, which the
at the border of Miðgarðr, with a boatman, Hárbarðr, to take
forces of evil from Muspell will walk at the twilight of the
people over. The frost giants live in the north, and Loki will
world, and which, in many religious systems, is described as
seek refuge with them.
the “path of the souls.”
As has been mentioned, the world of the dead was
THE COSMIC TREE. The nine worlds are also linked by the
thought to lie to the north. One concept of it was as a hall:
ash tree Yggdrasill, which rises to the sky, its branches spread-
the cold, dark, wet house of the witch Hel. In st. 43 of the
ing over the entire world (Vo˛luspá, st. 2). It is supported by
Lay of Vafþrúðnir, the giant says that he has seen all the
three roots, which respectively stretch to the world of the
worlds, and Niflhel (“dark Hel”) below them, which perhaps
dead (Hel), the world of the frost giants, and the world of
leads to Snorri’s impression of it as being underground, for
men. At the foot of the tree are several springs: the spring
he says: “Helvegr liggr niðr ok norðr” (“The way to Hel lies
of the goddess of fate, Urðr (Vo˛luspá, st. 19) and the wells
downward and to the north”). The Old Norse term Hel (hid-
of Mímir (Vo˛luspá, st. 28) and Hvergelmir (Lay of Grímnir,
ing) applies to both the place and its ruler. The belief in this
st. 26). Snorri tried to relate these three springs to the three
underworld seems to be common to all Germanic cultures.
roots, but it may be there was only one well, known under
In 915 a poet celebrating a victory of the Saxons over the
different names according to its symbolic functions as the
Franks wonders whether there will be enough room in “hell”
source of wisdom (Mímir), of fate (Urðr), or of the rivers of
for all those who fell in the battle. Depite the later develop-
the world (Hvergelmir). Yggdrasill has other characteristics
ment of the name, Hel was not originally a place of punish-
and associations. For example, it is always green, and accord-
ment, but it was an unpleasant place to spend the afterlife.
ing to Vo˛luspá (st. 19), a clear vivifying liquid called aurr
(Snorri, evidently influenced by the Christian concept of
drips down from the tree. Its branches are home to an eagle
Hell, does describe Niflhel as “the lowest world where the
who carries between its eyes a hawk named Veðrfölnir
wicked go.”) An elaborate description is given in the Eddic
(“faded by the weather”). A squirrel named Ratatoskr (“rat
sources: the approaches are protected by terribly noisy rivers,
tooth”) leaps up and down the tree, conveying words of
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GERMANIC RELIGION: AN OVERVIEW
3449
abuse exchanged between the eagle and the monstrous
also appears in the name of the magical goat Heiðrún, whose
Níðhoggr (“corpse-devourer”), one of the many snakes
udders every day fill Valho˛ll’s cauldrons with mead for
gnawing at the roots of the tree. Four deer gambol about the
Óðinn’s retinue.
branches, eating the shoots. As well as being the location of
THE WAR OF THE ÆSIR AND THE VANIR. The Germanic
the gods’ daily council meeting, the cosmic tree is also an axis
gods are divided into two groups, the Æsir and the Vanir.
mundi; it props up the sky like the central pole of a tent hold-
Following the medieval practice of etymologizing, Snorri
ing up the roof. The idea of propping up the sky was part
says that the Æsir’s name shows that they came from Asia,
of the Germanic heritage, as is shown by the Irminsul, a
but this interpretation does not appear to reflect any authen-
Saxon “idol” destroyed by Charlemagne in 772 and de-
tic tradition. Jordanes, the sixth-century historian of the
scribed by the medieval historian Rudolf of Fulda as a huge
Goths, cites a Gothic word ansis (or anses) that is glossed as
tree trunk—universalis columna, quasi sustinens omnia (a uni-
“demigods.” This element also occurs in men’s names such
versal column, as if holding up everything).
as the Gothic Ansila, the Burgundian Ansemundos (cf. ON,
According to the contemporary testimony of Adam of
Ásmundr), the Langobardic Ansegranus, and the Old High
Bremen in his history of the bishops of Hamburg, Yggdrasill
German Ansgar and Anshelm. Together with the Old Norse
was represented near the temple in Uppsala by a gigantic ev-
term áss, these words derive from the Germanic *ansuz, des-
ergreen tree. What kind of tree is it? “Nobody knows,” says
ignating some type of deity. The feminine form preserved in
Adam. Vo˛luspá describes it as an ash, which definitely reflects
the southern Germanic divine name Vihansa might refer to
the western Scandinavian tradition, but scholars have as-
a war goddess if *wih- is an alternative form of *wig-
sumed that in eastern Scandinavia it could have been a yew.
(“combat”; OHG and OE, wig; ON, víg). The Æsir, howev-
The yew was venerated in Gaul, and classical writers mention
er, are ruling gods, which makes it more plausible to associate
its importance in Germania as well. The name Yggdrasill it-
their name with the Hittite word hashshush (king) than with
self is ambiguous. The second element, drasill, is a poetic
the Old Indic prefix asu- (breath of life), as is usually suggest-
word for “horse,” but the first element might be either Yggr,
ed.
a name for Óðinn (i.e., “Óðinn’s horse”), or the adjective
The name Vanir has been connected with the Old
yggr (“frightening”). In either case, the dreadful mount ap-
Norse word vinr (friend), with Venus (the Latin name for the
pears to represent the gallows, thus implying a connection
goddess of love), and with the Sanskrit vánas- (lust), an ety-
with Óðinn, who was known as “the god of the hanged.”
mology very suitable for fertility gods. Vanir has also been
The identification of ygg- with the Old Norse term y´r
related to the Sanskrit vánam (water; cf. the latinized Slavic
(“yew”) is less plausible on linguistic grounds.
ethnic name Veneti, meaning “people of the waters”), an in-
The symbolism of the tree is extremely important, as it
terpretation made doubtful by the fact that the Vanir as a
is mirrored in other traditions. In ancient Babylonia, for ex-
group are not aquatic deities, although one of them, Njo˛rðr,
ample, a cosmic tree, Kiskanu, grew in a holy place; radiant
is associated with the sea. Overall, the Vanir are fertility gods.
with shining lapis lazuli (symbolizing the starry night), it
In the mythological “now,” the Vanir live in peace with
stretched towards the primeval waters. This was the dwelling
the Æsir, but this was not always the case. At the dawn of
place of Ea (the god of fertility and skills such as agriculture,
time, a bitter war was fought between the two groups, which
arts and crafts, and writing), and his mother Bau (the god-
Snorri reports (with varying details) in two different works,
dess of plenty) rested there as well. Babylonian pictures of
Ynglinga Saga (the first part of his history of the kings of
the tree sometimes show it surrounded by goats or with a
Norway) and the Edda. The former is an euhemeristic narra-
bird poised on it. In ancient India, the universe is symbolized
tion of the early life of the Æsir in “Asia” (ON, Ásaland, Ás-
by an inverted tree, with its roots in the sky and its branches
aheimr). Their neighbors, the Vanir, lived in Vanaland or
spreading over the earth, representing the downpouring of
Vanaheimr, in the vicinity of the Tanais (the classical name
the sun’s rays. Yggdrasill has sometimes been compared with
for the River Don). Óðinn leads his army against the Vanir,
the tree of life in the Hebrew scriptures, but there is no proof
but they resist vigorously. The two sides are alternately victo-
of any Judeo-Christian element in the concept of Yggdrasill.
rious, and they loot each other’s territory until they grow
The presence of the eagle and the snake, however, reminds
tired of fighting and conclude a peace that puts them on
us of the cosmological motif found in Indian mythology,
equal footing. They exchange hostages: the Vanir Njo˛rðr and
where the combat of Garuda with the reptile symbolizes the
his son Freyr are transferred to the world of the Æsir, and
struggle between light and darkness (the eagle is a sun bird,
the Æsir in turn deliver Mímir and Hœnir to the Vanir. As
whereas the snake belongs to the underworld). The liquid
Mímir is very wise, the Vanir reciprocate by sending “the
dripping from the tree can be compared with the streaming
cleverest among them”—Kvasir—to the Æsir. In the Edda,
milk and honey in the Semitic myths of paradise, with amrta
however, Snorri claims that Kvasir was created from the sali-
(the Old Indic beverage of immortality identified with
va of the Vanir and the Æsir when they spat into the commu-
mead), and with the honeydew spread by the A´svins. In
nal caldron at the conclusion of the peace. Other evidence
Vo˛luspá (st. 27), the tree is described as secreting a clear liq-
linking Kvasir’s blood to the mead of poetic inspiration sug-
uid (heiðr) that must be the “sap of life.” The element heið-
gests that this second version is closer to the original. In addi-
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3450
GERMANIC RELIGION: AN OVERVIEW
tion to the formal transfer of Njo˛rðr and Freyr to Ásgarðr,
ple, that Nerthus shrouds herself in mystery. She remains
the Vanir goddess Freyja (Njo˛rðr’s daughter and Freyr’s sis-
hidden in a curtained chariot during her peregrinations
ter) also ends up living with the Æsir. No extant myth ex-
among her worshipers, only her priest can approach her, and
plains how this came to pass, but hints in Vo˛luspá suggest
after the completion of her ceremonial journey she is bathed
that Freyja went to Ásgarðr during the war, disguised as a
in a secret lake, but all those who officiate in this lustration
witch named Gullveig, with the intention of corrupting the
rite are drowned afterward to maintain the “sacred igno-
Æsir with greed, lust, and sorcery. Perhaps her visit was even
rance” about her. Similarly, Tacitus indicates that the priests
the initial cause of the Æsir-Vanir conflict. This mythologi-
of the Dioscuri among the eastern Germanic Naharvales
cal war has been seen as a reflection of an actual religious war
wear feminine attire, which presumably includes their long
or the replacement of one cult with another, but it has also
hair, a feature closely associated with the Germanic divine
been taken as a symbolic explanation of the existence of dif-
twins. Moreover, he points out that these deities are not rep-
ferent aspects of divinity.
resented by any image or statue, which corroborates his gen-
eral statement about the aniconic character of Germanic reli-
THE PANTHEON. The earliest written testimony we have
gion—“[They] do not think it proper to portray gods with
about the religion of the Germanic peoples is a statement by
any kind of human countenance” (Germania 9)—but is at
Julius Caesar in the sixth book of his account of the Gallic
least partly contradicted by the archaeological finds of some
Wars indicating that they worshiped the sun, the moon, and
roughly hewn stakes offering a rudimentary anthropomor-
Vulcan, which is generally taken to mean “fire.” However,
phic representation of the gods.
there is no trace of a moon cult in the Germanic territories,
and the role of fire in cult and ritual seems to have been rath-
In the Annals, Tacitus refers to other Germanic deities,
er limited in historical times. Possibly Caesar was reporting
such as Tamfana, whose sanctuary was an important center
an archaic version of Germanic religion, or perhaps his infor-
of cultural activities in the territory of the Marsi (between
mation was just inaccurate. Fortunately, the data supplied
the Lippe and the Ruhr rivers). Her “temple” was allegedly
some 150 years later by Tacitus provide a fairly accurate pic-
leveled by the Romans during the celebration of an autumnal
ture of what must have been the structure of the Germanic
festival in 4 CE. Its very existence contradicts Tacitus’s state-
pantheon in his time (end of the first century CE).
ment in the Germania that the Germanic people “refuse to
confine their gods within walls” and the contention that wor-
According to Tacitus, the main god is Mercury, whose
ship generally took place outdoors and in the woods, as with
Latin name, Mercurius, is a Roman interpretation of the
the Frisian goddess Baduhenna, near whose sacred grove a
Germanic name *Woðan[az]. This is confirmed by the trans-
Roman detachment was massacred.
lation of the Latin weekday-name Mercurii dies (Mercury’s
day) into the Germanic *Woðniz-dag[az] (“Woden’s day”;
In the Roman period, inscriptions provide further infor-
cf. Eng., Wednesday; Du., woensdag). Mercury is flanked by
mation about the deities venerated by the Germanic people
Mars and Hercules. The former represents the Germanic god
within the boundaries of the empire, such as Nehalennia,
*Tiw[az], whose name is preserved in the English Tuesday
whose sanctuary near Domburg on the Dutch island of Wal-
(OE, *Tiwesdæg; cf. Lat., Martis dies). The latter is usually
cheren has yielded an abundance of altars and statues. She
interpreted as representing the Germanic champion of the
was worshiped mainly by seamen and traders, mostly natives
gods, *Þun[a]r[az], although, as thunder god, he was also
of the northwestern provinces of the Empire, who dedicated
equated by Latin writers with Jupiter, as is shown by the
the monuments to the goddess in return for the help received
translation of the Latin weekday-name Jovis dies into “Thor’s
from her. Her attributes (cornucopias, specific fruits, dogs,
day” (Eng., Thursday; Ger., Donnerstag; Du., donderdag). As
etc.) characterize her as a fertility goddess with strong
Mercury/*Woðan[az] is the only Germanic god credited by
chthonic overtones, but she apparently also shares the pa-
Tacitus with receiving human sacrifice, many scholars as-
tronage of navigation with Isis, whose presence Tacitus men-
sume that the regnator omnium deus (god reigning over all)
tions “among part of the Suevians” (presumably the Her-
venerated by the Suevian tribe of the Semnones in their sa-
munduri, who were in close contact with the Roman
cred grove and honored as their ethnic ancestor with regular
province of Noricum where the cult of Isis had been integrat-
human sacrifices must be the same deity, though perhaps
ed with that of the national goddess Noreia).
Allan Lund (1990) is right in claiming that he must have
been worshiped as an eponymous founder under the name
Important also were the matres or matronae (mothers or
*Semno.
matrons), whose worship is documented by votive stones
with dedicatory inscriptions found mainly in the territory of
Tacitus also refers to other locally worshiped Germanic
the Ubii on the left side of the Rhine in the second and third
deities such as Nerthus (“Mother Earth”), for whom the In-
centuries CE. Their worshipers belonged essentially to the
guaeonic people hold a yearly pageant during which they cel-
lower classes but also included some high-office holders in
ebrate the powers of fertility that she incarnates, or the divine
the Roman administration and army. The matres were in-
twins whom he calls Alcis (Gmc., *Alhiz) and equates with
voked for protection against danger and catastrophes or for
the Roman twins Castor and Pollux. In both cases he sup-
the prosperity of the family, and were described as bestowing
plies a few details about cult and ritual, specifying, for exam-
their blessings generously, as such epithets as Gabiae (givers),
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GERMANIC RELIGION: AN OVERVIEW
3451
Friagabis (generous donors), and Arvagastiae (hospitable
• Although there is no direct evidence of a cult of the di-
ones) indicate. As they often appear in groups of three and
vine twins, their functional role is euhemerized in the
seem to be associated with the fate and welfare of man, they
figures of the twin founding heroes of various Germanic
have been compared with the Norns, especially as one stone
groups, such as Hengist and Horsa for the early Saxons
carries the inscription “Matrib[us] Parc[is],” referring direct-
in Great Britain, Raos and Raptos for the Vandalic Has-
ly to the interpretatio Romana of the three deities of fate.
dingi, and Ibor and Aio for the Winnili (Lombards).
The picture that emerges from the data of the Roman
The names Hengist and Horsa (related respectively to
period can be summarized as follows:
Ger. Hengst, “stallion,” and Eng. horse) remind us of the
association of the divine twins with horses. In Greek
• The sovereign god *Woðan[az] (identified with Mercu-
they are referred to as leuko polo (“with white horses”)
ry) may have taken over the prominent place originally
and in ancient India they are known as the A´svinau
occupied by the old Indo-European sky god *Deiwos
(“possessors of horses”). The names Raos and Raptos
(Gmc., *Tiwaz; Gk., Zeus; ON Ty´r), who has still pre-
(related respectively to Ger. Rahe [yard] and Eng. rafter)
served a sufficiently prominent position among certain
reflect the aniconic representation of the Dioscuri by
tribes (e.g., the Chatti) for the spoils of the enemy to
beams, which occurred also in ancient Sparta, and in the
be dedicated to him and *Woðan[az] jointly.
shape of the Latin letter H or the Greek letter (pi). The
• The divine champion Þun[a]r[az] is identified with the
Langobardic terms ibor (presumably from Gmc. *ebur-,
thunder god Jupiter or with Hercules.
“boar”) and aio (Gmc, *agjo, “edge, sharp side of a
• The divine twins, the *Alhiz, identified with Castor and
blade”) may refer to the sharp tusks of the wild boar,
Pollux, were venerated locally, especially among the
an animal also closely associated with the fertility deities
eastern Germanic tribes.
Freyr and Freyja, with whose domain the divine twins
• The fertility deities were worshiped regionally and had
also have direct links.
associated functions such as the protection of navigation
• Besides the already mentioned references to *Ingw[az],
or the determination of man’s fate; they include Ne-
a number of names of deities associated with fertility
halennia, the matres or matronae, Nerthus, and *Ingw-
occur, such as Erce, a name apparently borrowed from
[az].
Celtic and used to designate Mother Earth in an Old
Although poorly documented, the Germanic pantheon of
English charm; Phol (OHG, Vol), appearing together
the Migration and post-Migration periods shows an appar-
with Woden and Balder in the Old High German Mer-
ent continuity in this system:
seburg spell; Friia and Frig, the Old High German and
• *Woðan[az] remains the supreme god and is honored
Old English names, respectively, for the Germanic god-
as the ancestor of royal lineages; there is also some evi-
dess identified with Venus, whose name survives in the
dence of his connection with magic. *Tiw[az] recedes
German Freitag and the English Friday. The often as-
to the background but is perhaps to be identified with
sumed existence of a spring deity, *Austro, from whose
the tribal god of the Saxons, whose name occurs togeth-
name the word Easter (Ger, Ostern) is supposedly de-
er with Woden and Thunaer in the abjuration formula
rived, is, however, doubtful: it rests on an interpretation
the Saxons had to pronounce with their baptismal vows
of the Old English term Eostrae by Bede (672/3–735
during the forcible conversion campaign conducted by
CE) and has no backing either in cult or myth; it has re-
Charlemagne. The third name in the abjuration formu-
cently been more convincingly explained as a Christian
la, Saxnote, is ambiguous: it can either mean “sword
missionary term.
companion” or denote a “sacrificial” god. Although the
former interpretation fits in with the statement in the
• There are also a few minor deities such as Fosite, to
chronicles about the cult of “Mars” among the Saxons
whom an island was consecrated at the juncture of the
and could be connected with the presence of the cosmic
Frisian and Danish territories. He is known only from
pillar Irminsul in their main sanctuary (a reference to
a reference in the life of Saint Willibrord, but his name
*Tiw[az]’s original function as sky god), the latter would
shows a striking similarity to that of the Scandinavian
make more plausible Dumézil’s suggestion that the
god Forseti, whose specific function according to the
Saxon triad Thunaer-Woden-Saxnote corresponds to
Lay of Grímnir is to settle all disputes; he is the son of
the Scandinavian trinity Þórr-Óðinn-Freyr in the Upp-
Baldr and lives in Glitnir, a hall “propped with gold and
sala temple. Saxnote could indeed be a god of the tribal
shingled with shining silver” (st. 15). Forseti’s name is
community, just as Freyr is folkvaldi (leader of the peo-
transparent: it means “presiding [over the Thing],” but
ple). Saxnote would presumably have been sacrificed to,
no satisfactory explanation can be given for the loss of
as was Freyr, the blótgoð Svía (sacrificial god of the
the [r] in Fosite, so that the connection between Fosite
Swedes).
and Forseti remains conjectural.
• *Þun[a]r[az], the thunder god, progressively gains
Our knowledge of the Scandinavian development of the
prominence as the divine representative of the warrior
Germanic pantheon in the Viking age is much more detailed,
class.
for we have a fair amount of pagan poetry (copied in Chris-
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3452
GERMANIC RELIGION: AN OVERVIEW
tian times, but dating back to the ninth and tenth centuries)
powers. The Vanir use seiðr, an effeminate form of sorcery
that mentions the gods and the myths about them. The blos-
that the Æsir deem despicable but which Óðinn nevertheless
soming of literature in medieval Iceland after the conversion
is keen to learn from Freyja. Finally, Óðinn’s ability to
also provides ample information about the pagan gods and
change shape is more than matched by the metamorphoses
cults of the Germanic North. Moreover, reports from various
of Loki. It is also shared by certain giants such as Suttungr,
non-Scandinavian sources attest to the prevalence of the wor-
who pursues Óðinn in the shape of an eagle, or Þjazi, who
ship of Þórr among the Vikings. This is also confirmed by
also assumes the shape of an eagle to follow the trickster Loki.
studies that show no people and very few places named after
Indeed, complex figures such as Loki and Heimdallr do not
Óðinn, but many people and places named after Þórr. This
fit into Dumézil’s neat matrix at all.
situation should not be misinterpreted: Óðinn was the sover-
Loki is extremely difficult to classify. Originally a giant,
eign god, but he was the deity associated primarily with the
he nevertheless played an important part in the decisions and
warrior elite, whereas Þórr was worshiped by the majority of
activities of the gods. Although primarily a mischievous
the people. The cult of Ty´r remained widespread only in
trickster, Loki cannot be described as an “evil demon.” He
Denmark, although his name appears frequently in West
is restless and inventive, deceptive and unreliable. Frequently
Norse poetry because it means simply “god” and was often
causing trouble for the gods, he usually redeems himself by
used in synonyms for Óðinn.
solving the problem he created. Ultimately he goes too far
The comparativist Georges Dumézil considered the
when his delight in mischief leads to the death of Óðinn’s
common Indo-European “ideology” to have consisted of
son Baldr, utterly outraging the whole divine world and re-
three principles or “functions” (the maintenance of cosmic
sulting in his being chained up until Ragnaro˛k. Dumézil sees
and juridical order; the exercise of physical force; and the
in him an incarnation of impulsive intelligence, but this in-
promotion of physical well-being, fertility, and wealth), and
terpretation is disputable. There is no trace of any cult devot-
he interpreted the gods of the various groups of the Indo-
ed to Loki, nor are any people or places named for him.
Europeans’ descendents as representing these “functions.”
Heimdallr occupies a similarly marginal position in the
Óðinn and Ty´r he saw as co-sovereigns, the former repre-
pantheon. It is not even clear to which group of gods he
senting the magical aspect of the first “function” and the lat-
should be assigned. Apparently he offered up his hljóð, which
ter its juridical aspect. Þórr represented the second “func-
was hidden as a pledge under the cosmic tree, Yggdrasill, as
tion,” including its manifestation in war, and Njo˛rðr, Freyr,
did Óðinn his eye. Óðinn appropriately received exceptional
and Freyja represented the third “function.” Such a presenta-
vision and Heimdallr was gifted with extraordinary aural per-
tion, however, oversimplifies the picture of the Scandinavian
ception: “He can hear the grass grow on the earth and the
system, which fails to show the characteristic slant towards
wool on sheep.” It has therefore been assumed that the Old
war in the second “function,” as Dumézil himself acknowl-
Norse term hljóð—generally translated “horn” in this context
edges. All the deities supposedly representing different “func-
(Vo˛luspá, st. 27) but usually meaning “silence, listening,
tions” have some association with war. Óðinn intervenes in
hearing, what is heard”—must designate one of Heimdallr’s
battles to give victory to his favorites, and Þórr frequently en-
ears. Offering up a body part in exchange for a major attri-
gages in hand-to-hand combat with giants of both sexes.
bute is a characteristic feature of the most important Æsir,
Even the Vanir gods seem to acquire some of the Æsir’s com-
Óðinn and Ty´r. (The latter sacrificed his hand in order to
bative spirit when they move to Ásgarðr, as when the peace-
guarantee a pledge that enabled the gods to fetter the mon-
ful Freyr, who had given up his sword to obtain the favors
strous wolf Fenrir, and in return assumed the role of protec-
of a beautiful giant maiden, faces the giant Beli without a
tor of the Thing and patron of the law.) As guardian of the
weapon and kills him with a hart’s horn. And while Óðinn
gods and watchman of Ásgarðr, Heimdallr assumes a military
collects half of the heroes who die on the battlefield to join
function, which would make him a second-function god in
his retinue in Valho˛ll, it is certainly striking that Freyja gets
the Dumézilian system, like Þórr (with whom he shares the
the other half. Fertility is another area that is not easily com-
tendency to imbibe great quantities of mead). But the Eddic
partmentalized as Dumézil would have it. The thunder god
Poem of Þry´mr (Þry´mskviða, st. 15) describes him as one of
Þórr was the protector of the peasant class, which depended
the Vanir and able to “fathom the future.” His affinity with
on the weather for its crops, but he shares control of the at-
the ram further complicates matters: was he originally a god
mosphere with Njo˛rðr, who controls the path of the wind
of sheep breeders, as Freyr was a god of wheat growers and
and, as sea god, counteracts the effects of the thunderstorms,
pig breeders?
quieting the sea and smothering the lightning-sparked fires.
Furthermore, some very important aspects of the major dei-
The minor deities are also problematic. Some of them,
ties are not covered by Dumézil’s labels. For example, Óðinn
such as Ullr, an archer god living in Y´dalir (“yew dales”) in
is as much the god of “inspired cerebral activity” as he is the
Ásgarðr, can be integrated into the tripartite functional
god of sovereignty, but his role as the patron of the poets can-
scheme. His importance is made clear by Óðinn’s statement
not be explained by Dumézil’s system. And although Óðinn
in the Lay of Grímnir (st. 42) that among all the gods, Ullr
manifests his sovereign power through potent magical inter-
especially will grant his blessing to him who “first quenches
ventions, he is definitely not the only one to wield magical
the fire.” The most sacred oaths are sworn by Ullr’s ring, and
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as a stepson of Þórr, he has close connections with the war-
year 900. The desire of the giants for a goddess as well as for
riors. He is invoked by those engaged in single combat, and
outrageous rewards from the Æsir is again illustrated by the
the poetic circumlocution an “Ullr of battle” means “a war-
story of the “master builder” of the divine stronghold, who
rior.” According to the evidence of place-names, he was the
requests Freyja as payment for his work and demands the sun
object of an extended cult in Norway and Sweden, where he
and the moon to boot, obviously intending to plunge the
was called Ullinn, but there he eventually seems to have been
world into darkness and sterility.
overshadowed by Þórr, Freyr, and Freyja. There is practically
Very little information is given about the other goddess-
no trace of him in Denmark, which instead has many places
es, apart from Freyja:
named for Ty´r. This is rather significant in light of the story
of Ullr’s temporary usurpation of Óðinn’s throne, as narrat-
• Frigg, Óðinn’s wife, is the devoted mother of Baldr; she
ed by Saxo Grammaticus: Óðinn had committed a grievous
lives in Fensalir (“marshy halls”), attended by her confi-
breach of his royal majesty by assuming a feminine disguise,
dant Fulla. Loki claims that she shared her sexual favors
and as a result of this disgrace he was replaced by Ullr, who
with her husband’s brothers, Vili and Vé (Lokasenna, st.
reigned for ten years. When Óðinn was restored, Ullr (whose
26), and Saxo also refers to her loose morals, which trig-
name, latinized into Ollerus, means “glory, brilliance”) fled
ger the episode with Mithotyn.
to Sweden but was killed afterward by Danes. In view of
• Jörð (“earth”), the mother of Þórr, is also known under
Ullr’s connection with oath-taking, Dumézil sees in this epi-
the name of Fjörgyn, which may mean “goddess of the
sode an illustration of the complementary nature of the two
furrow” (cf. Gmc., *furho; OHG, fur[u]h; OE, furh;
aspects of sovereignty, the inspired and the majestic. The lat-
Fris., furge; Ger., Furche; Eng., furrow). Her male coun-
ter, with its juridical connotations, is illustrated by Saxo’s
terpart is Fjörgynn, who is believed to be either the fa-
second story of Óðinn’s temporary ouster from power.
ther or the lover of Frigg, because the latter is called
Óðinn’s fall this time is brought about by the misconduct
Fjörgyns mær (Lokasenna, st. 26: “Fjörgynn’s maiden”).
of his wife, Frigg, and he is replaced by a magician called
Fjörgynn’s name, however, is related to the set of terms
Mithotyn, who introduces all kinds of innovations that the
derived from the Indo-European term *perkw- and as-
people dislike. As a result, Óðinn is welcomed back while
sociated with thunder, craggy mountains, and the oak
Mithotyn flees and is eventually killed on the Danish island
tree. Among them are the Lithuanian name Perkunas
of Fyn. In this story, Dumézil has seen the contrast between
(“thunder”; cf. Slav., *Perunu), the Gothic word fair-
the unitary and rather ill-defined religion of Óðinn and the
guni (“mountain”; cf. Lat., Hercynia silva, a wooded
analytic religion of Mithotyn (actually *Mitoðinn, from ON
mountain range in ancient Germany), and the Latin
mjötur, “measurer,” meaning “dispenser of fate”), who intro-
word quercus (oak), as well as the Langobardic fereha
duces rules where there were none. As Dumézil puts it, “The
aesculus and the Old High German fereh-eih, both of
lawyer replaces the inspired, and his very precision makes
which designate a type of oak tree (cf. OE, furh; OHG,
him hatable!” (Dumézil, 1939, p. 224).
for[a]ha, “fir”). These etymological links rest on the age-
Bragi is another lesser god about whom little is known.
old perception of the predilection of lightning for rocky
His name seems to be related to the Old Norse word bragr,
spots and oak trees and reflect the correlations estab-
which designates “poetic form,” and he is described as the
lished between them in Indo-European myth and tradi-
“foremost of poets,” being in this way in competition with
tion.
Óðinn as patron of poetry. In the Eddic poem Loki’s Slanging
• The goddess Gefjun is said to have torn away a sizable
Match (Lokasenna, sts. 8–15) he bickers with Loki, who
chunk of land from Sweden and dragged it away to form
chides him for his lack of courage in combat. Obviously, his
the Danish island of Sjælland. To perform this deed, she
power is in speech, and his eloquence is strengthened by the
turned her four giant-begotten sons into oxen and
magic of the runes carved on his tongue. Bragi is the husband
yoked them to a plow. Although she is mentioned as a
of Iðunn, the guardian of the apples that ensure the eternal
separate deity in Lokasenna (st. 20), she seems to be a
youth of the gods. The only myth relating to her tells that
hypostasis of Freyja, who is also known as Gefn
Loki delivered her and her apples to the giants. Catastrophe
(“giver”), a name befitting a fertility goddess. Loki, in-
ensues when everyone in Ásgarðr grows old and infirm. They
deed, reproaches Gefjun for having “lured to lust”
summon Loki before their council and compel him to re-
Heimdallr, who gave her a precious jewel—presumably
trieve Iðunn and her apples. The trickster flies to Jötunheimr
the mysterious “sea kidney” (ON, hafnyra, probably re-
in the shape of a falcon to recover Iðunn and her precious
ferring to a piece of amber) he had won in an epic battle
possessions from the clutches of the giant Þjazi. The latter
with Loki—even before she “threw [her] thighs about
pursues Loki in the form of an eagle and is killed when he
him” (a behavior paralleling that of Freyja for the pos-
tries to fly into Ásgarðr. Although apples were not cultivated
session of the valuable Brising Necklace). How Snorri
in Scandinavia until late in the Middle Ages, the theme of
can describe her as a virgin, served by women who die
this story must be quite old, as the Norwegian poet Þjóðólfr
unmarried, remains unexplained.
of Hvin refers to Iðunn and the “old-age medicine” of the
gods in his composition Haustlöng, composed around the
• Sif, the wife of Þórr and the mother of Ullr by another
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GERMANIC RELIGION: AN OVERVIEW
male deity, plays a rather unobtrusive part in the society
one). Vo˛luspá’s version of man’s creation undoubtedly repre-
of the Æsir, but although she is shy and retiring, Loki
sents an older tradition. That man would receive the breath
claimed to have enjoyed her favors (Loki’s Slanging
of life from Óðinn is in keeping with his position as the sov-
Match, st. 54), and apparently Óðinn was aware of it,
ereign god, meting out life-giving power (ON, önd, “breath”;
because he warns Þórr that “someone sleeps in her
the translation “soul” has Christian implications that the Old
bower with Sif ” (Song of Hárbarðr, st. 48). This explains
Norse term acquires only later). Óðinn’s name
why Loki dares to cut off Sif’s hair, a punishment nor-
(Gmc.,*Wo¯ðan[az]) derives from a root meaning “to blow”
mally inflicted on adulteresses. But Þórr does not believe
and includes the connotation “life-giving power” in some of
in the unfaithfulness of his wife and compels Loki to go
its derivations; it is cognate to Old Irish fáith (seer, prophet)
to the dwarves to obtain hair made out of gold that will
and Latin va¯tes (soothsayer). Óðinn is indeed the inspired
replace her lost locks. This story accounts for the poetic
god, the prince of the poets, the master of the divinatory
circumlocution “Sif’s hair,” which means “gold.”
runes, and the wielder of awesome magical powers. The Ger-
manic stem of his name, *wo¯þ-, also appears in German as
In many cases it is questionable whether some deities named
Wut (rage). Adam of Bremen thus correctly interpreted
by Snorri are anything more than local variants of major
Óðinn’s name as “furor” in his description of the pagan gods
gods, used primarily to provide variation in poetic language.
worshiped at the temple at Uppsala. The Old Norse term
Thus we have no myths relating to goddesses such as Eir
óðr, usually translated “mind, reason, understanding,” is the
(“the best of physicians”), Sjöfn (who brings people to love),
gift of Hœnir, according to Vo˛luspá (st. 18). But óðr is also
and Lofn (“permission,” who brings together those who can-
used as an adjective meaning “mad, furious, vehement; eager,
not marry).
impatient,” all of which point to either strong emotional
THE CREATION OF MAN. The Germanic myth of the cre-
stress or lack of control over the power of reasoning. The in-
ation of man appears in two versions, that in Völuspá (sts.
spired cerebral activity expressed by *wo¯þ- can indeed verge
17–18) and that in Snorri’s Edda. In both cases, three deities
on ecstasy; thus, the name of the mead of poetic inspiration,
are involved: the Æsir in the former and the sons of Borr in
óðrœrir, literally means “rousing to the point of ecstasy.”
the latter. Walking along the shore, the gods find two tree
Stanza 18 of Vo˛luspá is the only context in which óðr is as-
trunks, which they animate and endow with various quali-
sumed to have the meaning “mind, reason, understanding,”
ties. In the Vo˛luspá account, Óðinn gives them breath and
and the main reason for ascribing this meaning to it here is
soul, Hœnir gives them feeling and sense, and Lóðurr gives
the parallel text by Snorri, in which the second god endows
them craft, bearing, and color. In Snorri’s account, the first
man with vit ok hrœring (wit and movement), with special
god gives them breath and life, the second god gives them
focus on vit (intelligence). However, hrœring need not apply
consciousness and movement, and the third god gives them
only to physical movement. It occurs in compounds and
faces, speech, hearing, and sight. Close parallels to this myth
phrases pointing clearly to emotions, so that Snorri’s use of
are lacking. Hesiod mentions that Zeus created a race of men
vit in association with hrœring may well indicate specifically
from ash trees, and indeed in the Old Norse name of the first
the movements of the mind that óðr expresses in Vo˛luspá.
man is Askr (ash tree). There is also some correspondence
with an Indic tale in which a sculptor, a goldsmith, a weaver,
This misinterpretation of óðr is also ascribable to the fact
and a priest whittle a piece of sandalwood into the shape of
that Hœnir is often described as a wise god; his name is sup-
a pretty woman. The sculptor shapes it, the weaver dresses
posed to be derived from a root meaning “to make keen, to
it, the goldsmith adorns it with jewels, and the priest breathes
sharpen,” so that he would be the god who sharpens the
life into it through his incantations. The basic idea in these
mind. Dumézil calls him “the patron of the deep, invisible
myths is the same—a human being is fashioned out of a piece
part of intelligence” (Dumézil, 1986, p. 227). This view is
of wood—but the elaboration of the theme is totally differ-
based on two events. First, when the giant Þjazi, in the shape
ent. In the Indic tale, giving life is the crowning act of the
of an eagle, asks Hœnir for a full share of the meal the gods
long process of shaping a human being; in the Germanic
are cooking, Hœnir does not answer but cannot help breath-
myth, the triad of gods creates the primordial being right
ing heavily with anger. Second, whenever he attends the as-
away. What characterizes the Eddic account is the unity of
sembly of the Vanir as a chief and fails to get Mímir’s advice,
the creative act by direct divine intervention in spite of the
Hœnir does not take a stand, but merely states “Let others
distribution of the human qualities by three different gods.
decide!” Dumézil considers Hœnir’s refusal to commit him-
It is interesting, therefore, to examine how these gifts relate
self to be the only wise attitude under the circumstances, and
to the nature and function of the deities involved.
contrasts it with Loki’s rashness, which turns into disaster
when he tries to beat Þjazi with a stick after the giant snatches
In Snorri’s version, the gods in question are the sons of
four pieces of meat from the gods. In the case of the assem-
Borr: Óðinn, Vili, and Vé, the same group that created the
bly, Dumézil suggests that Mímir and Hœnir represent com-
world by dismembering the primal giant Ymir. As Vili and
plementary symbolizations of human thought processes:
Vé are little more than hypostases of Óðinn, the whole pro-
Mímir represents the “collective consciousness” on which we
cess of creation is ascribed to that supreme god (perhaps a
rely for decision making, and without which individual
Christian-influenced effort to reduce the triad of gods to
thought (i.e., Hœnir) is worthless. Dumézil’s explanation is
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3455
ingenious but far from convincing, for all the texts show
corroboration for this interpretation is provided by the To-
Hœnir as unable to act on his own, and although that may
charian term lek (appearance, mien), derived from the same
not make him weak-minded, as various scholars have sug-
Indo-European root. An alternate solution would be to inter-
gested, it hardly makes him a “god of reflective thought.”
pret lá as “hair” (from Gmc., *lawo, “cutting”), showing the
Rather, he is the instrument of divine inspiration, the one
same semantic development as the Sanskrit cognate lava-
who utters the message conveyed by another’s wisdom. In
(cutting, wool, hair). Thus the Eddic line could well be inter-
the absence of Mímir (his source of inspiration), he remains
preted as “Lóðurr gave hair and fair complexion to man.” If
silent at the assembly, and therefore he is described as the
Óðinn and Hœnir bestow essentially spiritual qualities upon
most fearful of all gods because he cannot act without being
man, whereas Lóðurr provides him with his physical aspect,
advised. After Ragnaro˛k, he will function as priest, consult-
Lóðurr must be a god presiding over the physical aspects of
ing the oracles (i.e., interpreting the signs given by an outside
life, closer to nature than the lofty Æsir. In other words, he
power, again as the vehicle of divine inspiration). It is in this
must be one of the Vanir, part of the old Germanic fertility
capacity that he is instrumental in endowing man with “in-
cult. His name may be connected with the Old Norse term
spired mental activity” (óðr); thus some scholars have also
ló (produce of the land). Swedish place-names indicate that
considered him a hypostasis of Óðinn.
there was a Germanic hypostasis of the great goddess of fertil-
ity named *Liuðgoða, and her male counterpart, *Loðverr,
The third god in the divine triad, Lóðurr, is more diffi-
could survive in Lóðurr as a divinity of generation and
cult to define functionally, for he is hardly known outside
growth and protector of the ethnic community.
this context. (Elsewhere he is described simply as a friend of
Óðinn, an association he shares with quite a few gods in the
THE MEAD OF POETIC INSPIRATION. The ability to compose
Scandinavian pantheon.) Because in other contexts Óðinn
poetry was highly valued by the Scandinavians, and it is not
and Hœnir are closely associated with Loki, scholars have
surprising that the patron god of poetry was the sovereign
also attempted to equate Lóðurr with Loki (as a god of fire)
deity Óðinn himself. Moreover, the special language used in
on the basis of etymological speculations, but the arguments
Norse poems made extensive use of allusions to the gods and
advanced to back up this hypothesis have all proved untena-
supernatural beings such as giants and dwarves. For these
ble. The identification of Lóðurr with the term logaþore,
reasons, the myth about the mead of poetic inspiration must
which occurs with the name Woðan and Wigiþonar in the
have been of particular importance. It exists in several ver-
runic inscription on the Nordendorf Fibula (first half of the
sions, but the gist is that malicious dwarves killed Kvasir (the
seventh century) is also disputable: logaþore is presumably
being created in token of the accord between the Æsir and
cognate with the Old English logor or logeer (wily, crafty), ap-
the Vanir) and brewed a mead from his blood that would
plying to magicians. This connection with magic, with the
bestow the ability to compose poetry. The dwarves were
connotation of plotting mischief, could fit the personality of
forced to relinquish this magical substance to the giants, who
Óðinn fairly well, so that Lóðurr might just be another hy-
guarded it jealously, although they did not drink of it them-
postasis of this god. But before overriding the etymological
selves. Óðinn obtains the mead by seducing its giantess
difficulties connected with this view, it is advisable to exam-
guardian, swallowing it all, changing himself into an eagle,
ine more closely the gifts bestowed by Lóðurr upon the pri-
flying to Ásgarðr, and spewing it out into three crocks the
mal human couple: according to the text, he gives them lá,
Æsir had ready. This story illustrates the dichotomy between
læti, and litir góðir. The last of these means “good colors,”
the gods, who are associated with culture and craft, and the
implying good health and also physical beauty, which was
giants, who are associated with the hostile natural environ-
considered a sign of noble ancestry among the Germanic
ment. It also illustrates the dichotomy between the gods’ os-
people. (Thus it is Beowulf’s handsome appearance that dis-
tensible motivation, which is the benevolent desire to make
tinguishes him from his companions, and the Anglo-Saxon
good use of a magical substance, and their behavior, which
poet uses for this peerless appearance the very same term that
includes deceit, seduction, and theft. This myth must be part
Snorri uses to qualify the gift of the third deity.) Læti means
of the Indo-European heritage, for it has parallels with stories
“noise, voice” or “gestures, attitude” and refers specifically to
told about the Indian god Indra, who has an encounter with
manners in other contexts. Since Snorri specifies speech,
the monster Mada (“Drunkeness”) and who is also the recipi-
hearing, and sight as the gifts of the third deity to the first
ent of soma, the intoxicating sacrificial liquor that gives poet-
human couple, it is obvious that Snorri’s account represents
ic ability, immortality, and knowledge of the divine. As with
a different tradition from that of Vo˛luspá. The term lá is
the mead of poetic inspiration, soma was brought to the gods
problematic because its etymological connections are diffi-
by an eagle or possibly Indra in the form of an eagle.
cult to assess. The usual translation, “blood,” rests on a dis-
THE DEATH OF BALDR. The story of Baldr’s fate is probably
putable interpretation of a single line of poetry. In another
the most moving and most controversial of all the Scandina-
poetic context the term is associated with the adjective sölr
vian myths. In this story, best known from Snorri’s Edda,
(pale, yellow), suggesting the interpretation “sallow-
Óðinn’s resplendent son Baldr is plagued by evil dreams of
complexioned.” This would imply that lá means “look,
impending death. To protect against any danger, his mother,
mien.” Lóðurr would then have given man his mien and
Frigg, exacts an oath from everything in the world not to
good complexion (i.e., his physical appearance). The only
harm him, but neglects the puny mistletoe. Jealous of the at-
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tention Baldr receives in the games of the gods, Loki, in the
their inescapable course. Tension grows between the Æsir
disguise of a woman, wheedles the secret of Baldr’s invulner-
and the Vanir, and the strife worsens into a war when the
ability out of his mother. He then persuades Baldr’s blind
seeress Gullveig brings the corruption of greed, lust, and
brother, Höðr, who has been prevented by his infirmity from
witchcraft into Ásgarðr. Peace is temporarily restored and
any participation in the sportive tossing of objects at Baldr,
hostages are exchanged, but the age of innocence is gone.
to throw a dart of mistletoe. Under Loki’s guidance the mis-
The gods can no longer be trusted; they break their most sol-
sile hits Baldr and kills him. The gods are stunned, and while
emn promises or resort to trickery to avoid fulfilling them.
preparations for Baldr’s burial are in progress, they send out
Then comes the worst, the treacherous killing of Baldr by
Hermóðr on Óðinn’s horse to the kingdom of Hel to entreat
the throwing of the mistletoe, the missile in the hand of his
the goddess of the netherworld for the release of the unfortu-
blind brother Höðr, guided by the perfidious Loki. Punish-
nate god. Meanwhile, Baldr’s wife, Nanna, dies of grief and
ment follows for the criminal, but the fateful action has trig-
her body is carried onto the ship Hringhorni (“curved
gered the chain of events that will culminate in ultimate di-
prow”), where she joins her husband on the funeral pyre. As
saster, with one horrible scene following upon another.
for Hermóðr, he returns with the message that Baldr will be
In Vo˛luspá the seeress describes the river of the nether-
released only on the condition that “everything in the world,
world, full of sharp blades, and the shore of death with Hel’s
both dead and alive, weeps for him.” Immediately the Æsir
hall, whose walls are “clad with coiling snakes.” Through the
dispatch messengers all over the universe to request everyone
river wade perjurers, murderers, and adulterers, and the ser-
and everything to weep Baldr out of Hel’s clutches. Even the
pent Níðho˛ggr feeds on corpses along its banks. She also de-
stones and the metals participate in the universal grief, but
scribes the evil brood of Fenrir in the Iron Woods to the east,
a giantess called Þökk says she has no use for Baldr; as far
the wolves that will devour the sun and the moon. The sun
as she is concerned, Hel can keep him! Þökk is actually Loki
grows dim, the weather “woe-bringing”; a horribly long win-
in disguise, and thus he succeeds in preventing the return of
ter will bring famine, as described in the Lay of Vafþrúðnir
Baldr, who will only come back after Ragnaro˛k. Scholarly in-
(st. 44). The final doom is heralded by a couple of obscure
terpretations of this myth are many and conflicting, but it
stanzas in which three roosters crow to call up the fighters—
worth mentioning that the story underscores the limitations
giants, Óðinn’s warriors in Valho˛ll, and the dead in Hel’s
of the Æsir, who for all their power essentially rule the uni-
realm—for the last combat. Now the forces of evil break
verse for a single generation and are then destroyed.
loose: the hellhound Garmr breaks its fetters, and in the
THE END OF THE WORLD. The destruction of the world
world of men, fratricidal struggles erupt everywhere; the
hangs over the gods and man as a permanent threat.
bonds of kinship are disregarded (“woe’s in the world, much
Ragnaro˛k (fate of the gods) or aldar rök (the fate of human-
wantonness”), and no respect for human life remains. Heim-
kind) has been misinterpreted as ragnaro⁄kkr (twilight of the
dallr, the watchman of the gods, blows his horn, the cosmic
gods). The Old Norse term rök means “course of events, des-
tree Yggdrasill shakes in its roots, the world serpent “wallows
tiny, fate.” The Germanic apocalyptic vision of the end of
in giant rage,” and the ship of death breaks its moorings. All
time appears in Vo˛luspá, presumably composed during the
the forces of destruction move in. Loki leads the “witless
wane of paganism at the end of the ninth or the beginning
hordes” of giants, and Surtr, the lord of Muspelheimr, arrives
of the tenth century. As Jan de Vries has indicated, the anon-
from the south with the fire demons that will set the world
ymous poet must have been a pious man, still convinced that
ablaze. The mountains totter, heaven is rent apart, and men
sufficient faith in paganism persisted to promote a rebirth,
tread the path of Hel. In the final clash the gods meet their
but one who borrowed too much from Christianity to be
fates: Óðinn is slaughtered by the wolf Fenrir but is avenged
considered a truly pagan seer (de Vries, 1956–1957, vol. 2,
by his son Víðarr; Þórr meets his archfoe, the earth-girding
pp. 395–396). It is therefore difficult to assess how much of
serpent, and they kill each other; Freyr dies in single combat
his worldview is genuinely Germanic and how much his vi-
with Surtr. The sun turns dark, the stars fall from the sky,
sion of the future and his yearning for a “brave new world”
and the blazing earth sinks into the sea.
free of strife and lies is shaped by Christian influences.
But this apocalypse does not mean that all is lost. The
The prelude to the final catastrophe is the murder of
earth, which was originally lifted from the primeval waters
Baldr, but the elements of decay appear to have been present
by Óðinn and his brothers, reemerges purified and regenerat-
in the world from the start. The Lay of Grímnir (st. 36) de-
ed from the deep into which it had sunk. A new breed of
scribes the cosmic tree Yggdrasill as having “the hart brows-
gods meet again in the green pastures and find the chessmen
ing above, its bole rotting, and Níðho˛ggr gnawing beneath”;
left by the Æsir. Baldr and Höðr are reborn to dwell in per-
it is weakened more than humankind suspects. Initially the
fect harmony in the divine halls, and henceforth guiltless
gods appear to enjoy an idyllic life in the shining plain of
men will live forever in a gold-roofed abode called Gimlé.
Iðavöllr, where they relax and play chess after building
A mighty unnamed deity will reign over all, but evil has not
shrines and making gold jewels, until three giant maidens
been completely eradicated, for Níðhöggr, the awful dragon
come to disturb the serenity of this garden of delight. These
carrying corpses in its pinions, is still roaming over the plains.
are the Norns, who bring uncontrollable fate into the Ger-
Vo˛luspá, whose description of the fate of the gods has
manic world. From the moment of their arrival, events take
been presented here, does not constitute our only source
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GERMANIC RELIGION: AN OVERVIEW
3457
about Ragnaro˛k, nor does it strictly reflect popular beliefs
cial hill of earth was raised over their graves). Longships
about the end of time. The Eddic poems often contain diver-
sometimes served as the coffins of kings and other people of
gent versions of certain episodes, and Snorri, who gave a de-
rank, as in the Sutton Hoo burial in England and the Ose-
tailed account of the same events in his Edda, quotes from
berg burial in Norway, and in Sweden the barrows were long,
all the sources available to him. Thus, describing Óðinn’s
pointed ovals—the shape of the “footprint” of a longship. It
tragic end and Víðarr’s vengeance, Snorri prefers the cruder
is not clear whether this attests to a belief that the dead need-
and more primitive version of the Lay of Vafþrúðnir, in which
ed a ship to travel to the next world, or whether the ship (ac-
Víðarr, wearing a shoe made of all the leather pared off from
tual or symbolic) was considered something that would be
men’s shoes at the toes and heels since the beginning of time,
useful in the afterlife, like the weapons or household tools
pulls apart Fenrir’s jaws. The strange similarity between the
that were sometimes placed in graves. There were also differ-
action of Víðarr and that of Lugh in the Irish tradition of
ent beliefs regarding the afterworld. Norse mythology and
the Second Battle of Magh Tuiredh, along with the associa-
court poetry focus on the life in Valho˛ll of the warriors killed
tion of the Celtic god Lug(us) with cobblers, may indicate
in battle, but the Icelandic sagas attest to beliefs that a dead
that this strange reference to the origin of Víðarr’s footwear
person would spend the afterlife feasting with companions
reflects a very old, no longer well-understood tradition asso-
in his grave mound or would join his kin, who would be “liv-
ciating this Germanic deity with the shoemakers. Therefore,
ing” in a nearby cliff or mountain. These beliefs were very
the Vo˛luspá version, which states that Víðarr “hews the son
likely to have originated in Norway, the homeland of many
of Hveðrungr to the heart,” presumably represents a younger
of the original settlers of Iceland. Finally, in addition to the
form of the story. In any event, there was a widespread inti-
geographic distribution of the cults of a particular god, Norse
mation of the impending catastrophe affecting the gods in
paganism seems to have involved no restrictions or require-
the Scandinavian world. This is widely demonstrated by nu-
ments regarding an individual’s beliefs. According to the
merous references in court poetry. For example, in a poem
sagas, at least, one person could be a devotee of Þórr, whereas
commissioned by the widow of the Norwegian king Eirik
his neighbor was a devotee of Freyr. From a very early period,
Bloodax (killed in England in 954), Eirik is assumed to have
been called to Valho˛ll by Óðinn, who needed him for the
Germanic and Scandinavian pagans were rarely wholly iso-
impending final conflict: “The grey wolf [Fenrir] is glaring
lated from Christianity, and a certain amount of syncretism
at the dwellings of the gods, ready to jump.” Similarly, Ey-
undoubtedly resulted. The sagas, for example, tell of one Ice-
vindr the Plagiarist celebrated the Norwegian king Hákon
lander who prayed to Christ while he was ashore but to Þórr
the Good (d. 960) by saying: “Unfettered will fare the Fen-
while he was at sea.
rir-wolf and ravage the / realm of men ere that cometh a
The value system of Germanic paganism had to do with
kingly prince as / good to stand in his stead” (Hollander,
people’s actions rather than their thoughts, feelings, or be-
1964, p. 127).
liefs. There was no religious moral code defining particular
RELIGIOUS PRACTICES AND MORALITY. Apart from Ibn Fa-
“virtues” or “sins”; instead, Germanic law, culture, and cus-
dlan’s account of a Scandinavian funeral, there are few whol-
tom embodied a system in which certain actions would bring
ly reliable sources of information about pagan religious prac-
honor or dishonor to an individual. Shame might or might
tices. Icelandic sagas contain characters who are pagan
not be felt by someone who had brought dishonor upon
priests, seeresses, witches, and sorcerors, and they describe
himself, but a person’s reputation was a product of his or her
rituals such as fortune-telling, “baptism,” funerals, sanctifica-
interaction with the community, not a matter between that
tions of land and temples, oath-taking, sacrifices, and feasts
person and a god. Generally speaking, showing bravery in
of sacrificial meat (in Iceland, often horse meat). The sagas
battle, generosity in gift-giving and hospitality, and taking
are products of the Christian age, however, and for several
blood-vengeance in response to a killing or murder would
reasons are liable to give inaccurate accounts of paganism.
enhance a man’s honor. Generosity also enhanced a woman’s
Nonetheless, we know that pagan Scandinavians had temples
honor, as did urging men to honorable actions and dying
where sacrifices were conducted, and that the function of the
with them should their hall or farm be attacked. Cowardice
priest was an important one. In addition, certain rites such
and miserliness brought dishonor. There was no dishonor in
as fortune-telling and sacrificing to the elves were conducted
amassing as much wealth as one could, only in not being
on individual farms.
generous with what one had. In the end, neither one’s honor
Germanic and Scandinavian paganism was by no means
nor one’s belief in a god or the gods seems to have been rele-
a monolithic religion. Both the pantheon and religious prac-
vant to one’s fate after death, despite the acceptance of the
tices evolved over time and were different in different places,
concepts of Valho˛ll and Hel. Malicious people sometimes re-
facts of which medieval Scandinavians were dimly aware. For
turned as destructive ghosts or revenants to harm the living,
example, in his prologue to his history of the kings of Nor-
but there were ways of laying them to rest. The peaceful dead
way, Snorri discusses what he calls “The Age of Burning”
would be served in the afterlife by the things burned or bur-
(when the dead were cremated and memorial stones with
ied with them (clothing, jewelry, weapons, tools, and house-
runic inscriptions were erected in their memory) and “The
hold items, sometimes extending to food, dogs, horses, and
Age of Barrows” (when the dead were inhumed and an artifi-
servants), and in this world their reputations would live on
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3458
GERMANIC RELIGION: HISTORY OF STUDY
after them “for as long as the northern part of the world is
and John Lindow’s Handbook of Norse Mythology (Santa Bar-
inhabited.”
bara, Calif., 2001) are very detailed. For Germanic beliefs
about the afterlife, see Hilda Roderick Ellis’s The Road to
SEE ALSO Álfar; Axis Mundi; Baldr; Berserkers; Dismember-
Hel: A Study of the Conception of the Dead in Old Norse Liter-
ment; Dvergar; Eddas; Freyja; Freyr; Fylgjur; Heimdallr;
ature (New York, 1968). Thomas A. DuBois examines the
Indo-European Religions, overview article; Jôtnar;
dynamic interrelationships of the various religions of pagan
Landvættir; Loki; Njo˛rðr; Óðinn; Olaf the Holy; Paganism,
Scandinavia in Nordic Religions in the Viking Age (Philadel-
Anglo-Saxon; Runes; Sagas; Saxo Grammaticus; Snorri Stur-
phia, 1999). An English translation of Snorri’s euhemeristic
luson; Thor; Ty´r; Valho˛ll; Valkyries.
history is provided by Lee M. Hollander, Heimskringla: His-
tory of the Kings of Norway, by Snorri Sturluson (Austin, Tex.,
1964)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
EDGAR C. POLOMÉ (1987)
For the Indo-European creation myths, see Bruce Lincoln’s Myth,
ELIZABETH ASHMAN ROWE (2005)
Cosmos, and Society: Indo-European Themes of Creation and
Destruction (Cambridge, Mass., 1986). On the Germanic
pantheon, see E. O. G. Turville-Petre’s general work Myth
and Religion of the North (London, 1964) and Georges
GERMANIC RELIGION: HISTORY OF STUDY
Dumézil’s general study Gods of the Ancient Northmen
(Berkeley, Calif., 1973). Other standard works on the topic
This article concentrates on the most recent phase of the his-
include Jan de Vries’s Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte, 2d
tory of scholarship on Germanic religion. A 1956 study by
ed., 2 vols. (Berlin, 1956–1957); R. L. M. Derolez’s Götter
Jan de Vries provides a detailed review of work up to the
und Mythen der Germanen (Darmstadt, Germany, 1959;
middle of the twentieth century, and 1985 reviews by Joseph
Einsiedeln, Switzerland, 1963); and Régis Boyer’s La religion
Harris and John Lindow cover developments up to the early
des Anciens Scandinaves (Paris, 1981). Hilda R. Ellis David-
1980s.
son’s Gods and Myths of Northern Europe (Baltimore, 1964)
SCHOLARSHIP TO THE LATE NINETEENTH CENTURY. Medi-
is written for a wider public. A more controversial work is
eval scholars of Germanic religion were divided into two
A˚ke V. Ström’s Germanische Religion, vol. 19 of Die Relig-
ionen der Menschheit (Stuttgart, 1975). A better summary,
camps. Euhemerists such as Snorri Sturluson (1179–1241)
strongly influenced by Georges Dumézil, is Werner Betz’s
argued that the pagan gods were men who had migrated to
“Die altgermanische Religion,” in Wolfgang Stammler’s
Sweden from Troy but who were believed by the local inhab-
Deutsche Philologie im Aufriss, vol. 3 (Berlin, 1957). Succinct
itants to be divine. In contrast, demonists such as the editors
presentations are found in Lennart Ejerfeldt’s contribution
of the sagas about King Olaf Tryggvason (r. 995–1000) held
to the Handbuch der Religionsgeschichte, vol. 1, edited by Jes
that the pagan gods were manifestations of Satan. Knowledge
P. Asmussen and Jo⁄rgen Laesso⁄e (Göttingen, 1971),
of the pagan religion was never lost, as is shown by the exis-
pp. 277–342; and in Eduard Neumann and Helmut Voigt’s
tence of two versions of Snorri’s Edda that were set down in
entry in Wörterbuch der Mythologie, vol. 2 of Das alte Europa,
seventeenth-century Iceland. However, the systematic study
edited by H. W. Haussig (Stuttgart, 1972). On Tacitus,
of Germanic mythology began with the publication in 1835
compare J. G. C. Anderson’s Cornelii Taciti De origine et situ
of Jacob Grimm’s work on Teutonic mythology. Although
Germanorum (Oxford, 1961), Rudolf Much’s Die Germania
des Tacitus erläutert, edited by Wolfgang Lange and Herbert
his etymologies and interpretations are now largely rejected,
Jankuhn (Heidelberg, Germany, 1967), and Allan Lund’s
his collection of materials was nonetheless a rich one and a
Zum Germanenbild der Römer: eine Einführung in die antike
monument to romanticism’s interest in the Germanic past.
Ethnographie (Heidelberg, Germany, 1990). On the sover-
After Grimm, the nineteenth century witnessed various
eign gods, consult Georges Dumézil’s Les dieux souverains des
trends in the interpretation of myth. First were the nature
Indo-Européens (Paris, 1977). On the divine twins, compare
interpretations, according to which the myths represented
Donald Ward’s The Divine Twins: An Indo-European Myth
in Germanic Tradition (Berkeley, Calif., 1968) and Georges
seasonal change and the gods represented phenomena such
Dumézil’s From Myth to Fiction: The Saga of Hadingus (Chi-
as storms, thunder, and fire. Among the general mythologists
cago, 1973), especially pp. 109–120. Dumézil’s early views
who worked with Germanic materials, Max Müller connect-
are found in Mythes et dieux des Germains: Essai
ed all myths with the cycle of the sun and Adalbert Kuhn
d’interprétation comparative (Paris, 1939); a later comparative
offered meteorological interpretations. Among those special-
work is his Loki (Paris, 1986). Margaret Clunies Ross takes
izing in Germanic religion, Wilhelm Mannhardt emphasized
an anthropological approach in Prolonged Echoes: Old Norse
agricultural rites; some British scholars, such as Edward B.
Myths in Medieval Northern Society, vol. 1 (Odense, Den-
Tylor, postulated that the Germanic tribes were animists
mark, 1994). John Lindow surveys the scholarship in Scandi-
who believed in spirits and demons; and others, including
navian Mythology: An Annotated Bibliography (New York,
Andrew Lang, interpreted myths as dreams. Scholars were
1988) and also applies anthropological theory to the myth
of Baldr in Murder and Vengence among the Gods: Baldr in
also interested in using Germanic material to study still earli-
Scandinavian Mythology (Helsinki, Finland, 1997). The en-
er societies: Müller, Kuhn, and Wilhelm Schwartz used com-
cyclopedia-style entries of Phillip Pulsiano’s Medieval Scandi-
parative approaches to reconstruct proto-Germanic and
navia: An Encyclopedia (New York, 1993), Rudolf Simek’s
Indo-European religions. This direction of research was su-
Dictionary of Northern Mythology (Cambridge, U.K., 1993),
perseded by the so-called folklore mythology, which began
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GERMANIC RELIGION: HISTORY OF STUDY
3459
with Wilhelm Mannhardt’s 1875 study of forest and field
Ty´r as co-sovereigns, each dedicated to one of the elements
cults, and the use of folklore customs to interpret Germanic
of the first function; Þórr represented the second function,
mythology continued for some seventy-five years. (Sir James
and Njo˛rðr, Freyr, and Freyja the third. Despite some reser-
Frazer’s monumental The Golden Bough [1911–1915] is
vations, such as the objection to Dumézil’s identification of
based on this line of research.)
Þórr as a war god, this theory has gained in importance since
the 1950s. In 1956 and 1957, the second edition of de
Toward the end of the nineteenth century, monographs
Vries’s magisterial two volumes on the history of Germanic
were devoted to major deities, including Rudolf Much’s to
religion brought this newer work together with the older
the sky god and Vilhelm Grönbech’s to religion and ethical
scholarship of historicists such as Karl Helm, who depended
and spiritual concepts. Germanic mythology also became of
on philological and archaeological evidence. De Vries also
interest to philologists. Sophus Bugge questioned the origi-
presented findings from the study of folklore and place-
nality of Germanic mythology with his revolutionary hy-
names. His opus is the most extensive handbook of German-
potheses about the origin of Germanic myths, which he held
ic religion and is still useful, albeit insufficiently critical of
were derived entirely from Christian and classical thought.
the Nordic literary sources.
His theories were defended especially by Elard Hugo Meyer,
who associated them also with the older natural-
Studies of Old Norse mythology experimented with the
mythological interpretations, but all these views have lost ac-
functionalist and structuralist theories of the 1940s and
ceptance. (Archaeological studies do hint at some Roman in-
1950s, but in the main—except for Dumézil’s brand of
fluence on the early development of the Scandinavian pan-
structuralism—the historicist (or literary-philological or pos-
theon, and Christianity is now considered to have had an
itivist) approach of the nineteenth century is still in force.
influence on Scandinavian paganism itself as well as on the
This line of thinking assumes that each myth had a single
textual sources, as Kaarle Krohn, Anne Holtsmark, and oth-
“original” form and meaning that can be reconstructed and
ers have shown.) Eugen Mogk criticized the supposed reli-
that is the primary object of study. The neohistoricist or
ability of Snorri’s Edda and thus drew attention to the funda-
“new philological” approach of scholars such as Thomas A.
mental problem of the trustworthiness of Old Norse sources.
DuBois, in contrast, assumes that myths may have had dif-
ferent meanings for different communities at different times.
EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY: FORMATIVE YEARS. The peri-
The latter approach is also seen in late-twentieth- and early
od from around 1900 to World War II saw a consolidation
twenty-first-century archaeologically based studies of Ger-
of the field, and the resulting view of Germanic religion, in
manic religion. Archaeology also supplies new primary
its basics, is that still held at the turn of the twenty-first cen-
sources for the study of Germanic religion; for example, Karl
tury. Walter Baetke described the Germanic peoples’ con-
Hauck argues that the human figures on Migration Age (late
cept of the holy, their ideas about fate, and their system of
fourth century–early seventh century) bracteates represent
values; Magnus Olsen used place-names as a new source for
Germanic divinities. (Bracteates are Germanic medallions,
the research of Germanic religion; and Grönbech examined
probably inspired by Roman coins, that depict figures and
the role of religion in the lives of the Germanic people and
scenes that are still not fully understood.) Although not all
its influence on cult and custom. Ritual activity was the focus
of his identifications have been accepted, the evidence of the
of the interpretations of Otto Höfler, who examined the
bracteates is considered relevant.
links of mythology and cult and the significance of the cult
in the lives of individuals. His argument for the existence of
LATE TWENTIETH CENTURY. Despite some overinterpreta-
a cult group of warriors linked with Óðinn has found objec-
tion, place-name studies continue to be a productive field for
tions but no real refutation. Franz Rolf Schröder used both
the study of Scandinavian paganism. For example, in a 1999
Germanic and non-Germanic parallels and relations in his
paper, Alexandra Pesch searches the kings’ sagas for interpre-
study of the the religions of the Indo-European peoples, al-
tations of the ninth-century Oseberg (near Oslo) ship burial
though not all his theories are still accepted. Axel Olrik, who
and then examines this information in light of the archaeo-
from 1892 to 1894 had produced a study of Saxo Grammati-
logical and place-name evidence. The former indicates that
cus (c. 1150––after 1216) that has never been superseded,
the burial is that of a pagan seeress or priestess rather than
was joined by Hans Ellekilde for a still largely respected study
that of a queen, and the latter suggests that Oseberg (if from
of Scandinavian mythology that made substantial use of
Ásaberg, meaning “mountain of the gods”) may, like Uppsa-
comparative material.
la, have been a center for the worship of several deities. The
silence of the sagas regarding a heathen cult center or sacral
Yet another comparativist, Georges Dumézil, arrived at
landscape in this part of Norway reminds us that when it
a “three-function” theory of Indo-European mythology. He
comes to early Scandinavian history, the sagas are far from
considered the common Indo-European ideology to have
preserving a full account of events.
consisted of three principles—the maintenance of cosmic
and juridical order, the exercise of physical force, and the
Old Norse myth and Scandinavian society. One im-
promotion of physical well-being—and he interpreted the
portant development in the second half of the twentieth cen-
gods of the various groups of the Indo-Europeans’ descen-
tury was the idea that the well-documented Old Norse myths
dants as representing these “functions.” He saw Óðinn and
should be treated separately from the poorly documented
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GERMANIC RELIGION: HISTORY OF STUDY
Scandinavian pagan rituals. Earlier, Frazer’s view of ritual as
on the question of Norse-Christian syncretism. Lindow ar-
the dramatization of myth had influenced pre–World War
gues that Norse mythology cannot be interpreted without
II scholars of Old Norse myth such as Magnus Olsen and
reference to Christian influence, which may have been con-
Bertha Phillpotts and to some extent postwar scholars such
siderable, as the two cultures had ample opportunities to
as Holtsmark, Einar Haugen, and Anders Andrén. Scholars
meet in an enormous number of contexts. Old myths may
such as Margaret Clunies Ross, John Lindow, and Jens Peter
have been reworked in Christian forms; new versions may
Schjo⁄dt rely on the relationship between myth and ritual in
have emphasized certain aspects of the “original” myths for
non-Western societies to argue that myth and ritual are
reasons related to Christian theology, or the new versions
probably not as closely interrelated as Frazer and his follow-
may have assimilated Christian modes of expression or imi-
ers thought. Following Victor Turner, such “anthropologi-
tated Christian forms. McKinnell sees the possibility of syn-
cal” studies of Old Norse myth treat it as one symbolic form
cretism in tenth-century Norway, as archaeological and tex-
among the many that a society accesses during ritual perfor-
tual evidence points to an important Christian presence in
mance, and following Émile Durkheim, they assume that
Norway before the missionary efforts of King Olaf Tryggva-
myths express certain social and cultural realities for the peo-
son, and Peter Foote has pointed out the peculiarities of early
ple who create and use them. Drawing on semiology, these
Icelandic Christianity.
studies further consider mythology as a system of interrelated
A different matter is the use of pagan iconography for
elements, and they avoid investigating myths on an individu-
a wholly Christian purpose, as when Christian sculptors in
al basis.
Viking Age England put scenes of Ragnaro˛k on their crosses
Despite these common assumptions, scholars taking the
as a way of emphasizing the parallels between the two reli-
anthropological approach have posited quite different aspects
gions and simultaneously showing that the old religion had
of society as central to Scandinavian mythology. Clunies
been replaced and surpassed by the new. Yet another aspect
Ross focuses on issues of exogamy as the source of tension
of the interaction between Scandinavian paganism and
between the Æsir, the Vanir, and the giants. She argues that
Christianity that has received recent scholarly attention is the
the Æsir are unwilling to give their women in marriage to
learned, medieval context in which the myths are preserved.
members of the other groups, as this would acknowledge that
Such studies clarify the material and render less significant
they are all of equal status, but the resulting unions between
the gulf between pagan Scandinavia and the recording of the
giantesses and Vanir and the various ploys to obtain Æsir
mythology centuries later in a Christian context.
women sow the seeds of the Æsir’s own destruction. Lindow
With the exception of de Vries, whose history of the
focuses on the social mechanism of the blood feud, which
study of religion (translated into English in 1967) is widely
was the chief means of maintaining social stability both for
cited, scholars of Germanic religion and Scandinavian my-
the Æsir and for the Icelanders who worshiped them. The
thology have been medievalists first and scholars of compara-
ongoing feud between the giants and the gods reflected a so-
tive religion and mythology a distant second, most likely be-
cial reality that the Icelanders knew well, but the murder of
cause of the specialized skills necessary to study the primary
the god Baldr, which sets brother against brother, is evidence
sources. The anthropological studies of Norse myth are the
of a fatal flaw in a strategy that is supposed to lead to resolu-
most up-to-date with respect to theory, but of the interna-
tion.
tionally famous mythographers of the twentieth century,
Germanic paganism and Christianity. The assump-
only Dumézil has had a major impact on the study of Scandi-
tion that religions are not static but are changing and plural-
navian mythology. Claude Lévi-Strauss’s ideas have been in-
istic is also productive for studies of the interaction of Ger-
jected into Dumézil’s system by Einar Haugen, and his prin-
manic paganism with Christianity and other religions. For
ciples have been applied to certain eddic poems, but he has
example, DuBois argues that the extensive and long-term in-
not himself been concerned with Germanic materials. Simi-
tercultural contacts between the pagan Norse, the Sámi, and
larly, the theoretical orientation of Joseph Campbell has been
the Finns, and then between these groups and various kinds
used by Loren Gruber to examine the role of rites of passage
of Christianity, resulted in the continuous alteration of their
in the eddic poem Hávamál, but Campbell’s own treatment
religious traditions. DuBois shows that Christian notions of
of Germanic material has been incidental. Mircea Eliade,
burial made inroads into the practices of Nordic pagans long
however, included many Norse references to Óðinn in his
before these people officially accepted the new religion. Con-
study of shamanism, and the Norse applications of his theo-
cepts about the afterlife underwent transformations as well,
ries of the sacred and profane or myth of the eternal return
with pagan communities adjusting their beliefs in line with
are obvious.
Christian doctrines prior to their conversion. It is likely that
SEE ALSO Eddas; Sagas; Saxo Grammaticus; Snorri
Christian rites and beliefs affected traditions such as ship
Sturluson.
burial and Ragnaro˛k, which rise in prominence during the
late pagan era.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Lindow and John McKinnell have concentrated on the
Translated excerpts from nineteenth-century German scholarship
interaction of Christianity and Scandinavian paganism and
on Germanic religion are provided by T. A. Shippey and An-
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GERSONIDES
3461
dreas Haarder in Beowulf: The Critical Heritage (New York,
Gershom’s major contribution is revealed in his responsa
1998). Jan de Vries’s survey is found in the first volume of
and in the enactments (taqqanot) attributed to him. The re-
the second edition of his Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte
sponsa on questions of Jewish law are of course rooted in Tal-
(Berlin, 1956–1957), and the reviews by Joseph Harris and
mudic literature, but they expose an original, decisive legal
John Lindow appear in Old Norse—Icelandic Literature, ed-
mind grappling with the central problems of his day. Some
ited by Carol Clover and John Lindow (Ithaca, N.Y., 1985).
of his responsa dealt with Jews who converted to Christianity
Another bibliographic resource is Lindow’s Scandinavian
under duress, encouraging their return to Judaism by
Mythology: An Annotated Bibliography (New York, 1988).
Fine examples of his recent work are “Bloodfeud and Scandi-
smoothing their path back to the community; others relaxed
navian Mythology,” Alvíssmál 4 (1994): 51–68, and Murder
prohibitive regulations on Jewish-gentile commerce and em-
and Vengeance among the Gods: Baldr in Scandinavian My-
powered the community to govern more effectively by trans-
thology (Helsinki, 1997). Anthropological approaches are
ferring to local communal leadership powers of compulsion
also pursued by Margaret Clunies Ross in the two volumes
that in Talmudic law are granted to central rabbinical courts.
of Prolonged Echoes: Old Norse Myths in Medieval Northern
Matters of communal governance as well as issues of general
Society (Odense, Denmark, 1994–1998) and in the essays she
social import were at the heart of the enactments attributed
edits in Old Norse Myths, Literature and Society (Odense,
to Gershom.
Denmark, 2003) as well as by Thomas A. DuBois in Nordic
Religions in the Viking Age (Philadelphia, 1999). An interdis-
The actual relationship between Gershom and the com-
ciplinary approach was the focus of a conference whose pro-
munities in whose name the enactments are also recorded is
ceedings are published in Words and Objects: Towards a Dia-
shrouded in obscurity, but present scholarly consensus sees
logue between Archaeology and History of Religion (Oslo,
Gershom as the central, driving figure behind this legislation.
1986), edited by Gro Steinsland; Steinsland’s own study of
The enactments provide, inter alia, that the minority in a
Norse mythology is in Det hellige bryllup og norro⁄n kong-
community must accept the authority of the majority, that
eideologi: En analyse av hieregami-myten i Skírnismál, Ynglin-
taxes in dispute are to be paid before they are litigated, and
gatal, Háleygjatal, og Hyndluljóð (Oslo, 1991). The fore-
that a defendant in a civil suit may be brought before a court
most modern scholar of Germanic ritual is Jens Peter
Schjo
in any community. These taqqanot were of great historical
⁄ dt; for references to his work, see his essay “Myths as
Sources for Rituals—Theoretical and Practical Implications”
significance in legitimating community governance. Other
in Clunies Ross (2003). Peter Foote’s study, “Secular Atti-
enactments, such as those that prohibit marriage with more
tudes in Early Iceland,” appeared in Medieval Scandinavia 7
than one wife at the same time (permitted by both biblical
(1974): 31–44, and Alexandra Pesch’s paper on the Oseberg
and Talmudic law) and that forbid a husband to divorce his
ship burial, “Die Oseberg-‘Saga’ in ihrer Vielschichtigkeit,”
wife against her will, remain decisive for modern Jewish law
is found in Die Aktualität der Saga. Festschrift für Hans Schot-
and society. Both enactments reflect the status achieved by
tmann, edited by Stig Toftgaard Andersen (Berlin, 1999),
women in Gershom’s society. While originally designed for
pp. 177–199. Jan de Vries’s general history of the study of
the German communities of the Rhineland, they were grad-
religion was translated into English as Perspectives in the His-
ually accepted by world Jewry.
tory of Religions (Berkeley, Calif., 1967), translated and with
an introduction by Kees W. Bolle.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ELIZABETH ASHMAN ROWE (2005)
The most comprehensive discussion of Gershom’s life and
achievement is in Abraham Grossman’s H:akhmei Ashkenaz
hari Dshonim (Jerusalem, 1981), pp. 106–174. Louis Finkel-
GERSHOM BEN YEHUDAH (c. 965–1028), Ger-
stein, in Jewish Self-Government in the Middle Ages (1924; re-
man halakhist and Jewish communal leader. Despite the
print, Westport, Conn., 1972), pp. 20–36, 111–139, pres-
many uncertainties surrounding Gershom’s life and histori-
ents the enactments attributed to Gershom in both the
cal role, it is clear that he was the central figure in the crystal-
original Hebrew and in translation and discusses questions
lization of Ashkenazic learning and communal organization
of authorship, provenance, and impact. ZeDev W. Falk, in
Jewish Matrimonial Law in the Middle Ages (Oxford, 1966),
in pre-Crusade Europe. A generation or two after his death
discusses the relationship between Gershom’s enactments on
Gershom was already termed MaDor ha-Golah (“light of the
monogamy and divorce and similar norms in Christian Eu-
exile”), a title reflecting the perception of both his spiritual
rope.
stature and his historical impact.
GERALD J. BLIDSTEIN (1987)
Gershom’s origins are not known, but it is likely that
his immediate ancestry was French. He spent his adult life
in Mainz, where in addition to writing commentaries on the
Talmud and some liturgical poetry, he trained the men who
GERSONIDES (1288–1344), French mathematician
were to be the mentors of Rashi. Gershom’s personal life re-
and philosopher, known also as Levi Ben Gershom and, in
flected the most painful experiences of medieval Jewish life:
rabbinic texts, by the acronym RaLBaG (Rabbi Levi ben
his son (and, according to one report, his wife as well) con-
Gershom). Born in Bagnols, Gersonides lived most of his life
verted to Christianity. His poetry expresses the reality of per-
in Orange and Avignon. Little else is known about him other
secution and the yearning for redemption.
than where he resided in Provence under the protection of
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3462
GERSONIDES
the popes. Gersonides says almost nothing about his personal
In each treatise, every question is systematically dis-
life, but some scholars have speculated that he may have
cussed. First, Gersonides lists all of the different positions
functioned as a community rabbi, as a banker, or both.
that had previously been taken on the issue in question. He
Given the nature of his writings and where he lived, it is not
then presents a critical analysis of each view, and in so doing
unreasonable to speculate that in addition to his involvement
lists every form of argument for each position and judges the
with the Jewish community, he may have taught astronomy/
extent to which each argument is and is not valid. Following
astrology in the papal university, medical school, or court.
this, he states his own view, and he then shows how each of
Gersonides is generally acknowledged to be the greatest and
the arguments given for other positions, to the extent to
most independent medieval Jewish philosopher after the
which they are valid, supports his own position. Finally, he
death of Moses Maimonides (Mosheh ben Maimon, 1135/
demonstrates that his position is in agreement with the cor-
8–1204). Of those rabbis who based their religious thought
rect meaning of the Torah.
on the philosophy of Aristotle, Gersonides is the most thor-
Gersonides’ theory of divine knowledge was one of the
ough and rigorous; his major work in this area is The Wars
most controversial parts of his work. In the subsequent histo-
of the Lord (1329). Gersonides also dealt with rabbinics, phi-
ry of philosophy it led some Jewish thinkers to condemn his
losophy, mathematics, medicine, and astronomy.
work (e.g., Shem Tov ibn Shem Tov, c. 1390–1440) and
In rabbinics Gersonides wrote commentaries on the
others to follow him (e.g., Barukh Spinoza, 1632–1677).
Pentateuch, the Former Prophets, Proverbs, Job, Song of
Gersonides argued that all terms correctly predicated of God
Songs, Ruth, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and
and man are such that those terms apply primarily to God
1 and 2 Chronicles, as well as a commentary on the thirteen
and derivatively to humans. Hence, the term-knower refers
hermeneutic rules of YishmaEeEl ben ElishaE (a tanna of the
primarily to how God knows, and by reference to divine
first and second centuries) and a commentary on the tractate
knowledge the term is applied to human beings. As their cre-
Berakhot of the Babylonian Talmud. In philosophy he pub-
ator, God knows all things as they are essentially in and of
lished a treatise on direct syllogisms and supercommentaries
themselves. In contrast, human beings, with the assistance
on the middle commentaries and résumés of Ibn Rushd
of the Active Intellect, know these creations through their
(1126–1198). In medicine he is known to have written a
senses as effects. God knows everything, but he knows it in
remedy for the gout. In mathematics he composed a treatise
a single act of knowledge. The content of divine knowledge
on algebra and a commentary on parts of Euclid’s Elements.
is expressible in human terms as an infinite conjunction of
distinct universal, conditional propositions. Concerning a
Finally, Gersonides published a major treatise on as-
specific entity or fact, whereas human beings may know it
tronomy (1340), which Moritz Steinschneider identified as
accidentally, as a particular, through sense reports, God
Sefer Tekhunah, which consists of 136 chapters. (A summary
knows it essentially, as a unique individual, through his intel-
of this more detailed work is contained in the second part
lect. Gersonides’ opponents interpreted this thesis to amount
of the fifth book of The Wars of the Lord.) What is of particu-
to a denial that God knows particulars, with the consequence
lar interest to historians of science is that the work contains
that God is limited in knowledge and power.
significant modifications of the systems of Ptolemy and al-
Bitruji, as well as useful astronomical tables. The work also
Possibly the most original part of Gersonides’ work was
includes a description of an instrument, which he calls a ma-
his cosmology. The concluding treatise of The Wars of the
galleh Eamuqqot (detector of depths), which he invented for
Lord consists of a detailed demonstration, based on astrono-
making precise astronomical observations. The work was
my and physics, of the existence of the different heavenly in-
praised and extensively quoted by Giovanni Pico della Mi-
telligences (angels) and the uniqueness of the ultimate intelli-
randola in his Disputationes adversus astrologiam divinatricem
gence (God). In terms of its philosophical and scientific
(1495). In general Gersonides’ instrument is considered the
elements, this treatise constitutes the most sophisticated
most useful tool developed to assist measurements in astron-
work of theology in the history of Judaism. In it, Gersonides
omy prior to the development of the telescope, and histori-
argues that this unending universe was created in time, not
ans of science regard Gersonides as one of the most impor-
out of the remains of some previously existing universe but
tant European astronomers before Galileo.
out of nothing. However, the “nothing” from which the
world was created is not absolutely nothing; instead, it is an
The Wars of the Lord deals only with those questions that
eternal, unformed matter, unlike any other matter of which
Maimonides either resolved in direct opposition to Aristote-
we can conceive. Gersonides’ account of this matter may be
lian principles or explained so obscurely that Maimonides’
the most original part of the work. It is significantly different
own view cannot be determined. These questions are dis-
from the theory of prime matter found in any other work
cussed in six treatises on, successively, the nature of the soul
of Jewish, Muslim, or Christian philosophy. But to give an
(i.e., psychology), prophecy (i.e., revelation), God’s knowl-
adequate account of it involves a technical discussion that
edge, divine providence, the nature of the celestial spheres
goes beyond the confines of this essay. Suffice it to say that
(i.e., cosmology), and the eternity of matter (i.e., cos-
Gersonides’ theory of prime matter bears some resemblance
mogony).
to the use by Hermann Cohen (1842–1918) of the term ori-
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GESAR
3463
gin in his application of the infinitesimal calculus to ontolo-
Amdo versions, though it is shorter than the Eastern one;
gy, and it may have parallels with the kind of high-energy
and the Mongolian one, which boasts a great number of epi-
radiation from which the universe originated, according to
sodes that cannot be found in the other versions. Hunza
those astrophysicists who support the Big Bang theory.
(northeast Pakistan), Lepcha (northeast Nepal), Buriat
(North Mongolia), Khalkha (Mongolia), and Kalmuk (Sibe-
SEE ALSO Jewish Thought and Philosophy, article on Pre-
ria) versions are also recorded. Regardless of discrepancies
modern Philosophy.
among all versions, the core of the epic, which is made of
six or seven episodes (sometimes called the proto-epic), has
BIBLIOGRAPHY
been extant since the seventeenth century at the latest.
A full list of the published writings of Gersonides can be found
in Bernhard Blumenkranz’s Auteurs juifs en France médiévale
THE EPIC: HISTORICAL BACKGROUND AND LINKS WITH
(Toulouse, France, 1975), pp. 65–69. An extensive bibliog-
BUDDHISM. Whether a real person lies behind the epic hero
raphy of secondary sources is given in Menachem M. Kell-
Gesar is still debated. One of the earliest written instances
ner’s “Gersonides, Providence, and the Rabbinic Tradition,”
of his name (as Gesar, king of Phrom) appears in a ninth-
Journal of the American Academy of Religion 42 (1974):
century Tibetan manuscript, and the name also appears on
673–685.
a coin that may refer to the king of a Central Asian kingdom
The best source for information about Gersonides’ life are two es-
in the ninth or tenth century. For most Tibetans he is an
says by Joseph Shatzmiller, one in Hebrew (in Studies in the
eleventh-century historical figure who ruled Ling (Tibetan,
History of the Jewish People and the Land of Israel 2 [1972]:
Gling), a principality in Khams, that reached its peak in the
111–126) and the other in French (in Gersonide en son temps,
thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. It has been suggested
edited by Gilbert Dahan [Louvain, Belgium, and Paris,
that Khrom (or Phrom, pronounced “Throm”) could be a
1991], pp. 33–43). With reference to English translations of
distant echo of Rome, via the Turkish word Rûm that desig-
primary sources, Abraham Lassen has published an English
translation of Gersonides’ commentary on the Book of Job
nated Rome or Byzance, while Gesar would refer to Kaisar,
under the title The Commentary of Levi ben Gerson (Gerso-
the Turkish word for “king” or “emperor,” derived from
nides) on the Book of Job (New York, 1946). Furthermore, an
Caesar. But Gesar is also seen as a Buddhist character, since
English translation of the entire Wars of the Lord has been
he is considered as an emanation of both Avalokite´svara, the
published by Seymour Feldman (Philadelphia, 1984–1999).
bodhisattva of compassion (also embodied in the Dalai
In addition, there are three English translations of separate
Lamas of Tibet) and Padmasambhava (the semi-legendary
treatises, each of which contains valuable commentaries: on
introducer of Tantric Buddhism in Tibet in the eighth cen-
treatise 3, see Norbert M. Samuelson’s Gersonides’ The War
tury). He fights in the name of the Buddhist doctrine and
of the Lord, Treatise Three: On God’s Knowledge (Toronto,
the well-being of all men—or, more precisely, Tibetans.
1977); on treatise 4, see J. David Bleich’s Providence in the
Philosophy of Gersonides (New York, 1973); and on treatise
Whether the original epic (if ever there was such a thing)
6, see Jacob J. Staub’s The Creation of the World according to
was devoid of references to Buddhism is hard to tell, but it
Gersonides (Chico, Calif., 1982).
came to pervade most of the narrative. For instance, between
Gersonides’ positions on divine knowledge and providence, as
wars Gesar is described not as ruling his kingdom but as
well as his cosmogony, are inherently connected with his cos-
going into spiritual retreat until a vision summons him to
mology. As yet no one has undertaken the difficult task of
fight another battle against another enemy. Most songs in
translating his treatise on astronomy. However, considerable
the epic begin with an invocation of Buddhist or pre-
light on his cosmology is given in the many publications of
Buddhist local deities and often include a sermon on impor-
Bernard R. Goldstein, especially The Astronomy of Levi ben
tant aspects of Buddhism. Although certain sects of the Ti-
Gerson (New York, 1985).
betan clergy have shown hostility towards the epic, its con-
NORBERT M. SAMUELSON (1987 AND 2005)
tent was gradually infused with Buddhist themes until
famous Tibetan lamas of the nineteenth century assimilated
Gesar to a Buddhist protective dgra lha (war deity). More-
GESAR.
over, the recitation of some episodes have come to acquire
As is the case with most epic texts—Ra¯ma¯yan:a,
a ritualistic dimension: Hor gling—the battle against Hor—is
Gilgamesh, and King Arthur, for example—little is known of
associated with the fight against demons, and Stag gzig nor
the historical and artistic genesis of the Gesar epic (Tibetan,
’gyed—the battle for the wealth of Tagzig—with an increase
Gling Ge sar gyi sgrung), a complex and lengthy narrative re-
of wealth. The Manchu emperors of China (1644–1911)
lating the heroic deeds of the divine king Gesar. The earliest
identified Gesar with the Chinese god of war, and a cult to
known written version of the epic dates back to 1716, when
Gesar (Mongolian, Geser) has existed in Mongolia since the
it was translated—possibly from Tibetan—into Mongolian
seventeenth century.
on the orders of the Manchu emperor. Different versions are
attested: the Eastern Tibetan from Khams province (Eastern
THE EPISODES. Most versions of the epic begin with three
Tibet); the so-called Amdo Tibetan from a province in
famous episodes: the decision of the assembly of gods to send
northeastern Tibet; the Western Tibetan from Ladakh, an
a savior (the future Gesar) to defend the world, and more
oral version that has affinities with both the Eastern and
particularly Tibet, against the forces of evil (the episode
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3464
GESAR
called Lha gling); Gesar’s childhood as the despised and ugly
In most cases, bards learn their craft from another bard
child Jo ru (the episode called ’Khrungs gling); and Jo ru’s un-
or from a family member and rely on either a written text
expected victory at a horse race at the age of thirteen, where-
or their memory (Tibetan, bshad sgrung—literally, “narrating
by he becomes the respected and impressive Gesar, marries
bard”—is a sub-category of the generic sgrung mkhan or
the beautiful princess’ Brug mo (Drugmo) and becomes the
sgrung pa category). But the most appreciated bards are those
king of the community of Ling (the episode called Rta rgyug).
whose performance shares common characteristics with cer-
These are followed by a succession of narratives describing
tain aspects of Tantric Buddhism and Tibetan “folk,” pre-
how, riding his supernatural horse and leading his thirty
Buddhist religion. Called ’bab sgrung (oracular or divine
brave companions and his army, Gesar wages a series of wars
bards), they are often illiterate nomads who become bards
against four foreign kingdoms and eighteen Tibetan princi-
after a serious illness and ensuing visions. They recite epi-
palities. The episodes always end with Gesar’s victory and the
sodes of the epic in a state of trance during which they are
pledge of the subdued armies to become his allies in con-
said to be possessed by one character of the epic who retells
quests to come—as well as with the plundering of the ene-
the event from his or her point of view. In some instances,
mies’ wealth and its redistribution to the people of Ling. The
they begin their recitation as soon as they put on their “epic
last episode recounts how he rescues his mother from Hell.
hat” (Tibetan, sgrung zhwa). One of the most famous of
For Tibetan believers, Gesar is now residing in Shambala, a
these bards, Grags pa (Drak pa) (1904?/6?–1986), could re-
hidden realm from where he will come back to save humani-
cite as many as twenty-five episodes of the epic (equivalent
ty and Buddhism. A characteristic of this epic is its open end-
to fifteen thousand pages of a modern text). In the rarest
ing; in the twentieth century at least two new episodes were
cases, bards can “read” an episode by looking at the surface
added.
of a mirror (Tibetan, spra sgrung) or looking at an empty
white page. In these cases, the bard has not memorized the
The total number of episodes is difficult to assess. The
episode, he is in a state of inspired trance.
latest figures vary from 120 to 200, of which about 100 had
been published by the early twenty-first century. Another pe-
APPROPRIATION OF THE EPIC. The widespread popularity of
culiarity of the epic concerns its elaboration, which rarely re-
the epic and its protagonists in Tibet may be explained by
sorts to literary creation, although a few episodes present
the part everyday Tibetan life plays in its narrative—a rare
themselves as rewritings of previously known versions. New
instance in a literature usually dominated by Indian models
episodes mostly appear through vision and revelation to ei-
aloof from the Tibetan world. This popularity may in turn
ther Buddhist masters or laypersons, who claim to be reincar-
explain why several authorities have vied for its appropria-
nations of characters of the epic and whose previous life they
tion. As mentioned already, some Buddhist clergy incorpo-
recall, thereby “creating” a new episode. There also exist
rated Gesar into the Buddhist pantheon; the Buddhist tone
“treasure-bards” (Tibetan, gter sgrung) who “discover” epi-
of a number of passages in the epic can thus be explained as
sodes hidden in their mental continuum, in the same way
an attempt at exploiting its popularity among the nomads
as Buddhist “treasure-discoverers” (Tibetan, gter ston) discov-
and peasants of Tibet to spread the Buddhist doctrine fur-
er Buddhist teachings or narratives thought to have been hid-
ther. At a more esoteric level, Gesar’s battles are sometimes
den in a previous time by Padmasambhava.
presented as a symbol of the Buddhist follower’s struggle to-
ward Enlightenment. Since the takeover of Tibet by China
BARDS. Until the Chinese takeover of Tibet in the 1950s,
in the mid-twentieth century, the Chinese cultural authori-
most versions were passed on orally and few were committed
ties have supported research on the epic, which represents,
to the written form, as manuscripts or, more rarely, xylo-
in their eyes, a rare case of popular, secular culture within
graphs (i.e., woodblock prints). Amateur performers would
the Buddhist-dominated Tibetan civilization. In response,
recite and sing it, and professional wandering bards (Tibetan,
Tibetans have been quick to associate Gesar (either the di-
sgrung mkhan or sgrung pa) would roam the country narrat-
vine king or the epic narrative) with Tibetan cultural revival
ing a few episodes in which they specialized. An estimate by
and nationalism and to cherish it as a depository of distinct
Tibetan and Chinese researchers showed that the total num-
and authentic Tibetan culture.
ber of bards in Tibet early in the twenty-first century varies
between 100 and 140. Female bards are very rare, although
women play an important part in the narrative (as mothers,
BIBLIOGRAPHY
wives, aunts, mistresses, etc.). A bard’s performance usually
The Gesar epic has greatly benefited from support by Chinese au-
thorities, and not a year passes without a new episode being
alternates between short prose narrative parts and lengthy
published in China, where the publication of a forty-volume
versified (often heptasyllabic) monologues in the form of
edition, based partly on the twentieth-century bard Drakpa’s
songs. On average, one episode may contain between fifty
recitation, is in progress. In Bhutan, K. Tobgyal and M.
and one hundred songs, the melody varying according to the
Dorji edited The Epic of Gesar (Thimphu, Bhutan, 1979), a
character they represent. There are also melodies for certain
heterogenous and somehow haphazard compilation in thirty-
types of songs (visions, prophecies, etc.). Bards would some-
one volumes. Episodes are also published in India under the
times accompany their performance with painted prompts
auspices of the exiled Tibetan community.
(Tibetan, sgrung thang) on which they would show the scenes
Only parts of the Gesar epic have been translated into Western
referred to in their narrative.
languages: A. H. Francke collected and published a transla-
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GETO-DACIAN RELIGION
3465
tion of the Ladakhi version of the epic at the turn of the
stance, his “Gesar of Ling: The Origins and Meaning of the
twentieth century; see his A Lower Ladakhi Version of the
East Tibetan Epic,” in Tibetan Studies: Proceedings of the 5th
Kesar Saga (New Delhi, 2000). An edited synthesis of a ver-
Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies,
sion from Eastern Tibet can be found in A. David-Néel’s La
Narita 1989 (Narita, Japan, 1992), edited by Shoren Ihara
vie surhumaine de Guésar de Ling, le héros thibétain (Paris,
and Zuiho Yamaguchi; “Ge sar of gLing: Shamanic Power
1931, 1995), translated into English as The Superhuman Life
and Popular Religion,” in Tantra and Popular Religion in
of Gesar of Ling (rev. ed., London, 1959). In his L’Epopée ti-
Tibet (New Delhi, 1994), edited by G. Samuel, H. Gregor,
bétaine de Gesar dans sa version lamaïque de Ling (Paris,
and E. Stutchbury; “The Gesar Epic of East Tibet,” in Tibet-
1956), R. A. Stein partly translated a nineteenth-century xy-
an Literature: Studies in Genre (Ithaca, N.Y., 1996), edited
lograph that contained three episodes of the core epic. Gesar!
by José Ignacio Cabezón and Roger R. Jackson; and “The
The Epic Tale of Tibet’s Great Warrior-King, adapted by Zara
Epic and Nationalism in Tibet,” in Religion and Biography
Wallace (Berkeley, Calif., 1991) is the updated and re-
in China and Tibet (Richmond, U.K., 2002), edited by Ben-
phrased prose edition of a 1927 English translation of the
jamin Penny.
1716 Mongolian version of the epic, via a 1839 German
For an early twenty-first century assessment of the appropriation
translation.
of Gesar by China before and above all after 1950, see L. Ma-
In the 1990s, D. J. Pennick used preexisting translations to rewrite
coni’s “Gesar de Pékin? Le sort du Roi Gesar de Gling, héros
the core epic for an opera libretto (The Warrior Song of King
épique tibétain, en Chine (post-)maoïste,” in Formes mod-
Gesar, Boston, 1996). This version has retained the alter-
ernes de la poésie épique: nouvelles approches (Brussels, 2004),
nance of prose and poetic passages and is clearly formulated
edited by Judith Labarthe. Research on Gesar is also very ac-
for a Western audience. R. Kornman and a team of transla-
tive in China and Tibet: a number of episodes of the epic
tors have undertaken the integral translation of the nine-
have been translated into Chinese, and a Chinese magazine
teenth-century version used by R. A. Stein for his 1956 sum-
is dedicated to the epic (Gesaer yanjiu jikan [Gesar studies]).
marized translation (cf. supra). It is due for publication in
See also Yang Enhong’s Minjian shishen: Gesaer yiren yanjiu
2004. Some episodes were translated into German by M.
(Popular divine poets: Study on the singing tradition of
Hermanns in Das National-Epos der Tibeter Gling König
“King Gesar”; Beijing, 1995), and her “The Study of Singing
Gesar (Regensburg, Germany, 1965) and by R. Kaschewsky
Tradition of the Tibetan Epic King Gesar” (IIAS Newsletter
and P. Tsering in Gesars Anwehrkampf gegen Kaschmir (Zen-
18 [1999], p. 16), a short and documented article in English
tralasiatische Studien 6 [1972]: 273–400) and Die Eroberung
presenting a typology of bards. See also monographs and arti-
der Burg von Sum-pa (Wiesbaden, Germany, 1987). The
cles by ’Jam dpal rgya mtsho (Chinese, Jianbian Jiacuo) and
most thorough study to date of the epic remains R. A. Stein’s
Gcod pa don grub (Chinese, Jiaoba Dongzhu), two Tibetan
Recherches sur l’épopée et le barde au Tibet (Paris, 1959). An
specialists. For a study of Gesar in Mongolia and Tibet, see
updated summary of R. A. Stein’s views can be found in his
W. Heissig’s The Religions of Mongolia (London, 1980), his
“Introduction” to the 1979 Thimphu version (reprinted in
Ge-ser Studien: Untersuchungen zu den Erzählstoffen in den
Tibet Journal 6, no. 1 [1981]: 3–13).
“neuen” Kapiteln des mongolischen Geser-Zyklus (Opladen,
S. Hummel’s Eurasian Mythology in the Tibetan Epic of Ge-sar
Germany, 1983), and his Fragen der mongolischen Hel-
(Dharamsala, India, 1998) suggests the existence of German
dendichtung (Wiesbaden, Germany, 1982, 1985, and 1987),
and Greek mythological influence in a restricted number of
which he edited and which contains several contributions on
the epics’s episodes. His views, although tentative and some-
Gesar as well as translations of some episodes. N. Poppe and
times far-fetched, nevertheless present original mythical and
Ts. Damdinsüren also dedicated many articles to the fate of
literary openings to links between Central Asian and Tibetan
the epic in Mongolia. See also Klaus Sagaster’s article in the
cultures, and his lengthy bibliography includes many Ger-
first edition of this encyclopedia for a short and synthetic
man-language sources. M. Helferr is the author of a musico-
presentation of Gesar, especially in the Mongolian context
logical study of some songs of one episode of the epic, titled
(Encyclopedia of Religions 1987: 536–537).
Chants dans l’épopée tibétaine de Ge-sar d’après le livre de la
FRANÇOISE ROBIN (2005)
Course de cheval (Paris, 1977). In the 1990s, S. G. Karmay
dedicated three interesting articles to the epic, which can all
be found in The Arrow and the Spindle: Studies in the History,
Myths, Rituals and Beliefs in Tibet (Kathmandu, Nepal,
GESTURES SEE POSTURES AND GESTURES
1998): “Gesar: the Epic Tradition of the Tibetan People” is
a good summary of the epic in a Tibetan context; “The The-
oretical Basis for the Tibetan Epic” gives a clear chronologi-
cal order of the epic and considers the kingdom of Gling in
GETO-DACIAN RELIGION. The Getae and the
its relationship to its neighbors, taking into account both his-
torical sources and episodes of the epic; and “The Social Or-
Dacians were ancient Thracian peoples who lived in Moesia,
ganization of Gling and the Term phu nu in the Gesar Epic”
on the northern plain of the river Danube, and in the Carpa-
shows how a study of kinship as presented in the epic can
thian Mountains, approximately in the territory of modern-
be used as a source for a political and social analysis of tradi-
day Romania and Moldova. Although the religion of the
tional Tibetan nomad society.
Getae and the Dacians escapes complete reconstruction, it
G. Samuel has also undertaken a study of Gesar and its relation-
forms, nevertheless, like the religion of the ancient Celts, one
ship to anthropology, shamanism, music, and so on. For an
of the most interesting chapters in the history of Indo-
overview of the epic and the state of the field, see for in-
European religions outside the Greco-Roman world. Despite
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

3466
GETO-DACIAN RELIGION
the rationalistic tendency of some scholars to diminish the
Jordanes, the historian of the Goths, born in Moesia in
importance of religion among these peoples, evidence indi-
the sixth century, mingled the traditions of the Goths with
cates that the foundation of the state consisting of the Getae
those of the Getae in order to give the former the prestige
and the Dacians was a result of theocratic ideas. These ideas
of an ancient and superior population. He composed a list
stemmed from the worship of Zalmoxis, possibly an ancient
of Zalmoxean priests from the epoch of Burebista (c. 80–44
religious reformer to whom the beginnings of Getic kingship
BCE) to the time of the Dacian king Decebalus (d. 106 CE).
are also related. Later on, Zalmoxis was divinized, a process
The series opens with the well-known Decaeneus (Dicineus),
that has frequent parallels in ancient Greece.
Burebista’s counselor, who may have decisively contributed
to the latter’s power and to the origin of his kingship. Dec-
As for the Dacians, testimonies explicitly relate their
aeneus taught the Getae philosophy, physics, ethics, logic,
name to the Phrygian word daos (“wolf”). Paul Kretschmer’s
and astronomy. In particular he introduced them to the se-
etymology, which derives dakoi from the Indo-European
crets of astrology, planetary revolutions, phases of the moon,
*dhawo-s (“wolf”), has been supported by Vladimir Georgiev
measurement of the sun’s size, and cosmic revolutions. Jor-
and has received an exhaustive historico-religious comment
danes’s testimony has been too lightly dismissed in the past.
from Mircea Eliade (1972). Eliade claims that the Dacians,
Decaeneus actually taught the Getae cosmology, astrology,
like several other Indo-European peoples, formed a Männer-
and astronomy as well as introducing them to one of the
bund based on the idea of ritual lycanthropy. Young Dacian
most intriguing of ancient calendars, whose mystery has not
warriors were probably trained to imitate the behavior of fe-
been yet convincingly explained. Decaeneus’s successors
rocious wolves. This has nothing to do with the Getae’s leg-
were the priests Comosicus and Coryllus, both of them
endary contempt for death, however, as that was based on
kings, the latter in Dacia. Probably this Coryllus (sometimes
the Zalmoxean promise of immortality. In all probability the
called Cocrilus or Scorilus) was the immediate predecessor
message of Zalmoxis referred to a paradise in which valiant
of Decebalus, who was the last king of the Daco-Getae and
warriors would survive after death in a state of perpetual hap-
was finally defeated by the Roman emperor Trajan in
piness.
106 CE.
Greek evidence, starting with Herodotos, establishes a
This list of Zalmoxean priests seems to contradict a sec-
close relationship between Zalmoxis and Pythagoras. The set
ond list also furnished by Jordanes (De origine actibusque Ge-
of religious ideas whose origin is attributed to Zalmoxis in-
tarum 39), according to which the king Zalmoxis came after
deed presents resemblances with Pythagoreanism. Besides
Decaeneus. In fact, Jordanes is obviously not referring here
immortality, Zalmoxis is said to have also taught a highly
to chronology; he says only that among the Getae the most
praised form of psychosomatic medicine based on charms,
important thinkers were first (prius) a certain Zeutas, then
whose purpose was to heal the soul together with the body.
(post etiam) Decaeneus, and then again (tertium) Zalmoxis.
Plato gives a vivid and enthusiastic account of Zalmoxean
One should infer from this that the predecessor of Decaeneus
medicine in the dialogue Charmides (156d–157c). This med-
was Zeutas, not that Decaeneus was followed by Zalmoxis,
ical tradition was apparently long-lived: Late in the third
who is simply the legendary founder of the Geto-Dacian
century CE forty-seven Dacian names of medicinal plants
priesthood; in fact, Decaeneus was followed by Comosicus.
were inserted in the famous Materia medica of the Greek
The name Zeutas is related to the southern Thracian name
physician Dioscurides and in De herbis, attributed to
Seuthes and further to the Avestan term haotar, signifying an
Apuleius.
Iranian priest. Therefore, zeutas may simply be a generic
ZALMOXEAN PRIESTHOOD. The cult of Zalmoxis had strong
term signifying Thracian priests.
connections with kingship. Plato, in fact, reports that Zal-
PYTHAGOREAN PATTERNS. The geographer Strabo, quoting
moxis was king of the Getae (Charmides 156d), but Strabo
the Stoic philosopher Posidonius, was the first to give pre-
(Geography 7.3–5) says that Zalmoxis was priest of the most
cious, but confused, information about the ktistai living in
important god of the Getae, that he became associated with
continence and abstinence, and the abioi (lit., “lifeless,” i.e.,
kingship, and that he later was himself worshiped as a god;
strangers to normal life conditions) of whom Homer tells
he was supposed to live in a cave on the sacred mountain
(Iliad 8.5–7). Strabo (7.3.5) also reports that Zalmoxis intro-
Kogaionon, where only the king and his messengers could
duced vegetarianism among the Getae.
visit him. Sacred priesthood continued down to Strabo’s
The Jewish historian Josephus Flavius (first century)
time (first century BCE). The sacred cave must have been the
compares the life of the ascetic Essenes with that of “those
most ancient place where the god was worshiped and his
among the Dacians who are called pleistoi” (Jewish Antiquities
priests dwelled. In Herodotos’s time (fifth century BCE) a
18.22). It seems that this text should be left without emenda-
sanctuary of Zalmoxis must have existed, for Herodotos
tion. Following Posidonius and Strabo, the deep religious
(Histories 4.95) relates the legend that Zalmoxis had had an
concern of the Geto-Dacians (spoude, theosebeia, pietas) was
underground chamber built and that he hid himself there for
a commonplace of antiquity.
three years, after which he reappeared. Such a sanctuary, with
a vast underground complex, has been found at Sarmizegetu-
The word pleistoi has received different interpretations,
sa Regia (modern-day Gradi¸stea Muncelului, Romania).
but it seems to be connected with the Thracian god Plei-
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GETO-DACIAN RELIGION
3467
storos (Herodotos, 9.119). Gheorghe Mu¸su has sought its
8 cycles of 13 years each, a new one-day correction was need-
etymology in the Indo-European root *ple(is), meaning “to
ed and marked. On a larger rectangular calendar, a 520-year
be full”; hence pleistoi would mean “bearers of fullness”
time quantum could be measured, that is, a cycle of five Da-
(Mu¸su, in Vulpe, 1980). In a rather obscure article, Mihai
cian centuries, after which a one-day correction was needed
Nasta has accepted the emendation pleistois in polistais, from
again. Besides the 104-year “centuries,” the Dacian calendar
polizein, meaning “to instruct in the spirit of the city [polis];
also worked with 91-year “centuries,” that is, 7 cycles of 13
to polish” (Nasta, in Vulpe, 1980). The most probable ety-
years each.
mology, however, is that proposed by Eugen Lozovan
Besides this “civilian” calendar, the Dacians also used
(1968), who reads pleistoi as a paronomasia of the Thracian
a religious calendar, composed of 60 weeks of six days each.
*pleiskoi, from the Indo-European *pleus-, meaning “hair,
A 68-day correction, marked on a circle composed of 68 pil-
lock.” Hence, the pleistoi would be “hair bearers,” that is,
lars, was exactly the astronomical operation needed after the
bearers, or wearers, of a woolen bonnet.
passage of a 13-year cycle. Sophisticated and precise as it was,
This explanation receives further confirmation from
the Dacian calendar had a simple and effective method of
Jordanes (71), who reports that the headgear of the noble
use. After termination of each time quantum (week, year, 13-
and wise priests of the Getae, called pilleati, was a tiara (pil-
year cycle, 91-year and 104-year “centuries,” 520-year peri-
leus). The rest of the people had no pilleus; thus they were
od), a successive unit, represented by an architectural ele-
capillati, or “bareheaded.” Scholars have claimed that Jor-
ment (e.g., a pillar, a slab), was marked; this unit had another
danes’s report was based on a misinterpretation of Dacian
form and/or was made of a material different from that used
nobles as priests, because traditionally the pilleus was the dis-
for the preceding unit. The system of correspondences con-
tinctive sign of Geto-Dacian aristocracy. This observation is
sists of distinguishing the different values of the circles of the
wholly irrelevant, however, because Geto-Dacian kingship
sanctuaries and the different regular units of which each cir-
had many of the characteristics of a theocracy, and the reli-
cle is composed. Once this is known, the whole pattern be-
gious initiation of nobles was probably different from that
comes predictable, and even a child or a modern scholar
of the common people. Thus, the pilleati could very well
could be easily trained to keep the periodic marking.
have been trained as priests. As often as not, Geto-Dacian
Easy as it might seem in practice, such a calendar would
high priesthood coincided with kingship.
be based on very complex mathematical principles. It would
T
reach such a remarkable precision that after 2,275 years, cor-
HE CALENDAR TEMPLE AT SARMIZEGETUSA REGIA. In
chapter 70 of his De origine actibusque Getarum, Jordanes
responding to 175 cycles of 13 years, the time as given by
presents a portrait of Getic warriors that has met only skepti-
the calendar would differ from the astronomical time by only
cism among modern scholars. According to Jordanes, the
38.88 seconds. This is much too precise to be true.
Getic warriors used the short time between battles to study
The calendar temple at Sarmizegetusa Regia was not
the properties of plants and the secrets of the starry heavens.
built before Decebalus, but it must have been based on a sys-
An astonishing confirmation of this picture has been provid-
tem discovered by Decaeneus. It provides perhaps a confir-
ed by the decipherment of the meaning of the calendar tem-
mation of Jordanes’s characterization of the religious life of
ple discovered among the monumental ruins of Sarmizegetu-
the Geto-Dacians.
sa Regia, an impressive stronghold in the Carpathian
Mountains that was the center of the Daco-Getic priesthood
SEE ALSO Zalmoxis.
before the Roman conquest. The first hypotheses, put for-
ward by D. M. Teodorescu, Constantin Daicoviciu, G.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Charrière, and Hadrian Daicoviciu, have been recently re-
The written sources on the religion of the Geto-Dacians are con-
placed by an improved interpretation based on algorithms,
tained in Fontes historiae Dacoromanae, 2 vols., edited by Vir-
proposed by Serban Bobancu, Cornel Samoila˘, and Emil
gil C. Popescu et al. (Bucharest, 1964–1970). On Thracian
religion in general, Gawrill I. Kazarow’s article, “Thrake (Re-
Poenaru (1980).
ligion),” in Realencyclopädie der Altertumswissenschaft, vol. 6
The calendar temple is composed of two circular sanctu-
(Stuttgart, 1937), can still be profitably consulted, and an ex-
aries made of pillars and slabs of stone and andesite and of
tensive bibliography can be found in Mircea Eliade’s Zalmox-
wooden pillars plated with terra-cotta, disposed in regular
is, the Vanishing God: Comparative Studies in the Religions and
Folklore of Dacia and Eastern Europe (Chicago, 1972).
patterns. The forms and materials correspond to different
units of the Dacian calendar. According to the demonstra-
For detailed study of the northern Thracians, the following works
tion of Bobancu, Samoila˘, and Poenaru, the Dacians used
are recommended. In Romanian, Hadrian Daicoviciu’s
Dacii, 2d ed. (Bucharest, 1972), and I. I. Russu’s article in
as their principal time measure a fluctuating week consisting
Anuarul Institutului de Studii Clasice 5 (1944–1948): 61–
of from 6 to 8 solar days. A Dacian year was composed of
137 are both essential works. Ion Hora¸tiu Cri¸san’s Burebista
47 such measures and had, accordingly, from 364 to 367
and His Time, Bibliotheca Historica Romaniae Monographs,
days. After one 13-year cycle the calendar needed a one-day
no. 20 (Bucharest, 1978), translated into English from his
correction, which was marked separately on a series of pillars
second edition, is useful for its description of the old sanctu-
indicating such cycles. After one “century” of 104 years, or
ary at Sarmizegetusa Regia. Radu Vulpe’s Studia Thracologi-
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

3468
GHAYBAH
ca, in French, contains important articles on Burebista and
Incineration is the dominating funerary practice. In the case
Decaeneus, and the Actes du Deuxième Congrès International
of inhumation, there is evidence for human sacrifices, a cus-
de Thracologie, vol. 3, Linguistique, ethnologie, anthropologie,
tom which is supported by literary tradition and comparison
edited by Vulpe (Bucharest, 1980), contains several interest-
with Celtic data.
ing articles by Ioan Coman, Gheorghe Mu¸su, Mihai Nasta,
and others. A still useful survey of some problems connected
IOAN PETRU CULIANU (1987)
with the religion of the Geto-Dacians is Eugen Lozovan’s
CICERONE POGHIRC (1987)
Revised Bibliography
“Dacia Sacra,” History of Religions 7 (February 1968): 209–
243. The best interpretation of the calendar temple at Sar-
mizegetusa Regia and a discussion of earlier hypotheses are
presented by Serban Bobancu, Cornel Samoila˘, and Emil
Poenaru in Caldendarul de la Sarmizegetusa Regia (Bucharest,
GHAYBAH, the Arabic word for “concealment,” in the
1980), which includes a useful English summary on pages
sense of absence from human sight, is applied by various
183–190.
Sh¯ıE¯ı Muslim groups to the condition of one or another
imam who disappeared rather than died and whose life is be-
New Sources
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Alexandrescu, Petre. “Zalmoxis ¸si cerceta˘rile lui Mircea Eliade
(Zalmoxis and Eliade researches).” Pontica 11 (1970):
God’s presence) until his foreordained return as mahd¯ı (the
51–58.
Expected Deliverer) to initiate the eschatological drama con-
cluding history.
Avram, Alexandru. “Gadanken über den thrakisch-geto-dakischen
Adel.” Studii clasice 26 (1988): 11–25. Prudence concerning
EARLY HISTORY. The QurDa¯n contrasts the invisible or hid-
Eliade’s hypothesis of Männerbunde in Dacia.
den spiritual realm (al-ghayb) with the observable world of
Barbulescu, Mihai. “La religione nella Dacia romana.” Atti Ac-
human experience. Drawing upon prototypes of such escha-
cademia Peloritana 68 (1992): 145–159. A useful com-
tological prophet figures as Moses and Jesus, the first genera-
pendium.
tions of Muslims embraced the view that certain prophets
were withdrawn by God from the eyes of mortals, among
Bianchi, Ugo. “Dualistic Aspects of Thracian Religion.” History
of Religions. 10, no. 3 (1971): 228–233. Concerning Zal-
them Jesus, Idr¯ıs (Enoch/Hermes), Ilya¯s (Elijah), and Khid:r.
moxis and the notice by Posidonius.
The QurDanic description of the crucifixion of Jesus (4:157–
159) and legends of the bodily incorruptibility and the as-
Bodor, Andreas. “Die griechisch-römischen Kulte in der Provinz
cension and future return of a Mosaic-type prophet contrib-
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In Aufstieg und Niedergang der Römischen Welt 2, 18, 2. Ber-
uted to the focusing of such expectations on various mem-
lin, New York, 1989, pp. 1078–1164. The most thorough
bers of the prophet Muh:ammad’s family. EAl¯ı ibn Ab¯ı T:a¯lib,
survey, including eight plates, though the bibliography is
the prophet’s cousin and son-in-law, may have been the first
outdated.
given this honor by a small group of extremists among his
Casadio, Giovanni. “Non desiderare la donna d’altri: la famiglia
partisans, the SabD¯ıyah, who refused to admit his death after
secondo naura dei barbari.” In Civiltà classica e mondo dei
his assassination in 661. After the martyrdom of H:usayn ibn
barbari, edited by Lidia de Finis. Trento, Italy, 1991,
EAl¯ı at Karbala in 680, another son of EAl¯ı, Muh:ammad ibn
pp. 103–135. Dealing with the ascetic and mystic traditions
al-H:anaf¯ıyah (d. 700?) became the center of millenarian
of the Dacian tribes mentioned by Posidonius.
hopes in the revolt of al-Mukhta¯r and the Kaysa¯n¯ıyah that
Dorcey Peter F. “The Cult of Silvanus in Dacia.” Athenaeum 66
occurred in 686 at Kufa in lower Iraq.
(1988): 131–140.
The Kaysa¯n¯ıyah drew an explicit parallel between a “do-
Hampartümian, Nicolae. “Child-Burials and Superstition in the
cetic” understanding of the passion of Christ and the con-
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cealment and eventual return of their imam. Speculation
J. Vermaseren. Leiden, 1978, pp. 473–477.
about the concealment of the imam was tied to the doctrine
Marghitan, L., and C. C. Petolescu. “Les cultes orientaux à Micia
of return (al-raj Eah) in terms of a this-worldly, bodily resur-
(Dacia superior). ” In Hommages à M. J. Vermaseren. Leiden,
rection before the end time to accomplish eschatological ven-
1978, pp. 718–731.
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Nemeti, Sorin. “Eine donauländische ikonographische Variante
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der Göttin Nantosuelta.” Latomus 60 (2001): 160–166.
THE LATER SH¯IEAH. The early tendency of “stopping” at a
Nemeti, Sorin. “Le dieu à l’anguipède dans la Dacie romaine.” Ol-
certain claimant to the imamate who was seen to be in con-
lodagos 17 (2003): 201–211. A study of magic gems.
cealment and awaiting his near-return helped fragment the
Ramon Carbó, Juan. “El culto imperial en la Dacia romana. Con-
energies of the original Sh¯ıEah. Historical circumstances de-
sideraciones sobre la presencia de aspectos análogos en la re-
termined the continuity of the Imamiyah or Twelver Sh¯ıE¯ı
ligiosidad de los pueblos daco-getas.” Ilu 6 (2001): 7–32. A
line of imams until the death in 874 of the eleventh imam,
comparison between the indigenous religion and the Roman
al-H:asan al-EAskar¯ı, whom tradition holds to have secretly
acculturation.
fathered a son four years before his death, namely the twelfth
Sirbu, Valeriu. “Rituels et pratiques funéraires des Géto-Daces, 2e
or Hidden Imam, Muh:ammad al-Mahd¯ı. During the minor
siècle av. n. è-1er siècle de n. è.” Dacia 30 (1986): 91–108.
ghaybah from 874 to 941 this person’s earthly existence 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

GHAZA¯LI, ABU
¯ H:A¯MID AL-
3469
near-return was accepted by the Twelver communities,
disi et al. (Paris, 1982), pp. 163–174, and “Shiite Discussion
whose allegiance was given to at least four successive saf¯ırs,
on the Legality of the khara¯j,” in Proceedings of the Ninth
or agents, the direct deputies of the Mahdi, especially in his
Congress of Arabic and Islamic Studies (Leiden, 1981),
juristic and financial functions. After 941 comes the era of
pp. 193–202, deal with the claim of the Sh¯ıE¯ı scholars to de-
the major ghaybah, in which the Twelver scholar-lawyers
putyship of the Hidden Imam. The esoteric Sh¯ıE¯ı approach
(mujtahids or faq¯ıhs) collectively fulfill the functions of the
can be sampled in Henry Corbin’s study, “Divine Epiphany
and Spiritual Birth in Ismailian Gnosis,” in Man and Trans-
imam’s agents as an independently learned body of religious
formation, vol. 5 of Papers from the Eranos Yearbooks, edited
authorities. In the major ghaybah the Mahdi’s concealment
by Joseph Campbell (New York, 1964), pp. 69–160, first
is seen as total and, though in earthly occultation, he is held
published in the Eranos-Jahrbuch 23 (1954): 141–249.
to communicate to the faithful by virtue of his participation
in the hierarchy of the invisible worlds.
DOUGLAS S. CROW (1987)
The early Isma¯E¯ıl¯ı Sh¯ıEah eschewed the notion of a mi-
raculous prolongation of life for the imam and emphasized
a continuing line of succession to the imamate that included
GHAZA¯LI, ABU
¯ H:A¯MID AL- ( AH 450–505/1058–
temporary or cyclical periods of concealment termed satr.
1111 CE), named Muh:ammad ibn Muh:ammad ibn
They centralized the spiritual and cosmic role of the imam
Muh:ammad, was the distinguished Islamic jurist, theolo-
developed earlier by the radical Sh¯ıEah. The Druze, however,
gian, and mystic who was given the honorific title H:ujjat
maintain belief in the ghaybah of their founders, the Fatimid
al-Isla¯m (Arab., “the proof of Islam”).
caliph al-H:a¯kim and Hamzah. The two major branches of
LIFE. Al-Ghaza¯l¯ı was born in the town of T:u¯s, near modern
the Fatimid Isma¯E¯ıl¯ıyah both revere a living line of successive
Mashhad (eastern Iran), and received his early education
imams: For the Niza¯r¯ı Isma¯E¯ıl¯ıyah he is the present Aga
there. When he was about fifteen he went to the region of
Khan, while the MustaEl¯ı Isma¯E¯ıl¯ıyah or Bohoras hold that
Gorga¯n (at the southeast corner of the Caspian Sea) to con-
the present imams are in earthly concealment and are repre-
tinue his studies. On the return journey, so the story goes,
sented by a continuing line of da¯ E¯ıs, or agents acting as heads
his notebooks were taken from him by robbers, and when
of the community.
he pleaded for their return they taunted him that he claimed
For the Twelver Sh¯ıEah, the need for a visible stand-in
to know what was in fact only in his notebooks; as a result
for the Hidden Imam, or Mahdi, has been assuaged by belief
of this incident he spent three years memorizing the material.
in his continuing efficacy and necessary suprahistorical role.
At the age of nineteen he went to Nishapur (about fifty
Dream visions and transcendent appearances were occasions
miles to the west) to study at the important Niz:a¯m¯ıyah col-
for the imam to momentarily break his concealment, while
lege under EAbd al-Malik al-Juwayn¯ı (d. 1085), known as
popular eschatology dwelt on the apocalyptic scenario of his
Imam al-H:aramayn, one of the leading religious scholars of
triumphant return or the miraculous nature of his conceal-
the period. Jurisprudence would be central in his studies, as
ment. Sh¯ıE¯ı theosophical treatments expanded the cosmic
in all Islamic higher education, but he was also initiated into
role of the concealed imam and his presence in the spiritual
AshEar¯ı theology and perhaps encouraged to read the philos-
realm of prophets and saints. S:u¯f¯ı treatments of ghaybah have
ophy of al-Fa¯ra¯bi and Ibn S¯ına¯ (Avicenna). He later helped
interiorized it by focusing on the complementary experience
with teaching and was recognized as a rising scholar. When
of hadrah, “presence” with the divine. S:u¯f¯ıs revered the pop-
al-Juwayn¯ı died, the powerful vizier of the Seljuk sultans,
ular figures of prophetic longevity such as Khid:r as well as
Niz:a¯m al-Mulk, invited him to join his court, which was in
the invisible yet active hierarchy of saints headed by the qutb,
fact a camp that moved about, giving al-Ghaza¯l¯ı the oppor-
or spiritual axis.
tunity to engage in discussions with other scholars.
SEE ALSO Aga Khan; Druze; Imamate; Messianism, article
In 1091, when he was about thirty-three, he was ap-
on Messianism in the Muslim Tradition; Shiism, articles on
pointed to the main professorship at the Niz:a¯m¯ıyah college
Isma¯E¯ıl¯ıyah, Ithna¯ EAshar¯ıyah.
in Baghdad, one of the leading positions in the Sunn¯ı world;
it can be assumed that the appointment was made by Niz:a¯m
B
al-Mulk, the founder of the colleges bearing his name. After
IBLIOGRAPHY
For descriptions of the early views on ghaybah, consult Israel
just over four years, however, al-Ghaza¯l¯ı abandoned his pro-
Friedlaender’s “The Heterodoxies of the Shiites in the Pre-
fessorship and adopted the life of an ascetic and mystic.
sentation of Ibn Hazm,” Journal of the American Oriental So-
Something of al-Ghaza¯l¯ı’s personal history during these
ciety 28 (1907): 1–80 and 29 (1908): 1–183. The Twelver
years in Baghdad may be gleaned from the autobiographical
doctrine of the concealment is well depicted by A. A.
work he wrote when he was about fifty, entitled Al-munqidh
Sachedina in Islamic Messianism (Albany, N.Y., 1981), while
the period of the minor ghaybah is treated in apologetic fash-
min al-d:ala¯l (The deliverer from error). This work is not con-
ion by Jassim M. Hussain in The Occultation of the Twelfth
ceived as an autobiography, however, but as a defense of his
Imam (London, 1982). Wilferd Madelung’s articles, “Au-
abandonment of the Baghdad professorship and of his subse-
thority in the Twelver Shiism in the Absence of the Imam,”
quent return to teaching in Nishapur about a decade later.
in La notion d’autorité au Moyen-Âge, edited by George Mak-
It is also not strictly chronological but was given a schematic
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3470
GHAZA¯LI, ABU
¯ H:A¯MID AL-
form. In it, he describes his intellectual journey after the ear-
based on seventeen points on which he attacks their views
liest years as containing a period of skepticism lasting “almost
as heretical and on three others on which he regards the phi-
two months,” when he doubted the possibility of attaining
losophers as infidels. In discussing the seventeen points
truth. Once he ceased to be completely skeptical, he set out
al-Ghaza¯l¯ı demonstrates the weaknesses of the philosophers’
on a search for truth among four “classes of seekers [of
arguments for the existence of God, his unicity, and his in-
truth],” namely, the AshEar¯ı theologians, the Neoplatonic
corporeality, and he rejects their view that God is a simple
philosophers, the Isma¯E¯ıl¯ıyah (whom he calls the party of
existent without quiddity and without attributes, their con-
ta El¯ım, or authoritative instruction), and finally the S:u¯f¯ıs, or
ception of his knowledge, and some of their assertions about
mystics. He writes as if these were four successive stages in
the heavens and the human soul. The three points contrary
his journey, but in fact they must have overlapped; it is virtu-
to Islam are that there is no resurrection of bodies but only
ally certain that he gained some knowledge of mysticism dur-
of spirits, that God knows universals but not particulars, and
ing his early studies at T:u¯s and Nishapur. The period of
that the world has existed from eternity. Underlying the de-
skepticism, too, could only have come after he had some ac-
tailed arguments is his conviction that the philosophers are
quaintance with philosophy, because philosophical consider-
unable to give strict logical proofs of their metaphysical
ations were involved.
views. He therefore turned away from them also in his search
for truth.
The first encounter, according to this scheme, was with
the mutakallimu¯n, or rational theologians. These were, of
His third encounter was with a section of the
course, the AshEar¯ıyah, by whom he had been trained and
Isma¯E¯ıl¯ıyah who held that true knowledge was to be gained
among whom he is reckoned. In the Munqidh he complains
from an infallible imam. It seems doubtful whether he seri-
that their reasoning is based on certain presuppositions and
ously expected to gain much from such people. He did, how-
assumptions that they never try to justify, but which he can-
ever, study their views carefully, partly because the caliph of
not accept without some justification. In effect what hap-
the day commanded him to write a refutation of them. He
pened was that he found in philosophy a way of justifying
had little difficulty in showing that there were serious inade-
some of the bases of AshEar¯ı theology. This can be seen in
quacies in their teaching.
his principal work of AshEar¯ı theology, Al-iatis:a¯d f¯ı al-i Etiqad
His final encounter was with Sufism; he had already re-
(The golden mean in belief), where he introduces many
alized that this mysticism entailed not only intellectual doc-
philosophical arguments, including one for the existence of
trines but also a way of life. After four years in Baghdad he
God. Until the end of his life he seems to have held that
felt himself so involved in the worldliness of his milieu that
AshEar¯ı theology was true so far as it went, and in his chief
he was in danger of going to hell. The profound inner strug-
mystical work, Ih:ya¯D Eulu¯m al-d¯ın (The revival of the reli-
gle he experienced led in 1095 to a psychosomatic illness.
gious sciences), he includes an AshEar¯ı creed of moderate
Dryness of the tongue prevented him from lecturing and
length; this is known as Al-risa¯lah al-quds¯ıyah (The Jerusa-
even from eating, and the doctors could do nothing to allevi-
lem epistle) and was probably composed before his extensive
ate the symptoms. After about six months he resolved to
study of philosophy.
leave his professorship and adopt the life of a S:u¯f¯ı. To avoid
The second encounter of his intellectual journey was
any attempts to stop him, he let it be known that he was set-
with Greek philosophy and, in particular, the Arabic Neopla-
ting out on the pilgrimage to Mecca. Actually he went only
to Damascus, living there as a S:u¯f¯ı for more than a year, and
tonism of al-Fa¯ra¯bi and Ibn S¯ına¯. He had probably been in-
then made the pilgrimage to Mecca in 1096. Some six
troduced to philosophy by al-Juwayn¯ı, but he began the in-
months after that he was back in Baghdad and then seems
tensive study of it early in his Baghdad professorship.
to have made his way by stages back to his native T:u¯s. There
Because philosophy, with other Greek sciences, was cultivat-
he established a kha¯na¯qa¯h (hostel or convent), where some
ed in institutions distinct from the colleges for Islamic juris-
young disciples joined him in leading a communal S:u¯f¯ı life.
prudence and theology and was looked on with disapproval,
The genuineness of his conversion to S:u¯f¯ısm has sometimes
al-Ghaza¯l¯ı had to study the books of the philosophers by
been questioned by Muslim scholars, and it has been suggest-
himself. He describes how he devoted to this activity all the
ed that he left his professorship because he was afraid his life
free time he had after lecturing to three hundred students
was in danger on account of political involvements. To judge
and doing some writing. In less than two years he managed
from his own account, however, religious considerations
to gain such a thorough understanding of the various philo-
were uppermost in his mind.
sophical disciplines that his book, Maqa¯s:id al-fala¯sifah (The
views of the philosophers), gives a clearer account of the
The Muslim year 500 (which began on September 2,
teaching of Ibn S¯ına¯ on logic, metaphysics, and physics than
1106 CE) marked the beginning of a new century.
the works of the philosopher himself. After another year’s re-
Muh:ammad was reported to have said that God would send
flection on these matters, al-Ghaza¯l¯ı wrote a powerful cri-
a “renewer” (mujaddid) of his religion at the beginning of
tique of the metaphysics or theology of the philosophers enti-
each century, and various friends assured al-Ghaza¯l¯ı that he
tled Taha¯fut al-fala¯sifah (The inconsistency of the
was the “renewer” for the sixth century. This induced him
philosophers). His argument against the philosophers is
to take up an invitation from the vizier of the provincial gov-
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GHAZA¯LI, ABU
¯ H:A¯MID AL-
3471
ernor in Nishapur to become the main professor in the
cal defense of AshEar¯ı doctrine in the Iqtis:a¯d must have been
Niz:a¯m¯ıyah college there. He continued in this position for
written either shortly before or shortly after leaving Baghdad.
three or possibly four years and then returned to T:u¯s, proba-
For some time after that, al-Ghaza¯l¯ı’s literary occupa-
bly because of ill health; he died there in 1111. His brother
tion seems to have been the composition of his greatest work,
Ah:mad, himself a distinguished scholar, describes how on his
the Ih:ya¯D Eulu¯m al-d¯ın. It consists of four “quarters,” each
last day, after ablutions. Abu¯ H:a¯mid performed the dawn
divided into “books” or chapters; a complete English transla-
prayer and then, lying down on his bed facing Mecca, kissed
tion would probably contain at least two million words. The
his shroud, pressed it to his eyes with the words, “Obediently
first quarter, entitled “the service of God,” has books dealing
I enter into the presence of the King,” and was dead before
with the creed, ritual purity, formal prayer (s:ala¯t), other types
sunrise.
of prayer and devotion, almsgiving, fasting, and the pilgrim-
WORKS. More than four hundred titles of works ascribed to
age. The second quarter deals with social customs as pre-
al-Ghaza¯l¯ı have been preserved, though some of these are dif-
scribed in the shar¯ı Eah and has books on eating habits, mar-
ferent titles for the same work. At least seventy works are ex-
riage, acquiring goods, traveling, and the like; it concludes
tant in manuscript; it is clear, however, that some of these,
with a book presenting Muh:ammad as an exemplar in social
chiefly works of a mystical character, have been falsely attri-
matters. The third quarter is about “things destructive,” or
buted to al-Ghaza¯l¯ı, though in the case of one or two the in-
vices, and, after two general books on “the mysteries of the
authenticity is not universally admitted. Certain of these
heart” and how to control and educate it, gives counsel with
works are written from a standpoint close to that of the phi-
regard to the various vices. The fourth quarter on “things
losophers, and earlier scholars, regarding them as authentic,
leading to salvation” deals with the stages and aspects of the
were led to suppose that before his death al-Ghaza¯l¯ı came
mystical life, such as penitence, patience, gratitude, renuncia-
to adopt the views he had previously attacked, or else that
tion, trust in God, and love for him. In most of the books
in addition to his publicly expressed views, he held esoteric
al-Ghaza¯l¯ı begins with relevant quotations from the QurDa¯n
views which he communicated only to a select few. Since
and the h:ad¯ıth (anecdotes about Muh:ammad, sometimes
about 1960, however, scholars have been aware of a manu-
called traditions) and then proceeds to his own exposition.
script written four years after his death, which bears a colo-
His overriding aim seems to be to show how the scrupulous
phon stating that the short work it contains was completed
observance of all the external acts prescribed by the shar¯ı Eah
by al-Ghaza¯l¯ı about a fortnight before he died. This work
contributes to the inner mystical life.
is Ilja¯m al- Eawa¯mm Ean Eilm al-kala¯m (The restraining of the
Al-Ghaza¯l¯ı presents a simpler version of the way of life
common people from the science of theology), and in it he
to which the Ih:ya¯D points in Bida¯yat al-hida¯yah (The begin-
writes as a Sha¯fiE¯ı jurist who, at least up to a point, accepts
ning of guidance). Other works of interest from his mystical
AshEar¯ı theology. It is also known that just over two years
period are an exposition of the ninety-nine names of God
earlier he had completed a long and important work on the
with the short title Al-maqs:ad al-asna¯ (The noblest aim) and
principles of jurisprudence, Al-mustas:fa¯ (The choice part, or
a discussion of light symbolism centered on the “light verse”
essentials); this was presumably one of the subjects on which
of the QurDa¯n (24:35) and entitled Mishka¯t al-anwa¯r (The
he lectured at Nishapur. These facts make it inconceivable
niche for lights). There is also a Persian work, K¯ımiya¯ D
that at the end of his life al-Ghaza¯l¯ı adopted the heretical
al-sa Ea¯dah (The alchemy of happiness), covering the same
views he had previously denounced, and thus they strengthen
ground as the Ih:ya¯D but in about half the compass.
the case for regarding as inauthentic works containing views
Among the works of doubtful authenticity is a refuta-
that cannot be harmonized with what is expressed in books
tion of Christianity with the title Al-radd al-jam¯ıl Eala¯ s:ar¯ıh:
such as the Munqidh and the Ih:ya¯D.
al-inj¯ıl (The beautiful refutation of the evidence of the gos-
The genuine works of al-Ghaza¯l¯ı range over several
pel). Even if this is not by al-Ghaza¯l¯ı, it is of course an inter-
fields. One of these is jurisprudence, which is dealt with in
esting document of roughly his period, and the same is true
several early works, as well as in the much later Mustas:fa¯
of the spurious mystical works.
mentioned above. These are the works most often referred
THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF AL-GHAZA¯L¯I: PHILOSOPHY, THE-
to in connection with al-Ghaza¯l¯ı during the two centuries
OLOGY, AND MYSTICISM. At the present time it is still diffi-
after his death. Most of these legal works were presumably
cult to reach a balanced judgment on the achievement of
written before he went to Baghdad. At Baghdad he turned
al-Ghaza¯l¯ı. After the first translation of the Munqidh into a
to philosophy, producing the Maqa¯s:id and the Taha¯fut, the
European language (French) was published in 1842, many
exposition and critique of the Neoplatonic philosophers.
European scholars found al-Ghaza¯l¯ı such an attractive figure
About the same time, he wrote two small books on Aristote-
that they paid much more attention to him than to any other
lian logic and a semi-philosophical work on ethics (which
Muslim thinker, and this fashion has been followed by Mus-
may, however, contain some interpolations). He also relates
lim scholars as well. His importance has thus tended to be
that it was in Baghdad that he composed for the caliph
exaggerated because of relative Western ignorance of other
al-Mustaz:hir the refutation of Isma¯E¯ıl¯ı thought known after
writers. This ignorance is now rapidly decreasing, but care
the patron as the Mustaz:hir¯ı. His exposition and philosophi-
is still needed in making an assessment of al-Ghaza¯l¯ı.
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3472
GHOSE, AUROBINDO
Part of al-Ghaza¯l¯ı’s aim in studying the various philo-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
sophical disciplines was to discover how far they were com-
Two older books still have much of value, though they make use
patible with Islamic doctrine. He gave separate consideration
of works probably falsely attributed to al-Ghaza¯l¯ı: A. J. Wen-
to mathematics, logic, physics, metaphysics or theology
sinck’s La pensée de Ghazza¯l¯ı (Paris, 1940) and Margaret
(ila¯h¯ıya¯t), politics, and ethics. Metaphysics he criticized very
Smith’s Al-Ghaza¯l¯ı the Mystic (London, 1944); the latter in-
severely in his Taha¯fut, but most of the others he regarded
cludes a full account of his life. My Muslim Intellectual: A
Study of al-Ghazali (Edinburgh, 1963) looks at his life and
as neutral in themselves, though liable to give less scholarly
thought in its intellectual context. In La politique de Ghaza¯l¯ı
persons an unduly favorable opinion of the competence of
(Paris, 1970), Henri Laoust gives some account of his life as
the philosophers in every field of thought. He himself was
well as of his political thought. Hava Lazarus-Yafeh’s Studies
very impressed by Aristotelian logic, especially the syllogism.
in al-Ghazzali (Jerusalem, 1975) includes among other
He not only made use of logic in his own defense of doctrine
things discussions of authenticity on the basis of linguistic
but also wrote several books about it, in which he managed
criteria. The fullest account of all works ascribed to him,
to commend it to his fellow-theologians as well as to ex-
with extensive consideration of questions of authenticity, is
pound its principles. From his time on, many theological
Maurice Bouyges’s Essai de chronologie des œuves de
treatises devote much space to philosophical preliminaries,
al-Ghaza¯l¯ı, edited by Michel Allard (Beirut 1956). The fol-
and works on logic are written by theologians. The great pos-
lowing are a few of the numerous translations available: my
The Faith and Practice of al-Ghaza¯l¯ı (London, 1953) has
itive achievement of al-Ghaza¯l¯ı here was to provide Islamic
translations of the Munqidh and Bida¯yat al-hida¯yah; Richard
theology with a philosophical foundation.
J. McCarthy’s Freedom and Fulfillment (Boston, 1980) has
It is more difficult to know how far his critique of phi-
translations of the Munqidh and “other relevant works” with
losophy led to its disappearance. Arabic Neoplatonic philos-
introduction and notes; William H. T. Gairdner’s
ophy ceased to be cultivated in the East, though there was
Al-Ghazza¯l¯ı’s Mishka¯t al-anwa¯r (The Niche for Lights; 1924;
an important Persian tradition of theosophical philosophy,
reprint, Lahore, 1952) is a translation with introduction of
a mystical text; Muh:ammad A. Quasem’s The Jewels of the
but there had been no philosopher of weight in the East since
Qur Da¯n: al Ghazali’s Theory (Bangi, Malaysia, 1977), a trans-
the death of Ibn S¯ına¯ twenty years before al-Ghaza¯l¯ı was
lation of Jawa¯hir al-Qur Da¯n, shows how the QurDa¯n was un-
born. In the Islamic West philosophy following the Greek
derstood and used by S:u¯f¯ıs; Robert C. Stade’s Ninety-nine
tradition continued until about 1200 and included a refuta-
Names of God in Islam (Ibadan, 1970) is the descriptive part
tion of al-Ghaza¯l¯ı’s Taha¯fut by Ibn Rushd (Averroës), so that
of Al-maqs:ad al-asna¯.
the decline in the West cannot be attributed to al-Ghaza¯l¯ı.
A general overview of the Ih:ya¯ D is given in G.-H. Bousquet’s
Sufism had been flourishing in the Islamic world for
Ghaza¯l¯ı, Ih Dya EOuloum ed-dîn, ou vivification des sciences de
more than two centuries. Many of the earliest S:u¯f¯ıs had been
la foi; analyse et index (Paris, 1955). Translations of separate
chiefly interested in asceticism, but others had cultivated ec-
books include Nabih Amin Faris’s The Book of Knowledge
static experiences, and a few had become so “intoxicated”
(book 1; Lahore, 1962); The Foundations of the Articles of
Faith (book 2; Lahore, 1963); The Mysteries of Purity (book
that they seemed to outsiders to claim unity with God. Such
3; Lahore, 1966); The Mysteries of Almsgiving (book 5; La-
persons often also held that their mystical attainments freed
hore, 1974); The Mysteries of Fasting (book 6; Lahore, 1968);
them from duties such as ritual prayer. In al-Ghaza¯l¯ı’s time,
E. E. Calverley’s Worship in Islam (book 4; 1925; reprint,
too, yet other S:u¯f¯ıs were becoming interested in gnostic
Westport, Conn., 1981); Muh:ammad A. Quasem’s The Rec-
knowledge and developing theosophical doctrines. For these
itation and Interpretation of the Qur Da¯n (book 8; Selangor,
reasons many of the Eulama¯D, or religious scholars, were
Malaysia, 1979); D. B. Macdonald’s “Emotional Religion in
suspicious of all Sufism, despite the fact that some of their
Islam as Affected by Music and Singing” (book 18), Journal
number practiced it in a moderate fashion without becoming
of the Royal Asiatic Society (1901): 195–252, 705–748; and
either heretical in doctrine or antinomian in practice.
(1902): 1–28; Leon Zolondek’s Book XX of al-Ghaza¯l¯ı’s Ih:ya¯ D
Al-Ghaza¯l¯ı adopted the position of this latter group and,
(Leiden, 1963); and William McKane’s Al-Ghazali’s Book of
Fear and Hope (book 33; Leiden, 1965).
after his retirement from the professorship in Baghdad, spent
much of his time in ascetical and mystical practices. The
W. MONTGOMERY WATT (1987)
kha¯na¯qa¯h that he established at T:u¯s was probably not unlike
a monastery of contemplatives. His great work the Ih:ya¯D pro-
vides both a theoretical justification of his position and a
GHOSE, AUROBINDO SEE AUROBINDO
highly detailed elucidation of it which emphasized the deeper
GHOSE
meaning of the external acts. In this way both by his writing
and by his own life al-Ghaza¯l¯ı showed how a profound inner
life can be combined with full observance of the shariEah and
sound theological doctrine. The consequence of the life and
GHOST DANCE. The Ghost Dance was the major re-
work of al-Ghaza¯l¯ı was that religious scholars in the main
vivalist movement among nineteenth-century North Ameri-
stream of Sunnism had to look more favorably on the S:u¯f¯ı
can Indians. Dating from about 1870, it had its culmination
movement, and this made it possible for ordinary Muslims
in the 1890–1891 “messiah craze” of the Plains, which
to adopt moderate S:u¯f¯ı practices.
caused the last Indian war in the Dakotas. The name Ghost
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GHOST DANCE
3473
Dance refers to the ritual round-dances that were thought to
This second Ghost Dance appeared when the Plains
imitate the dances of the dead and were performed to precip-
tribes had been subjugated and their old style of living was
itate the renewal of the world and the return of the dead.
on the wane. The freedom-loving Plains Indians looked for
There were other American Indian ceremonial dances that
an escape, and in their desperation they found it in the Ghost
were called ghost dances—for instance, a ritual dance among
Dance. Emissaries were sent over to the “Messiah,” Wovoka
the Iroquois. However, it was the messianic Ghost Dance of
(who in fact had claimed only to be a prophet, not a messi-
1890 that attracted general attention because of its message
ah), and were instructed in his doctrine. However, the Plains
and consequences. It has been considered prototypical of
delegates misinterpreted the message to mean that the whites
other revivalist movements among North American Indians,
would be driven off or exterminated. The Ghost Dance
so much so that most later movements have been classified
spread like fire among the Plains Indians, and in particular
as “ghost dances” (La Barre, 1970).
the Arapaho, Cheyenne, Lakota, Kiowa, and Caddo became
HISTORY. Strictly speaking, there have been two Ghost
staunch believers. Dancing songs expressed the wishes of the
Dances, closely connected with each other and almost identi-
arrival of the dead and praised the Father above.
cal in form and cultic performance.
The Lakota added several new traits that were in line
The 1870 Ghost Dance. The Ghost Dance movement
with their visionary and militant ethos: they became en-
of 1870 was introduced on the Walker Lake Reservation in
tranced while dancing; they pondered military action against
Nevada by a Northern Paiute Indian, Wodziwob (“gray
the whites; and they covered their upper bodies with white
hair,” 1844–1918?). During a trance he was conveyed to the
“ghost shirts,” decorated with spiritual emblems. The ghost
otherworld, where he learned that the dead were soon to re-
shirt was supposed to protect the wearer magically against
turn, that the disappearing game animals were to be restored,
enemy bullets. It was probably patterned on Mormon gar-
and that the old tribal life would come back again. In order
ments worn by the Paiute for protection from bodily harm.
to hasten this change, people had to perform round dances
Although the Lakota plans for action were very vague,
at night, without fires. This Ghost Dance lasted some few
their frenetic dancing in the summer and fall of 1890 re-
years among the Paiute, several middle and northern Califor-
leased countermeasures from the suspicious white authorities
nia tribes, and some Oregon Indians.
in the Dakotas, resulting in the so-called Ghost Dance Up-
Wovoka and the Ghost Dance of 1890. One of
rising. Highpoints of this development were the arrest and
Wodziwob’s inspired adherents was Tävibo (“white man”),
assassination of the famous Lakota leader Sitting Bull and the
who despite his name was a full-blooded Northern Paiute.
massacre at Wounded Knee at the end of December 1890,
He had a son, Wovoka (“the cutter,” 1856–1932). Wovoka
when Hotchkiss guns indiscriminately killed men, women,
lived in Mason Valley, Nevada, where he served as a farm-
and children in Big Foot’s camp.
hand to a white family named Wilson, and because of this
association he went under the name of Jack Wilson. During
After these catastrophic events, enthusiasm for the
an eclipse of the sun, probably in January 1889, he fell into
Ghost Dance ebbed. Some groups continued dancing, but
a trance and was transported to the supreme being in the sky.
their expectations of the coming of the dead were projected
In this vision the supreme being showed him the land of the
to a distant future. The last Ghost Dances were held in the
dead and the happy life there, and promised that the living
1950s, among Canadian Dakota and Wind River Shoshoni.
would have a reunion with the deceased, providing a series
THREE MAIN ROOTS. It is possible to find three main roots
of rules were followed.
of the Ghost Dance: earlier religious movements stimulated
At this point the information divides. To the whites,
by Christian missions, shamanic experiences, and indigenous
Wovoka said that the reunion would take place in the other-
rituals. Of these sources, the impact of earlier syncretic
world if people behaved correctly (i.e., did not lie, steal, or
movements has been thoroughly analyzed, beginning with
fight) and performed the round dance. To the Indians, he
James Mooney’s famous study (1896). The import of native
announced the speedy coming of the dead (who would be
religious development has been properly studied only rela-
guided by a cloudlike spirit that was interpreted as Jesus) as
tively recently. Scholars have, of course, been aware of
well as the return of game and a lasting peace with the whites.
changes in the Indian’s spiritual, cultural, and military back-
The round dance would more quickly bring about this
ground that may have triggered the outbreak of the Ghost
change. The scene was to be on earth, not in the otherworld.
Dance. There is no unanimity of opinion, however, as to
It is obvious that, to the Indians, Wovoka presented the same
whether readjustment to a new sociopolitical situation or
message, in many ways, as Wodziwob.
predominantly religious drives steered the development. The
overwhelming majority of scholars, all of them anthropolo-
The round dance was the same as well. It was conducted
gists, favor the first view, whereas historians of religions pre-
on four or five consecutive nights. Men and women danced
fer the latter.
together in a circle, interlacing their fingers and dancing
round with shuffling side steps. The dance was exhausting,
The impetus for the Ghost Dance revivalism was the In-
although not continuous, and no fainting spells or visions
dians’ enforced contact with an expanding white civilization
were reported.
beginning in the 1860s. Because of growing white settle-
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3474
GHOST DANCE
ments, the white military takeover, and the introduction of
to the Indian conception of the prophet, his reception of an
white jurisdiction, there was no more room for the continua-
eschatological message after a comatose experience, and his
tion of the old native existence, in particular for the hunters
direct contact with a more or less christianized God. Howev-
and gatherers of the West. Their independent cultures ceased
er, the pattern of spiritual communication is very much sha-
rapidly, sometimes even abruptly, as on the Plains: the whole
manic. Wovoka, for instance, was himself a medicine man,
culture of the northern Plains tribes, built on hunting buffa-
and fell repeatedly into self-induced trances. It was during
lo, collapsed when in 1883 the last herd of buffalo was exter-
these séances that he visited the otherworld and received his
minated. The Indians had to adjust to white people’s culture
messages. Of course, the destination of his soul was the heav-
and, in part, to their values, in order to survive. At the same
en of God, not the spirit land of the dead; these were two
time the Indians drew on their past to mobilize a desperate
different realms in most Native American beliefs.
spiritual resistance against the overwhelming white influ-
The Ghost Dance had its precursors in movements that
ence. In this reactive effort they combined Christian or
crystallized around shamans. Leslie Spier (1935) retraced the
Christian-derived elements with indigenous ideas and rituals
Ghost Dance ideology to an older “Prophet Dance” founded
to form a resistance ideology.
on the intense relations of the living with the dead on the
Earlier religious movements. The formation of mixed
Northwest Coast and the Plateau. The Prophet Dance ideol-
(“acculturated”) ideologies is part of American Indian reli-
ogy contained such elements as a world cataclysm, renewal
gious history since the beginning of European colonization:
of the world, and the return of the dead. World renewal and
The restitutional (“nativistic”) doctrines launched by the
the return of the dead could be hastened by the performance
Tewa Indian Popé (1680–1692) and by Neolin, the so-called
of the “dance of the dead.” The Prophet Dance had its basis,
Delaware Prophet (around 1760), are among the better-
according to Spier, in the periodic cataclysms (earthquakes)
known early instances. These prophets proposed an ethical
to which the region is subject and in the shamanic visits to
and religious program. In many respects Neolin set the pat-
the dead.
tern for subsequent prophets, including those of the Ghost
Round-dance ritual. The third main root of the Ghost
Dance: an inspired person who suffers from the ways of the
Dance is, as Michael Hittman (1973) has observed, the in-
white people enforced upon the Indian people, who long for
digenous round dance. The latter has been interpreted by
a return to the good old Indian ways, and who experiences
some scholars as simply a dance for entertainment, but there
an ecstasy or similar state. In his vision the prophet is
is much evidence that the Basin round dance, performed
brought to the Master of Life, from whom is obtained in-
around a pole or cedar tree, was a religious ceremony—the
structions about a right life. Provided this road is followed,
Father Dance, offered with thanksgivings to the Master of
the prophet is told, the game will return, the whites will be
Life for food, rain, and health. In the Ghost Dance this old
driven away, and the old life will be restored. No wonder that
ceremony was given a new, eschatological meaning.
such enchanting messages fostered Indian wars, like Ponti-
ac’s uprising, which was inspired by Neolin’s prophecies.
SEE ALSO Neolin; North American Indian Religions, article
on Modern Movements; Shamanism, article on North
While the messages of the prophets reflected a yearning
American Shamanism; Wovoka.
for old value patterns, they were in fact deeply dependent on
Christian missionary teachings. Exhortations to believers to
BIBLIOGRAPHY
refrain from liquor, adultery, lying, and murder and to show
The classic in the field is still James Mooney’s The Ghost-Dance
brotherly friendliness, even beyond tribal boundaries, reveal
Religion and the Sioux Outbreak of 1890 (1896; reprint, Chi-
more or less Christian ethical precepts. Where the abandon-
cago, 1965). It is a reliable account of Mooney’s field visits,
ment of traditional fetishes and rituals was propagated, as by
just after the Lakota conflict, to a number of tribes that per-
the Shawnee prophet Tenskwatawa, Christian value judg-
formed the Ghost Dance. Other general works, but less pro-
ments are easily recognizable. The very idea that the Supreme
fessional, are Paul Bailey’s Wovoka: The Indian Messiah (Los
Angeles, 1957) and David H. Miller’s Ghost Dance (New
Being had to introduce the new religious program through
York, 1959). In a wider setting of so-called crisis cults, the
revelation to a prophet also speaks of Christian influence.
Ghost Dance religion has been discussed in, among other
The hope for the day of salvation, or the coming liberation,
works, Weston La Barre’s The Ghost Dance (Garden City,
implies a linear view of history and an eschatological goal,
N.Y., 1970).
ideas that were never American Indian, but are thoroughly
The discussion of the Ghost Dance has, in comparative works on
Christian.
prophetism, messianism, and millenarianism, concentrated
Shamanic experiences. The second root of the Ghost
on terminological, psychological, and acculturation prob-
lems, whereas the specialized works on the Ghost Dance have
Dance is shamanic experience. Although the instigators of
paid attention primarily to its origins. Pathbreaking has been
the revivalist movements were prophets (i.e., ecstatics who
Leslie Spier’s The Prophet Dance of the Northwest and Its De-
had received their calling from God) and not shamans (i.e.,
rivatives: The Source of the Ghost Dance (Menasha, Wis.,
vocational ecstatics acting on behalf of their fellowmen), the
1935). Spier’s idea of an exclusively aboriginal origin of the
difference is a minor one, for shamans often receive their call-
Ghost Dance religion is today in doubt, but much of his
ing from spirits. There was definitely a Christian background
work remains extremely useful.
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3475
The grounding of the 1890 Ghost Dance in Wodziwob’s move-
literature. While Shakespeare wrote one play involving fairies
ment of the same name twenty years earlier has directed
and another involving witches, ghosts were an important fea-
scholars’ attention to the latter. The details of the 1870
ture in several of his works: Hamlet’s father, Caesar, and
movement have been excellently clarified in Cora Dubois’s
Banquo all appear as ghosts. Hamlet’s father—called a ghost,
The 1870 Ghost Dance (Berkeley, Calif., 1939). A new orien-
a spirit, an apparition, an illusion, and more than fantasy—
tation, which argues for the mutual independence of the
expresses a belief in the activities of ghosts: “I am thy father’s
1870 and 1890 movements, is represented in Michael Hitt-
man’s “The 1870 Ghost Dance at the Walker River Reserva-
spirit; / Doom’d for a certain term to walk the night, / And
tion: A Reconstruction,” Ethnohistory 20 (1973): 247–278.
for the day confin’d to fast in fires, / Till the foul crimes
done in my days of nature / Are burnt and purg’d away”
The connection of the Ghost Dance with the Father Dance has
(1.5.9–13).
been worked out in my book, Belief and Worship in Native
North America, edited by Christopher Vessey (Syracuse,
THE BIBLE AND THE QURDA¯N. The Hebrew scriptures have
N.Y., 1981); see especially “The Changing Meaning of the
few references to ghosts. Isaiah attacked the practice of con-
Ghost Dance as Evidenced by the Wind River Shoshoni,”
sulting “the mediums and the wizards who chirp and mut-
pp. 264–281.
ter” (Is. 8:19). This refers to the spiritualistic séance, forbid-
A
˚ KE HULTKRANTZ (1987)
den but vividly illustrated in the story of the medium of
Endor, consulted by Saul. She was said to raise up the dead
prophet Samuel out of the earth, saying “An old man comes
GHOSTS.
up, and he is covered with a robe” (1 Sm. 28:14). Samuel
In western Germanic languages words similar
was not a haunting ghost, although he brought a fatal warn-
to the modern English ghost and the German Geist seem to
ing for Saul.
be derived from roots indicating fury, wounding, or tearing
in pieces. The spelling with gh in English appeared first in
In Psalm 88:12 the grave is called the land of forgetful-
a work printed by William Caxton in the fifteenth century,
ness, and later Judas Maccabaeus makes sacrifices to free the
influenced probably by a similar Flemish form. The term
dead from their sins (2 Mc. 12:45). In the apocryphal Wis-
ghost has been used in various ways, to mean soul, spirit,
dom of Solomon (17:15) lawless men are said to be troubled
breath, the immaterial part of man, moral nature, a good
in their sleep by specters, apparitions, and phantoms. Other-
spirit, an evil spirit, and, in liturgical and dogmatic language,
wise ghosts are not mentioned except in the older transla-
to designate the spirit of God as the “Holy Ghost.” It has
tions where death is described as surrendering the spirit, “giv-
chiefly signified the soul of a deceased person appearing in
ing up the ghost.”
a visible form, and hence has given rise to such phrases as
a ghost walking, raising a ghost, or laying a ghost. It may be
In the New Testament there are also few references.
called “an apparition” or “a specter.” In any case, the prevail-
When the disciples saw Jesus by night, on or by the sea, they
ing modern sense is that of a dead person manifesting its
were afraid, thinking him an apparition or ghost (phantasma;
presence visibly to the living.
Mark 6:49; this is the only occurrence of this word in the
New Testament). In one of Luke’s accounts of the resurrec-
Other words are used to describe comparable phenome-
tion the disciples were terrified, supposing that they had seen
na, but with some differences. A fetch is, like the German
a spirit (pneuma), but Jesus assured them that this could not
Doppelgänger, the apparition of a living person. A wraith is
be so, for he had flesh and bones that a spirit had not (Lk.
an apparition or specter of a dead person or an immaterial
24:37–39). Lazarus might be called a revenant, but he was
appearance of someone living forewarning his own death.
not, strictly speaking, a ghost, since he came out of the grave
The Irish often speak of fetches, and the Scottish of wraiths.
alive (Jn. 11:44). Later Christian insistence upon the “resur-
More generally, a phantom, from the Greek phantasma, is
rection of the flesh” (sarx), as in the Apostles’ Creed, also pre-
sometimes unreal or immaterial, an illusion or dream-image,
cluded “ghostly” survival and postulated instead a restoration
a specter or ghost. A phantasm may be the same thing, but
of the full personality.
Edmund Gurney and others in Phantasms of the Living
(1886) discussed as phantasms “all classes of cases where . . .
In developing Christian doctrine theologians discussed
the mind of one human being has affected the mind of an-
the nature of angels, good spirits, bad spirits, the resurrection
other . . . by other means than through the recognized
of the dead, heaven, hell, and purgatory. But belief in ghosts
channels of sense” (vol. 1, p. 35). A poltergeist, from the Ger-
and their possible return to earth was left indeterminate, nei-
man poltern (“to make noise”) and Geist (“spirit”) is regarded
ther accepted nor rejected. All Souls’ Day, the commemora-
as a noisy spirit remarkable for throwing things about. Since
tion of the faithful departed, has been universally celebrated
the nineteenth century the French world revenant (lit., “one
in the Western church since the tenth century, and prayers
who comes back”), has been used in English to describe a
at Mass request “to the souls of all thy servants a place of cool
being who returns from the dead.
repose, the blessedness of quiet, the brightness of light . . .
forgiveness and everlasting rest.”
The word ghost most commonly refers to a dead person
who haunts or simply appears before the living, sometimes
In practice many Christians have believed in ghosts and
with a message or warning. The notion has been popular in
in haunted places, and this is said to have been particularly
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3476
GHOSTS
true among Germanic peoples. The survivors owed numer-
Ghana, a man who has committed suicide is called a wander-
ous duties to the departed, and unless honor and rituals were
ing spirit, unable to find rest and refused entry into the land
accorded, it was thought that the dead might return to take
of spirits, roaming between this world and the next until his
vengeance or reclaim their former property. Those who had
appointed time of death. If such a suicide is reborn, he will
died untimely or unnatural deaths, such as women in child-
come back as a cruel man who might again suffer a bad end.
birth, might become wandering spirits. To this day stories
At one time criminals who were executed had powerful
are related in Europe about old monasteries or rectories
charms tied on them to prevent their ghosts returning to
where restless spirits are said to appear. Rituals of exorcism
harm the executioners. Some of the dead had their heads
have been practiced, with restrictions, both to cast out evil
shaved and painted red, white, and black so that they would
spirits and to lay wandering ghosts to rest.
be recognized if they walked as ghosts.
In the Islamic world the soul or self (Arab., nafs; cf. Heb.
The Ga of the Ghana coastline think that the spirit of
nefesh) was at first distinguished from the breath or wind
one who dies violently or prematurely wanders about for
(Arab., ru¯h:; cf. Heb. ruah:), but the words came to be used
forty days as a ghost, angry at his early death and jealous of
interchangeably and are applied to the human spirit, angels,
other people’s pleasures. Those who go out late at night pur-
and genii (jinn). Theologians teach that at death the soul
suing such pleasures may be pursued in turn by ghosts until
goes to a first judgment and then remains in the grave until
they die of heart failure. Ghosts are said to be recognizable
the final resurrection. Edward A. Westermarck stated in Rit-
by their fiery breath and red mouths: red is the color of
ual and Belief in Morocco (1926, vol. 2, p. 246) that while
witches, fairies, and ghosts, but ghosts dislike white and may
it was believed that dead saints might appear to the living and
be kept away if one throws white cloths on the ground.
the dead might come to see their friends but remain invisible,
“as to ordinary dead people I have been assured over and over
A common belief in the Ivory Coast is that the dead may
again that the dead do not walk, and I remember how hearti-
return to their homes at night to steal children from their
ly my friends . . . laughed when I told them that many
mothers’ arms. Here and elsewhere widows must keep in
Christians believe in ghosts.” However, the Moroccans be-
mourning for months or years, often in rags, lest their dead
lieved that the dead would be angry if they were offended
husbands return and have sexual intercourse with them,
by anyone and would punish him, and if children did not
which would have fatal results. Fishermen drowned at sea,
visit the graves of their parents they would be cursed by
hunters lost in the forest, people struck by lightning or burnt
them. The voices of some of the dead were thought to be au-
in fires, and others who die of diseases like smallpox or lepro-
dible in cemeteries, though only good people, children, and
sy may not receive burial rites and so become ghosts, living
animals could hear them. If a person had been killed, the
in the “bad bush.” Months after the death or disappearance,
spot would be regarded as haunted, and passersby might hear
the family performs mourning ceremonies and lays the ghost
him groan.
to rest.
Among Berber-speaking tribes there were said to be
When infant mortality is high, a succession of dying
more traces of the belief in apparitions of the dead than
children may be thought to be incarnations of the same child
among Arabic-speaking Moroccans. Some of the Tuareg of
over and over again. The Yoruba of Nigeria call such babies
the Sahara claimed that ghosts had been seen at night near
“born to die” (abiku), and if one comes a third time and dies
cemeteries. In Egypt many stories have been told of appari-
it is said that “there is no hoe” to bury it with. Marks are
tions of dead people, and Arabian bedouin believe that spirits
made on the body of the stillborn or dying baby to prevent
of the wicked haunt the places of their burial and that the
the ghost from returning or to make the ghost recognizable.
living should avoid passing cemeteries in the dark.
In central Africa the Ila of Zambia think that some spir-
The jinn may be thought to haunt burial grounds and
its are captured by witches and become their ghost-slaves,
many other places, but they are fiery spirits and not dead
causing disease and sometimes possessing people. Like pol-
people. Ghouls (Arab., ghu¯l) are monsters thought to haunt
tergeists, such ghosts reputedly attack people, knock burdens
cemeteries and feed on dead bodies. An Eifrit is mentioned
off their heads, or break axes and hoes. Ghosts are often
in the QurDa¯n (27:39) as “one of the jinn,” and in the Thou-
thought to speak in unnatural ways, in guttural voices or
sand and One Nights, in the story of the second shaykh, it
twittering like birds, and some are said to be very small, with
is said that a benevolent Muslim woman “turned into an
bodies reversed so that their faces are at the back of their
Eifritah, a jinniyah.” She changed her shape, saved her hus-
heads. They appear in dreams, show anger at neglect, de-
band from drowning by carrying him on her shoulders, and
mand sacrifice, or cause sickness. Although stories are told
told him that she had delivered him from death by the grace
that seem to imply that ghosts have objective or even physical
of God, since she believed in him and in his Prophet. In
existence, they are regarded as spiritual entities who only take
Egypt the word Eifrit came to mean the ghost of a man who
the essence or heart of sacrifices.
had been murdered or suffered a violent death.
In the region of Zaire the word zumbi is used for spirits
AFRICA. In many parts of Africa ghosts are thought to appear
of the dead and ghosts, and in Haiti it becomes zombie, a
to give warning or seek vengeance. Among the Ashanti of
revenant, or one of the “living dead,” whose soul has been
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3477
eaten by a witch or whose corpse has been revived by a sor-
deaths to the ghost of the original incumbent, who had
cerer for evil purposes.
owned the monastery personally and died before appointing
a successor. Those who followed were usurpers, and as a
SOUTH AND EAST ASIA. In popular Indian belief various
ghost he caused their deaths. As a consequence the villagers
words may be used for ghosts. The term bhu¯ta, something
decided to abandon that monastery and build a new one for
that has been or has become, refers to the ghost of a dead
the next abbot.
person, one who has died a violent death or has not had a
proper funeral ceremony, or it may apply generally to a good
In Thailand the Indian word preta is used for the ghosts
or evil spirit. In the Bhagavadg¯ıta¯ (9.25) the bhu¯ta is a ghost
of the recently dead, who may have been condemned to hell
or goblin, an inferior but not necessarily an evil being. A
or to wander the earth. Although not harmful to humans
preta (“departed”) is the spirit of a dead person before the
they may be disgusting and gigantic in appearance. Because
obsequies are performed or an evil ghost; it also may be the
of their tiny mouths they suffer from constant hunger and
spirit of a deformed person or of a child that died premature-
thirst. Relatives may transfer merit to the pretas by extra gifts
ly. A yaks:a is generally a benevolent spirit although some-
to monks; some writers consider pretas to be the inversion
times classed with pi´sa¯cas and other malignant spirits and
of the Buddhist monk. Mural paintings in Buddhist temples
ghosts; such terms are used loosely and often overlap.
of South Asia often depict both the joys of paradise and the
sufferings of unhappy spirits.
Ghosts and demons in India are believed to haunt ceme-
teries or live in trees, appearing in ugly or beautiful forms and
In China a ghost (kuei; f., yao) was the spirit of someone
requiring food and blood. The special guardian against
who had died an unusual death, often as the result of crime.
ghosts is the monkey god Hanuman, the “large-jawed”; his
Ghosts of bandits were thought to linger near the place of
worshipers offer coconuts to him and pour oil and red lead
their execution, and if a woman had a difficult labor it was
over his images, taking some of the oil that drips off to mark
attributed to her having passed near such a place during preg-
their eyes as a protection. The lighting of lamps at the D¯ıva¯l¯ı
nancy and having offended one of the bandit ghosts. The
or D¯ıpava¯l¯ı festival at the new year is also said to drive away
ghost might try to oust the rightful soul during labor and be
ghosts and evil spirits.
born as the woman’s son.
Performance of S´raddha funeral ceremonies is essential
Under Buddhist influence souls were thought to live in
in India for the rest of the departed spirit, in order to provide
zones of formlessness until the time of rebirth. They were fed
food for it and to prevent it from becoming an evil spirit.
by surviving relatives, and if nobody cared for them they
Special S´raddha is performed for those who died violently,
would haunt people. In the seventh month after death there
as they would be likely to become haunting ghosts. Infants
was a great festival for “hungry souls,” when the priests
who die do not receive ordinary S´raddha, but presents are
would recite texts not only for relatives but for the souls of
given to brahmans on their behalf.
strangers and those without anyone to care for them. Meals,
models of houses, and paper money were dedicated to the
Buddhist dialogues discuss various states after death. In
dead and burned as offerings. Especially in southern China,
the Milindapañha (294) there are said to be four classes of
paper boats, often with a host of deities aboard or with lan-
ancestors (peta), only one of which lives on offerings from
terns in the shape of lotus flowers, were set drifting down riv-
benefactors; the others feed on vomit, are tormented by hun-
ers to light the way for spirits and ghosts to cross the river
ger and thirst, or are consumed by craving. Any of these may
of transmigration. If sickness or calamity afflicted the com-
be ghosts. In Sinhala another word (holman) indicates similar
munity, however, it was attributed to inadequate propitia-
dangerous beings. These appear at night as naked white fig-
tion of ghosts.
ures, especially in cemeteries, and sunset, midnight, and
dawn are the most dangerous times for their activities. One
In Japanese belief one category of the ancestral dead is
of them, Mahaso¯na¯, perhaps meaning “great cemetery,” puts
that of wandering angry ghosts. Neglected ancestors may
his hand on the backs of wanderers in graveyards at mid-
quickly change from benevolent beings to vicious, cursing ty-
night, marks them with his imprint, and kills them with
rants, attacking their families in painful ways until proper
shock. Peta may be offered inferior food, as well as drugs or
food and potent texts are offered to them. There are also spir-
excrement, and if they act as troublesome poltergeists they
its with no particular affinity (muenbotoke), those who die
are exorcized. Another term for ghostly creatures, bhu¯taya¯
childless or without kin to worship them, and they may at-
(“has been”) may be substituted for peta and other words for
tack any stranger whose weakness lays him open to spiritual
demons and harmful spirits.
possession.
Burmese Buddhists believe that although all beings pass
The most dangerous ghosts are those of people who die
on to rebirth, most go first to one of four “states of woe” as
violently, are murdered, or die in disgrace. They become
an animal, demon, ghost, or inhabitant of hell. Rebirth as
angry spirits (onryo¯) requiring rituals for appeasement. In the
a human being is an exception, one of “five rarities.” Monks
literature of the eighth to the tenth century there are striking
may be reborn as ghosts. One account of five heads of a mon-
examples of these furious ghosts, such as the story of Prince
astery who died in quick succession attributed the premature
Sawara. After horrifying starvation, exile, and death by poi-
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3478
GHOST THEORY
son, he was said to have brought a whole series of calamities
ranks of the hierarchy. In 1868 he was named the first vicar
on the country. And a minister who died in 903 in disgrace
apostolic of North Carolina and elevated to the rank of bish-
and exile was credited with a succession of natural disasters
op; in 1872 he became the bishop of Richmond, Virginia;
thanks to his furious ghost. In early times discontented
in May 1877 he was named coadjutor archbishop of Balti-
ghosts were depicted in animal or natural form, but in later
more with right of succession; and in October 1877 he be-
no¯ plays they appear as ordinary men and women who are
came the archbishop of Baltimore upon the death of James
finally revealed as ghosts in horned masks and long red wigs.
R. Bayley.
Notions of ghosts and spirits as restless, perhaps unbur-
In assuming leadership of the archdiocese of Baltimore,
ied or unavenged, beings with a message to convey or a task
Gibbons found himself in a position of great importance and
to fulfill abound in popular belief in many countries, al-
high visibility in the American Catholic church. As the oldest
though there may be little formal doctrine or orthodox
diocese in the United States and the see within whose bound-
teaching in the scriptures to support these ideas.
aries the national capital fell, Baltimore and its bishops en-
joyed a degree of ecclesiastical and political prestige that
SEE ALSO Afterlife; Soul.
other dioceses and bishops did not possess. These factors, to-
gether with Gibbons’s longevity, his elevation to the cardi-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
nalate (1886), his accessibility to public officials and his per-
The larger dictionaries provide examples of the ways in which
sonal friendship with every president from Cleveland to
ghost and similar words have been used, especially the com-
plete or the “compact” edition of the Oxford English Dictio-
Harding, his tactful and conciliatory mode of governing, his
nary, 2 vols. (Oxford, 1971). Biblical and ecclesiastical dic-
irenic attitude toward non-Catholics, and the phenomenal
tionaries rarely discuss ghosts, but the Shorter Encyclopaedia
success of his catechetical Faith of Our Fathers (1876), com-
of Islam (1953; reprint, Leiden, 1974) has a useful article on
bined to make him the outstanding American Catholic
the soul (nafs). Edward A. Westermarck’s Ritual and Belief
churchman of his time.
in Morocco, 2 vols. (1926; reprint, New Hyde Park, N. Y.,
1968), is a treasury of popular beliefs. African beliefs have
Although he is justly famous for his contributions to
been collected in my West African Psychology (London,
such intramural Catholic projects as the founding of the
1951). For Indian rituals Margaret S. Stevenson’s The Rites
Catholic University of America (1889) and the establish-
of the Twice-Born (1920; reprint, New Delhi, 1971) is still
ment of the National Catholic War/Welfare Council (1917),
valuable. There have been more recent studies of Buddhist
Gibbons’s place in American Catholic history is really the re-
countries: Richard F. Gombrich’s Precept and Practice (Ox-
sult of the use he made of the prestige of his office and his
ford, 1971) on Sri Lanka; Melford E. Spiro’s Buddhism and
personal talents in addressing four major problems that con-
Society, 2d ed. (Berkeley, Calif., 1982) on Burma; Stanley J.
fronted the American church between 1877 and 1921: im-
Tambiah’s Buddhism and the Spirit Cults in North-East Thai-
migration, industrialization, nativism (the xenophobic reac-
land (Cambridge, 1970) on Thailand; and Carmen Blacker’s
The Catalpa Bow (London, 1975) on Japan.
tion of Americans to immigrants), and Vatican
apprehensions concerning American religious pluralism.
GEOFFREY PARRINDER (1987)
Gibbons clearly saw that these four problems were interrelat-
ed, for all were concerned with the underlying problem of
effecting some rapprochement between the Catholicism he
GHOST THEORY
loved and the American political and cultural life he revered.
SEE MANISM
With his fellow americanizing bishops, John Ireland and
John Keane, he sought both to assuage the fears of nervous
nativists and to insure the internal unity of the church by ad-
GIBBONS, JAMES (1834–1921), American Roman
vocating a pragmatic policy of assimilation that urged immi-
Catholic churchman, archbishop of Baltimore, cardinal. The
grant Catholics to adopt the language and mores of the host
fourth child and eldest son of immigrant parents, James Gib-
culture. His program did not endear him to German-
bons was born in Baltimore on July 23, 1834. After a sixteen-
American Catholics, but, combined with his conspicuous pa-
year (1837–1853) sojourn in Ballinrobe, County Mayo, Ire-
triotism during the Spanish-American War and World War
land, where he received his early education, Gibbons re-
I, and his writings in praise of the American political system,
turned to the United States and settled in New Orleans.
it did much to enhance both his and his church’s reputation
Acting on a long-held desire to seek ordination, he studied
as bulwarks of patriotism.
for the priesthood at Saint Charles College in Ellicott City,
The same desires to demonstrate the social utility of the
Maryland, and at Saint Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore. He
chuch to the nation, to insure the internal health of the
was ordained a priest for the archdiocese of Baltimore in
church, and to protect the church from detractors animated
1861.
Gibbons’s defense of the Knights of Labor before the Roman
Gibbons’s career in the parish ministry ended in 1865
Curia. His advocacy of the Knights as well as his work to rec-
when Archbishop Martin Spalding made him his secretary.
oncile New York’s socially minded Father Edward McGlynn
Thereafter, Gibbons experienced a swift rise through the
to the church earned him the reputation of a labor advocate
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GIFT GIVING
3479
comparable to Pope Leo XIII (1878–1903) and Cardinal
entail the destruction of all or part of the thing given, to sig-
Manning of Westminster in the universal church, and of a
nify its disappearance into the metaphysical realm.
force for social peace at home.
THE POTLATCH AS A MODEL FOR GIFT GIVING. With re-
While Gibbons enjoyed some measure of success in his
gard to the social aspect of gift giving, Marcel Mauss’s Essai
attempts to demonstrate the compatibility of Catholicism
sur le don (1925), translated as The Gift (1954), shows gift
and American life to non-Catholic Americans, the signal fail-
giving to be the very means by which value can be taught
ure of his career was his inability to demonstrate the same
and understood in a society, provoking humans to produc-
either to conservative members of the American hierarchy or
tivity but at the same time inspiring a sense of an intangible
to Roman authorities who saw only a dangerous and corro-
presence in the things distributed. Mauss seems to regard the
sive indifferentism in the americanizers’ praise of and accom-
potlatch—an elaborate celebration entailing the lavish dis-
modation to American mores. Leo XIII’s condemnation of
play and distribution of the host’s possessions—as the most
Americanism in 1899 (Testem benevolentiae) came as a stun-
significant form of gift giving, possessing both religious sig-
ning blow to Gibbons and his colleagues at the same time
nificance and profound consequences for the development
that it heartened the conservative followers of Archbishop
of economic systems. The gifts associated with the potlatch,
Michael A. Corrigan of New York. In time, however, Gib-
as practiced by the Kwakiutl Indians, include both tangible,
bons’s reputation in Rome was rehabilitated, and when he
useful materials (such as blankets, boats, and food), and an
died in 1921 he was acknowledged by both his co-religionists
entirely symbolic article—the most valuable prestation of all
and his fellow citizens to have been the dominant force in
(Mauss’s term, signifying the repayment of an obligation)—
the American Catholic church.
namely, a hatchet-shaped copper plaque.
B
The potlatch originated along the rich coast of north-
IBLIOGRAPHY
Browne, Henry J. The Catholic Church and the Knights of Labor.
western North America. Many tribes in these regions adopt-
Washington, D.C., 1949. A narrative history of Catholi-
ed the potlatch, but the system appears in its most elaborate
cism’s recognition of the rights of labor, with special atten-
and well-recorded form among the Kwakiutl. It has been
tion to Gibbons’s efforts to avert a papal condemnation of
greatly modified as native peoples have become increasingly
the Knights.
assimilated into the dominant white culture. Historically, the
Cross, Robert D. The Emergence of Liberal Catholicism in America.
Kwakiutl were among the most thoroughly stratified tribes
Cambridge, Mass., 1958. Outlines the ideological position
imaginable; they were fundamentally divided into two large
of the americanizers and the conservatives involved in the so-
groups, the naqsala, or nobility, and the xamala, or common-
called battle of the prelates in the late nineteenth century.
ers. Every person, noble or common, belonged to further-
Ellis, John Tracy. The Life of James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop
interrelated subgroups within the overall structure of tribes
of Baltimore 1834–1921. 2 vols. Milwaukee, 1952. The de-
and to numina, or subdivisions, within the particular tribe.
finitive biography of Gibbons.
The nobles, and even the commoners, were identified within
Fogarty, Gerald P. The Vatican and the American Hierarchy from
all the interlocking groups by discrete honorific titles and by
1870 to 1965. Stuttgart, 1982. Examines the troubles en-
a system of seating according to rank. In the formalized feast-
countered by the American hierarchy in dealing with a Curia
ing that was the ritual setting for the act of prestation, this
that did not fully understand the American political system.
seating system had much to do with the way in which goods
Gibbons, James. A Retrospect of Fifty Years. 2 vols. Baltimore,
were distributed.
1916. A collection of diary entries and articles written during
Gibbons’s episcopal career. Selections concerning the rela-
In one respect, the potlatch system might be thought of
tionship of Catholicism and American life are especially
as a means of increasing one’s capital through interest on
helpful in understanding the man.
loans. One’s status in the community was linked to the mu-
nificence with which one disposed of one’s capital in the
JOSEPH M. MCSHANE (1987)
feasts. The capital consisted of what was regarded as valuable
during a particular period: blankets, fish oil, food, shells, and
slaves were such goods in premodern times. To cite an exam-
GIFT GIVING. The exchange of gifts is one of the most
ple, the list of gifts given in a potlatch in 1921 included the
telling characteristics of human culture and, according to
following items: Hudson Bay blankets, canoes, pool tables,
some authorities, may form the original basis of economics.
bracelets, gaslights, violins, gasoline-powered boats, guitars,
From a religious perspective, gift giving has two primary as-
dresses, shawls, sweaters, shirts, oaken trunks, sewing ma-
pects with many variations. First, gift giving is incorporated
chines, basins, glasses, washtubs, teapots, cups, bedsteads,
in a variety of ways within the religious customs and sanc-
bureaus, and sacks of flour and sugar (Rohner, 1970, p. 97).
tions that regulate social behavior. Second, in the sense of
All of the items on this list were given to differentially ranked
offering, gift giving is an essential aspect of sacrifices ritually
individuals. The pool tables, regarded as equivalent to the
presented to a deity or deities. In both aspects the process
copper plaque (or “copper”), went to men of very high status.
of gift giving may involve distribution of the gift within the
Glasses, washtubs, teapots, and cups went to women of vari-
selected social group to which it is appropriate; it may also
ous ranks. Thus, the distributor invested capital that gave
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3480
GIFT GIVING
him high status in the community and that was loaned, in
ties—as clans or families or with reference to rank or
a sense, in the expectation that all the items would be re-
marital condition; and to this we now add that the ma-
turned with interest at a future potlatch. Indeed, the interest
terial objects of the contracts have a virtue of their own
was very precisely calculated; in the case of blankets, the re-
which causes them to be given and compels the making
turn due at the end of one year was double the number of
of counter-gifts. (Mauss, 1967, pp. 36–37)
blankets given. The return of these loans (which were not so-
Caste relations in traditionalist Hindu society are problemat-
licited but had to be accepted, according to the system) was
ic even today because of the threat of “pollution through
the occasion for the giving of new loans, much as it was the
contact.” Mauss’s idea is that such “pollution” is a sort of in-
occasion for the potlatch feast. The purpose of the potlatch
version of gift giving, for no matter what the degree of con-
among the Kwakiutl was not to accumulate goods but to
tact, there is some sort of giving involved, even if limited to
show one’s ranked status in the community by the level of
the exchange of services. Mauss asserted that things given
munificence one displayed. Some writers have compared the
were still perceived to have links with the persons giving
gift giving at the potlatch to a kind of warfare or war game
them. This characteristic of gifts would seem to be inescap-
in which the bestowal of extravagant gifts could inflict seri-
able even in modern perceptions of their ultimate value,
ous “wounds” on other participants.
whether or not they are overtly sanctified by religion (as, for
example, the blessed rings exchanged in a Christian wedding
Although it has not been commented on by leading
ceremony). After all, the caste system would have no power
writers, an analysis of the potlatch system reveals more than
if it were not understood that everyone in the society exists
a few traits in common with the Hindu caste system, which
of necessity in an intrinsic relation with everyone else. What
likewise assigns rank during feasting in communal settings,
is the basis of that relationship if not the exchange of goods
and which includes a large element of redistribution of eco-
and services, even if this must lead, at times, to measures to
nomic resources. Indeed, those who ranked highest on the
avoid the perceived consequences of pollution through
curve of potlatch status owned not only goods in quantity
contact?
but sacred names that could be distributed only during the
communal feast; moreover, the highest-ranking regarded
MAUSS REVISIONISTS. Although the interesting interpreta-
themselves as an exclusive group and had only limited con-
tion of the potlatch by Mauss will certainly remain a point
tact with those lower in the system. Similar elements can be
of reference for understanding gift giving, other authors have
found in the caste system, wherein the caste name, some-
investigated the phenomenon from different theoretical per-
times irrelevant to the actual work performed, is understood
spectives and on the basis of other field research. Annette B.
to define an inescapable social status—indeed, the bestowal
Weiner, in Inalienable Possessions: The Paradox of Keeping-
of magical and sacred names is an almost universal phenome-
While-Giving (1992), is concerned that in the Trobriand Is-
non throughout the Hindu religious system. Of course, this
lands, New Zealand, Samoa, and Hawai’i (Oceania) the spe-
does not mean that the potlatch gift-giving system is the
cial role of women in the creation of value through their re-
same as the caste system. But if Mauss’s original insight is
productive and cultural productivity has been slighted in the
true, then the socially sanctioned distribution of gifts and
history of the interpretation of gift giving, not just in the
other tokens of relationship, fraught with historical and
work of Mauss, but also in later works by Bronislaw Mali-
structural significance as these things are, may be an irreduc-
nowski, Émile Durkheim, Claude Lévi-Strauss, and others.
ible element in human culture. The potlatch and caste sys-
She bases her analysis upon a factor that is present in the ex-
tems are perhaps instances of a general principle. The univer-
change of gifts in these societies and that can also be found
sal relevance of these systems is clear, even in the apparent
in the Kwakiutl potlatch system. As the title of her work sug-
particularity of this description:
gests, the issue is that gift giving, or other connected bestow-
als, such as the granting of titles and sacred names, involves
The potlatch is more than a legal phenomenon; it is one
a heroic effort to maintain in one’s own possession the most
of those phenomena we propose to call “total.” It is reli-
prestigious potential gifts while giving away quantities of
gious, mythological and shamanistic because the chiefs
other gifts that enhance or maintain the giver’s prestige. Such
taking part are incarnations of gods and ancestors,
a mandate is based upon a cosmological imperative from the
whose names they bear, whose dances they dance and
imaginary other world. Status, as among the Kwakiutl, is of
whose spirits possess them. It is economic; and one has
to assess the value, importance, causes and effects of
paramount importance in the social systems of Oceania and
transactions which are enormous even when reckoned
is not linked solely or even primarily to the roles of men in
by European standards. The potlatch is also a phenom-
the hierarchy.
enon of social morphology; the reunion of tribes, clans,
Weiner makes her most telling distinctions in describing
families and nations produces great excitement. People
the differences between alienable and inalienable possessions.
fraternize but at the same time remain strangers; com-
munity of interest and opposition are revealed constant-
It is the former that the society manufactures in sufficient
ly in a great whirl of business. Finally, from the jural
quantities, often primarily through the production by
point of view, we have already noted the contractual
women of fine woven mats, leaf skirts, and other commodi-
forms and what we might call the human element of the
ties, to meet the requirements of gift giving in the particular
contract, and the legal status of the contracting par-
social context. On the other hand, women also produce espe-
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GIFT GIVING
3481
cially desirable mats and other types of “cloth” that are im-
Weiner. Even though originally trained as a philosopher,
bued with mana (a kind of sacrality). These items are linked
Godelier claims the prerogative to comment on their work
to the reproductive power of female sexuality and cultural
because he became an anthropologist and did fieldwork
productivity, and they are inalienable. Other objects, such
among the Baruya, a tribe that lives in the Eastern Highlands
as shell arm bracelets (mwali) and necklaces (soulava), are
of New Guinea. He wishes to change Weiner’s formula of
also in this category. The ceremonial exchange of such goods
“keeping-while-giving” to “keeping-for-giving,” which he
is called kula. Somewhat like the system of the Kwakiutl, and
believes is a clearer way of stating the situation. Godelier goes
found almost universally in the human world, gift giving is
on to say, subjecting Lévi-Strauss to criticism in the process,
mandatory under certain ritual conditions, including, for ex-
that “although Annette Weiner does not make the distinc-
ample, when selecting a marriage partner (engagement), at
tion between the imaginary and the symbolic, I would point
weddings, at births, on recognized festivals, at the accession
out in passing that it is highly likely that the valuables, trea-
to high status of individuals in the society, at burials, and the
sures and talismans which are not given but are kept are those
like. For Weiner, what other anthropologists have failed to
which concentrate the greatest imaginary power and, as a
recognize is the essential role that women play in these sys-
consequence, the greatest symbolic value” (p. 33). What he
tems, not only as cultural producers, but also as the recipients
means in particular is that Lévi-Strauss is wrong when he in-
of the status connected with particular, inalienable posses-
sists that mana and similar terms for the sacred are merely
sions. Throughout Oceania there are numerous examples of
empty signifiers to make up for a lack of adequate language
women of high status—even chiefs, or, in Hawai’i, queens—
to refer to the intangible. Rather, Godelier thinks the whole
who possess by right the inalienable items that it is their duty
of gift giving is wrapped up in the imaginary background of
to maintain for the prestige of family and lineage. The great-
the social construct, which in itself can be thought of as “the
est anxiety, underlying the alienable-inalienable dialectic, is
total gift.” In language that suggests the exquisite, even inef-
that, however entrenched the inalienable potential gift may
fable, way that gift giving plays this role—essentially of a reli-
seem to be in one’s own possession, occasions may arise
gious nature, although Godelier does not believe that the
when—because of defeat in warfare or as compensation for
human imaginary has any real links to a transcendent reali-
crimes such as murder, or due to other nearly catastrophic
ty—he says something like the following in several places:
events—the gift must be surrendered to someone else. The
From the moment most social relations in a society exist
requirements of gift giving under the social mandate of the
as and through the creation of personal bonds, as rela-
group may demand such surrender when, through failure to
tions between persons, and from the moment these
produce substitutes in sufficient quantity, the inalienable
bonds are established by means of exchanging gifts
possession itself must be surrendered to meet the social re-
which themselves entail the transfer and shifting of “re-
quirement.
alities,” which can be of any kind (women, children,
precious objects, services) as long as they lend them-
According to Weiner, one of the ways that these socie-
selves to being shared, all of the objective social relations
ties maintain the integrity of particular lineages and their
which form the basis of a society (the kinship system,
most valued possessions (titles and commodities) is through
political system, and so forth), together with the inter-
their extreme emphasis upon the brother-sister relationship.
subjective personal relations which embody them, can
It is this factor that contributes substantially to the high sta-
be expressed and “materialized” by the exchange of gifts
tus of women in these societies. The sister, even after her
and countergifts and by the movements, the trajectories
followed by the “objects” of these gift-exchanges.
marriage, is in constant communication and relationship
(Godelier, 1999, p. 104)
with her brother, even though he is married to another
woman. Their relationship is often sanctified by a myth of
Godelier makes a greater distinction than either Mauss or
a primordial incestuous sibling marriage that was the founda-
Weiner between agonistic and non-agonistic gift exchanges
tion of their lineage. The intensity of the link, which seems
(1999, p. 48 et passim). The former, of which the potlatch
in part to be created to avoid the possible loss of familial, in-
is the exemplary type, implies the sometimes nearly warlike
alienable possessions, is carried to such lengths in the Trobri-
level of competition and is more absorbed in the transfer of
and Islands that the mother’s brother, rather than the natural
the inalienable property, which may be an almost ineluctable
father, has “jural authority” over his sister’s children
goal that can lead to violence. The non-agonistic gift ex-
(Weiner, 1992, p. 71). In Hawai’i the highest ranking fami-
change, on the other hand, is much less fraught with tension.
lies were actually the result of sibling marriages (p. 82), and,
thus, brother-sister incest was not taboo—although it was
The theoretical positions outlined above are drawn from
taboo, in spite of the emphasis upon the brother-sister rela-
field research among social groups whose imaginary con-
tionship, in most other areas of Oceania.
struction of the gift-giving totality has been largely emptied
of meaning in the economy of industrial nations and of its
Maurice Godelier, in The Enigma of the Gift (1999), un-
symbolic value in the modern Western way of life. Indeed,
dertakes an exhaustive review, particularly of Mauss, with
these studies give us great insight into the origins of the pro-
whom he agrees in many respects, and of Lévi-Strauss, with
cesses of exchange; but now, despite the preponderance of
whom he agrees less, but also of Malinowski, Durkheim, and
state-regulated or encouraged transfers to the most needy of
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GIFT GIVING
the means to live, there may be a hankering after some unre-
off dangerous interventions. These are sometimes called the
alizable past state of human history. Godelier says very tren-
do ut des (I give that you may give) and do ut abeas (I give
chantly, “When idealized, the ‘uncalculating’ gift operates in
that you may go away) aspects of a ritual transaction.
the imaginary as the last refuge of a solidarity, of an open-
In the period following 600 BCE, in the aftermath of the
handedness which is supposed to have characterized other
growing anthropomorphization of the deity (perhaps stimu-
eras in the evolution of humankind. Gift-giving becomes the
lated by the art and ritual of Buddhism and Jainism), the
bearer of a utopia (a utopia which can be projected into the
characteristic offerings in worship were likened to the food
past as well as into the future)” (1999, p. 208). The major
and gifts given to exalted human beings. Thus, it has often
religions of the world, with their immense literary and cul-
been mentioned that the style of Hindu temple worship is
tural heritages, must be understood to have evolved their
patterned after the court life of ancient India. The deity is
own rich complexities in the realm of gift giving, and these
considered to be the most respectable and powerful associate
can only be indicated briefly and selectively in what follows.
of humanity, a visitor from another realm who condescends
GIFTS FOR THE GODS. In light of the foregoing conceptual
to dwell for a time within images in temples, and who can
frameworks and their implied universal applicability to social
be approached with gifts, services, art, music, and literature.
systems, it may be said that the characteristics of ritual gift
In fact, gifts from the whole realm of human creativity can
giving provide a central element in religious life. What tran-
be offered to him. Two examples will be illustrative. It has
spires at the social level, in the continuing drama of human
been observed that among the later Kr:s:n:aite sects of North
relations, is reflected in the structure of the relationship be-
India, that of the Vallabha Samprada¯y (founded by
tween the human and the divine, as conceived in a particular
Vallabha¯ca¯rya, 1479–1531), whose fervent love of the child
group or religion. Much of the ritual in world religions sym-
Kr:s:n:a results in a daylong ceremonial offering of food, is the
bolically connects hierarchy with the distribution of gifts, an
most lavish in “ritualistic materialism,” if one may call it that.
act that is so powerful in the social relationship itself.
On special holidays, such as Kr:s:n:a’s birthday, a mountain
Through Weiner’s insight we might also theorize that most
of food is prepared by the devotees and brought to the shrine
ritual behavior, religious charity, and religiously sanctioned
to be offered to the image. Whenever offered, the food be-
social norms and behaviors participate in the alienable-
comes prasa¯da, a kind of sacrament imbued with the power
inalienable tension of “keeping while giving” to the extent
of the deity (because touched by him in a spiritual sense) and
that these enhance status in the community and, also, imply
given back to the worshipers for their own consumption.
an inalienable gift, such as a particularized salvation.
Money offerings are given for the prasa¯da, which is, in effect,
sold. The receipts are used to maintain the temple property,
Hinduism. In the way that gifts were offered to the
the priestly class, and the like. On the other hand, some gift-
gods, Hinduism divides into two periods, characterized by
giving ceremonies are not at all lavish; a simple ceremony
the offerings presented in the so-called Vedic sacrifice and
performed in the household for family members and guests
by the apparently endless variety of offerings of the later
or for a ladies’ association that meets regularly by turn in
Hindu temple cult with its corollaries in household and sec-
members’ homes for worship may entail the preparation of
tarian worship. The gifts given to the gods in the Vedic sacri-
a simple meal or sweets, first offered to the deity and then
fice had relation to the organically perceived universe, which
given to the participants in the ceremony.
was, as the Upanis:ad says, “all food” (Taittir¯ıya Upanis:ad
2.2), It appeared to the Vedic sacrificer that if the universe
On holidays, it is common throughout India to provide
were to have the strength to keep running, certain foods had
new clothing for family members, servants, and other depen-
to be immolated on the Vedic fire altar. The ritual, as it has
dents during the feast of D¯ıva¯l¯ı (October to November).
come down to us today, appears in several different forms.
This is the time when merchant castes close out their books
Great public rituals are now less common than before, al-
and the goddess Laks:m¯ı is implored for an abundance of
though they are still performed on occasion. The numerous
profit in the coming year. Sweets are exchanged between
Brahmanic rituals, including the San:dhya¯ Vandana¯ (the
close friends and business associates. As for other special oc-
daily service) and those connected with domestic life, and
casions, perhaps the most oppressive practice of gift giving
others oriented toward the welfare of departed spirits, in-
in Hinduism, likewise representative of an aspect of caste or
volved simple offerings of ghee (clarified butter), water,
subcaste behavior, is the system of exchanges between a
grains, coconuts, and the like. In the S´ra¯ddha ceremony for
bride’s family and a groom’s family, sometimes observed for
the dead, pin:d:a (rice balls) were believed to assuage the spir-
a number of years both before and after the marriage proper.
its. The more elaborate ceremonies in ancient times included
The prevailing custom places the burden upon the bride’s
animal sacrifices and the pressing of the soma, a type of intox-
family, and the demands are so excessive that responsible par-
icant that was notably given to the god Indra to enable him
ents in the poorer classes are frequently forced into penury
to perform vigorously in his battle with Vr:tra, a cosmic mon-
to provide a daughter with a husband. It is not unheard of
ster. Horses and humans were slain in the sacrifices. The dei-
for a father to commit suicide so that his insurance money
ties of the Vedic period had negative as well as positive traits;
can be used to pay off the resulting indebtedness.
as in the context of other ritual systems, the offerings to the
Buddhism. There is a type of gift giving that is explicit-
higher powers could bring benefits in reciprocation or ward
ly meant to relieve the needs of the poor and the destitute.
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GIFT GIVING
3483
Almsgiving, as this is called, likewise has a role to play in the
dise. In the story of the prodigal son, deluded humanity is
economy of ascetic life, wherein monks and nuns live under
represented by a wealthy father who finds his lost son after
some kind of vow of poverty and must therefore be sup-
many years; the father tries to change his son’s attitude to-
ported by the actively working laity. Since Buddhism is a re-
ward himself by giving him gifts and positions of responsibil-
ligion in which the monastic community (in its maintenance
ity. This can be understood to refer to the training in spiritu-
and perfecting of life in the dharma) is the main focus,
al life through which, with the bodhisattva’s help, the aspirant
it follows that almsgiving will be a general practice among
is brought into a state of awareness regarding the true nature
Buddhists.
of the world and the need for emancipation from it. Works
in the Pali canon, such as the Dakkhin:a¯vi-bhan˙ga Sutta and
Apart from this necessary form of gift giving, Buddhism
the Siga¯lova¯da Sutta, give precise instructions for the giving
teaches generosity, self-giving, and even gift giving as illustra-
of gifts to monks and the giving of gifts between the laity and
tive of different aspects of the way toward nirva¯n:a. For exam-
in connection with the Buddhist holidays.
ple, the ja¯taka stories that began to circulate early in the Bud-
dhist period but were not completed before the fifth century
Chinese religions. Reading the colorful sixteenth-
CE demonstrate how the Buddha exemplified certain great
century novel The Golden Lotus, which reflects life in China
lessons of life prior to his final emancipation. In his previous
in the twelfth century, one gathers that in that period in
lives he was a bodhisattva and appeared in various embodi-
China the well-positioned gift was an absolute essential for
ments. One of the ja¯taka tales tells how the Buddha-to-be
the improvement of one’s social and economic position, for
practiced the virtues leading to emancipation while in the
gaining preference at the court of the emperor, or for placat-
body of a hare. He taught the other animals—the jackal, the
ing judges in the courts of law (see Egerton, 1972). Indeed,
otter, and the monkey—to give alms, keep the precepts, and
the novel affords a vivid object lesson on the ways in which
observe fast days. In observing their rule, the hare instructed
bribes not only can move one up the ladder but also, as the
his disciples on a certain fast day to give as alms to any strang-
companions of other vices, can bring one to one’s doom, as
er who might visit them food that they had obtained in the
is the case with the novel’s hero Ximen Qing (or Ch’ing Hsi-
course of their usual ways. He himself vowed—since hares
men). It has sometimes been said of the Confucian doctrine
live on vegetation alone—to offer his own body as food to
that it not only attempted to inculcate a reasonable morality
any meat-eating stranger who might approach him on the
on the basis of equity between human beings, as expressed
fast day. A heavenly being, made aware of the hare’s vow,
in the so-called silver rule (“Do not do unto others what you
came to earth disguised as a brahman and tested each of the
would not have them do unto you”), but it also came to
animals in turn as to the sincerity of its vow to offer hospitali-
terms with what was perceived to be the natural inequality
ty after its own kind. The hare in due course threw himself
between persons. Giving and receiving gifts within the hier-
into the fire to provide the brahman’s supper; but the heav-
archical Chinese society was an inevitable aspect of rank dif-
enly being prevented the hare’s being burned and, to com-
ferentiation. Those highest in rank received the most expen-
memorate his magnanimity, drew a likeness of his face on
sive and most numerous gifts. Analogously, the ceremonial
the moon to be admired thenceforth by all on earth.
life of the public cult involved the emperor’s presenting gifts
at the altar of heaven within the so-called Forbidden City in
Gift giving is also mentioned in one of the most famous
Beijing, both at the winter solstice and at other times. Pre-
works of the Maha¯ya¯na tradition, the Saddharmapun:d:ar¯ıka
cious stones and costly cloth were among the offerings.
Su¯tra. Therein, the bodhisattva illustrates in numerous ways
Lower-ranking officials throughout the empire offered their
his vocation as savior of humanity, suffering in the endlessly
respective gifts to the gods—to the city god, for example.
repetitive world of sam:sa¯ra. The bodhisattva offers to deluded
This activity was consonant with the custom of making of-
humanity the gift of a paradisiacal afterlife as an inducement
ferings at the shrines of family ancestors. Gifts of incense and
to abandon the gross physical world. The paradises of the bo-
fruits were regularly presented before the ancestral tablets.
dhisattva, particularly that of Amida Buddha in the West, are
The rites offered to the spirits of Confucius and other
filled with jeweled trees; sparkling, diamantine sands; and
sages included sacrifices of pigs and oxen; the great deities
enchanting birds and flowers; together with fountains and
of the Daoist pantheon were given wine, cakes, and meat of-
the like. This paradise is meant to provide a mediating posi-
ferings. Indeed, it is not too farfetched to see the develop-
tion between the world of sam:sa¯ra and the absolute state of
ment of Chinese cuisine in part as an outgrowth of ritual life.
nirva¯n:a. The bodhisattva vows to take all beings together into
Feasts were regularly a part of the offerings made by individ-
that emancipated state. The Buddhist parables of the burn-
uals in the Daoist and Buddhist temples. In the latter case,
ing house and the prodigal son are parallel tales illustrating
vegetarianism required the development of a special cuisine
the means by which one might, through gifts, relieve one’s
so that the proper foods could be offered to monks and oth-
obsession with the material world in favor of the higher
ers under similar vows.
world. Thus, the children in the burning house are offered
gifts to induce them to leave the house and come outside.
Rituals for the departed often included the burning of
The kindly, concerned father is the figure of the bodhisattva,
effigies of material objects, such as imitation money or a
likewise offering an escape from the material world into para-
tomb made of paper. In contemporary rituals even such
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3484
GIFT GIVING
modern accoutrements of life as refrigerators and cars may
on Purim; the type of food given is that which can be eaten
be constructed of paper and burned in the temple furnace
and drunk on the same day.
with appropriate reverence under the axiom that the thing
itself is less important than the thought behind it.
Christianity. As with the history of Buddhism, the his-
tory of Christianity reveals the development of an elaborate
As already noted in the discussion of the potlatch and
system of gift giving for the maintenance of the institutions
the Hindu caste system, sociological theory lends credence
of the church, the clergy, and the monastic communities.
to the applicability of the potlatch as an analogue to many
During the earliest centuries of the church, persecutions were
systems of social organization. Marcel Granet, in Danse et
a constant threat, and the Christian community had to de-
légendes de la Chine ancienne (1926), proposed a relationship
velop its own system of finances, since its survival was outside
between the potlatch and the prefeudal (early or pre-Shang
the concern of the state. From the time of Constantine (early
dynasty) system of China, which was influential in the for-
fourth century) onward, the church received state recogni-
mation of Confucius’s ideas of the ideal social order. This
tion and was able to capitalize on its status to attract enor-
position has been examined in the work of Eugene Cooper
mous endowments; with the advent of Muslim rulers in
(1982), who argues convincingly for its validity.
many Eastern Christian lands, however, the church was once
Judaism. Diaspora Judaism’s theory of almsgiving and
again reduced to tense relations with the state. It survived in
charity was built on a thoroughgoing moral system. The re-
part through the generosity of the laity, and in part through
cord of sacrifices in the Hebrew scriptures—offerings given
official support, for even in Islamic lands the church was to
to God according to the seasons and particular festivals and
a certain extent and at certain times patronized by the rulers.
the day-to-day demands of ritual—has been preserved by
Gifts of lands and other wealth were given to the Church of
some Jews in synagogue worship through recitations from
the East (sometimes called Nestorian), which before the thir-
Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers in the Orthodox preliminary
teenth century had spread into China and India. The Chris-
morning service contained in Ha-siddur ha-shalem (see Birn-
tian church of Kerala in South India received, until modern
baum, 1949). With the destruction of the Temple in 70
times, regular patronage from the Hindu rulers of the region.
CE
it was no longer possible to maintain the offerings in the pre-
The right of the Christian community (and other religious
scribed setting; the Jewish community’s concern with the pu-
communities) to receive gifts unencumbered by excessive
rity of food, however, dictated that there be a class of special-
government interference is an issue in the modern world.
ists in the ritual slaughter of animals (for food purposes if not
Specific exemptions from taxes and benefits for giving gifts
for offering to God). With the establishment of the State of
are written into the laws to encourage the support of religious
Israel, various groups, both Jewish and Christian (although
institutions.
there is considerable disagreement on the issue in Judaism),
The ritual life of Christianity is permeated with the idea
are making preparations for the rebuilding of the Temple in
of the gift and gift giving. The elements of the Eucharist—
Jerusalem and for the reestablishment of ritual sacrifices. Of
the bread and the wine, which are widely called the Holy
course, other offerings besides animals were made as well;
Gifts—are offered to God as a “sacrifice,” and according to
these included grain, oil, incense, and wine, and some vestige
some theologies they become the body and blood of Christ
of them remains both in Sabbath observances in the Jewish
in an unbloody reproduction of the crucifixion. Other theol-
home and in the Passover meal.
ogies describe these gifts as being received by God and sancti-
Of the popular holidays, two in particular are connected
fied to become the body and blood of Christ through the
with gift giving within the family or among friends. The bet-
power of the Holy Spirit. The custom whereby the laity pre-
ter known, perhaps, is the custom at H:anukkah of giving
pare and offer the bread and the wine of the Eucharist has
gifts (money and other things) to children on each of the
been revived in some Christian bodies. In addition to the ele-
eight nights of the festival. Much is made in contemporary
ments of the Eucharist and the paraphernalia that accompa-
Jewish discussion of the need to maintain some kind of dis-
ny it, such as chalices, monstrances, tabernacles of precious
tinction between this Jewish observance and the Christmas
metal, and the like, the Christian churches have received un-
festival of Christians, particularly since both occur at approx-
countable offerings in the form not only of money but also
imately the same time of year. The playing of games of
of vestments, paintings, architecture, and sculpture—gifts
chance, which of course relate to the potential of gift giving
representing the full range of human creativity. These gifts
for the redistribution of valuables within the social commu-
still constitute a principal part of the heritage of Western civ-
nity, is also a part of the H:anukkah observance.
ilization. Although sometimes limited by theological con-
straints, Protestant churches have likewise encouraged gift
Purim, which commemorates the rescue of the Jews
giving through the arts. With the modern secularization of
from the evil minister Hamman in the court of the king of
public life, however, the impetus to artistic creativity in con-
Persia, is an occasion for exchanging food. The legend itself
nection with the religious gift-giving impulse seems to have
is told in the Book of Esther, which is read in the synagogue
been diverted.
on the holiday in a mood of revelry compared sometimes to
that of Carnival in Latin Christian countries. Shalah: Manos
Caught somewhere between the sacred and the profane
is the custom of sending gifts of food from house to house
is the gift-giving extravaganza carried out, now virtually
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GIFT GIVING
3485
around the world, in the name of the infant Christ, who was
several references to gift giving within the family context in
born in Bethlehem and whose birth is widely celebrated on
order to assure evenhandedness.
December 25. The precedent for exchanging gifts on the
The problem of reciprocity in gift giving is also ad-
Christian festival is based on the visit of the wise men from
dressed in chapter 17, part 2, of the Mishka¯t, wherein the
the East to the Christ child, even though their time of arrival
Prophet is asked whether one must return equally for any gift
at Bethlehem is commemorated on January 6. The date of
received. His advice is to return equally if possible; if it is not
Christmas was chosen, it is said, in order to attract the inter-
possible, then an expression of sincere thanks and prayerful
est of the non-Christian masses of Europe who celebrated the
intercession will suffice. In general, the Prophet encouraged
winter solstice.
gift giving between neighbors and among members of the
Islam. At least from what one gathers in reading the
community in order to stimulate mutual good feelings. Per-
h:ad¯ıth (traditions of Muh:ammad, the Prophet of Islam), the
fume was one of the Prophet’s favorite gifts in this connec-
Islamic idea of gift giving is but an extension of the underly-
tion. Even today, when Muslims gather for prayer in the
ing concept of alms, expressed in the two Arabic words zaka¯t
mosque, it is counted a righteous act for them to offer per-
and s:adaqah. Perhaps because there are no sacrifices or sacra-
fume from a small container to their fellow worshipers. To
ments in the usual religious sense in Islam—in other words,
be clean and sweet-smelling is a gift to those with whom one
no way of transmuting a material object through a religious
associates, particularly at the time of prayer. It is also consid-
ceremony from the merely physical plane to a “new mode
ered an act of gift giving to offer a smile rather than a dour
of being”—all events in Islamic religious practice tend to
look to a fellow human.
take on a moral overtone; righteousness is the primary goal
SEE ALSO Almsgiving; Hospitality; Potlatch; Sacrifice;
of religious life. In general, it appears that goodness in Islam
Tithes.
is thought of as consequent upon obedience to the command
of God to act in certain ways. Generosity may be expressed
BIBLIOGRAPHY
in a great number of actions that reflect the moral earnestness
Berking, Helmuth. Sociology of Giving. Translated by Patrick
of a discipline enjoined by a higher power. The myriad cus-
Camiller. London, 1999. Traces the origin of gift giving to
toms and observances of Islamic law and tradition are further
the historical past but also analyzes the underlying moral is-
extensions of the original act of submission, which is a call
sues as they affect modern life.
to acknowledge faith in the one God. The prophet
Birnbaum, Philip, ed. and trans. Ha-Sidur ha-Shalem. New York,
Muh:ammad represents the ultimate degree of perfection in
1949.
answering the call. Meditation on the minutiae of his life re-
Burtt, Edwin A., ed. The Teachings of the Compassionate Buddha.
mains the source of the moral earnestness that is the charac-
New York, 1955; rev. ed., 1982.
teristic of Islamic ethics.
Cooper, Eugene. “The Potlatch in Ancient China.” History of Reli-
In the realm of gift giving, the so-called poor tax, or
gions 22, no. 3 (1982): 103–128.
zaka¯t, can be understood as a practical example for all types
Dumont, Louis. Homo Hierarchicus: An Essay on the Caste System.
of giving. Both in the QurDa¯n and in the traditions of
Translated by Mark Sainsbury. Chicago, 1970; rev. English
Muh:ammad, the believer is constantly reminded that his
ed. (with the subtitle The Caste System and its Implications),
1980.
days on earth are but a brief interlude, beyond which lies the
state of bliss in paradise, provided the believer has merited
Egerton, Clement, trans. The Golden Lotus: A Translation, from the
a reward in the afterlife. In the prostration of prayer, believers
Chinese Original, of the Novel Chin P’ing Mei. 4 vols. Lon-
don, 1972; reprint, London and New York. 1995.
are reminded that they are gazing into the pit of the grave
where the two angels of paradise or hell will come to direct
Ferdon, Edwin N. Early Tahiti as the Explorers Saw It, 1767–
the soul to its intermediate state prior to the Last Judgment.
1797. Tucson, 1981.
The poor tax, especially as it impinges on human possessions,
Godbout, Jacques T., with Alain Caille. The World of the Gift.
reflects this ascetic attitude toward the term of human exis-
Translated by Donald Winkler. Montreal, 1998. An effort
tence; it is meant to make the Muslim believer deliver from
to rehabilitate the concept of gift giving with reference to re-
cent intellectual trends, mainly in France.
his possessions a fixed amount annually—at the feasts of the
end of Ramad:a¯n (the lunar month of fasting) and during the
Godelier, Maurice. L’Enigme du don. Paris, 1996. Translated by
h:a¯jj (the pilgrimage to Mecca)—for the relief of certain class-
Nora Scott as The Enigma of the Gift. Chicago, 1999.
es in Muslim society.
Granet, Marcel. Danse et légendes de la Chine ancienne. Paris,
1926; 3d ed., corrected and augmented by Rémi Mathieu,
In the larger sense of sharing what one possesses, the
Paris, 1994.
term s:adaqah is used—for example, in the Mishka¯t
Kolenda, Pauline. Caste in Contemporary India: Beyond Organic
al-mas:a¯b¯ıh: (see Robson, 1963–1965). In book 12, On Busi-
Solidarity. Menlo Park, Calif., 1978; reprint, 1985.
ness Transactions, several chapters are devoted to gifts. The
Krause, Aurel. The Tlingit Indians: Results of a Trip to the North-
Prophet encouraged the setting aside in “life tenancy” of
west Coast of America and the Bering Straits. Translated by
lands whose produce would maintain certain charitable ac-
Erna Gunther. Seattle, 1956. Originally published in Ger-
tivities, such as the provision of food for travelers. There are
man in 1885.
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3486
GILGAMESH
Mauss, Marcel. The Gift: Forms and Functions of Exchange in Ar-
2500 to 2400 BCE. The events described in this text concern
chaic Societies. Translated by Ian Cunnison. Glencoe, Ill.,
relations between the king of Uruk and the city of Aratta.
1954; reprint, New York, 1967.
The narrative fits well with the tradition of epic wars between
Mayer, Adrian C. Caste and Kinship in Central India. Berkeley,
the royal dynasty of Uruk and the colony founded in an in-
1960.
determinate location in Iran: both King Enmerkar and Lu-
Otnes, Cele, and Richard F. Beltramini, eds. Gift Giving: A Re-
galbanda, the supposed divine father of Gilgamesh, waged
search Anthology. Bowling Green, Ohio, 1996. This is a com-
war against Aratta according to the four epics that concern
bined effort, which, among other things, asserts the thesis
these figures.
“that gift giving has not diminished in importance, but rath-
A new version of “The Death of Gilgamesh,” rediscov-
er has become one of the primary exemplars of symbolic con-
ered at Me-Turan in 1979, serves to confirm the narrative
sumer behavior in postindustrial societies” (p. 3).
translated by Kramer, while also, because it is more com-
Robson, James, trans. Mishka¯t al-mas:a¯b¯ıh:. 4 vols. Lahore, Paki-
plete, opening up new avenues of understanding concerning
stan, 1963–1965.
the complex nature of Sumerian civilization. This version
Rohner, Ronald P., and Evelyn C. Rohner. The Kwakiutl: Indians
verifies for the first time the Sumerian custom of collective
of British Columbia. New York, 1970; reprint, Prospect
burial, something for which there is archaeological evidence
Heights, Ill., 1986.
at Ur and Kish, but which had not been previously con-
Rosman, Abraham, and Paula G. Rubel. Feasting with Mine
firmed by epigraphic sources. This text also includes confir-
Enemy: Rank and Exchange among Northwest Coast Societies.
mation of the legend of Urlugal, the son of Gilgamesh, spe-
New York, 1971.
cifically named in the Sumerian King List as Gilgamesh’s son
Siegel, Richard, Michael Strassfeld, and Sharon Strassfeld, eds.
and successor to the throne of Uruk. Similarly, a new version
The Jewish Catalog: A Do-It-Yourself Kit. Philadelphia, 1973.
of “Gilgamesh and the Bull of Heaven” was found there in
Stryk, Lucien, ed. World of the Buddha: A Reader. Garden City,
1979.
N.Y., 1968.
Unfortunately the authors of Sumerian narratives fea-
Weiner, Annette B. Inalienable Possessions: The Paradox of Keep-
turing Gilgamesh are unknown to us, and scholars are not
ing-While-Giving. Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1992.
certain whether it is pure chance that the series of Gilgamesh
Wouk, Herman. This Is My God. Garden City, N.Y., 1959.
poems is attributed to a single author. According to a catalog
Wu Cheng-en. Monkey Subdues the White-Bone Demon. Translat-
of authors and texts from the neo-Assyrian period, rediscov-
ed and adapted by Wang Hsing-Pei. Beijing, 1973.
ered in the library of Assurbanipal and published by W. G.
Lambert (1962), the series of Gilgamesh was conceived by
Yan, Yunxiang. The Flow of Gifts: Reciprocity and Social Networks
in a Chinese Village. Stanford, Calif., 1996. This is “an eth-
Sin-leqi-unnini, who according to Lambert lived between
nographic account of the system of gift exchange and the pat-
the thirteenth and twelfth centuries BCE, at the end of Kassite
terns of interpersonal relations in a north China village”
power in Babylon, and more precisely at the moment when
(p. 1).
Babylon, under Nebuchadrezzar I, managed to obtain its in-
dependence from foreign rule.
CHARLES S. J. WHITE (1987 AND 2005)
CONTENTS OF THE EPIC. The classic epic, while consisting
of a reconstruction of a literary work conceived and com-
posed in the Old Babylonian period, should be considered
GILGAMESH, a Sumerian hero, god, and ruler of the
as a single unified composition. Sin-leqi-unnini was not sim-
city-state Uruk, is the subject of a classic epic poem that Mes-
ply responsible for a brief summary in twelve tablets of the
opotamian tradition attributes to the priest-exorcist and
story from earlier times; it can be said with some certainty
scribe Sin-leqi-unnini. The poem was the product of a
that he, in a sense, reconsidered and re-created the entire
lengthy compilation effort, which resulted in the composi-
story from scratch.
tion of the national poem of Babylon. Until the 1990s there
An important piece of evidence for the unity of the clas-
were five known Sumerian works that described the deeds
sical epic is the presence of a prologue, as well as an epilogue
of Gilgamesh, king of Uruk. The Sumerologist Samuel Noah
found at the end of Tablet XI, where part of the prologue
Kramer identified them as: “Gilgamesh and Agga,” “Gil-
is repeated. Tablet XII is generally considered by scholars to
gamesh and Hubaba,” “Gilgamesh and the Bull of Heaven,”
be an appendix to the epic. Its contents consist of a literal
“Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Underworld,” and “The Death
translation of part of the Sumerian story known as “Gil-
of Gilgamesh.” The environment in which they were con-
gamesh, Enkidu, and the Underworld.”
ceived and composed has been generally regarded as the
The epic may be divided as follows:
court of the third dynasty of Ur (c. 2100–2000 BCE), whose
1. Prologue: The hero Gilgamesh (Tab. I.1–51).
sovereigns sought to trace a direct link between the figure of
Gilgamesh and the royalty of Uruk. Giovanni Pettinato has
2. Enkidu, the alter ego of Gilgamesh (Tab. I.52–
suggested that a 107-line text found in 1975 at Tell
II.155ff.).
Mardikh-Ebla is related to the Gilgamesh saga. This text,
3. Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the monster Hubaba (Tab.
and the entire library from which it comes, can be dated to
II.184–V.266).
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GILGAMESH
3487
4. Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Bull of Heaven (Tab.
Meanwhile Peter Jensen’s lengthy Das Gilgamesch-Epos
VI.1–182).
in der Weltliteratur (The Epic of Gilgamesh in world litera-
ture, 1906) attempted to show the astral and mythological
5. Death of Enkidu and despair of Gilgamesh (Tab.
nature of the work. For Jensen, the epic was a description
VI.183–VIII.207ff.).
of the events that took place in the heavens during the course
6. Gilgamesh in the quest for immortality (Tab. IX.1–
of the year, especially the heliacal rising of the stars. Notwith-
X.325).
standing Jensen’s passion and deep convictions, important
7. Only the gods have the gift of life (Tab. XI.1–302).
biblical scholars, such as Hermann Gunkel and Hugh Gress-
mann, not only categorically refuted alleged biblical parallels,
8. Epilogue (Tab. XI.302–308).
but denied the mythical nature of the Epic of Gilgamesh, con-
9. Fate of humankind in the afterlife (Tab. XII.1–154).
sidering it rather as pure saga, clearly parallel to the romance
I
of Alexander.
NTERPRETATION OF THE EPIC. No interpretation of the epic
should be separated from an analysis of the work of Sin-leqi-
In 1923 the German scholar Arthur Ungnad, complete-
unnini. Closely connected to this is another investigation
ly abandoning any mythical interpretation, argued that the
concerning the identity of the two main characters as divine
epic was an ethical work and the forerunner of Homer’s Od-
or human. Thus far, we have spoken of the “epic” or “saga,”
yssey. Although Ungnad does not propose that the Greek au-
putting into this category both the Sumerian stories and the
thor copied the work of Sin-leqi-unnini, he has no doubts
various poetic versions that have Gilgamesh as their main
that the Greeks adapted and retold sagas from the East to suit
hero, regarding them as res gestae, whether of a historical or
their own temperament. A year later Hermann Häfker ar-
legendary figure. A review of various scholarly interpretations
gued that the Gilgamesh epic was an entirely historical work,
indicates that the second problem cannot be decisively re-
with its guiding theme being the problem of life and death.
solved. Although the majority of scholars are convinced that
In 1937 there appeared an important contribution by the
the king of Uruk is a historical figure, Pettinato and others
Swedish scholar Sigmund Mowinckel, in which he defends
think that Gilgamesh did not exist in a historical sense, but
the divine nature of Gilgamesh and interprets the entire
is instead a god who has been made into a historical figure.
work as the description of a god who dies and rises again,
a commonplace in the context of history of religions.
The first interpreters of the work of Sin-leqi-unnini,
which was discovered in 1872 by George Smith among the
A completely different view was proposed by Benno
thousands of fragments of the library of Assurbanipal at Nin-
Landsberger. For him the work is the national epic of the
eveh, were concerned with defining its nature. Apart from
Babylonians and Gilgamesh is the personification of the ideal
its real or supposed parallels with stories told in the Bible—
human being for the Babylonians. The predominant theme
the example of the universal flood on Tablet XI marks the
in the epic then is the problem of the eternal life, discussed
beginning of an argument so heated that it has been called
using the familiar example of Faust.
“the war between the Bible and Babel”—scholars have
Mythological interpretations were not completely aban-
sought to explain the deeper meaning of the work centered
doned however. Beginning in 1958 scholars such as Franz
upon Gilgamesh.
Marius Theodor Bohl and Igor M. Diakonov continued to
Hugo Winckler and Heinrich Zimmern came to the
hold this position, with Bohl stating that what lay behind the
conclusion that the Gilgamesh poem was a myth concerning
epic was a religious war between the followers of the cults
the sun god and in particular was constructed like the myth
of Ishtar and those of Shamash and Marduk, while for
of the Dioscuri. Otto Weber confirmed this view, and point-
Diakonov the figures of Gilgamesh and Enkidu are personifi-
ed out that the twelve tablets contain clear reference to the
cations of the sun god and moon god.
signs of the zodiac. For Weber, the poem’s basic theme is the
Geoffrey S. Kirk argued that the Epic of Gilgamesh has
journey of the sun through its twelve phases over the course
as its theme the contrast between nature, represented by En-
of the year, with the figure of Gilgamesh functioning as an
kidu, and culture, represented by Gilgamesh. For Thorkild
allusion to the sun god and Enkidu representing the moon.
Jacobsen, on the other hand, the poem contains a description
For these scholars, there are clear antecedents of the adven-
of the process by which human beings become mature, mov-
tures of Odysseus in the Epic of Gilgamesh, as well as of the
ing from innocent and reckless adolescence to the awareness
labors of Herakles and the later voyages of Alexander the
of values that are more real, though less apparent. This leads
Great.
to a psychoanalytical interpretation: the love of Gilgamesh
Heinrich Schneider claimed that all the characters in the
for Enkidu is the love of an adolescent boy for one of his
epic were either powerful gods or second-rate divine beings
peers, before discovering love for women.
who, like Gilgamesh, had been made into human figures.
Giorgio Buccellati interprets Gilgamesh in terms of wis-
Schneider also argues that the friendship between Gilgamesh
dom. After analyzing the epic’s various themes, such as im-
and Enkidu corresponds to the medieval ideal of chivalry,
purity, fear, the wanderer’s life as opposed to family life, and
and he defines the Old Babylonian story as heroic and the
the uncertainty between dreams and reality, Buccellati con-
Ninevite story as chivalrous.
cludes:
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GILGAMESH
The emphasis is shifted from the object of the search,
considering the staging points and methods of approach to
life, to the actual effort of the search as such, to the as-
this ideal as ends in themselves. Therefore, an accurate read-
sumptions upon which it is based, and to the conse-
ing of the poem cannot ignore the fundamental motifs pro-
quences for the person who carries it out: these conse-
posed by its author. The fact that the author then mentions
quences are not external, as in the pursuit of a particular
the troubled quest for eternal life as an essential part of the
benefit, perhaps even physical life itself, but rather they
hero’s personal journey, and that Gilgamesh, in attaining
are internal, deeply psychological and are concentrated
upon the spiritual change of the person who is under-
wisdom, has experienced all kinds of suffering, only serves
taking the search. (Buccellati, 1972, p. 34)
to confirm the critical nature of wisdom in interpreting the
work.
One of the first scholars to stress the central nature of the
theme of friendship in the Epic of Gilgamesh was Landsber-
Scholars are in general agreement that the epic may be
ger, who wrote that one of the fundamental motifs of Sin-
divided into two parts: the first narrates the marvelous ad-
leqi-unnini’s work is the ideal of a noble friendship between
ventures of the two heroes and their epic deeds, the killing
Gilgamesh and Enkidu, which not even death can erase. In-
of the monster Hubaba and the Bull of Heaven; the second
deed, from their first meeting after their battle in the streets
part describes how Gilgamesh, who is two-thirds god and
of Uruk and then later in the dreams Gilgamesh has, the
one-third human, is forced to deal with the eternal human
deep bond between these two characters is emphasized, to
problem of death. Gilgamesh tries to overcome death, and
the extent that it has been compared to love for a woman.
he hopes that he will receive a conclusive answer from the
The troubled quest for eternal life also shows how much En-
hero of the flood, but as we learn from Tablet XI, even this
kidu means to Gilgamesh. However, the rejection of the love
semidivine being does not succeed, and it is perhaps in this
offered by Ishtar is not to be read as the repudiation of love
failure that Sin-leqi-unnini sees the logical ending of his
for women, as Landsberger has it, but rather in a much more
work. This would be surprising however, since the author
profound manner, as concerning the future destiny of the
opens his work by praising the wisdom of Gilgamesh, so this
king of Uruk.
must mean that he does not consider these events to be a fail-
ure as such. The treatment of the figure of Gilgamesh
Other scholars have considered friendship to be the cen-
throughout the epic could not allow for such a dismal end-
tral theme of the epic, including Lubor Matouˇs, but in par-
ing: the king of Uruk, besides being two-thirds god, is the
ticular Giuseppe Furlani, who in an article titled “L’Epopea
paradigm of a true king. If the interpretation proposed below
di Gilgameˇs come inno all’amicizia” (The Epic of Gilgamesh
regarding the “plant of life” is correct, Gilgamesh is showing
as a hymn to friendship) and then in the introduction to his
himself to be a true king at the very moment of his failure.
1946 translation of the epic, asserts that he is obliged to “re-
vise the fundamental, central theme of the epic” in that “the
The real answer to all the problems of Gilgamesh has
epic of Gilgamesh is truly a hymn to friendship, a long-
been seen in the final gift of Utanapishtim to the king, when
lasting friendship enduring even beyond the grave, between
he reveals to Gilgamesh the existence of a special plant. This
Gilgamesh of Uruk and Enkidu, shining, eternal examples
interpretation is based upon an insertion accepted by the ma-
of faithful friends” (Furlani, 1946, p. 587). Furlani further
jority of scholars at line 270 in Tablet XI, which says: “You
states that “the central and underlying idea of our poem has
will obtain life.” But nothing in the text justifies an insertion
been thought of as a discussion of the problem of life and
of this kind. The gift of Utanapishtim is defined as “a plant
death. . .it seems to me instead that this idea should now
of restlessness,” and Gilgamesh explains the nature of the
be abandoned and we should recognize that the epic is in re-
plant: “It is reputed to turn an old man back into a man in
ality a hymn to friendship” (Furlani, 1946, p. 589).
his prime. So I want to eat the plant and become young
again.” This leads to the conclusion that Gilgamesh, by eat-
Following Landsberger, who sets the problem of human
ing the plant, would be returned to a youthful state, with all
existence at the heart of the epic, Alexander Heidel consid-
its anxiety and restlessness. Hence the interpretation of the
ered its central theme to be a meditation on death in the
plant as an elixir of youth: by eating the plant, Gilgamesh
form of a tragedy. Heidel argues that the epic confronts the
would have been returned to the position he was in during
bitter truth that death is inevitable: all human beings must
the first part of the epic. The fact that he lost the plant is
die. Matouˇs and A. Leo Oppenheim also stressed that the
a further sign of the greatness of this king. Gilgamesh had
underlying theme of the work is the search for eternal life.
not forgotten that a king is responsible for the fate of his sub-
jects and he loses the plant precisely because he wanted to
Readers of the epic of Sin-leqi-unnini should first take
share it with his fellow citizens. His first thought when he
full account of the prologue: in the first eight lines, the au-
is given the plant is to take it back to Uruk and feed it to
thor repeatedly identifies knowledge with wisdom. For him
the old.
the adventures of Gilgamesh consist of a series of important
staging points, necessary to reach a final end, which the au-
However, the gift of Utanapishtim was not available for
thor correctly identifies as the wisdom of his hero. The au-
the whole of humanity, but reserved for Gilgamesh alone,
thor advises the reader that this is the key to the text. As Buc-
perhaps as a reward for all his travels and his tenacious quest
cellati emphasizes, seeing other motives or themes means
in pursuit of the unattainable ideal of eternal life. When Gil-
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GILLEN, FRANCIS JAMES, AND BALDWIN SPENCER
3489
gamesh wanted to share this with other people, the serpent
came to Australia in the latter half of the nineteenth century.
became its sole beneficiary: “Gilgamesh on that day sat down
Gillen arrived in Adelaide from Ireland, still in his mother’s
and wept / and the tears rolled down his cheeks.” In these
womb, in 1855 and was born later that year, while Spencer,
two lines the scribe expresses the diverse emotions of the
born in England in 1860, migrated to Melbourne as a young
hero, the first being his inability to fulfill his royal duty. Yet
man in 1887. Their backgrounds and careers were very dif-
this admission itself marks the attainment of complete wis-
ferent, yet they formed a remarkable ethnological partner-
dom, of a maturity that is the legacy of a true king of Meso-
ship after first meeting in 1894. Gillen, the son of a laborer,
potamia.
received minimal formal education and chose a career in the
postal service, eventually going to work on the Overland
SEE ALSO Death; Heroes.
Telegraph Line that connected Adelaide and Darwin after
1872. Spencer, the son of bourgeois parents, was educated
BIBLIOGRAPHY
at a private school and at the University of Oxford, where
Abusch, Tsvi. “Ishtar’s Proposal and Gilgamesh’s Refusal: An In-
he later became a fellow.
terpretation of the Gilgamesh Epic, Tablet VI, Lines 1–79.”
History of Religions 26 (1986): 143–187.
Spencer came to Australia to take up a chair in biology
Buccellati, Giorgio. “Gilgamesh in chiave sapienziale.” Oriens An-
at the University of Melbourne, and it was in his capacity
tiquus 11 (1972): 2–36.
as biologist on the Horn Scientific Expedition to central Aus-
Cavigneaux, Antoine, and Farouk N. H. Al-Rawi. “Gilgamesh et
tralia that he met Gillen in Alice Springs. By that time Gillen
Taureau de ciel (shul-mè-kam) (Textes de Tell Haddad IV).”
had long been an enthusiastic amateur ethnographer, and he
Revue d’Assyriologie 87 (1993): 97–129.
was also the local magistrate and sub-protector of Aborigines.
Cavigneaux, Antoine, and Farouk N. H. Al-Rawi. “New Sumeri-
Spencer and Gillen became close friends, with Gillen’s eth-
an Literary Texts from Tell Haddad (Ancient Meturan): A
nographic enthusiasm firing Spencer’s preexisting but tan-
First Survey.” Iraq 55 (1993): 91–105.
gential anthropological interests. When Spencer returned to
Cavigneaux, Antoine, and Farouk N. H. Al-Rawi. Gilgamesh et la
Melbourne, he and Gillen corresponded feverishly about an-
mort: Textes de Tell Haddad VI. Groningen, Netherlands,
thropological and other matters, and Spencer invited Gillen
2000.
to contribute to the anthropological report of the expedition.
Cavigneaux, Antoine, and Farouk N. H. Al-Rawi. “La fin de Gil-
In 1896 Gillen helped some local Arrernte (Arunta, Aranda)
gamesh: Enkidu et les enfers d’après les manuscrits d’Ur et
groups to stage a large-scale ceremony in Alice Springs,
de Metura (Textes de Tell Haddad VIII).” Iraq 52 (2000):
which Spencer attended. The records of this ceremony were
1–19.
added to those that Spencer and Gillen had conspired to pro-
Furlani, Giuseppe. “L’epopea di Gilgamesh come inno
duce mainly through long-distance correspondence, culmi-
all’amicizia.” Belfagor 1 (1946): 577–589.
nating in their 1899 landmark ethnography, The Native
Furlani, Giuseppe. Miti babilonesi e assiri. Florence, 1958.
Tribes of Central Australia.
George, Andrew, trans. and ed. The Epic of Gilgamesh. London,
1999.
In 1901 Spencer and Gillen were both given leave to un-
Heidel, Alexander, The Gilgamesh Epic and Old Testament Paral-
dertake ethnographic research in remote South Australia and
lels, Chicago, 1967.
the Northern Territory. The material generated from this
Kirk, Geoffrey Stephen. Myth: Its Meaning and Functions in An-
trip considerably broadened their ethnographic base, result-
cient and Other Cultures. Berkeley, 1970. See pages 132–152.
ing in a second major monograph, The Northern Tribes of
Matouˇs, Lubor. “Die Entstehung des Gilgamesh-Epos.” Altertum
Central Australia, published in 1904. Gillen’s health declined
4 (1958): 195–221.
dramatically after this and he died in 1912. Spencer, howev-
Oberhuber, Karl. Das Gilgamesch-Epos. Darmstadt, Germany,
er, went on to cement his reputation as Australia’s foremost
1977.
expert on Australian Aborigines, undertaking further ethno-
Oppenheim, A. Leo. Ancient Mesopotamia. Portrait of a Dead Civ-
graphic research in the far north of the Northern Territory
ilization. Chicago, 1964.
from 1911 to 1912 and in central Australia in 1923 and
Pettinato, Giovanni. La saga di Gilgamesh (in collaboration with
1926, and producing further volumes. Among other things,
S. M. Chiodi and G. Del Monte). Milan, 1992.
he updated his and Gillen’s 1899 study by publishing the
Thompson, R. Campbell, trans. and ed. The Epic of Gilgamesh.
two-volume The Arunta: A Study of a Stone Age People in
Oxford, 1930.
1927. Spencer died two years later on Tierra del Fuego, dur-
Tigay, Jeffrey H. The Evolution of the Gilgamesh Epic. Philadel-
ing an ethnographic expedition to the Yahgan Indians.
phia, 1982.
Gillen published very little by himself, mainly acting as
GIOVANNI PETTINATO (2005)
a remote field-worker sending information to Spencer in
Translated from Italian by Paul Ellis
Melbourne. It was Spencer who penned their jointly au-
thored monographs, although Gillen’s contribution went be-
yond the mere provision of data. Reflecting a not uncom-
GILLEN, FRANCIS JAMES, AND BALDWIN
mon contemporary pattern, the formally educated Spencer
SPENCER. Baldwin Spencer and Frank Gillen both
acted as a kind of hinge between the metropolitan centers
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3490
GILLEN, FRANCIS JAMES, AND BALDWIN SPENCER
of Europe, where there were furious debates about the origins
people’s lives. But while their apparently “raw” ethnography
of religion and society, and the remote outpost of Alice
was an important way station on the road to contemporary
Springs, where Gillen allegedly dwelt cheek by jowl with liv-
anthropological fieldwork practice, they also provided muted
ing representatives of the Stone Age. Spencer’s evolutionist
conceptual insights into “primitive” religion, a fact that has
outlook was most specifically informed by his biologist’s
often been obscured by their work’s appropriation into more
commitment to Darwinian principles, but it was also influ-
famous and explicit theoretical frameworks put forward by
enced at various stages by debates initiated by commentators
the likes of Durkheim, Frazer, and Freud. At a time when
such as Edward Tylor and James Frazer and ethnographers
European scholars such as Frazer were questioning whether
such as Lorimer Fison and Alfred Howitt. For his part, Gil-
Aborigines had anything that could genuinely be labeled reli-
len’s outlook was informed partly by Spencer’s prompts and
gion, Spencer and Gillen never balked at describing certain
questions, partly by his own reading of contemporary eth-
Aboriginal ceremonies and beliefs as “sacred.” Indeed, de-
nography, and partly by inspiration derived from his life ex-
tailed comparisons of passages from Spencer and Gillen with
periences. While Gillen deferred to Spencer as a trained sci-
related ones from Durkheim’s Elementary Forms of Religious
entist and sought to emulate the objectivity of the scientific
Life suggest that Durkheim developed certain aspects of his
establishment in general, his letters to Spencer indicate that
sacred–profane dichotomy, at least insofar as it applied to to-
his appreciation of Aboriginal religion was also inspired by
temism, from the descriptive language employed by Spencer
a somewhat mischievous gift for comparing “Stone Age”
and Gillen. On the other hand, Durkheim, like Frazer and
myths and rituals with biblical tenets and solemn Christian
others, also tended to simultaneously overtheorize and over-
practices.
simplify the complex dimensions of Aboriginal totemism de-
Spencer and Gillen’s detailed ethnographic descriptions
scribed by Spencer and Gillen. In that respect, Spencer and
provided material out of which many of the best-known gen-
Gillen’s intermediary position between the sometimes wild
eral accounts of “primitive” religion were partly constructed.
European theorizing about “primitive” religion and the little
Émile Durkheim’s The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life
understood empirical complexities of Aboriginal ritual and
(1912) relied heavily on Spencer and Gillen’s ethnography,
belief remains critically important. That importance is mea-
as did some of the work of James Frazer (particularly Totem-
sured by the extent to which the ethnographers’ descriptions
ism and Exogamy [1910]) and Sigmund Freud (including
have stood the test of time in relation to the more radical re-
parts of Totem and Taboo [1913]). The 1899 and 1904 eth-
vision of the theoretical systems that were allegedly con-
nographies were widely acclaimed and taken up by the aca-
firmed or discredited by Spencer and Gillen’s data. Of partic-
demic establishment as setting new standards in ethnograph-
ular note in this regard was their conclusive demonstration
ic reporting. They also excited the popular imagination, with
that Aboriginal totemism was not in any simple or singular
Spencer eventually compiling volumes (Across Australia
way connected to clans or group exogamy.
[1912] and Wanderings in Wild Australia [1928]) to meet the
Howard Morphy argues that Spencer and Gillen’s de-
demand from the nonacademic market, in the process turn-
tailed accounts of Arrernte myth and ritual have a phenome-
ing “the Arunta” and many aspects of their culture into
nological character. Spencer and Gillen most certainly did
household names.
not have phenomenological sensibilities in any formal sense,
All of Spencer and Gillen’s books heavily reflect con-
but their ethnographic accounts were firmly based on experi-
temporary primitivist concerns with totemism, magic, kin-
ence and attention to detail in the observation of ritual action
ship, and marriage, but the question of totemic religion is
and, to a lesser extent, the expression of religious sentiment.
always most central. In 1899 the authors devoted no less
But the work of Spencer and Gillen’s ethnographic and intel-
than nine consecutive chapters to Arrernte totemism and its
lectual rival, the Lutheran missionary Carl Strehlow in Die
attendant mythology, ritual, and sacred paraphernalia. The
Aranda- und Loritja-Stämme in Zentral Australien (1907–
1904 book was similar and also popularized the term dream
1920), truly was phenomenological, and the balance Stre-
times, a translation of the Arrernte word alcheringa (altyer-
hlow provided in this respect made it regrettable that his
renge). This term later evolved into Dreamtime or Dreaming,
work was not used nearly as extensively as Spencer and Gil-
both of which are now widely used by Aborigines and non-
len’s in many European circles. Géza Róheim suggests in
Aborigines alike to describe indigenous Australian cosmolo-
“Psycho-analysis of Primitive Cultural Types” that, while
gy. The 1899 and 1904 books also popularized the Arrernte
Spencer and Gillen’s approach to Aboriginal religion was es-
term churinga (tywerrenge), which, in its original context, re-
sentially “behaviorist,” being based on observation but lack-
fers to wooden or stone sacred objects and other things asso-
ing in the kinds of insights that emerge from an intimate
ciated with totemic ancestors. As a result of the recent world-
knowledge of Aboriginal languages, Strehlow’s approach,
wide rush to embrace Aboriginal art and spirituality,
premised firmly on fluency in Arrernte and painstaking
churinga is now best known as a designer clothing label,
translation work, was that of lifeless exegesis (“lifeless” be-
whose shirts, sweaters, and other items carry totemic designs.
cause of Strehlow’s self-imposed ban on attending “heathen”
ceremonies). In that sense, Spencer and Gillen’s ethnograph-
Spencer and Gillen’s reputation is primarily based on
ic descriptions of Arrernte religion are best appreciated in
their detailed descriptions of Arrernte and other Aboriginal
conjunction with Strehlow’s parallel contemporary account.
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GILSON, ÉTIENNE
3491
A more singular appreciation of the mutual interpenetration
Gillen’s work in its broader ethnographic context in the
of “word” and “flesh” in Arrernte religion did not occur until
twentieth century.
the next generation of ethnographers, particularly with the
Mulvaney, D. J., and J. H. Calaby. “So Much That Is New”: Bal-
psychoanalytic approach of Róheim and with the inten-
dwin Spencer, 1860–1929. Melbourne, 1985. Magisterial,
sive ethnographic work of Carl Strehlow’s son, Theodore
comprehensive biography of Spencer.
(T. G. H.) Strehlow (for example, in Aranda Traditions
Mulvaney, John, Howard Morphy, and Alison Petch, eds. My
[1947] and Songs of Central Australia [1971]).
Dear Spencer: The Letters of F. J. Gillen to Baldwin Spencer.
Although Spencer and Gillen had firm evolutionist sen-
Melbourne, 1997. These letters to Spencer illustrate Gillen’s
own particular thoughts about Aboriginal religion. The book
sibilities, these were hardly reflected in their actual descrip-
carries a biographical essay on Gillen by John Mulvaney and
tions of sacred myths and ceremonies. These accounts stand
an assessment of Gillen’s work by Howard Morphy.
out today as authoritative treatises on Aboriginal, especially
Arrernte, religion, marking them off from the grander theo-
Spencer, Baldwin. Native Tribes of the Northern Territory of Aus-
tralia. London, 1914. Spencer’s lesser known ethnographic
retical systems that were built on them and which have wea-
account of Aboriginal life in parts of the northern portion of
ried with time. On the other hand, the accounts reveal a par-
the Northern Territory. Contains a great deal of material on
tiality of their own and are best treated as part of a larger
local totemic religions.
corpus that gives a more rounded and intelligible picture of
Spencer, Baldwin, ed. Report on the Work of the Horn Scientific Ex-
classical religion in central Australia. That religion persists in
pedition to Central Australia. 4 vols. Melbourne, 1896. Vol-
a recognizable form today, with Spencer and Gillen’s books
ume 4 contains an important early ethnographic report by
and collections sometimes making a significant contribution
Gillen.
to the ongoing vitality of ancestral law. Books such The Na-
Spencer, Baldwin, and F. J. Gillen. The Native Tribes of Central
tive Tribes of Central Australia are treated with considerable
Australia. London, 1899. Spencer and Gillen’s most famous
fear or reverence by contemporary Aborigines because of the
account of central Australian religion and social life. Regard-
sacred material that they contain, and they may even be
ed as a benchmark in ethnographic reporting.
stored in secret places alongside other sacred objects, some
Spencer, Baldwin, and F. J. Gillen. The Northern Tribes of Central
of which are being repatriated to Aboriginal custodians from
Australia. London, 1904. Greatly extends the insights and
Spencer and Gillen’s museum collections. The fate of these
ethnographic range of the 1899 book.
objects, and of the totemic religion connected with them,
could not have been foreseen by either Spencer or Gillen, but
Spencer, Baldwin, and F. J. Gillen. The Arunta: A Study of a Stone
Age People. 2 vols. London, 1927. Spencer’s late update of
it is certainly ironic that the two ethnographic pioneers
the 1899 classic.
should be posthumously playing the role of totemic ancestors
in this “primitive” religious revival.
Strehlow, T. G. H. Songs of Central Australia. Sydney, 1971. De-
tailed study of Aboriginal song poetry. The introduction
contains a lengthy critique of Spencer and Gillen’s work
BIBLIOGRAPHY
from a broadly phenomenological perspective.
Cantrill, Arthur, and Corinne Cantrill. “The 1901 Cinematogra-
phy of Walter Baldwin Spencer.” Cantrill’s Film Notes 37–38
Wolfe, Patrick. “On Being Woken Up: The Dreamtime in An-
(1982): 25–56. A discussion of Spencer’s pioneering cinema-
thropology and in Australian Settler Culture.” Comparative
tography. Spencer’s ethnographic films include a number of
Studies in Society and History 32, no. 2 (1991): 197–224.
religious ceremonies, including secret/sacred footage.
Critical discussion of the genesis and legacy of Spencer and
Gillen’s use of the term dream times.
Morphy, Howard. “Empiricism to Metaphysics: In Defence of the
Concept of the Dreamtime.” In Prehistory to Politics: John
Wolfe, Patrick. Settler Colonialism and the Transformation of An-
Mulvaney, the Humanities, and the Public Intellectual, edited
thropology: The Politics and Poetics of an Ethnographic Event.
by Tim Bonyhady and Tom Griffiths, pp. 163–189. Mel-
London, 1999. Broad postcolonial critique of early Aborigi-
bourne, 1996. Partly a defense of Spencer and Gillen in rela-
nal anthropology and its legacy. Contains many discussions
tion to a postcolonial critique of their use of the term dream
of Spencer and Gillen’s work in relation to totemism.
times.
JOHN MORTON (2005)
Morphy, Howard. “Spencer and Gillen in Durkheim: The Theo-
retical Constructions of Ethnography.” In On Durkheim’s
Elementary Forms of Religious Life, edited by N. J. Allen,
W. S. F. Pickering, and W. Watts Miller, pp. 13–28. Lon-
GILSON, ÉTIENNE (1884–1978), was an educator,
don, 1998. A detailed examination of the relationship be-
lecturer, author, and historian of medieval philosophy. Born
tween Spencer and Gillen’s ethnography and Durkheim’s
in Paris, Gilson was a Christian believer and lifelong promot-
most important work on religion.
er and defender of the intellectual life of the church. He trea-
Morton, John. “Sustaining Desire: A Structuralist Interpretation
sured his Roman Catholic schooling but discovered his love
of Myth and Male Cult in Central Australia.” Ph.D. diss.,
for philosophy in a secular lycée and at the positivistic Sor-
Australian National University, Canberra, 1985. The most
bonne. Convinced that before doing philosophy one had to
comprehensive synthesis of Arrernte ethnography in relation
learn what philosophy already existed, he entered upon a ca-
to religion, amongst other things clearly placing Spencer and
reer of exact historical study, following the principled meth-
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GIMBUTAS, MARIJA
od that would mark all his work: to study the original writ-
Bibliography (Toronto, 1982). Some major works by Gilson
ings of the great thinkers, to understand their thought within
available in English are The Spirit of Medieval Philosophy
its historical context, and to present their teaching objec-
(New York, 1936), an abridged version of L’esprit de la philo-
tively.
sophie médiévale, 2 vols. (Paris, 1932); The Christian Philoso-
phy of St. Thomas Aquinas, 5th ed. (New York, 1956); and
Under competent Cartesian scholars Gilson concentrat-
History of Christian Philosophy in the Middle Ages (New York,
ed on the modern classics but did his research on the medi-
1955). The first of a number of appreciative symposia was
eval sources used by Descartes. While teaching in the lycées
that by Jacques Maritain and others, Étienne Gilson: Philo-
(1907–1913), he completed his dissertation on the scholastic
sophe de la Chrétienté (Paris, 1949). The official biography
texts utilized by Descartes for his doctrine of freedom. Fol-
was produced by a former student and colleague, Laurence
lowing his doctorate (1913) he was appointed to teach at
K. Shook, Étienne Gilson (Toronto, 1984).
Lille, then (after World War I) at Strasbourg, and from 1921
LINUS J. THRO (1987)
on at Paris. In these national universities Gilson introduced
regular study of the medieval theologian-philosophers. His
courses on Thomas Aquinas, Augustine of Hippo, and Bona-
venture were published and became standard tools for medi-
GIMBUTAS, MARIJA (1921–1994) was an archaeol-
eval scholars. Studies of other medieval authors provided the
ogist, prehistorian, and influential interpreter of Stone Age
substance of his teaching for fifty years in Paris and at Toron-
religion. Born January 23, 1921, in Vilnius, the capital of
to (in the research institute he founded there in 1929) and
Lithuania, Gimbutas grew up in a progressive and well-
of his masterwork, History of Christian Philosophy in the Mid-
educated family. Her parents were both physicians who
dle Ages (1955).
founded the first hospital in Lithuania. The family belonged
to a circle of the best-known intellectuals and artists of their
What is more significant, these studies led him to hold
time in Eastern Europe. Even as a young girl, Marija devel-
firmly to two controversial positions:
oped a wide range of interests and talents; among other inter-
(1) A distinct Christian philosophy is a matter of historical
ests, she proved to be a highly gifted musician. In 1937–
fact: It is the speculations of theologians about questions
1938 she participated in an ethnographic expedition to
in principle accessible to natural reason.
southeastern Lithuania. This trip was the beginning of her
(2) The Thomism of Thomas Aquinas, rather than that of
lifelong attraction to folklore, an interest that had a promi-
his interpreters, is the unique instance of a Christian
nent influence on her work in archaeology and her studies
philosophy that best mirrors Catholic thinking and that
of prehistoric civilizations and cultures. In 1938 Gimbutas
grounds the truths achieved by all other Christian phi-
began to study linguistics at the University of Kaunas. The
losophies. Thomism is the philosophy of a theologian
next year, after Vilnius had been freed from Polish occupa-
and is characterized both by its metaphysics of being,
tion, Gimbutas returned to the Lithuanian capital. There she
which holds that what is real and intelligible is so by vir-
resumed her studies of folklore and began to collect materials
tue of its act of existing, and by its theses on the integrity
from various regions of Eastern Europe.
of human intelligence and on the realism and eviden-
ACADEMIC CAREER. Following the invasions of Lithuania,
tiality of knowledge.
first by the Soviet Union and then by Nazi Germany, Gim-
Although these are controversial theses, Gilson was so sure
butas joined the underground resistance movement. None-
of his own position that in more than forty books and count-
theless she still completed her graduate studies in archaeology
less articles he rarely engaged in argument about them.
in 1942. She immediately began to publish articles on Baltic
archaeology, mythology, and folklore. By now she was mar-
Gilson the historian brought the thought of the Middle
ried and a mother. Together with her husband and daughter,
Ages to the attention of twentieth-century scholars. Gilson
she went to Tübingen, a German university where she com-
the philosopher sparked in his European and North Ameri-
pleted her doctorate on prehistoric burials in Lithuania.
can audiences an active engagement in philosophical and
theological issues that had long been dormant. In 1949 the
Gimbutas did not want to return to Lithuania after the
French philosopher Jacques Maritain, remarking on the ap-
end of World War II because her country had been integrat-
ostolic quality of Gilson’s career, asserted that his champion-
ed into the Soviet Union. She immigrated instead to the
ship of Christian intellectual issues in France had lent cour-
United States in 1949. The following year, she started work-
age to and secured a hearing for the less hardy. There is little
ing at Harvard University; in 1955 she was appointed a re-
doubt that his promotion of the study of medieval thought
search fellow at Harvard’s Peabody Museum. After 1964 she
and his outspoken defense of his convictions have been of
accepted a position at the University of California, Los Ange-
lasting benefit not only to academic scholars but also to reli-
les. Gimbutas became involved in a wide range of projects
gious believers.
concerning archaeological excavations in southeastern Eu-
rope and began to interpret her findings synthetically in light
BIBLIOGRAPHY
of her knowledge of folk art, folk tales, and Baltic mythology.
Gilson’s numerous works and the extensive writings about him are
This synthetic approach formed the core of her work and
cited in Margaret McGrath’s 1,210-item Étienne Gilson: A
made Gimbutas’s descriptions of Stone Age culture and reli-
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GIMBUTAS, MARIJA
3493
gion vividly three-dimensional. At the same time, however,
her archaeological investigations widened into an exploration
her synthetic approach is also what made her work so prob-
of the general origins of a Pan-European prehistoric culture.
lematic.
In the course of her research she reached out far over the East
and later the whole of Europe, where she detected an antago-
Gimbutas’s hypotheses assumed a distinctive shape over
nism between the kind of Bronze Age culture imported by
time. By the end of her life she was able to present a congru-
the assumed Indo-Europeans, or Kurgan people, and the
ent picture of Neolithic civilization in her late publications,
previous Stone Age culture of “Old Europe.” The latter term
The Language of the Goddess (1989) and The Civilization of
was meant to designate a homogeneous culture of Neolithic
the Goddess (1991). She introduced one of her most impor-
agricultural societies that emerged in eastern and central Eu-
tant theories as early as 1956 at an international conference
rope in the seventh millennium BCE and in western Europe
in Philadelphia. She claimed that the early and, as she be-
during the fifth millennium BCE. Gimbutas assumed the ex-
lieved, highly unified agricultural civilization of southeastern
istence of important connections between these European
Europe was destroyed by mounted herdsmen and warriors,
societies and parallel developments in Asia Minor.
whom she named “Kurgan people” after the Russian word
kurgan, meaning “hillock.” Gimbutas hypothesized that the
Gimbutas thought that her theories about archaeo-
Kurgan people were Indo-Europeans who entered Europe
mythology allowed her to explain the symbolism of a vast
from 4000 BCE onward and brought their patriarchal hierar-
amount of archaeological materials from different periods
chies with them—a type of social structure that had previ-
and different regions of prehistoric Europe. Archaeo-
ously been unknown in southern Europe but soon gained as-
mythology as a scholarly methodology, however, is viewed
cendence there.
as highly problematic by most contemporary archaeologists
EVALUATIONS OF GIMBUTAS’S WORK. The Kurgan theory
and prehistorians. Gimbutas drew together numerous un-
plays a crucial role in Gimbutas’s large-scale ideas about Eu-
connected discoveries and interpreted the finds in the light
ropean prehistory, for it provides an explanation for the dis-
of much later written sources and folkloric artifacts. Neither
appearance of what she called “Old Europe”— a presumably
her concept of a Kurgan people nor her belief in a unified
matriarchal and goddess-worshipping civilization that was
and coherent Stone Age culture in “Old Europe” has been
overcome by newer forms of social structure dominated by
accepted by mainstream academia. Nevertheless Gimbutas
patriarchal structures and beliefs. It is not easy, however, to
herself had a firm interest in Neopaganism, and her ideas are
reconstruct the evolution of her ideas about the organization
extremely popular in certain feminist circles in the early
of a civilization called “Old Europe.”
twenty-first century. They have made substantial contribu-
tions to contemporary beliefs about goddess-centered cul-
The main criticism of Gimbutas’s work concerns her
tures. In the early 2000s Gimbutas’s most prominent succes-
methodological inaccuracies. Nowhere did she ever inform
sor, Joan Marler, teaches archaeomythology at the California
her readers about the ideas she drew on or the tools she used
Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco.
for her reconstruction of cultural and religious meaning in
prehistory—a period for which there are virtually no extant
As an inspiration for alternative religions in the early
written historical sources. Gimbutas seems to have been
twenty-first century, Gimbutas’s books are also of special in-
aquainted with G. W. F. Hegel’s philosophy of history and
terest to students of contemporary belief. Gimbutas seemed
certainly with J. J. Bachofen’s ideas but cites them nowhere
to project recent ideas and ideals into a remote past insofar
in her work. Moreover she never once addressed the obvious
as she detected primary religious concerns for peace and ecol-
similarities between her own work and the concepts of these
ogy in Stone Age culture. According to her interpretation,
two cultural theorists. Instead, she insisted that she gained
the religion of Stone Age people revered a monotheistic god-
her insights solely from archaeological materials that revealed
dess who could appear in many forms. Gimbutas understood
to her an inherent “archaeomythology” —although she con-
“the Goddess” as a representation of the generative as well
stantly referred to folklore from much later periods for paral-
as the destructive forces of nature. Her entire research fo-
lels to supposedly prehistoric ideas. In addition Gimbutas’s
cused almost exclusively on statuettes and figurines that she
belief that cultural change can only have been brought about
had detached from their archaeological contexts and inter-
through military invasions by the Kurgan people—while at
preted in light of her goddess theory.
the same time ignoring other possible explanations—point
Gimbutas constructed an ingenious picture of the Stone
to an oversimplified Darwinian view of history. Consequent-
Age religious mind-set that will probably never be proven en-
ly the byways of Gimbutas’s epistemological journeys seem
tirely right or wrong as a result of the lack of written sources
to have been completely unclear to her throughout her ca-
that could explain the meanings of Neolithic figurines, sym-
reer. In various interviews she claimed intuition as an impor-
bols, and icons. The application of later testimonies to these
tant source of her information but did not offer the inter-
artifacts is certainly questionable. In favor of Gimbutas’s ap-
viewers any further explanation of the connections between
proach, however, such testimonies often offer the only possi-
her intuitive ideas and the archaeological materials.
bility for the researcher to make some sense of prehistoric ar-
Gimbutas had initially been interested in determining
chaeological materials. In any case Gimbutas’s lifework
the origins of culture in the Baltic area, but as she worked
provides a wealth of materials and provocative stimuli for
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3494
GINA¯N
readings of Stone Age religions. One particular problem that
its Isma¯E¯ıl¯ı form as the completion of the Vais:n:ava
arises in assessing Gimbutas’s work is that Gimbutas herself
Hindu tradition, and also including accounts that give
remained unaware of her own inclinations toward nine-
Isma¯E¯ıl¯ı dimensions to traditional figures of Hindu my-
teenth-century theories about the history of culture and the
thology as well as hagiographic accounts of the great
inner dynamics of cultural developments. Shorn of this im-
Isma¯E¯ıl¯ı pirs (the Das Avatar, for example).
portant background, her ideas may seem to be simply quixot-
(2) Gina¯ns dealing with a wide variety of eschatological and
ic. Equally importantly her work tends to be either defended
cosmological themes (such as Brahma¯ Ga¯yatr¯ı).
or rejected out of hand with little attention to the support
that subsequent scholarship might offer. An appropriate
(3) Didactic gina¯ns imparting ethical and moral instruction
challenge for the future would be a careful review of Gim-
for the conduct of worldly and religious life (such as
butas’s ideas in the light of contemporary discussions of cul-
Moman Cheta¯man:¯ı).
tural theory.
(4) Gina¯ns connected with mysticism, including guides for
an individual’s spiritual progress, literary expressions of
SEE ALSO Archaeology and Religion; Bachofen, J. J.; Gen-
the composers’ mystical experiences, and petitions for
der and Religion, article on History of Study; Goddess
spiritual union or vision (Anant Akha¯d:o and Satven:¯ı, for
Worship, article on Theoretical Perspectives; Neopaganism.
example).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
(5) Gina¯ns for recitation at certain religious rituals or at spe-
Gimbutas’s lifework is summarized in her two late and highly in-
cific festivals such as the birthday of the Prophet or the
fluential books, The Language of the Goddess (San Francisco,
Isma¯E¯ıl¯ı imam, Nawru¯z (New Year), and so forth
1989) and The Civilization of the Goddess (San Francisco,
(Nawru¯zna¯ din soha¯man:a¯, for example).
1991). An important earlier monograph is The Gods and
Goddesses of Old Europe 7000 to 3500 BC: Myths, Legends and
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cult Images (San Francisco, 1974). The title was changed in
Asani, Ali S. “The Isma¯E¯ıl¯ı Gina¯n Literature: Its Structure and
the second edition to The Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe
Love Symbolism.” In Facets of Ismaili Studies. Edited by Her-
(San Francisco, 1982). Appreciations of her approach are in-
mann Landolt. London, 1985.
cluded in Joan Marler, ed., From the Realm of the Ancestors:
An Anthology in Honor of Marija Gimbutas (Manchester,
Ivanov, Vladimir A. “Satpanth.” In Collectanea, vol. 1, edited by
Conn., 1997), and in a collection of articles in the Journal
Vladimir A. Ivanov, pp. 1–54. Leiden, 1948.
of Feminist Studies in Religion 12, no. 2 (1996). Substantial
Nanji, Azim. The Niza¯ri Isma¯ E¯ıl¯ı Tradition in the Indo-Pakistan
criticism from mainstream archaeology is summarized in
Subcontinent. Delmar, N.Y., 1978.
Brigitte Röder, Juliane Hummel, and Brigitta Kunz, Göttin-
nendämmerung: Das Matriarchat aus archäologischer Sicht
ALI S. ASANI (1987)
(Munich, Germany, 1996).
JULIA IWERSEN (2005)
GINZA. Among their many books, the Gnostic Mandae-
ans of Iraq and Iran rank the voluminous Ginza (“treasure”),
their “holy book,” as the most important. It is studied by
GINA¯N. A popularization of the Sanskrit word jñan
priests, and its presence is required at the performance of the
(“contemplative knowledge”), the term gina¯n is used by the
major Mandaean rituals. In the seventh century of the com-
Niza¯r¯ı Isma¯E¯ıl¯ıyah of Indo-Pakistan to refer to any one of
mon era, during the Islamic conquest, the Mandaeans assem-
the approximately eight hundred poems believed to have
bled the Ginza in order to gain status as a “people of the
been composed by the Isma¯E¯ıl¯ı pirs or da¯ E¯ıs (“missionaries”)
book,” allowed to resist conversion to Islam. The work, sepa-
between the thirteenth and early twentieth centuries. Com-
rated into Right Ginza and Left Ginza, contains a number
posed in several Indian dialects and employing popular folk
of myths concerning the creation of the world and of human
meters and indigenous musical modes, the gina¯ns vary con-
beings, descriptions of the human lot on earth, moral teach-
siderably in length. The shortest ones consist of four to five
ings, polemics against other faiths, and hymns. In Mandae-
verses, while longer ones, called granths and distinguished by
ism generally, “right” and “left” are connected to the other-
specific titles, may have well more than a thousand verses.
worldly and the earthly realms, respectively. However, in the
The gina¯ns are still sung and recited today as an integral part
case of the two parts of Ginza, the designations seem to con-
of religious ceremonies. Usually all members of the commu-
tradict this pattern, for Right Ginza contains a great deal of
nity who are present at such ceremonies participate in the
cosmogonic and anthropogonic material, while the left part
recitation of the gina¯ns.
deals with the otherworldly fate of the soul.
The gina¯ns, which often have several themes, may be
Left Ginza, which has been called a “book of the dead,”
classified into five major types according to the theme of
falls into three parts. Left Ginza 1.1–2 describe the death of
greatest importance:
Adam, who is reluctant to leave behind his body as well as
(1) “Conversion” gina¯ns portraying Islam and specifically
his wife and children. Part 1.4 portrays the soul’s journey
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GINZBERG, ASHER
3495
through the purgatories (matarata) between the earth and
New Sources
the Lightworld, the pristine upper world. The last two parts
Buckley, Jorunn Jacobsen. The Mandaeans. Ancient texts and Mod-
are composed of hymns for the soul rising to the Lightworld
ern People. Oxford, 2002. The most refreshing and compre-
after the death of the body. The hymns of the twenty-eight
hensive book on the Mandaeans, including an overview of
sections of Left Ginza 2 concentrate on the complaints of the
Mandaean literature. For the Ginza see pp. 10–11, mention-
soul (here, mana, “vessel”) in the earthly world. A helper is
ing the 1998 first-ever printed edition of the Mandaean holy
book
sent from the Lightworld to aid the soul. Some of the sixty-
two Left Ginza 3 hymns are among the ritually used death-
JORUNN JACOBSEN BUCKLEY (1987)
mass (masiqta) hymns, the oldest datable texts in Mandaeism
Revised Bibliography
(c. third century CE). Thus, these cultic texts testify to the
antiquity of the masiqta, the “raising up” ceremony for the
soul and the spirit at the death of the body.
GINZBERG, ASHER. Asher Ginzberg (1856–1927),
In Right Ginza, helper figures command a central posi-
best known by his pen-name Ahad HaDam (meaning, literal-
tion. Two main envoys are Manda d-Hiia and Hibil, al-
ly, “One of the People”) was the most influential intellectual
though a large tractate, Right Ginza 15, portrays several other
in the Zionist movement in its formative years in the late
messengers. In Right Ginza 5.1, Hibil descends to the under-
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He produced, in
world prior to the creation of the earth, in order to prevent
the form of many highly influential Hebrew-language essays,
an attack on the Lightworld by the powers of the under-
a thorough-going reassessment of Judaism that deempha-
world. He returns with Ruha, the spirit, the vital element
sized the centrality of religion and saw culture, writ large, as
necessary for human and earthly life. Extensive stories about
the true basis for Jewish life in the past and present. Born
the creation of the world and the human lot are found in
in Skvira, Ukraine, he was raised on a rural estate as a Hasidic
Right Ginza 3 and 10. John the Baptist, the Mandaean
prodigy, but by his early thirties he was able to read Russian,
prophet, expounds his teachings in Right Ginza 7. In view
English, French, and German and was a Jewish nationalist
of the use of the Arabic form Yah:ya for John in this text, it
devotee of Herbert Spencer and John Locke. His life was
was probably written in the seventh century. Polemics
spent mostly in Odessa, London, and Tel Aviv (where he
against Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and other religions
died), and he worked as a businessman, an editor, and, even-
characterize Right Ginza 9.1, and moral instructions and
tually, as a tea company manager. He served on the executive
warnings against surrender to evil powers recur in Right
committee of the proto-Zionist Hovevei Zion, founded in
Ginza 1, 2, 8, 13, 16, and 17. Right Ginza 18, written in the
the mid-1880s. He was also the founding editor of the influ-
seventh century, is a Mandaean “history of the world” that
ential Hebrew-language journal Ha-Shiloach and a close ad-
ends in an apocalypse. This tractate closes Right Ginza.
visor to Chaim Weizmann (1874–1952) in the negotiations
Several European libraries possess Ginza manuscripts.
leading to the Balfour Declaration of 1917. He vigorously
The oldest, in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, dates
denied an interest in political leadership, insisting that his
from 1560. In 1867, Heinrich Petermann published a largely
public activity—even his extensive journalistic work—had
useless edition and translation of Ginza. Mark Lidzbarski’s
been thrust upon him unwillingly. But his aspirations were
1925 version remains thus far the classical edition and trans-
considerable, and at their core was the desire to reconstruct
lation. The new translation of Ginza undertaken by Kurt
the spiritual and political foundations of contemporary Jew-
Rudolph will take into account the many discoveries of Man-
ish life.
daean texts and the advances made in studies on Mandaeism
since Lidzbarski’s time.
For several decades after the publication in 1889 of his
first significant published article, “Lo zeh ha-derekh” (This
SEE ALSO Manda d’Hiia; Mandaean Religion.
is not the way), Ginzberg was Hebrew’s most important es-
sayist. His spare, ironic prose set new standards, and his Jew-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ish nationalist teachings were vigorously promoted and de-
The most reliable edition and translation of the Mandaean “holy
bated, lacerated, and celebrated. He communicated a
book” was published in German under the editorship of
program that drew at one and the same time on the modern-
Mark Lidzbarski as Ginza: Der Schatz; oder, Das grosse Buch
ist presumptions of the Jewish enlightenment and the social
der Mandäer (Göttingen, 1925; new edition in preparation
by Kurt Rudolph). Representative Ginza material is included
optimism of European liberalism, and that managed to
in Gnosis: A Selection of Gnostic Texts, vol. 2, Coptic and
promise Jewish authenticity shorn of theology but inspired
Mandean Sources (Oxford, 1974), edited by Werner Foerster.
by aspects still more basic and enduring as taught, as he saw
Kurt Rudolph’s Theogonie, Kosmogonie und Anthropogonie in
it, by history. At its core his was an extended, if eclectic phi-
den mandäischen Schriften (Göttingen, 1965) offers a histori-
losophy of history.
cal analysis of the traditions portrayed in the Ginza tractates.
For his most recent view on Ginza, one may consult Ru-
It was culture, he argued, that had held the Jews togeth-
dolph’s “Die mandäische Literatur,” in Zur Sprache und Li-
er, with their faith in the paramount importance of intellect
teratur der Mandäer: Studia Mandaica I (Berlin, 1976), ed-
and an uncompromising belief in justice. These features of
ited by Rudolf Macuch.
Jewish culture permitted it to accommodate itself to outside
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3496
GLASENAPP, HELMUTH VON
influences without losing itself. Hence, Jewish history was a
rule for Jews), and the American Reconstructionist religious
tale of principled, dexterous accommodation to cultures that
movement of Mordecai Kaplan (1881–1983). In Israel, Gin-
Jews made their own, but this ability was, increasingly, lost
zberg became best known, arguably, as an exemplary crafts-
to them in modernity.
man of Hebrew whose prime clientele, for many years, was
schoolchildren taught to emulate his style.
Overwhelmed already in the West by political emanci-
pation and concomitant assimilation (which, he believed,
Ginzberg raised many more questions than he an-
was beginning to make substantial inroads in Eastern Eu-
swered. He was best as a critic, and while he sought to write
rope, too), Jews had to deflect this onslaught without reject-
a full-length book encapsulating his understanding of Jewish
ing modernity. Hence, a Jewish homecoming was essential,
ethics, it was never written. Still, his many essays provide a
with Jews returning to their original, creative site in the land
framework for an ethically informed, self-consciously Jewish,
of Israel. There, in a Hebrew-speaking milieu they would
modern political terminology. His insights continue to influ-
build a “spiritual center” (as he came to call it) that would
ence political debates over Zionism, Jewish theology, and
grow into a self-sufficient economic and political entity. Its
conceptions of Jewish culture, its boundaries, and its pros-
influence would recast Judaism elsewhere, transforming it
pects.
from an increasingly moribund faith into a vibrant national
culture.
SEE ALSO Jewish Studies; Zionism.
Zionism as promoted by Theodor Herzl (its leader—
BIBLIOGRAPHY
and Ahad HaDam’s chief nemesis—from 1896 to his death
Goldstein, Yosef. Ahad Ha’am: Biografiah. Tel Aviv, 1992.
in 1904) was shortsighted in its stress on diplomacy and tone
deaf to Jewry’s paramount cultural needs. Not anti-
Gorny, Yosef. Zionism and the Arabs, 1882–1948. Oxford, 1987.
Semitism, as Herzl argued, but the prospect of Jewish cultur-
Hertzberg, Arthur, ed. The Zionist Idea: A Historical Analysis and
al absorption in a larger, dangerously open society was the
Reader. New York, 1997.
most critical prospect facing the Jewish people.
Zipperstein, Steven J. Elusive Prophet: Ahad Ha’am and the Origins
of Zionism. Berkeley, Calif., 1993.
A key to Ginzberg’s abiding reputation is his having
been the first Zionist of stature to highlight the darker side
STEVEN J. ZIPPERSTEIN (2005)
of Arab-Jewish relations in Palestine. He insisted that what
others saw at the time as merely skirmishes between Jews and
Arabs were, in fact, threats to the Jewish nationalist enter-
prise and that this resistance must dampen Jewry’s more am-
GLASENAPP, HELMUTH VON (1891–1963),
bitious and unrealistic claims. As early as his 1891 essay
was a German Indologist. Von Glasenapp was born in Berlin
“Emet me-eretz yisarel” (Truth from the land of israel), he
to a “cheerful and gregarious” father who, though a lawyer
argued that the brutal treatment of Arabs by some Jews was
and banker, was known as an expert on Goethe, and an art-
itself a tragic, potentially disastrous response to Jewish subju-
loving mother who “tended to take everything in life serious-
gation; if left unchecked, such behavior could devastate Zi-
ly” (Glasenapp, 1964, pp. 11–12). As a scholar of Indian reli-
onism. The weight he gave to this issue—especially in the
gions, Otto Max Helmuth von Glasenapp would come to
last decade of his life—placed it, albeit tenuously, on the Zi-
embody these same traits of communicativeness, broad-
onist agenda.
mindedness, and care, and, indeed, to prescribe them as nec-
essary features of Indological research.
Ginzberg’s impact was extensive but also equivocal. He
An event of such “decisive significance” that he recalled
sought at first to build a political movement in the form of
the exact date—June 30, 1908—occurred when von
a semi-secret group called the Bnei Moshe (The Sons of
Glasenapp was not yet seventeen years old (Glasenapp, 1964,
Moses) that would recast the priorities of Jewish nationalism
p. 28). He walked into a bookstore in Berlin and purchased
as a whole. This exercise failed in its political aspirations but
the works of the German philosopher, Arthur Schopenhauer
left a considerable imprint on the thinking of many of Zion-
(1788–1860). The impressionable young scholar was so
ism’s most influential figures, including Chaim Weizmann
taken by Schopenhauer’s high regard for Indian philosophy
and Martin Buber.
and religion, especially Buddhism, that he began reading
Ahad HaDam had a major impact on others, too, espe-
widely in those fields. Although, two years later, von
cially on those who shaped modern Judaism’s cultural priori-
Glasenapp would enroll as a law student at Tübingen, he
ties. Devotees included Hayyim Nahman Bialik (1873–
continued to pursue his interest in Indology, and beyond. In
1934), the most important Hebrew poet in Zionism’s classi-
addition to his coursework in law, he visited seminars in
cal period; the founder of Qabbalah studies, Gershom
Western philosophy and, under the Indologist Richard
Scholem (1897–1982); and the first chancellor of Hebrew
Garbe, the history of religions (Allgemeine Religionsgesch-
University, Judah Magnes. Ahad Ha’am was embraced as a
ichte). Continuing his studies at Munich, von Glasenapp
primary inspiration by prestate bi-nationalists (who at their
took courses in Sanskrit and Pali, as well as in psychology,
most radical phase eschewed the prospect of Jewish majority
economics, literature, classics, and theology. Von
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GLOBALIZATION AND RELIGION
3497
Glasenapp’s studies culminated in what he called “Benares
Indology, by contrast, is one in which the scholar cultivates
on the Rhein” (Bonn) in 1914 with a doctoral dissertation
various methods of research culled from a variety of disci-
under Hermann Jacobi, “Die Lehre vom Karman in der
plines, and then skillfully transmits the results to his readers.
Philosophie der Jainas nach den Karmagranthas dargestellt,”
As examples of this craft, von Glasenapp cites the “great In-
and finally, a Habilitationsschrift in 1918, also under Jacobi,
dologists” of an earlier generation: Max Müller, Albrecht
entitled Madhvas Philosophie des Vishnu-Glaubens.
Weber, Richard Pischel, Hermann Jacobi, and Heinrich
Lüders. As these examples indicate, von Glasenapp envi-
Von Glasenapp’s subsequent career commenced in Ber-
sioned an Indology that indeed valued linguistic rigor, but
lin in 1920 as Privatdozent. During this period, he published
placed it in the service of “the great goal—of making com-
Der Hinduismus (1922), Der Jainismus (1925), and Brahma
prehensible an alien way of thinking” (p. 302).
un Buddha: Die Religionen Indiens in ihrer geschichtlichen En-
twicklung (1926). In 1928 he was called to the professorship
BIBLIOGRAPHY
of Indology at Königsberg. This productive period saw the
In his autobiography, Meine Lebensreise: Menschen, Länder und
publication of nearly a dozen books, including the influential
Dinge, die ich sah (Wiesbaden, Germany, 1964), the interest-
Der Buddhismus in Indien und im Fernen Osten (1936) and
ed reader will find a multilayered account of von Glasenapp’s
a pioneering study of esoteric or Vajraya¯na Buddhism, Budd-
extensive travels, studies, career, and personal observations
histische Mysterien (1940). Although the Rektor of the univer-
on numerous social and intellectual topics. Zoltán Károlyi’s
sity at Königsberg, one Professor von Grünberg, was an avid
Helmuth von Glasenapp: Bibliographie (Wiesbaden, Germa-
Nazi, von Glasenapp was spared the fate of his Jewish col-
ny, 1968) provides an exhaustive list of von Glasenapp’s
leagues and many others who, like himself, refused to join
writings, as well as literature, newspaper articles, magazine
the party. Von Glasenapp subscribes this good fortune to his
pieces, and other items, on von Glasenapp. For a summary
“calm demeanor and isolated discipline” (i.e., Indology), as
of von Glasenapp’s most important works, see Jacques Waar-
denburg’s Classical Approaches to the Study of Religion: Aims,
well as to his reputation as an abstracted and “unworldly”
Methods, and Theories of Research, vol. 2: Bibliography (The
(weltfremd) scholar (Glasenapp, 1964, p. 155).
Hague, 1974), pp. 89–91. Virtually all of von Glasenapp’s
In 1946 von Glasenapp was called back to where he had
works are exclusively in German. The English-speaking read-
begun, the university at Tübingen, for the final phase of his
er may refer to von Glasenapp’s Buddhism and Comparative
Religion and Other Essays (Kandy, Sri Lanka, 1967).
career. By the time he retired in 1959, he had published nu-
merous additional books, including Die Philosophie der Inder
GLENN WALLIS (2005)
(1949), Veda¯nta und Buddhismus (1950), and Buddhismus
und Gottesidee (1954). In all, von Glasenapp’s publication re-
cord includes a staggering output of 692 books, articles,
GLOBALIZATION AND RELIGION. Global-
book reviews, book chapters, Festschrift contributions, edi-
ization refers to the historical process by which all the world’s
tions, and newspaper features. Helmuth von Glasenapp died
people increasingly come to live in a single social unit. It im-
in June 1963 from injuries sustained in an automobile
plicates religion and religions in several ways. From religious
accident.
or theological perspectives, globalization calls forth religious
The greatest legacy of von Glasenapp remains unful-
response and interpretation. Yet religion and religions have
filled. In his posthumously published autobiography, Meine
also played important roles in bringing about and character-
Lebensreise: Menschen, Länder und Dinge, die ich sah (literally,
izing globalization. Among the consequences of this implica-
“My Life’s Journey: People, Countries, and Things that I
tion for religion have been that globalization encourages reli-
Saw”), von Glasenapp articulates a vision of Indology that
gious pluralism. Religions identify themselves in relation to
combines the talents of “those who can read the texts, but
one another, and they become less rooted in particular places
don’t know what they say” and those who “understand the
because of diasporas and transnational ties. Globalization
contents, but can’t translate them” (Glasenapp, 1964,
further provides fertile ground for a variety of noninstitu-
p. 294). Von Glasenapp saw this as an unfortunate rift in the
tionalized religious manifestations and for the development
way that Indology was practiced. On the one side are those
of religion as a political and cultural resource.
scholars for whom the linguistic structure (sprachliche Form)
GLOBALIZATION. The term globalization is of quite recent
of a text is the most important matter; on the other side are
provenance. It first appeared in the business and sociological
those for whom the sole matter of scholarly interest is the in-
literature of the 1980s, but by the end of the century it had
tellectual-cultural content (geistig-kulturelle Inhalt). Aware of
become a broadly invoked expression in both academic and
German Indology’s origin in comparative linguistics, von
popular discourse around the world. Along the way, it has
Glasenapp discouraged the philologists of his day from living
acquired a variety of meanings that it is well to understand
up to their reputation as practitioners of “the science of the
at the outset. They share the common element implied in
trivial” (die Wissenschaft des Nicht-Wissenswerten) (p. 298).
the word: all parts of the world are becoming increasingly
This reputation, he argued, stemmed from their “preference
tied into a single, globally extended social unit. Among the
for things that do not contribute to the realization of the in-
variants, however, by far the most widespread sees globaliza-
tellectual content” of a work (p. 298). A rich and stimulating
tion primarily in economic terms, referring mostly to more
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GLOBALIZATION AND RELIGION
recent developments in the operation of global markets, capi-
tion is not properly understood if we think of it only as a
tal, and multinational corporations. A related view adds mass
kind of imperialistic spread from one region to the rest of
media and cultural components to the economic dimension,
the world. In other words, the particular ways that people
stressing the degree to which primarily Western, and espe-
in different parts of the world—including those in rich
cially American, firms have been spreading their products
Western countries—have responded to the context of global-
and way of life to all corners of the world. Economic global-
ization are what globalization is all about. Global factors be-
ization therefore focuses on the ways that global capitalism
come global by being localized or particularized around the
incorporates the world’s regions into a single system. The
world, and the local thereby takes on potentially global or
role of states informs a further perspective, one that concen-
universal significance. Among the many implications of such
trates on global or international political relations, usually
a perspective is that what are sometimes called?global flows?
with a parallel emphasis on the hegemonic power of Western
(of people, ideas, information, products, and other forms) do
countries. Individual states, in this frame of analysis, appear
not go just in one direction, say from America and Europe
as the primary actors in a globally extended system of such
out to the rest of the world. They also move the other way
states.
(reverse flows) and among regions other than the powerful
Western ones (cross-flows). Thus, for example, African musi-
In all of these versions, there are those variants that re-
cal styles and Asian martial arts have a significant effect on
gard the process as a quite recent development and others
North American and European art and culture; and migrants
that locate its beginnings decades and sometimes centuries
from Indonesia and Bangladesh seek work in the Middle
in the past. There are also differences of opinion as to wheth-
East, all the while maintaining links and sending remittances
er the process is generally good or mostly bad. Much of the
to their home countries. These relations also contribute to
literature is in fact quite critical, seeing the global as a kind
globalization—are in their own way just as constitutive of it
of homogenizing imposition on the local, a development in
as Coca-Cola and the World Bank.
which the strong, overtly or insidiously, presume their ways
upon the comparatively weak, dominating or excluding the
RELIGION AND GLOBALIZATION. The dialogical approaches
latter. A further approach to globalization, however, looks at
to globalization, in conjunction with those that stress global-
this contrast of the global and the local differently, laying less
ization from below, are of special significance when it comes
stress on homogenizing economic and political institutions
to the topic of religion. By far the greatest portion of the by
that impose themselves from above and rather more on local
now vast literature on globalization completely or almost
and global movements, networks, and organizations that also
completely ignores religion, the partial exception being the
contribute to making the world more of a single place, some-
attention that Islamicist political extremism receives. This
times parallel to the more hegemonic institutions, sometimes
absence can perhaps be attributed to the dominance of eco-
in consonance with them, sometimes even in express opposi-
nomic and political understandings of globalization, includ-
tion them. This sort of globalization from below focuses on
ing among those observers who look at the phenomenon
a wide variety of phenomena, from international nongovern-
from within religious traditions. Yet even though a great
mental organizations and networks among global migrants
many of the works that focus on globalization from below—
to antiglobalization, women’s, and environmental move-
for instance, much of the literature on global migration and
ethnicity—also gives religion scant attention, it is among
ments. In part to distinguish this sort of globalization from
these approaches that one finds almost all the exceptions to
the economic and political kind, some literature speaks in
this general pattern, probably because these are the only ones
this regard of the development of a transnational civil soci-
that, in principle, allow non-economic or nonpolitical struc-
ety. Moreover, perspectives of this sort stress the renewed im-
tures like religion a significant role in globalization.
portance of cultural differences under conditions of global-
ization. The world is not just becoming the same; it is also
Consideration of the relation between religion and glo-
becoming more pluralistic. It is almost exclusively under this
balization involves two basic possibilities. There are, on the
meaning of globalization that religion appears as part of the
one hand, religious responses to globalization and religious
process rather than as either irrelevant bystander or victim.
interpretations of globalization. These are, as it were, part of
doing religion in a globalizing context. On the other hand,
Various scholars have offered interpretative theories of
there are those analyses of globalization that seek to under-
globalization. Often these theories correspond closely to one
stand the role of religion in globalization and the effects of
of the dominant meanings of the term. One finds, for in-
globalization on religion. They focus on observing religion
stance, theories of the global capitalist economic system or
in a global society. By far the largest portion of the literature
of the global state political system. Several efforts, however,
that relates religion and globalization is of the former sort,
seek to incorporate the various meanings as different aspects
and therefore it is well to begin there.
of a single process, often thereby setting the global and the
local in dialogical relation rather than in opposition to one
RELIGIOUS PERSPECTIVES ON GLOBALIZATION. A great
another. These approaches argue that local adaptations of
many religious commentators understand globalization as at
globalized structures like capitalism, nationalism, or mass
once a largely economic, imperialistic, and homogenizing
media are actually constitutive of the global; that globaliza-
process. They share the economic/mass cultural/political per-
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GLOBALIZATION AND RELIGION
3499
spective, evaluating globalization as anywhere from a threat-
ate to a large extent independently of economic and political
ening challenge to the manifestation of evil in our world. In
structures and that bind diverse regions of the world together
many respects globalization in this segment of the literature
in ways comparable to global trade, international relations,
is a successor term for what used to be censured as the capi-
mass media, sport, communications media, or tourism. A
talist system or cognate terms. Accordingly, globalization re-
second but related focus of observation is the role that reli-
sults in violence and the unjust oppression of the majority
gious systems play as powerful cultural resources for asserting
of people around the world. It threatens local and indigenous
identity and seeking inclusion in global society, especially
cultures, imposing a particularly heavy burden on women.
among less powerful and marginalized populations. It is in
It is the chief cause of global and local environmental degra-
this context that religio-political movements, including so-
dation, again to the principal detriment of the mass of margi-
called fundamentalisms, receive the most focused attention.
nalized humanity. Such theologically inspired positions are
A third strategy goes even further, attempting to show how
not restricted to the representatives of a particular religious
the formation, reformation, and spread of religions have
tradition. Thus, for example, Christians, Buddhists, Mus-
been an integral dimension of globalization as such. From
lims, Jews, and those speaking from indigenous traditions all
this angle, what we today conceive as the most typical forms
arrive at similar critical assessments of globalization. And far
of religion and even the typical understandings that we have
from being a characteristically religious perspective, such ar-
of religion are themselves outcomes and reflections of the
guments are quite common in the overall literature, whether
historical process of globalization. Although these three di-
recognizably religious or not. What they imply, among other
rections are by no means mutually exclusive, for the sake of
consequences, is that religion and religious sensibilities are
presentation they can be treated separately. Each implies a
at root outside of and contrary to globalization, that global-
somewhat different theoretical emphasis, and each also tends
ization and religion are fundamentally incommensurate. An-
to focus on different empirical manifestations of religion in
other segment of both the religiously inspired and the secular
our world.
literature, while often sharing many of the negative judg-
RELIGION AS TRANSNATIONAL INSTITUTION. The relative
ments, nonetheless sees a much closer relation between the
absence of religion from many globalization perspectives and
two. As noted, these observers almost invariably share the
theories is in some respects quite surprising, especially when
broader meanings of globalization, especially the dialogical
one looks at the issue historically. Of the forces that have in
and from below perspectives.
the past been instrumental in binding different regions of the
Religious insider perspectives do not necessarily limit
world together, in creating a larger if not exactly a geographi-
themselves to opposition, however. Some theologically ori-
cally global system, economic trade and political empire have
ented observers argue that religion has an essential role in
certainly been the most obvious; but in conjunction with
shaping globalization; that the negative outcomes of global-
these, it is equally clear that what we today call religions have
ization point to the need for a positive global ethic, which
also at times played a significant role. Hindu civilization at
religions can provide. The efforts led by Hans Küng in this
one time spread throughout South and Southeast Asia. Bud-
direction are perhaps the most well known. For Küng, not
dhist teaching and monastic traditions linked together the
only does the globalized world require a guiding global ethic,
vast territories from Sri Lanka and the Indian subcontinent,
but key to the development of that ethic is harmonious rela-
through Afghanistan and China to Korea, Japan, and most
tions and dialogue among the world’s religions. The combi-
of Southeast Asia. In the early Middle Ages the Christian
nation signals a dialogical understanding of globalization
church was the only institution that overarched and even de-
that Küng shares with many other observers. Here it applies
fined as a single social unit that northwestern portion of the
to religion: the globalized whole depends for its viability on
Eurasian landmass known as Europe. And this largely over
the contribution of religion, yet this contribution presup-
against its neighbor, Islam, which by the twelfth century CE
poses a plurality of particular religions that come to under-
had succeeded in weaving a socio-religious tapestry that ex-
stand themselves in positive relation to one another. Unity
tended from Europe and sub-Saharan Africa through all of
and diversity are both constitutive of the global. This core
Asia into the far reaches of Southeast Asia. It informed with-
assumption of Küng’s Global Ethic Project points to general
out doubt the largest world system before the arrival of the
features of how those contributions to the globalization de-
modern era.
bate that do not ignore religion have sought to understand
Yet perhaps most important in this regard is that, as the
its role in the process: as an important dimension of global-
European powers expanded their influence around the globe
ization that exhibits the characteristic dynamic tension be-
between the sixteenth and twentieth centuries, thus setting
tween global and local, between homogeneity and heteroge-
the conditions for contemporary truly worldwide globaliza-
neity, between the universal and the particular.
tion, Christian religion and Christian institutions were
RELIGION AND RELIGIONS IN GLOBALIZATION. Globaliza-
throughout that entire period key contributors to the pro-
tion perspectives seeking to include religion have taken sever-
cess. The churches accompanied European colonizers in Af-
al directions of which the following are likely the most signif-
rica, the Americas, and Australasia; Christian missions,
icant. Certain approaches analyze religion as a global or
whether independently or in conjunction with secular au-
transnational institution, whose diverse manifestations oper-
thorities, sought conversions in all corners of the globe. In
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3500
GLOBALIZATION AND RELIGION
consequence, today the vast majority of globally extended re-
place, global migrants in recent times maintain far stronger
ligious institutions are in fact Christian organizations and
and more lasting and consequential links with their countries
movements. A wide variety of these include, for instance, the
of origin. Globalization approaches allow a better under-
Roman Catholic Church (along with many of its religious
standing of why they have migrated, what they do once they
orders), several Protestant and Eastern Orthodox churches,
migrate, and the dynamics of their integration or lack thereof
the World Council of Churches, Seventh-day Adventists, the
into their new regions.
worldwide Pentecostal movement, and Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Given that religious institutions, religiously informed
Christian missions still crisscross the world: American mis-
worldviews, and religious practice are so often instrumental
sionaries are to be found in Latin America, Africa, and Asia;
in these processes, the growing number of efforts to under-
African and Latin American Christians conduct missions in
stand religion’s role among global migrants is not surprising.
Europe and the United States; Australians serve in India;
Such contributions have focused on the concrete religious in-
South Koreans are a major presence in southern Africa; and
stitutions of the migrants in their new homes, the immigra-
everyone is trying to spread the word in the countries of the
tion and integration policies and attitudes of the host coun-
former Communist bloc.
tries, the transnational links and flows that the migrants
Although Christian establishments thus dominate nu-
maintain, and the influence of these diasporic communities
merically, they are far from being alone among transnational
on the global religions that are usually involved. Not infre-
religious institutions. Muslim movements and organizations
quently in such analyses, the sorts of transnational religious
such as the S:u¯f¯ı and neo-S:u¯f¯ı t:ar¯ıqah, or brotherhoods (for
organizations and movements just mentioned are salient top-
example, Naqshband¯ıyah, Mur¯ıd¯ıya, Qa¯dir¯ıyah), reform
ics, since the migrant communities are often instrumental in
movements like the Pakistani Tablighi Jamaat and the Turk-
bringing about, developing, and maintaining their global
ish Milli Görü¸s, and unity foundations like the World Mus-
character. Thus, for instance, we have consideration of Sene-
lim Congress or the World Muslim League are broadly estab-
galese mur¯ıd presence in the United States, Taiwanese Fog-
lished in different regions. They are far from negligible in
uangshan establishments in Canada, Turkish Süleymanli
importance. Buddhist organizations such as the Foguang-
communities in Germany, Tablighi Jamaat mosques in
shan or the So¯ka Gakkai have a worldwide presence as do
Great Britain, Japanese Buddhist temples in Brazil, as well
Hindu movements like the Ramakrishna Math and Mission,
as African or Latin American Pentecostal churches in North
the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, and the Sai Baba movement.
America and Europe. As this illustrative list demonstrates,
Parallel examples could be mentioned for other both major
the bulk of this literature reflects the fact that it is people in
and minor religions ranging from Judaism, Sikhism, and
Western countries that carry out most of such globalization
Baha¯’¯ı to Mormonism, Scientology, and the Brahma¯ Ku-
analyses. This imbalance needs yet to be corrected. Nonethe-
maris.
less, the examples do demonstrate one of the important ways
that globalization perspectives are being applied to religion,
The specific literature on any of these is fairly substan-
and conversely how the analysis of religion is coming to in-
tial. Yet with some exceptions, notably Christian manifesta-
form theories of globalization themselves. Moreover, the
tions like the Roman Catholic Church and Pentecostalism,
consideration of the role of transnational religious institu-
globalization perspectives have not concentrated on these
tions in the context of global migration already implicates
perhaps most obvious of global religious forms as a character-
the second way that religion has been understood as a signifi-
istic dimension of the globalization process. Instead, a grow-
cant contributor to globalization processes, and that is as a
ing literature has been focusing on religion in the context of
cultural, but especially political resource.
global migration. The more or less permanent displacement
RELIGION AS CULTURAL AND POLITICAL RESOURCE. People
of large numbers of people from diverse regions and cultural
who migrate from one part of the world to another in search
backgrounds to many other parts of the world, but notably
of a better life often depend on their religions and their reli-
from non-Western to Western countries, has like few other
gious institutions to address an array of attendant problems.
phenomena brought home to an increasing range of observ-
Religion can furnish them with a strong sense of identity and
ers just how much humanity is now living in a single world
integrity in a situation where they may be strangers. Church-
where identity and difference have to be renegotiated and re-
es, temples, mosques, gurdwaras, and synagogues can serve
constructed. Dialogical theories of globalization and those
as a home away from home where one can speak one’s lan-
that stress globalization from below have been particularly
guage, eat one’s food, congregate with people who share
apt to analyze the consequences of global migration, but the
one’s situation, and even attain a measure of status that one
issue is not missing from many that understand globalization
is denied in the new host society. For many poorer migrants,
primarily in economic or political terms. Like global capital-
religious institutions offer vital social services that make sur-
ism or international relations, this question is not susceptible
vival and establishment in the new land even possible. They
to easy understanding on the basis of theories that take a
may also provide a principal conduit for maintaining ties
more limited territory, above all a nation-state or a region
with the places of origin. In these circumstances religion
like Europe, as their primary unit of analysis. In the context
both is the means for global connectivity and makes up im-
of the various other structures that make the world a smaller
portant content of global flows. Globalization affords condi-
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GLOBALIZATION AND RELIGION
3501
tions for the elaboration of new and expanded transnational
tionalism in India and the heavy political involvement of cer-
establishments whose primary reason for existence is reli-
tain Buddhist organizations in Japan to the many highly po-
gious but that also serve an array of other purposes. They
liticized Islamicist movements in countries as diverse as Iran,
are at the same time, however, important local institutions,
Indonesia, and Nigeria, politicized religion has been a cons-
places where people go in their everyday lives for everyday
tant feature of the global world since at least the 1960s and
reasons. Thus, to take but one example, a Christian church
in many respects well back into the nineteenth century. Al-
founded by Mexican migrants in Atlanta is an important
though the literature often analyzes them under the some-
community resource for its participants, but it may also have
what tendentious label of fundamentalisms, two of their
ties with the church back in the Mexican village from which
most basic features illustrate quite clearly how relevant they
most of them originate, providing financial and other re-
are for theories of globalization and how they manifest the
sources for that village church as well. The religious institu-
global nature of so much contemporary religion.
tion properly speaking includes both localities and is not
The first is simply that they have arisen in so many dif-
properly understood unless one takes both into consider-
ferent countries, and almost always on the basis of the tradi-
ation. Globalization perspectives afford that inclusive view.
tions and institutions of one of the globally recognized reli-
The role of religion in providing, broadly speaking, cul-
gions such as Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism,
tural resources in a global context is not limited to the situa-
Sikhism, or Buddhism. Religions that are very different from
tion of migrants, however. Globalization, irrespective of
one another provide the resources for remarkably similar po-
which meaning one favors, implies a kind of compression of
litical movements. The fact that one of the broadly homolo-
space in which the upheaval and uprooting characteristic of
gous modern states is invariably implicated by such move-
the migratory experience are the lot of a great many of the
ments is one reason for this similarity, but so is the explicitly
world’s people, whether they leave their homes or not. Paral-
global view that they typically represent. Whether one takes
lel circumstances in Africa and Latin America can serve to
the Islamic revolution in Iran, the religious Zionists of Israel,
make this similarity clear. Both these continents have large
the Christian Right in the United States, liberation theologi-
regions and large populations that are effectively excluded
cal movements in Latin America, So¯ka Gakkai in Japan, the
from the main globalized power structures, yet their lives are
Hindu nationalism of the Rashtriya Svayamsevak Sangh in
nonetheless profoundly affected by them. Religion and reli-
India, or a host of other examples, most of these movements
gious institutions are important resources for responding to
have justified themselves explicitly in global terms, in addi-
the situation. In Latin America, for instance, one reason for
tion to local or national ones. Even the Islamicist Taliban in
the rapid rise of Pentecostal Christian churches along with
Afghanistan, a movement with hardly any global conscious-
significant growth among Afro-Brazilian religions like Can-
ness when it formed in the early 1990s, very much saw itself
domblé and certain Roman Catholic movements is that these
in global terms by the time the American-led invasion ousted
its government in 2001. What these religio-political move-
institutional religious forms provide people with ways of un-
ments therefore also demonstrate once again is how localized
derstanding themselves and coping in a world where their sit-
religion does not have to be globally extended, let alone posi-
uation is changing and often precarious. They afford people
tive toward the process of globalization, for it to be globally
narratives with attendant life practices by which they can give
relevant and therefore for globalization theories to be useful
themselves a meaningful and dignified place in this world.
in understanding them.
Religion lends them a measure of power. Even more clearly,
in sub-Saharan Africa above all Christian and Islamic organi-
RELIGION AND RELIGIONS AS GLOBALIZING SYSTEM. A fur-
zations, centers, networks, and movements offer large num-
ther theoretical approach to the role of religion and religions
bers of people at least some access to an institution that actu-
in globalization goes beyond the idea that religious world-
ally functions reasonably to their benefit. Although they are
views and institutions have participated in the process. It fo-
localized institutions and largely in the control of local peo-
cuses on the degree to which both modern institutional
ple, a far from insignificant part of the appeal of these reli-
forms and modern understandings of religion are themselves
gious establishments is that they have links to and represent
manifestations of globalization. With the centuries-long de-
access to the wider globalized world. This has always been
velopment of what is today a globally extended society, reli-
one of the attractions of both Christianity and Islam; they
gion came to inform what is today a globally extended reli-
have in effect been global religions for many centuries. In
gious system consisting primarily of a series of mutually
today’s world they continue to fill that role. The degree to
identified and broadly recognized religions. These religions,
which religions contribute to the globalized circumstance as
in virtually every region of the globe, include Christianity,
well as their character as globalized institutions becomes evi-
Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, but a variable list of other
dent in these cases.
religions receives almost as broad legitimacy. Among these
are Judaism, Sikhism, Daoism, and Jainism, followed again
As noted earlier, the one phenomenon that has attracted
by another set of less consistently or more regionally accepted
the most attention to the global significance of religions is
ones such as Baha¯D¯ı, Shinto¯, Candomblé, African Traditional
the proliferation of effective religio-political movements in
Religions (ATR), Scientology, and so forth. The idea that re-
almost all regions of the world. From the rise of Hindu na-
ligion manifests itself through a series of distinct religions
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3502
GLOBALIZATION AND RELIGION
may seem self-evident to many people, including a great
gion, this ideal dimension can also be conceived as its reli-
many of their adherents. Yet that notion is historically of
gious dimension, although thereby not necessarily referring
quite recent provenance. In Europe, where this understand-
to the role of religious traditions and institutions in it. One
ing first gained purchase, it dates back at the earliest to the
can divide the analyses of this dimension of globalization ac-
seventeenth century. Elsewhere, such as in most regions of
cording to whether it is seen as a positive or negative feature,
Asia, one must wait until at least the nineteenth century. Its
and whether unity or diversity of vision dominates.
development and spread is entirely coterminous with the pe-
riod most theories identify as the prime centuries of global-
Positive and unitary interpretations come in a number
ization.
of variants. There are still a few that see globalization as inev-
itably moving the world toward a future of ever greater mate-
For this approach to religion and globalization, the con-
rial prosperity, political democracy, and technological prog-
struction of the religious system is not only recent. It is also
ress shared equitably among all peoples. Far more numerous
quite selective; not every possible religion, not everything
are those that share ideals such as equality and inclusion of
possibly religious counts. Symptomatic of both aspects are
all people in the benefits of global society, perhaps under the
ongoing and recent debates among scholars of religion con-
rubric of universal human rights; but they consider that at
cerning the meaning of the concept and its supposed Euro-
the very least human society has a long way to go before these
centrism. One perspective in these controversies has it that
are realizable, and that certain features of globalization actu-
religion is at best an abstract term, useful for certain kinds
ally stand in the way of their realization. Several perspectives
of analysis but not something real that is actually out there
grounded in institutionalized religion fall under this heading,
in the world. A prime argument in support of this position
for instance, the already discussed Global Ethic Project led
is how the ideas of religion as a separate domain of life and
by Hans Küng, or the Justice, Peace and Integrity of Cre-
of the distinct religions are so demonstrably products of rela-
ation program of the World Council of Churches. Typically,
tively recent history and so clearly attendant upon and impli-
these and other examples consider such values as equality
cated in the concomitant spread of Christian and European
among peoples, religions, classes, and genders to be com-
influence around the world. Another is that religions is em-
pletely unquestionable. With equal self-evidence they exhibit
pirically too narrow, as what is meant by them does not cover
strong ecological sensibility and valorize the natural environ-
nearly everything in our world that is manifestly religious
ment. Into this category also belong those social-scientific
using slightly different notions of religion. Cogent as such
approaches that stress the global preponderance of idealized
arguments are, however, they point exactly to what the theo-
models, especially models of progressive economy, the na-
ry under review states: a peculiar way of understanding reli-
tion-state, education, legal structures, mass media, art, and
gion and institutionally embodying religion has developed
culture.
in conjunction with and as an expression of the process of
Unitary but negative visions share most of these charac-
globalization. It is accepted and contested right around the
teristics but reject the idea that any of these developments
world. Similar to global capitalism and the global system of
can have a positive outcome. Sometimes these take world-
sovereign states, the idea and its putting into practice exclude
rejecting communitarian directions, advocating retreat from
as well as include. It also involves power and imposition, as
the globalized world. Ironically perhaps, it is not uncommon
do all human institutions. And just as antiglobalization
for these visions to espouse precisely the sort of egalitarian
movements are themselves important manifestations of that
values typical of the positive versions but insist that this is
which they seemingly oppose, so too is contestation—
only possible in a separated—and usually quite small-scale—
whether academic, theological, or broadly political—with
society. Some subdivisions of environmental and back-to-
reference to religion and the religions symptomatic of the so-
nature movements exemplify this possibility. In many re-
cial and cultural reality that it contests.
spects they are mirror images of globalized society, and in
A strict corollary of this theory, a consequence of the se-
that respect reflections of it. By contrast, there are those re-
lective nature of this religious system, is that new religions
jections of a unitary globalization that insist on the unique
will constantly try to form and that much religiosity will es-
validity of a particular culture or society. Some so-called fun-
cape the system. The existence of this global religious system,
damentalist visions fall in this category, but it must be
simultaneously at the global and local levels, therefore
stressed how comparatively rare they are. The Afghan Pash-
spawns its constant development and the constant challeng-
tun Taliban, in contrast to most Islamicist perspectives, may
ing of the way it operates. That idea leads logically to consid-
have been one of the few.
eration of the religiousness of the global system itself.
Pluralist visions of the world are variations on the uni-
RELIGION, GLOBALIZATION, AND THE HUMAN CONDITION.
tary ones, putting greater stress on, respectively, the differ-
More than a few theories of globalization explicitly address
ence or the irreconcilability of diverse worldviews. The clash
what one might call its ideal dimension, the way it shapes
of civilizations model made famous by Samuel Huntington
how people understand the nature and purpose of the world
is representative of a negative version, dependent as it is on
and their place in it. Given that such questions of ultimate
the idea—not to say ideal—that quasi-essential civilizations
concern or purpose often appear as defining features of reli-
with particular characteristics actually exist logically prior to
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GLOBALIZATION AND RELIGION
3503
the globalized context in which mutually identifying them
Braman, Sandra, and Annabelle Sreberny-Mohammedi, eds. Glo-
might make sense. Pluralist positive perspectives, by contrast,
balization, Communication and Transnational Civil Society.
are even more mere variations on the unitary variety: the
Cresskill, N.J., 1996. A good representative sample of contri-
value of pluralist and egalitarian inclusion here is simply
butions that stress globalization from below and thereby the
more strongly emphasized.
dimensions of globalization not subsumed under economic
and political perspectives.
What is therefore especially noteworthy of all these rep-
Castles, Stephen. Ethnicity and Globalization: From Migrant
resentations of globalization’s ideal dimension is just how
Worker to Transnational Citizen. London, 2000. A work that
close they are to one another. Without in the least underplay-
focuses on the important process of transnational migration
ing the degree to which globalization entails vast differences
and its consequences, it is representative of much such work
in power and influence among different regions and different
that, while important, tends to ignore religion almost com-
people; without denying the significant contestation, even
pletely.
conflict, between different visions of what the global world
Chidester, David. Savage Systems: Colonialism and Comparative
is or should be; this seeming narrowing of alternative world
Religion in Southern Africa. Charlottesville, Va., 1996. A fine
visions may in the end be one of the most powerful symp-
analysis of the modern development and use of the idea of
toms of the social reality which the idea of globalization seeks
religion as exemplified in the colonial history of South Afri-
to name.
ca. It demonstrates both the selectivity and the recentness of
this development.
SEE ALSO Economics and Religion; Politics and Religion;
Coleman, Simon. The Globalisation of Charismatic Christianity:
Transculturation and Religion.
Spreading the Gospel of Prosperity. Cambridge, U.K., 2000.
Although largely an analysis of the Pentecostalism of one
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Swedish church, this work simultaneously shows how under-
Ahmed, Akbar S. Islam, Globalization and Postmodernity. London,
standing this important Christian phenomenon benefits
1994. An earlier work that deals well with the challenges that
from a globalization perspective.
globalization presents for one of the major religions that is
Ebaugh, Helen Rose, and Janet Saltzman Chafetz, eds. Religion
not Christianity. It explodes the myth that Islam is somehow
across Borders: Transnational Migrant Networks. Walnut
fundamentally antiglobal or incapable of responding posi-
Creek, Calif., 2002. The outcome of research on immigrant
tively.
religious communities in Houston, Texas, this work shows
Appadurai, Arjun. Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Glo-
graphically how migrant religion is at the same time very
balization. Minneapolis, 1996. A much cited and influential
local and very global in its connections and meanings.
work that presents globalization from below and stresses the
Haynes, Jeff. Religion in Global Politics. London and New York,
contested, pluralistic, and even chaotic character of globaliza-
1998. An excellent survey of religio-political movements and
tion. It pays little attention to religion in any form.
implications around the world.
Bauman, Zygmunt. Globalization: The Human Consequences.
Held, David, and Anthony McGrew, eds. The Global Transforma-
London, 1998. An excellent work not only in terms of the
tions Reader: An Introduction to the Globalization Debate.
problematic outcomes of globalization but also in the way
Cambridge, U.K., 2003. A good compendium of most as-
that it clearly shows how globalization involves a dialogical
pects of the globalization debate, including the many and
simultaneity of the global and the local.
contested meanings of the term. Religion, however, is not
well covered.
Beck, Ulrich. World Risk Society. London, 1999. In focusing on
the idea of risk among other concepts, this work presents a
Hopkins, Dwight N., Lois Ann Lorentzen, Eduardo Mendieta,
perspective on global society that stresses its somewhat
and David Batstone, eds. Religions/Globalizations: Theories
unique features. It is in this way good for understanding how
and Cases. Durham, N.C., 2001. A collection of case studies,
global society is different from nonglobal ones.
some theoretical, some empirical. Articles on Africa, South-
east Asia, and Latin America are particularly valuable.
Berger, Peter L., and Samuel P. Huntington, eds. Many Globaliza-
tions: Cultural Diversity in the Contemporary World. Oxford,
Huntington, Samuel P. The Clash of Civilizations and the Remak-
2002. A compendium of chapters written by people in a wide
ing of World Order. New Delhi, 1996. The classic statement
variety of different countries, it is valuable for appreciating
of the thesis. A notable aspect of the work is that Western
how globalization is constituted as much by local response
civilization in particular is called to take note.
and appropriation as by homogenizing imposition.
Juergensmeyer, Mark, ed. Global Religions: An Introduction. Ox-
Beyer, Peter. Religion and Globalization. London, 1994. The first
ford, 2003. A collection of articles, mostly about each of the
work entirely dedicated to the topic from the perspective of
major world religions, with overview articles attached. Good
a theory of globalization, it focuses primarily on religion as
for getting a sense of some of the issues involved in each of
a political resource in the context of global society.
the five majors along with African and indigenous traditions.
Beyer, Peter, ed. Religion im Prozeß der Globalisierung (Religion in
Küng, Hans. A Global Ethic for Global Politics and Economics.
the Process of Globalization). Würzburg, 2001. A collection
Translated by John Bowden. New York, 1998. A critical ex-
of theoretical and empirical articles about globalization and
amination of what this influential Catholic theologian be-
the possible place of religion in it. Contains a chapter in
lieves is needed for a healthier globalization.
which the editor outlines key aspects of his theory of a global
Levitt, Peggy. The Transnational Villagers. Berkeley, Calif., 2001.
religious system.
An excellent work that shows just how difficult it is to under-
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

3504
GLOSSOLALIA
stand the lives of contemporary global migrants if one does
2004. A further work on the important region of Africa.
not take the global into perspective. The author also appreci-
Well-balanced, with good emphasis on religion, both Islam
ates the importance of religion.
and Christianity, and on women.
Martin, David. Pentecostalism: The World Their Parish. Oxford,
Van der Veer, Peter, ed. Conversion to Modernities: The Globaliza-
2002. To some extent a comparison of Latin America and
tion of Christianity. London, 1996. A collection of articles on
Europe, the book emphasizes the simultaneously local and
the particularization of Christianity in diverse parts of the
global character of this Christian movement. Also contains
world that demonstrates the degree to which this has also be-
excellent theoretical reflections on the issue from a sociologi-
come a non-Western religion.
cal perspective.
Vásquez, Manuel A., and Marie Friedmann Marquardt. Globaliz-
Meyer, Birgit, and Peter Geschiere, eds. Globalization and Identi-
ing the Sacred: Religion across the Americas. New Brunswick,
ty: Dialectics of Flow and Closure. Oxford, 1999. A collection
N.J., 2003. A very fine work that demonstrates in ethno-
of works on Africa, another region where the local and global
graphic detail, focusing on Latin America and the United
occur simultaneously. Good attention to religious dimen-
States, how the highly localized religions of migrants and
sions.
marginalized peoples have a global dimension. A good exam-
Meyer, John W., John Boli, George M. Thomas, and Francisco
ple of globalization from below.
O. Ramirez. “World Society and the Nation-State.” Ameri-
Wallerstein, Immanuel. The Modern World System. 3 vols. New
can Journal of Sociology 103, no. 1 (1997): 144–181. A suc-
York, 1974–1980. An early and classic work on the historical
cinct statement of an important theory of globalization that
development of the global capitalist system, it presents an ex-
posits the existence of a world polity in which globalized
cellent theoretical and empirical analysis of economic global-
models inform what people do in all parts of the world. Also
ization.
stresses the ideal or religious dimension of globalization over-
all.
PETER BEYER (2005)
Nederveen Pieterse, Jan. Globalization and Culture: Global Me-
lange. Lanham, Md., 2003. A good statement of globaliza-
tion as what the author calls hybridization, not the juxtapos-
GLOSSOLALIA (from the Greek glo¯ssa, “tongue, lan-
ing of preexisting cultural identities so much as the re-
creation of these identities and thereby their creative mixing
guage,” and lalein, “to talk”) is a nonordinary speech behav-
and reinvention.
ior that is institutionalized as a religious ritual in numerous
Western and non-Western religious communities. Its world-
Prazniak, Roxann, and Arif Dirlik, eds. Places and Politics in an
wide distribution attests to its antiquity, as does its mention
Age of Globalization. Lanham, Md., 2001. Another work that
stresses the simultaneity of global and local with special at-
in ancient documents. It is alluded to in the Hebrew scrip-
tention to marginalized groups, women, and environmental
tures and in the New Testament, as in the well-known narra-
issues.
tion in the Acts of the Apostles about events on the Day of the
Pentecost. There are references to it in the Vedas (c. 1000
Robertson, Roland. Globalization: Social Theory and Global Cul-
ture. London, 1992. The thus far classic statement of a highly
BCE), in Patañjali’s Yoga Sutras, and in Tibetan Tantric writ-
influential and dialogical theory of globalization by the soci-
ings. Traces of it can be found in the litanies (dhikrs) of some
ologist who first used the term technically and consistently
orders of the Islamic Sufi mystics.
in the 1980s. Sensitive to the importance of religion in the
Early ethnographic reports of glossolalia treated it with
process.
contempt, calling it “absurd nonsense, gibberish scarce worth
Rothstein, Mikael, ed. New Age Religion and Globalization. Aar-
recording,” while Christian theologians tended to think of
hus, 2001. A collection that debates an important domain
it as an exclusively Christian phenomenon, peculiar, accord-
of noninstitutionalized religiosity, with special emphasis on
ing to some, to apostolic times. Modern-day forms of glosso-
the question of whether New Age is basically Western or by
lalia were classed as abnormal psychological occurrences,
now also global.
possible evidence of schizophrenia or hysteria, because re-
Rudolph, Susanne Hoeber, and James Piscatori, eds. Transnation-
searchers observed it only in mental patients. The situation
al Religion and Fading States. Boulder, Colo., 1997. A collec-
started to change when, as the result of interest renewed by
tion of articles primarily on Islam and Christianity. Contains
a fine chapter by José Casanova on the Roman Catholic
the upsurge of the Pentecostal movement, field-workers
Church.
began to examine glossolalia as a part of religious ritual.
Scholte, Jan Aart. Globalization: A Critical Introduction. London,
In an article published in 1969, for instance, Virginia
2000. A very good introductory work on the entire question
H. Hine reported on a comparative anthropological investi-
with some sensitivity to the role of religion.
gation of the Pentecostal movement in the United States,
Stackhouse, Max L., and Peter J. Paris, eds. God and Globaliza-
Mexico, Haiti, and Colombia, combining the use of ques-
tion: Religion and the Powers of the Common Life. Harrisburg,
tionnaires, interviews, and participant observation (Journal
Pa., 2000. A collection of different perspectives including
for the Scientific Study of Religion 8: 212–226). Her function-
good theological reflections on the globalization process.
al analysis showed glossolalia to be a component in the pro-
van Binsbergen, Wim, and Rijk van Dijk, eds. Situating Globality:
cess of commitment to a movement, with implications for
African Agency in the Appropriation of Global Culture. Leiden,
both personal and social change. This conclusion agrees in
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GLOSSOLALIA
3505
substance with numerous ethnographic reports from non-
pared. The results indicated that when all features of glosso-
Western societies, where glossolalia often appears before or
lalia were taken into consideration—that is, its segmental
during the initiation of religious practitioners.
structure (such as sounds, syllables, and phrases) and its su-
prasegmental elements (namely, rhythm, accent, and espe-
A few years before Hine’s study, the pathology model
cially overall intonation)—they seemed cross-linguistically
of glossolalia was refuted by L. M. Vivier-van Etveldt
and cross-culturally identical. Laboratory tracings that used
(M. D. diss., University of the Witwatersrand, Johannes-
a level recorder, which registers changes in pressure density
burg, 1960). He tested two carefully matched groups, one
(in this case, intonation), confirmed these impressions at
made up of members of a church that practiced glossolalia
least in the case of intonation. This method is also suitable
and the other made up of members of a traditional orthodox
for distinguishing glossolalia from such other nonordinary
reformed church where such behavior was not accepted. A
speech events as sleep talking and talking during hypnotic
number of psychological tests, such as the Thematic Apper-
regression (see this writer’s 1981 article “States of Conscious-
ception Test (TAT) and the Personality Factor Test devel-
ness: A Study of Soundtracks,” Journal of Mind and Behavior
oped by James Cattell, indicated no inherent weakness in the
2: 209–219). The latter finding is important, because many
neural organization of the glossolalists. On the contrary, they
ethnographic observers consider the behavior of which glos-
appeared to be less subject to suggestion and better adjusted
solalia is a part to be hypnotically induced, which in view of
than their conservative counterparts. By implication, this
these results is in error.
finding should put to rest the numerous allegations that sha-
mans, who frequently utter glossolalia, are psychotic. The sa-
Self-reporting by ethnographic consultants and observa-
lient difference between a religious practitioner and a mental
tion of their behavior indicate the presence of a changed state
patient lies in the fact that the latter is unable to control his
of consciousness during glossolalia, ranging from minimal to
behavior ritually.
quite intense. This author therefore attributes the cross-
cultural agreements in the features of glossolalia to these
As to formal properties, glossolalia is a nonordinary
neurophysiological changes, collectively and popularly called
speech event in the sense that it consists of nonsense syllables.
trance, and defines glossolalia as a vocalization pattern, a
In contrast with natural languages, its syllables and segments
speech automatism that is produced in the substratum of the
are not words; that is, they do not exhibit the attribution of
trance and that reflects directly, in its segmental and su-
meaning, and they are not strung together according to rules
prasegmental structures, the neurophysiological processes
of grammar. For this reason, linguists reject the interpreta-
present in this changed state of consciousness.
tion of glossolalia as xenoglossia (from the Greek xenox,
“stranger,” and glo¯ssa, “language”), which claims that glosso-
Put more simply, whatever takes place in the nervous
lalia is some foreign language that could be understood by
system during a trance causes utterance to break down into
another person who spoke it. William J. Samarin, a linguist
phrases of equal length, provided the pauses are also includ-
working with English-speaking Christian groups, regards
ed. That is, using a concept taken from music rather than
glossolalia instead as a type of pseudolanguage. In his 1972
linguistics, it causes the phrases to be divided into bars, each
article “Variation and Variables in Religious Glossolalia”
of which is accented on the first syllable, and it causes the
(Language in Society 1: 121–130), he defines it as “unintelli-
bars to pulsate, to throb rhythmically in a sequence of conso-
gible post-babbling speech that exhibits superficial phono-
nant-vowel, consonant-vowel. And it is this writer’s belief
logical similarity to language without having consistent syn-
that the trance state is responsible for the haunting intona-
tagmatic structure and that is not systematically derived from
tion of glossolalia; never varying, it rises to a peak at the end
or related to known languages.” He notes that glossolalia is
of the first third of the unit utterance and drops to a level
repetitious and can be subdivided into macrosegments,
much lower than that at the onset as it comes to a close.
which are comparable to sentences; microsegments, which
The sounds of glossolalia do not necessarily reflect the
are reminiscent of words; and sounds. There is also a pattern
inventory of the speaker’s language, for they frequently in-
of stress and pitch. According to Samarin, speakers of En-
clude phones not found in a speaker’s native tongue. English
glish have an “English accent” in glossolalia; that is, their
speakers, for instance, often use /a/ as a high central, un-
sounds are English speech sounds. He attributes these regu-
rounded vowel, the so-called continental sound, which does
larities to a particular style of discourse that practitioners as-
not occur in English, and Spanish speakers in Mexico may
sume by imitating certain preaching styles.
use /ö/ (the long, closed o, as in the German word Öse),
which is not a Spanish vowel. In addition, shrieks as well as
This writer’s own fieldwork and laboratory research
barking, whistling, grunting, growling, and many other so-
have led to somewhat different conclusions. As a psychologi-
called animal sounds have also been reported.
cal anthropologist and linguist, the author of this article con-
ducted participant observation in various English-, Spanish-,
Although glossolalia is often described as a spontaneous
and Maya-speaking Pentecostal communities in the United
outburst, it is, actually, a learned behavior, learned either un-
States and Mexico as well as with the founder of a new reli-
awarely or, sometimes, consciously. The fact that individual
gion in Japan. In addition, tape recordings of non-Christian
congregations with a stable membership tend to develop
rituals from Africa, Borneo, Indonesia, and Japan were com-
their own characteristic glossolalia “dialect” indicates that
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3506
GLOSSOLALIA
learning has occurred, and the many traditional forms in
barred from learning it. (See Edwin Ardener, “Belief and the
which glossolalia appears in non-Western societies are obvi-
Problem of Women,” in The Interpretation of Ritual, edited
ously taught. These include such conventions as speaking in-
by J. S. La Fontaine, London, 1972, pp. 135–201.) It is
dividually, in groups, and in the form of a dialogue, often
probably a mixed form, for he mentions that scraps of the
heard in the Japanese new religions, and singing.
mermaid language are common currency even among Chris-
tian, educated, urban Bakweri women. This suggests that
As the foregoing characterization of glossolalia indicates,
these “scraps” may have turned into words or that they were
one probably needs to view trance as the primary behavior,
not originally nonsense syllables but had specific, assigned
on which vocalization is superimposed and into which the
meanings.
practitioner switches with the help of a large variety of stimu-
li, such as singing, dancing, clapping, and drumming. Pres-
When speaking in a trance, a practitioner may use no
ent research suggests that this trance—a frenzy, rapture, ec-
nonsense syllables at all, employing instead only the vernacu-
stasy, or, in more neutral terms, an altered state of
lar. If the principal pronouncement is in nonsense syllables,
consciousness—involves a single, generalized neurophy-
however, as, for instance, among Christians speaking in
siological process. Barbara W. Lex, a medical anthropologist,
tongues or among the nomadic, reindeer-hunting Chukchi
holds that what is involved is an alternation between two dif-
of Siberia, an “interpretation” may be provided. Such inter-
ferent arousals of the nervous system. This tunes the nervous
pretations exhibit a distinct, trance-based rhythm and an in-
system and releases tension, thus accounting for the benefi-
tonation whose exactness cannot be reproduced in the ordi-
cial effects of the experience. Observations of Christian and
nary state of consciousness. This is the same phenomenon
non-Western religious communities alike indicate that ap-
exhibited in the many forms of “inspired,” prophetic speech-
parently anybody with a normal physical endowment is able
es, heard around the world, in which a scanning rhythm im-
to initiate this process and to switch into a trance. Differ-
parts a poetic quality to the utterance. In such speeches
ences in personality, treated extensively by early researchers,
words are sometimes truncated, and rules of grammar violat-
apparently do not enter into the picture.
ed, overridden by the exigencies of the trance. Even commu-
An association between trance and glossolalia is now ac-
nicative intent may have to be altered. Thus the demons who
cepted by many researchers as a correct assumption (see, for
spoke through the trance of a German university student,
instance, Williams, 1981). Thus, if one recognizes trance as
Anneliese Michel, could ask no questions because in spoken
the primary, generating process of the features of glossolalia,
German the tone of an interrogative must rise at the end,
one could then conclude that a vocalization consisting only
while all trance utterances have a pronounced drop. (See this
of nonsense syllables, no matter how varied, may in fact rep-
author’s book about this case, The Exorcism of Anneliese Mi-
resent a cultural convention and that other types of speech
chel, New York, 1981.)
could also be uttered while the practitioner is in a trance,
The case of Anneliese Michel brings up the question of
with the trance, of course, still expressing itself in some form
what kinds of religious experience are commonly expressed
or other. Field observation shows that this is indeed true.
by glossolalia. In her case, the experience was that of posses-
Nonsense syllables may occur in combination with words
sion, and glossolalia was the voice, the “language,” of the de-
from the vernacular and/or a foreign language—such as
mons that she reported were possessing her. Possession is one
“Come, Jesus” and “Hallelujah,” which are often heard from
of the most frequent ritual occasions for the use of glossolalia.
American Pentecostals—without disturbing the accent pat-
In possession, an entity from the sacred dimension of reality
tern or intonation of the utterance, its trance features. In the
is experienced as penetrating the respective person. In Chris-
circumpolar region, many shamans, among the Inuit (Eski-
tian contexts, the entity is most usually the Holy Spirit, and
mo), the Saami (Lapps), Chukchi, the Khanty (Ostiaks), the
glossolalia is then felt to be its language. The Holy Spirit is
Yakuts, and the Evenki, use in their religious rituals secret
experienced as power, not as personality, but other spirits—
languages that consist of a mixture of nonsense syllables and
for instance, those of the dead of the Trobriand Islanders,
the vernacular. Just like a natural language, these secret
ancestral spirits in Africa, and various spirits in Haitian
trance dialects are taught by the master shamans to their neo-
vodou—have pronounced personality traits that are ex-
phytes.
pressed in glossolalia. Western observers of possession may
From Africa, there are reports of a secret religious trance
speak of role playing, but the experience is more that of being
language used exclusively by women. Bakweri women living
in the presence of a discrete being. The voice of the possess-
on the slopes of Mount Cameroon speak a “mermaid lan-
ing being differs from that of the possessed practitioner. An-
guage” in ritual context, which is taught to adolescent girls
neliese Michel’s demons spoke with a deep, raspy, male
when they are ready for initiation. A girl’s readiness is indi-
voice, and each one—there were six all told—exhibited dis-
cated by her “fainting,” that is, experiencing a trance, and
tinct characteristics; Judas was brutal, for instance, and Nero
by her ability, while in this altered state of consciousness, to
effeminate. In vodou, female mediums are often possessed
understand some of the mermaid language as it is spoken to
by male lwa (spirits), in which case a similar change in voice
her by a mature woman. No details of this language are
and, of course, in comportment takes place. In Umbanda,
known outside the tribe, for the male ethnographer was
an Afro-Brazilian healing cult, possession by the child spirit
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GNOSTICISM: GNOSTICISM FROM ITS ORIGINS TO THE MIDDLE AGES [FIRST EDITION]
3507
will bring about an equally dramatic voice modification. Si-
of Pentecostal Glossolalia and Related Phenomena (Cardiff,
berian shamans may be possessed by helpers in the form of
1981). An anthology edited by Irving I. Zaretzky and Mark
animal spirits, and their speech then consists of animal
P. Leone, Religious Movements in Contemporary America
voices, or “animal language.” A similar change in language
(Princeton, N.J., 1974), gives a panoramic view of the multi-
takes place when the shaman turns into an animal, which is
tude of religious movements in the United States, many of
a different experience, however.
which use glossolalia. For a good description of glossolalia in
a non-Western society, see Arkadii Federovich Anisimov’s
According to a generally held belief, illness will result
“The Shaman’s Tent of the Evenks and the Origin of the
if a noxious being of the sacred dimension of reality possesses
Shamanistic Rite,” translated from Russian by Dr. and Mrs.
a person. Therefore, the harmful entity needs to be expelled,
Stephen P. Dunn, in Studies in Siberian Shamanism, edited
or exorcised. The method by which this is done depends on
by Henry N. Michael (Toronto, 1963).
the tradition prevailing in the religious community in ques-
New Sources
tion. The ritual specialist carrying out the exorcism may
Holm, Nils G. “Ecstasy Research in the 20th century. An Intro-
merely recite a required formula while remaining in the ordi-
duction.” In Religious Ecstasy, edited by Nils G. Holm,
nary state of consciousness—as was done for Anneliese Mi-
pp. 7–26. Stockholm, 1982.
chel by a Catholic priest who spoke the exorcistic prayers
Holm, Nils G. “Glossolalia as a Transition Rite.” In Transition
from the Rituale romanum—or he may enter a trance and
Rites: Cosmic, Social and Individual Order, edited by Ugo
utter glossolalia, usually a mixed version, which is thought
Bianchi, pp. 143–149. Rome, 1986. The theoretical conclu-
to influence the actions of demons. This happens in Tantric
sions of this essay and the preceding one are based on re-
exorcistic rituals in Tibet, for instance, and during healing
search on glossolalia within the Swedish-speaking Pentecos-
sessions among Buddhists of northern Thailand.
tal movement in Finland.
Communication by glossolalia is instituted not only
Hutch, R. A. “The Personal Ritual of Glossolalia.” Journal for the
with unfriendly beings, of course. On a tape recording made
Scientific Study of Religion 19 (1980).
in Borneo a female healer can be heard calling her helping
Williams, Cyril G. “Glossolalia.” In Concise Encyclopedia of Lan-
spirit. In the za¯r cult of Ethiopia, the shamans talk to the za¯rs
guage and Religion, edited by John F. A. Sawyer and J. M.
(spirits) in a “secret language.” The shamans of the Semai of
Y. Simpson, pp. 249–250. Amsterdam, 2001.
Malaysia use glossolalia to invite the “nephews of the gods”
FELICITAS D. GOODMAN (1987)
to a feast, and the Yanomamö Indians of Amazonia chant
Revised Bibliography
while in trance to their hekura demons, calling them to come
live in their chests.
Quite generally, glossolalia cannot be considered a sym-
GNOSTICISM
bol. Rather, it is a medium of communication that directly
This entry consists of the following articles:
informs both the participants and the onlookers of a ritual
GNOSTICISM FROM ITS ORIGINS TO THE MIDDLE AGES
about the presence of and contact with the powers or the be-
[FIRST EDITION]
ings of the sacred dimension of reality—about the Holy Spir-
GNOSTICISM FROM ITS ORIGINS TO THE MIDDLE AGES
[FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS]
it who is baptizing a convert, perhaps, or about the appear-
GNOSTICISM FROM THE MIDDLE AGES TO THE PRESENT
ance of any one of the multitude of entities that inhabit
GNOSTICISM AS A CHRISTIAN HERESY
sacred realms.
HISTORY OF STUDY
SEE ALSO Chanting; Enthusiasm; Frenzy; Language, article
on Sacred Language; Pentecostal and Charismatic Christian-
GNOSTICISM: GNOSTICISM FROM ITS
ity; Spirit Possession.
ORIGINS TO THE MIDDLE AGES [FIRST
EDITION]
Gno¯sis (“knowledge”) is a Greek word of Indo-European ori-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Three books, published simultaneously in 1972, discuss glosso-
gin, related to the English know and the Sanskrit jña¯ña. The
lalia from different angles. My own work, Speaking in
term has long been used in comparative religion to indicate
Tongues: A Cross-Cultural Study of Glossolalia (Chicago,
a current of antiquity that stressed awareness of the divine
1972), provides a linguistic analysis of glossolalia and a de-
mysteries. This was held to be obtained either by direct expe-
scriptive study of the entire behavior; John P. Kildahl, in The
rience of a revelation or by initiation into the secret, esoteric
Psychology of Speaking in Tongues (New York, 1972), takes up
tradition of such revelations.
the relationship between personality variables and the prac-
PRE-CHRISTIAN GNOSIS. The experience of gnosis was high-
tice of glossolalia; and William J. Samarin, in Tongues of Men
ly esteemed at the beginning of our era in various religious
and Angels: The Religious Language of Pentecostalism (New
York, 1972), seeks to answer the question of why people
and philosophical circles of Aramaic and Greco-Roman civi-
speak in tongues by placing the behavior in social context.
lization. It is a key word in the scrolls of the Jews of the Es-
A comprehensive review of the research into glossolalia ten
sene sect found at Qumran. In the canonical Gospel of John,
years later, including references to non-Western material, can
Jesus is quoted as having said at the Last Supper: “This is [not
be found in Cyril G. Williams’s Tongues of the Spirit: A Study
‘will be’] eternal life, that they know [not ‘believe in’] Thee
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3508
GNOSTICISM: GNOSTICISM FROM ITS ORIGINS TO THE MIDDLE AGES [FIRST EDITION]
[here and now], and know Jesus Christ, whom thou hast
word of revelation. Not sin or guilt, but unconsciousness, is
sent” (Jn. 17:3). Not even the prevailing philosophy of the
the cause of evil.
time, so-called Middle Platonism, was completely beyond
the influence of this general movement. Middle Platonism
Until recent times the Gnostic religion was almost ex-
was primarily religious and otherworldly; it distinguished be-
clusively known by reports of its opponents, ecclesiastical
tween discursive reasoning and intuition and taught the af-
heresiologists such as Irenaeus (c. 180 CE), Hippolytus
finity of the soul with the godhead, basing these teachings
(c. 200), and Epiphanius (c. 350). Not until the eighteenth
on an oral tradition of the Platonic schools. The writings of
century were two primary sources, the Codex Askewianus
Hermes Trismegistos (“thrice-greatest Hermes,” identified
(named for the physician A. Askew) and the Codex Bru-
with the Egyptian god Thoth) reflect the same atmosphere.
cianus (named after the Scottish explorer James Bruce), dis-
These eighteen treatises, of which Poimandres and Asclepius
covered in Egypt. These contained several Coptic Gnostic
are the most important, originate in the proverbial wisdom
writings: (1) Two Books of Jeû from the beginning of the third
of ancient Egypt. A saying in a recently discovered Armenian
century; (2) book 4 of Pistis Sophia from about 225; and (3)
collection attributed to Hermes Trismegistos is “He who
Pistis Sophia, books 1, 2, and 3, from the second half of the
knows himself, knows the All.” The author of Poimandres ex-
third century. To these can now be added the writings found
presses the same insight: “Let spiritual man know himself,
near Nag Hammadi in Upper Egypt in 1945. The stories
then he will know that he is immortal and that Eros is the
told about the discovery are untrustworthy. The only certain
origin of death, and he will know the All.” And to illustrate
fact is that, to date, about thirteen of the codices (books, not
this saying the author tells the story of a divine being, An-
scrolls) comprising some fifty-two texts are preserved at the
thropos (Man), who becomes enamored of the world of
Coptic Museum in Old Cairo. They have been translated
(lower) nature and so falls into a material body. Most Her-
into English by a team under James M. Robinson (1977).
metic treatises take up a short saying and expound on it in
Not all these writings are Gnostic: the Gospel of Thomas (114
this manner. They also preserve the impact of Egyptian my-
sayings attributed to Jesus) is encratitic; the Thunder, Whole
thology. The ancient Egyptians spoke freely about sexual in-
Mind is Jewish; the Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles is
tercourse and about the homosexual behavior of their gods.
Jewish-Christian; the Prayer of Thanksgiving is Hermetic;
The explicit sexual imagery of Egyptian mythology was
and the Authoritative Teaching is early Catholic (character-
adopted in a Hermetic prayer that addresses the spouse of
ized by a monarchic episcopacy, a canon of holy writings,
God in the following words: “We know thee, womb preg-
and a confession of faith). But the Epistle of Eugnostos and
nant by the phallus of the Father.”
the Apocryphon of John lead us back very far, close to the
sources of Gnosticism in Alexandria.
The idea of emanation was also prominent in Egyptian
religion. Egyptian myth depicts the Nile as tears of the sun
Origins. The hypothesis once supported by Richard
god Re. This concept too is found in Hermetic literature. On
Reitzenstein, Geo Widengren, and Rudolf Bultmann that
the other hand, the same writings show the influence of
Gnosticism is of Iranian origin has been abandoned; the al-
Greek philosophy; indeed, there was a Platonic school of Eu-
leged Iranian mystery of the “saved savior” has been dis-
dorus in Alexandria. And the impact of the biblical book of
proved. At present, many scholars are inclined to believe that
Genesis and that of Jewish mysticism are only too obvious.
Gnosticism is built upon Hellenistic-Jewish foundations and
Christian influences, though, are completely absent from the
can be traced to centers like Alexandria, which had a large
so-called Corpus Hermeticum. The treatises in this group of
Jewish population, much as the city of New York does today.
works were all written around the beginning of the Christian
Polemics in the writings of the Jewish philosopher Philo,
era in Alexandria. They appear to be the scriptures of a
who himself was an opponent of local heresies, make it clear
school of mystics, a sort of lodge that practiced spiritualized
that he knew Jewish groups that had already formulated cer-
sacraments such as “the bath of rebirth,” a holy meal, and
tain basic elements of Gnosticism, although a consistent sys-
the kiss of peace.
tem did not yet exist in pre-Christian times.
GNOSTICISM. Ever since the congress on the origins of Gnos-
The divine Man. The prophet Ezekiel tells us in the
ticism held at Messina, Italy, in 1966, scholars have made
first chapter of the biblical book that bears his name that in
a distinction between gnosis and Gnosticism. Gnosticism is
593 BCE, dwelling in Babylonia, he beheld the personified
a modern term, not attested in antiquity. Even the substan-
Glory of the Lord, who would not abandon him even in
tive Gnostic (Gr., gno¯stikos, “knower”), found in patristic
exile. This figure, at once Light and Man, is described as hav-
writings, was never used to indicate a general spiritual move-
ing a form like the appearance of Adam, or “Man” (Ez.
ment but was applied only to a single, particular sect. Today
1:26). This vision became a stock image of Jewish mysticism.
Gnosticism is defined as a religion in its own right, whose
As early as the second century BCE, the Jewish Alexandrian
myths state that the Unknown God is not the creator (demi-
dramatist Ezekiel Tragicus alludes to the same figure in his
urge, YHVH); that the world is an error, the consequence
Greek drama Exodus, fragmentarily preserved in the Prae-
of a fall and split within the deity; and that man, spiritual
paratio evangelica (9.29) of the Christian bishop Eusebius.
man, is alien to the natural world and related to the deity
In the play, Moses in a dream beholds a throne on top of
and becomes conscious of his deepest Self when he hears the
Mount Sinai. Upon this throne sits Man (Gr., ho pho¯s) with
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GNOSTICISM: GNOSTICISM FROM ITS ORIGINS TO THE MIDDLE AGES [FIRST EDITION]
3509
a crown on his head and a scepter in his left hand. With his
“made him after the image of God. Male and female he
right hand he beckons Moses to the throne, presents him
made—now not ‘him’ but ‘them’” (Who Is the Heir 164).
with a crown, and invites him to sit beside him on an adja-
Obviously, before Philo there must have been Jewish think-
cent throne. Thus is Moses enthroned at the right hand of
ers who claimed that the heavenly Man was androgynous.
God. A parallel passage is found in Palestinian Judaism: ac-
Such circles originated the Anthropos model of gno¯sis, which
cording to the founding father EAqivaD ben Yosef (early sec-
is found in the doctrine of Saturninus (Antioch, c. 150). In
ond century BCE), there are two thrones in heaven, one for
his system, the female figure is completely absent. Our world
God and one for David (B. T., H:ag. 14a). This is the oldest
is said to have been created by seven angels, the seven planets.
extant reference to Adam Qadmon, who later became the
Thereupon the Unknown God manifested his shining
central figure of qabbalistic literature. Somewhat later, in the
image, the Glory of the heavenly Man. The angels of creation
Book of Daniel, written soon after 168 BCE, this same figure
tried to detain this Anthropos but were unable to do so; it
is called the Son of Man (i.e., “divine Man”). The same fig-
returned to heaven at once. Thereupon the angels shaped a
ure is found in the Gospels. In the Fourth Gospel, the Son
human body in the likeness of the heavenly Man. But this
of Man is referred to as the Glory of God, which comes from
creature was unable to stand erect and slithered upon the
heaven, touches the earth for a moment, is incarnated in the
earth like a worm. The heavenly Adam, having pity on the
man Jesus, and eventually returns to the heavenly realm. In
earthly Adam, sent to him the spark of life, the Spirit, which
the letters of Paul, the Glory is called the last Adam (compa-
raised him up and made him live. It is this spark that at death
rable to Ezekiel’s kavod), who is from heaven and should be
hastens back to its spiritual home, whereas the body dissolves
distinguished from the first Adam of Genesis 1 and 2, who
into its constituent elements.
is from the earth. In the Hellenistic world this divine Man
Variations of the myth of Saturninus are found in quite
is identified with the Platonic idea of man.
a few of the writings from Nag Hammadi. Valentinus
Plato himself never says that there is such a thing as an
(c. 150) alludes to this myth when, in a preserved fragment,
“idea of man.” In the dialogue Parmenides this philosopher
he states that the Adam of Genesis inspired awe in the angels
ridicules the concept of an eidos anthro¯pou (130c). Probably
who created him because he had been fashioned after the pre-
this passage reflects a debate of Platonists among themselves
existent Anthropos. Mani (216–277) refers to the same story
and with other schools. It would seem that the Skeptics de-
when he relates that in the beginning the Primal Man is sent
nied the idea of man a separate existence because then empir-
out to combat the powers of darkness. This Archanthropos
ical man and his idea would have something in common, and
is overpowered and forced to leave “the Maiden who is his
this would require a new idea, the “third man.” In several
soul” embedded in matter. The entire world process is neces-
Middle Platonic sources, however, the idea of man is sup-
sary to shape the Perfect Man so that the original state of an-
posed to exist. The translator of Ezekiel in the Septuagint
drogyny (male and maiden at the same time) will be restored.
identifies the figure of divine Man with the Platonic idea
All these speculations presuppose the god Man of Ezekiel
when he translates the phrase demut ke-mar Eeh adam (Ez.
1:26. Moreover, it is possible that Paul was familiar with the
1:26) as homoio¯ma ho¯s eidos anthro¯pou, a hellenizing quota-
same concept when he said that Christ was both the power
tion of Plato.
(dunamis) and the wisdom (sophia) of God (1 Cor. 1:24).
The same figure is to be found in the Hermetic Poiman-
Sophia. In the Wisdom of Solomon, part of the Greek
dres, clearly influenced by Alexandrian Jews. This writing re-
and Roman Catholic Bible, written in Alexandria close to the
lates how God generated a son to whom he delivered all crea-
beginning of the Christian era, personified wisdom, called
tures. The son is androgynous, equally Phos (Man, Adam,
Sophia, is said to be a holy spirit or the Holy Spirit, which
Light) and Zoe (Eve, Life). This being, who is still to be dis-
penetrates the All. She is also referred to as the effluence of
tinguished from the Logos, descends in order to create but
God’s glory, an emanation of eternal light, and an immacu-
falls in love with nature and assumes a material body. That
late mirror of God’s activity. She is described as the beloved
is why human beings are both mortal and immortal. And yet
both of the wise man and of God, even more as the spouse
the human body has the form of the original Man. This view
of the Lord (Wis. 8:30).
is very Jewish and has parallels in rabbinical literature: not
In the Thunder, Whole Mind, from the same period and
the soul but the human body was created after the image and
milieu, Sophia manifests herself as the wisdom of the Greeks
likeness of God.
and the gno¯sis of the barbarians, the saint and the whore, the
bridegroom and the bride. Over and over, she introduces
A next stage is reached in Philo’s works. He never quotes
these startling and paradoxical revelations with the formula
Ezekiel 1:26 about the Glory of God resembling the form of
“I am.”
a man, and yet he must have been familiar with mystical
speculations about this divine figure. Philo calls logos “Man
According to the eighth-century BCE inscriptions found
after his [God’s] image” or “Man of God” and identifies the
near Hebron and in the Negev, the God of Israel had a for-
logos with the idea of man: incorporeal and neither male nor
eign spouse, the Canaanite goddess Asherah. And in the fifth
female. Yet he polemicizes against the concept that this heav-
century BCE, Jewish soldiers garrisoned in Elephantine (near
enly Man was androgynous: “God made man,” he says,
Aswa¯n, Egypt) venerated another pagan fertility goddess
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3510
GNOSTICISM: GNOSTICISM FROM ITS ORIGINS TO THE MIDDLE AGES [FIRST EDITION]
called Anat Yahu, the wife of the Lord. Prophets and priests
ish concept. A non-Jew, when suffering under the misery of
in Judea did all they could to represent Yahveh as exclusively
the world, would simply have declared that the Genesis story
male and to delete all traces of the primeval matriarchy. But
was a myth without truth; he could not have cared less about
Wisdom survived as H:okhmah, especially in Alexandria.
the origin of Jewish law. Only those who had been brought
up to believe every word of the Bible and to cling to the faith
This is the basis of the Sophia model of gno¯sis, which
that God is one, and who yet found reason to rebel against
finds expression in the teaching of the famous Samaritan
their inheritance, would have inclined toward the Gnostic
Simon, who was attracted to and yet rejected by incipient
solution: God is one and the Bible reveals the truth, but an-
Christianity (Acts 8). The Samaritans, the last survivors of the
thropomorphisms such as the handicraft of a creative work-
ten tribes of northern Israel, were and are heterodox Jews
man and personal lawgiving are to be attributed to a subordi-
who keep the Law while rejecting the rest of the Bible. They
nate angel.
transmit a certain tradition about Wisdom as the personal
creator of the world. According to Simon, Wisdom, the
The god within. The biblical Book of Genesis relates that
spouse of the Lord, was also called Holy Spirit and God’s
God blew the breath of life into the nose of Adam, trans-
first idea, the mother of all. She descended to the lower re-
forming him into a living being (Gn. 2:7). Already in certain
gions and gave birth to the angels by whom the world was
passages of the Old Testament (Jb. 34:13–15, Ps. 104:29–
created. She was overwhelmed and detained by these world
30), this breath is identified with the spirit of God. That is
powers that she might not return to her abode. She was even
especially clear in the Dead Sea Scrolls: “I, the creature of
incarnated and reincarnated in human bodies, such as that
dust, have known through the spirit, that Thou hast given
of the Helen of Greek myth and poetry. Finally, she came
me.” The Alexandrian Jews have integrated and amplified
to dwell as a whore in a brothel of Tyre in Phoenicia, where
this concept. They were familiar with Greek philosophy and
Simon, “the great power” of God, found and redeemed her.
knew that the Orphics, Plato, and the Stoics considered the
In the Apocryphon of John as well as in the school of Valen-
human soul to be a part of the deity. They were influenced
tinus, this Sophia model has been combined with the An-
by the Stoic Posidonius (c. 100 BCE), according to whom
thropos model. Both are pre-Christian in origin.
“the daimon in us [the spirit] is akin to and of the same nature
as the Daimon [God] who pervades the All.” The oldest
The Unknown God and the demiurge. The rabbis of
translators of the Septuagint rendered “breath” (Heb., ne-
the first Christian centuries complain repeatedly of the here-
shamah) in Genesis 2:7 as “spirit” (Gr., pneuma). This variant
tics (minim) who taught the existence of two gods. Dissident
is evidenced by the Old Latin Version (spiritus) translated
Jewish teachers believed that God had a representative, bear-
from the Septuagint. Philo polemicizes against this particular
ing his name Jao (the abbreviation of YHVH), who was
translation because it deifies sinful man (Allegorical Interpre-
therefore called Jaoel. According to this view, Jaoel sat upon
tation 1; 13). And yet the Alexandrian Wisdom of Solomon,
a throne next to God’s throne and was therefore called
still included in every Roman Catholic Bible, declares explic-
Metatron (a Greek loanword). In reality, however, Jaoel is
itly that God’s incorruptible pneuma is in all things (12:1).
nothing but an angel, the most important angel, the one who
Most Gnostics preserved this tendentious translation and
is called the angel of the Lord in the Hebrew Bible. Some
made it the basis for their mythological speculations. It en-
dissident Jews called Magharians said that all anthropomor-
abled them to tell how it came to pass that the Spirit sleeps
phisms in the Old Testament applied not to God himself but
in man and how it can be made conscious. So it is with
to this angel, who is also said to have created the world. In
Valentinus and Mani. Few people nowadays are aware that
a Samaritan (i.e., heterodox Jewish) source called Malef,
these mythologems presuppose a consensus of virtually all
which is late but transmits earlier traditions, it is stated that
Greek philosophers and have a biblical foundation.
the angel of the Lord formed the body of Adam from dust
J
of the earth and that God breathed the breath of life into
EWISH GNOSTICISM. The themes discussed above are the
him.
basic elements that contributed to the rise of a Jewish Gnos-
ticism, whose myth is contained in the Apocryphon of John
Such views must have been known already to Philo of
and other related writings found at Nag Hammadi. The
Alexandria, who polemicizes against them yet at the same
church father Irenaeus attributed this doctrine to the
time calls the Logos, who is instrumental in creation, both
gno¯stikoi. With this name he indicates not all those whom
“a second god” and “archangel” on the one hand and “Lord”
modern scholars call “Gnostics” but only the adherents of a
(YHVH) and “Name” (i.e., YHVH) on the other. Jewish
specific sect. It is misleading to call them Sethians (descen-
Gnostics such as Simon and Cerinthus affirm that the demi-
dants of Seth, the son of Adam), as some scholars do nowa-
urge (identified with YHVH) was in fact this angel of the
days. Notwithstanding its name, the Apocryphon of John (a
Lord, who had not yet rebelled against God. In the
disciple of Jesus) contains no Christian elements apart from
Apocryphon of John the angel is called Saklas (Aramaic for
the foreword and some minor interpolations. It can be sum-
“fool”) because he does not know that there is a God greater
marized as follows: from the Unknown God (who exists be-
than he. Valentinus, Marcion, and Apelles, who were famil-
yond thought and name) and his spouse (who is his counter-
iar with the myth contained in the Apocryphon of John, all
part and mirror) issued the spiritual world. The last of the
held that the demiurge was an angel. This is a typically Jew-
spiritual entities, Sophia, became wanton and brought forth
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GNOSTICISM: GNOSTICISM FROM ITS ORIGINS TO THE MIDDLE AGES [FIRST EDITION]
3511
a monster, the demiurge. He organized the zodiac and the
seven heavenly places to behold the god Man on the throne
seven planets. He proclaimed: “I am a jealous god, apart
of God. The author of the writing Shi Eur Qoma, the “mea-
from me there is no other.” Then a voice was heard, teaching
surement of the Body” of God, reports the enormous dimen-
him that above him existed the Unknown God and his
sions of the members of the Glory. The Orphics had taught
spouse. Next, the “first Man in the form of a man” mani-
that the cosmos was actually a divine body. Already early in
fested himself to the lower angels. He is the Glory of Ezekiel
Hellenistic Egypt similar speculations arose; these were the
1:26. His reflection appears in the waters of chaos (cf. the
origin of the remarkable speculations of Palestinian rabbis
mirror of the Anthropos in Poimandres). Thereupon the
concerning the mystical body of God. (These speculations
lower angels created the body of Adam after the image that
ultimately led to the Zohar.) It is no coincidence that the
they had seen, an imitation of the Man, who clearly serves
Glory is called Geradamas (Arch-Adam) in some Nag Ham-
as an ideal archetype for the human body. For a long time
madi writings, Adam Qadmaia in Mandaean sources, and
the body of Adam lay unable to move, for the seven planetary
Adam Qadmon in medieval Jewish Gnosticism.
angels were unable to raise it up. Then Sophia caused the
In the ninth century several groups of Islamic Gnostics
demiurge to breathe the pneuma he had inherited from her
arose in southern Iraq, where several other Gnostic sects had
into the face of his creature. So begins a long struggle be-
found refuge during late antiquity and where the Mandaeans
tween the redeeming Sophia and the malicious demiurge, the
continue to live today. The best-known Islamic Gnostics are
struggle for and against the awakening of human spiritual
the Isma¯-E¯ıl¯ıyah, of which the Aga Khan is the religious lead-
consciousness.
er. Mythological themes central to their religion are (1) the
cycles of the seven prophets; (2) the throne and the letters;
Written in Alexandria about the beginning of the Chris-
(3) Kuni, the creative principle, who is feminine (a typical
tian era, the myth of the Apocryphon of John, a pivotal and
remythologizing of a monotheistic Father religion); (4) the
seminal writing, combines the Anthropos model and the So-
higher Pentad; (5) the infatuation of the lower demiurge; (6)
phia model. It is very complicated and confusing but had
the seven planets and the twelve signs of the zodiac; (7) the
enormous influence in the Near East, where so many rem-
divine Adam; and (8) the fall and ascent of the soul.
nants of great religions survive today. (In the 1980s, for ex-
ample, there were 420 Samaritans and 30,000 Nestorians.)
Since the discovery of the Nag Hammadi codices it has
Even today some 15,000 Mandaeans (the Aramaic term for
been established that these themes are best explained as trans-
Gnostics) live in Iraq and Iran. Their religion features ablu-
positions into an Islamic terminology of the Gnostic my-
tions in streaming water and a funerary mass. When a Man-
themes that are found in the Apocryphon of John and kindred
daean has died, a priest performs a complicated rite in order
documents of Jewish Gnosticism.
to return the soul to its heavenly abode, where it will receive
CHRISTIAN GNOSIS. According to a reliable tradition, Barna-
a spiritual body. In this way, it is believed, the deceased is
bas, a missionary of the Jerusalem congregation, was the first
integrated into the so-called Secret Adam, the Glory, the di-
to bring the gospel to Alexandria, a relatively easy journey.
vine body of God. This name confirms that, along with the
Egyptian Christianity is Judaic in origin, not gentile, and the
Anthropos of Poimandres and the Adam Qadmon of later
great Egyptian Gnostics seem all to have been of Jewish
Jewish mysticism, this divine and heavenly figure is ultimate-
birth. The adherents of Basilides claimed: “We are no longer
ly derived from the vision of the prophet Ezekiel. In Mandae-
Jews and not yet Christians.” The followers of Valentinus re-
an lore Sophia appears in degraded form as a mean and lewd
ported: “When we were Hebrews, we were orphans.” Basi-
creature called the Holy Spirit. The creation of the world is
lides and Valentinus both proclaimed a God beyond the Old
attributed to a lower demiurge, Ptahil, a pseudonym for the
Testament God, and both were familiar with the myth of the
angel Gabriel (who, according to both the Mandaeans and
Apocryphon of John, which they christianized. The case of
the Magharians, is the angel who created the world).
Marcion is similar: he was so well-informed about the He-
brew Bible and its flaws that his father, a bishop, may well
The apostle Paul (or one of his pupils) maintains that
be presumed to have been Jewish. Through a certain Cerdo,
Christ, who is for him the second Adam, is “the head of his
Marcion came to know an already existing Gnostic system.
Church, which is his body” (Eph. 1:22–23). The Christian
Those who reject the god of the Old Testament obviously
is integrated into this body through baptism. Mandaean
no longer hold to the Jewish faith, but nevertheless still be-
speculations about the Secret Adam may elucidate what Paul
long ethnically to the Jewish people. Both Valentinus and
meant. In defining his view of the church as the mystical
Marcion went to Rome and were excommunicated there be-
body of Christ, the apostle may be reflecting a familiarity
tween 140 and 150. Basilides, who stayed in Alexandria, re-
with comparable Jewish and Hellenistic speculations about
mained a respected schoolmaster there until his death. The
the kavod as the body of God. As a matter of fact, it has be-
Christians in Alexandria were divided among several syna-
come clear from the verses of Ezekiel Tragicus that such ideas
gogues and could afford to be tolerant, for a monarchic bish-
circulated in Alexandria long before the beginning of our era.
op did not yet exist and their faith was pluriform anyhow.
They surfaced in Palestine toward the end of the first century
Basilides, Valentinus, and Marcion were Christocentric and
CE in strictly Pharisaic circles that transmitted secret, esoteric
let themselves be influenced by the Gospel of John and the
traditions about the mystical journey of the sage through the
letters of Paul.
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GNOSTICISM: GNOSTICISM FROM ITS ORIGINS TO THE MIDDLE AGES [FIRST EDITION]
Marcion. When Marcion, a rich shipowner from Sino-
Valentinus. The greatest Gnostic of all times was the
pe in Pontus (on the Black Sea), was excommunicated, he
poet Valentinus. Despite his Latin name, he was a Greek
organized an enormous alternative church that persisted for
born in the Nile Delta around the year 100 and educated in
a long time, especially in the East (e.g., in Armenia). Marcion
Alexandria. He and his followers did not separate from the
was a violin with one string, a religious genius with one over-
church of Alexandria but created an academy for free re-
powering idea: God, the Father of Jesus, was not the Hebrew
search, which in turn formed a loose network of local groups
YHVH. Like the Gnostics, he distinguished between the Un-
within the institutional religion. Even among his opponents
known God (whom he felt to be the only genuine God) and
Valentinus became renowned for his eloquence and genius.
a lower divinity, the demiurge, who is responsible for cre-
ation and interacts with man. Above all, Marcion was fasci-
According to his own words, his views originated in a
nated by Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. Following Paul, he
visionary experience in which he saw a newborn child. This
contrasted the Law of the Old Testament and Israelite reli-
vision inspired a “tragic myth,” expressed by Valentinus in
gion with the “gospel of forgiveness,” which revealed the
a psalm that described how the All emanates from the
goodness of God.
ground of being, called Depth, and his spouse, called Womb
or Silence. Together they bring forth the Christ, or Logos,
Like his hero Paul, Marcion was overwhelmed by the
upon whom all aeons (half ideas, half angels) depend and
unconditional and unwarranted love of God for poor crea-
through whom the All is coherent and connected. Through
tures. This led him to deny the Gnostic idea that man’s in-
the revelation of Christ, Valentinus experienced the whole-
most Self is related to the Godhead. For Marcion, man is
ness of the All, the fullness of being, and the nonentity “I
nothing more than the creation of a cruel demiurge; the lov-
and Thou” (known in Hinduism as advaita). Not dualism
ing God who has rescued him, without any ulterior motive
but duality is the underlying principle of reality, according
but simply out of a freely bestowed loving kindness, is totally
to Valentinus: God himself is the transcendental unity of
alien to man, his nature, and his fate.
Depth and Silence; the aeons of the pleroma (spiritual world)
Until Augustine, no one understood Paul as well as
are a diametrical union of the masculine, or creative, and the
Marcion; yet Marcion, the one genuine pupil, misunder-
feminine, or receptive, principles; Christ and Sophia (Wis-
stood Paul as well. Notwithstanding his dialectics, Paul never
dom) are a couple (separated for a while on account of the
rejected the created world, sexuality, or the people of Israel,
trespass and fall of Sophia but in the end happily reunited).
as did Marcion.
Man and his guardian angel, or transcendental counterpart,
celebrate the mystical marriage of bride and bridgegroom
Basilides. Basilides was active as the leader of a school
(the Ego and the Self). Polarity (Gr., suzugia; Lat., coniunc-
in Alexandria in the time of the emperors Hadrian (r. 117–
tio) is characteristic of all things spiritual. On the basis of this
138) and Antoninus Pius (r. 138–161). He seems to have
metaphysical view, Valentinus and his followers valued both
been one of those many liberal Jews who had left behind the
sex and marriage, at least for the pneumatics. A preserved
concept of a personal lord for belief in the Unknown God.
fragment from the school of Valentinus gives the following
Yet he was never excommunicated and remained a respected
interpretation of Jesus’ statement in the Gospel of John that
member of the church of Alexandria until his death.
the Christian lives in the world but is not from it (Jn. 17:14–
Basilides must have known the earlier Alexandrian, pre-
16): “Whosoever is in the world and has not loved a woman
Christian myth contained in the Apocryphon of John. He too
so as to become one with her, is not out of the Truth and
begins his cosmogony with the Unknown God, “the not-
will not attain the Truth; but he who is from the world and
being God, who made a not-yet-being world out of nothing”
unites with a woman, will not attain the Truth, because he
by bringing forth a single germ of the All. This germ was the
made sex out of concupiscence alone.” The Valentinians per-
primeval chaos. From it in due time one element after anoth-
mitted intercourse only between men and women who were
er arose on high, while below there remained only the so-
able to experience it as a mystery and a sacrament, namely,
called third sonship, or the Spirit in the spiritual man.
those who were pneumatics. They forbade it between those
whom they called “psychics” (Jews and Catholics) or “hylics”
When the time was right, Jesus was enlightened at his
(materialists), because these two lower classes knew nothing
baptism in the river Jordan (a typically Jewish-Christian no-
but libido. As the only early Christian on record who spoke
tion). He is considered to be the prototype of all spiritual
lovingly about sexual intercourse and womanhood, Valen-
men, who through his revealing word become conscious of
tinus must have been a great lover.
their innermost being, the Spirit, and rise up to the spiritual
realm.
The Jung Codex. On May 10, 1952, at the behest of
the Jung Institute in Zurich, I acquired one of the thirteen
When the entire third sonship has redeemed itself, God
codices found at Nag Hammadi in 1945. In honor of the
will take pity on the world, and he will allow the descent of
great psychiatrist who helped to put this manuscript at the
“the great unconsciousness” upon the rest of mankind.
disposal of competent scholars, it is called the Jung Codex.
Thereafter no one will have even an inkling that there was
It contains five Valentinian writings:
ever anything like the Spirit. Basilides foresees a godless and
classless society.
1. The Prayer of the Apostle Paul.
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GNOSTICISM: GNOSTICISM FROM ITS ORIGINS TO THE MIDDLE AGES [FIRST EDITION]
3513
2. The Apocryphon of James is a letter purporting to contain
existed for more than a thousand years with adherents in
revelations of the risen Jesus, written by James, his
lands from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific. From his fourth
brother. In reality, it contains Valentinian speculations
until his twenty-fifth year Mani was raised in a Jewish-
grafted onto the root and fatness of the olive tree plant-
Christian community of Baptists, followers of the prophet
ed beside the waters of the Nile by Hebrew missionaries
Elxai (c. 100). There he heard, first, that Jesus was “the true
from Jerusalem (c. 160).
prophet,” a manifestation of God’s glory (kavod) who was
3. The Gospel of Truth is a meditation on the true eternal
first embodied in Adam, then revealed himself to the Old
gospel proclaimed by Christ to awaken man’s innermost
Testament patriarchs and was ultimately incarnated in the
being, the unconscious Spirit, probably written by
Messiah, Jesus. He also heard, second, that baptisms and ab-
Valentinus himself in about 150.
lutions were necessary for salvation and, third, that God was
the origin of evil since Satan was the left hand of God. He
4. The Epistle to Rheginos concerning the Resurrection is ade-
modified the first belief, identifying himself as the seal of the
quate explanation of Paul’s view on the subject: already,
prophets, who included the Buddha and Zarathushtra in the
here and now, man anticipates eternal life, and after
East and Jesus in the West. The second belief he rejected;
death he will receive an ethereal body.
in fact, he admitted no sacraments at all. Against the third
5. The so-called Tripartite Treatise is a systematic and con-
belief he, being a cripple, rebelled with all his might. Evil,
sistent exposition of the history of the All. It describes
in Mani’s view, did not originate in the world of light but
how the Spirit evolves through the inferno of a material-
had its source in a different principle, the world of darkness,
istic (pagan or “hylic”) phase and the purgatory of a
matter, and concupiscence.
moral (Jewish and Catholic or “psychic”) phase to the
Influenced by encratitic asceticism of the Aramaic
coming of Christ, who inaugurates the paradiso of final
Christians of Asia, Mani rejected marriage and the consump-
consummation, in which spiritual man becomes con-
tion of alcohol and meat, and he designated among his fol-
scious of himself and of his identity with the Unknown
lowers an upper class of the elect who lived according to the
God. The author, a leader of the Italic (Roman) school
Sermon on the Mount and a lower class of auditors who were
of Valentinianism, was most likely Heracleon (c. 170).
allowed to have wives or concubines and to practice birth
It was against this shade of Valentinian gnosis that Ploti-
control. But very much in the spirit of Valentinus was Mani’s
nus, the Neoplatonic philosopher, wrote his pamphlet
primary religious experience. The basis of his entire myth,
Against the Gnostics (c. 250).
the encounter with his “twin” or transcendental Self, is
LATER DEVELOPMENTS. Scholars have always admitted that
Gnostic, very much in the spirit of Valentinus: “I recognized
Origen (c. 180–254), the greatest dogmatician of the Greek
him and understood that he was my Self from whom I had
church, had much in common with the Valentinians: the
been separated.” Mani encountered his spiritual Self at the
spirits fall away from God and become souls before the cre-
age of twelve and encountered it a second time at the age of
ation of the world; the world purifies the soul; Jesus brings
twenty-five. He felt constantly accompanied by his twin, and
not only redemption to the faithful but also gnosis to the
when he died a martyr in prison he was gazing at this famil-
pneumatics. But whereas Valentinus was said to have taught
iar. The encounter with one’s twin is central to the life of
predestination physics (the teaching that spiritual man was
every Manichaean. The mystery of conjunction, the holy
saved by nature), Origen on the contrary allegedly stressed
marriage of Ego and Self, is thereby democratized. To illus-
free will. The Tripartite Treatise has undermined this apolo-
trate this process, Mani related a myth that is indebted to ear-
getic position. There evil is no longer a tragic neurosis that
lier Gnostic movements. For Mani the world is in truth cre-
befell Sophia but a free decision. Moreover, this writing is
ated by the Living Spirit, a manifestation of God, and not
thoroughly optimistic: all is for the best in the best of all pos-
by a lower demiurge. But a split within the deity takes place
sible worlds, and providence educates mankind toward the
when the archetypal Man loses in the battle against darkness,
realization of complete consciousness, as in Origen’s soteriol-
is thus overwhelmed, and abandons his soul as sparks of light
ogy. Some path led from the tragic view of Valentinus to the
dispersed throughout the material world and mankind. Man
optimism of Heracleon, and from Heracleon to Origen was
is contaminated in this way by concupiscence, an evil force
only one step more.
from the world of darkness. The entire world system is de-
The Valentinians of Carthage spoke Latin, whereas the
vised to save these light elements and to restore man as Per-
Christians in Rome spoke Greek. Translating their technical
fect Man in his original purity and integrity.
terms from Greek, the Valentinians coined Latin equivalents
Augustine (354–430) was a Manichaean auditor for
of infinite, consubstantial, trinity, person, and substance. These
more than nine years before he became a Father of the
terms were eventually adopted by the Roman Catholic
Roman Catholic church. During that period he wrote a trea-
church. If ever there was a community that created a special
tise (since lost), On Beauty and Harmony, in which he stated
language, it was the school of Valentinus at Carthage.
that the asexual mind was linked with a completely alien ele-
Mani. Gnosticism became a world religion when Mani
ment of ire and concupiscence. As a heresy-hunter he later
(216–277) founded his alternative Christian church, which
maintained that concupiscence was not created by God but
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GNOSTICISM: GNOSTICISM FROM ITS ORIGINS TO THE MIDDLE AGES [FIRST EDITION]
was instead a consequence of the Fall. The assertion that the
Ever since, the study of Gnosticism has been an accept-
reproductive instinct is not a part of human nature does cer-
ed academic subject in Germany, but in Germany alone. In
tainly have Manichaean overtones.
his youth Goethe read Arnold’s book and conceived his own
Gnostic system, as reported in his autobiography. Toward
The Middle Ages. Manichaeism disappeared complete-
the end of his life Goethe recalled the love of his youth when
ly in the West and had no successors there: the term medieval
he wrote the finale to Faust, the hierophany of “the Eternally
Manichee is a misnomer. And yet Christianity during the
Feminine,” a version of the Gnostic Sophia, the exclusive
Middle Ages both in western and in eastern Europe was not
manifestation of the deity. Johann Lorenz von Mosheim and
monolithically orthodox. Gnosticism flourished at that time.
other great historians also took gnosis quite seriously. The
Such books as Montaillou by Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie and
brilliant August Neander, who belonged to the conservative
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco have drawn the atten-
reaction to the Enlightenment called the Great Awakening
tion of a large public of interested outsiders to the existence
Revivalism (Erweckungsbewegung), wrote his Genetic Evolu-
of dualistic sects such as the Cathari in southern France and
tion of the Most Important Gnostic Systems in 1818. Ferdinand
northern Italy and the Bogomils (or “friends of God”) in Yu-
Christian Baur, a prominent Hegelian, published his monu-
goslavia and Bulgaria, because their views resemble those of
mental Christian Gnosis in 1835, in which he defends the
the ancient Gnostics. Indeed, their affiliation with ancient
thesis that gnosis was a religious philosophy whose modern
Gnosticism, if somewhat complicated, is well established.
counterpart is the idealism of Schelling, Schleiermacher, and
The Paulicians were typically Armenian sectarians who,
Hegel, all based upon the vision of Boehme. According to
persisting into modern times, turned up in 1837 in the vil-
Baur, even German idealism was a form of gnosis. Yet when
lage of Arh’wela (in Russian Armenia) with their holy book,
“the people of poets and thinkers” became, under Bismarck,
the Key of Truth (eighth century). Two versions of their doc-
a people of merchants and industrial workers, this wonderful
trine exist. According to one, Jesus was adopted to be the son
empathy, this fantastic feel of gnosis, was almost completely
of God. According to the second version, there are two gods;
lost.
one is the Father in heaven, while the other is the creator of
Adolf von Harnack (1851–1930), the ideologue of Wil-
this world. This can be explained in the following way:
helm’s empire, defined Gnosticism as the acute, and ortho-
Christianity was introduced to Armenia from Edessa at an
doxy as the chronic, hellenization (i.e., rationalization) and
early date, and Edessa owed its (adoptionist) Christology to
hence alienation of Christianity. At the time it was difficult
Addai, the Jewish-Christian missionary from Jerusalem.
to appreciate the experience behind the Gnostic symbols.
When Roman Catholicism was established as the state
Wilhelm Bousset, in his Main Problems of Gnosis (1907), de-
church in 302 by Gregory the Illuminator, the Christians of
scribed this religion as a museum of hoary and lifeless orien-
Armenia were branded as heretics. Marcionites and Gnostics
tal (Indian, Iranian, Babylonian) fossils. The same unimagi-
had taken refuge in these marginal and mountainous regions.
native approach led Richard Reitzenstein, Geo Widengren,
They united with the adoptionists to become one sect, the
and Rudolf Bultmann to postulate an Iranian mystery of sal-
Paulicians, soon a warlike group. The emperors of Byzanti-
vation that never existed but was supposed to explain Gnosti-
um deported quite a few of them to the Balkans, especially
cism, Manichaeism, and Christianity.
to Bulgaria. It was there that the sect of the Bogomils origi-
nated, characterized by the belief that the devil (Satanael)
Existentialism and depth psychology were needed to re-
created and rules this world. Their influence spread to the
discover the abysmal feelings that inspired the movement of
West, and from the beginning of the eleventh century gave
gnosis. Hans Jonas (The Gnostic Religion, 1958) has depicted
rise to the church of the Cathari, which was strong in south-
these feelings as dread, alienation, and an aversion to all
ern France and northern Italy. Thus Gnosticism was never
worldly existence, as if the Gnostics were followers of Hei-
completely suppressed but survived into the Middle Ages.
degger. In the same vein are the writings of Kurt Rudolph,
the expert on Mandaeism.
Modern gnosis. The gnosis of modern times, launched
Under the influence of Carl Gustav Jung, I and other
by the shoemaker Jakob Boehme (c. 1600), was generated
scholars (e.g., Henri-Charles Puech and Károly Kerényi)
spontaneously as a result of direct experience. It differs from
have interpreted the Gnostic symbols as a mythical expres-
ancient Gnosticism in that it derives not only the light but
sion (i.e., projection) of self-experience. As a lone wolf, the
also the darkness (not only good but also evil) from the
Roman Catholic convert Erik Peterson suggested that the or-
ground of being. Inspired by Boehme is the influential gnosis
igins of Gnosticism were not Iranian or Greek but Jewish.
of the English poet and artist William Blake (1757–1827),
The Gnostic writings from Nag Hammadi have shown Jung
the only authentic Gnostic of the entire Anglo-Saxon world.
and Peterson to be in the right. At last the origins, develop-
It is in the school of Boehme that the scholarly study of
ment, and goal of this perennial philosophy have come to
Gnosticism has its roots, beginning with the Impartial Histo-
light.
ry of the Churches and Heresies (1699) by Gottfried Arnold.
In this extremely learned work all heretics, including all
SEE ALSO Aga Khan; Cathari; Demiurge; Hermes
Gnostics, are represented as the true Christians—innocent
Trismegistos; H:okhmah; Mandaean Religion; Mani; Mani-
and slandered lambs.
chaeism; Marcion; Sophia; Theosophical Society.
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GNOSTICISM: GNOSTICISM FROM ITS ORIGINS TO THE MIDDLE AGES [FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS]
3515
BIBLIOGRAPHY
from the purchaser’s name, 1769) and the Pistis Sophia
Jonas, Hans. The Gnostic Religion: The Message of the Alien God
(Askew Codex, 1772). The Corpus Hermeticum, composed
and the Beginnings of Christianity. 2d ed., rev. & enl. Boston,
between the second and the fourth centuries and known in
1963.
Europe since the Renaissance, is also commonly considered
Pagels, Elaine H. The Gnostic Gospels. New York, 1979.
to be a Gnostic document. The Corpus Hermeticum numbers
Quispel, Gilles. Gnostic Studies. 2 vols. Istanbul, 1974–1975.
sixteen treatises in Greek, followed by fragments reportedly
by the Byzantine erudite John of Stobi, Macedonia (Sto-
Robinson, James M., et al. The Nag Hammadi Library in English.
San Francisco, 1977.
baeus), in which the salvific role of gno¯sis is stressed in a
pagan Greek-Egyptian framework. A dramatic increase in
Rudolph, Kurt. Gnosis. San Francisco, 1983.
scholarly knowledge on Gnosticism took place thanks to the
GILLES QUISPEL (1987)
discovery in 1945 of the thirteen codices of Nag Hammadi,
Egypt, which contained the Apocryphon of John (in four ver-
sions) and the Gospel of Thomas, along with forty-eight other
remarkable writings in Coptic. All Nag Hammadi texts are
GNOSTICISM: GNOSTICISM FROM ITS
thought to have been translated from Greek originals of the
ORIGINS TO THE MIDDLE AGES [FURTHER
second or third century.
CONSIDERATIONS]
The term Gnosticism was coined in the eighteenth century
HISTORICAL OUTLINE: THE EMERGENCE STAGE. The earli-
to designate a composite ensemble of sects that arose from
est forms of Gnosticism (c. 50–120 CE) originated within
the late first century to the fourth century
different religious milieus of the late-first-century Middle
CE. These sects
were classified by the Church Fathers among the earlier
East, in which a sectarian nonrabbinical Judaism and a still
Christian heresies. Their adepts, in contrast with common
fluid and creative Christian mission were unfolding, some-
believers, claimed to be endowed through an extraordinary
times reacting upon one another.
revelation with spiritual awareness (Gk. gno¯sis) concerning
Baptist Samaritan sects. The movement founded by
both God’s hidden nature and the true human self, and to
John the Baptist split in several offshoots (Jesus’ group in-
have deduced from that a mythological or theosophical ac-
cluded therein) after John’s death around 27 CE. In one of
count of the universe, the origin of evil, and otherworldly sal-
these sects, headed in turn by three Samaritans (Dositheus,
vation. But the Gnostic phenomenon as a whole deserves a
Simon, and Menander), there emerged for the first time the
more flexible approach. Inasmuch as these sects, for the most
idea that the world was the creation of more or less depraved
part, were building up an entire doctrinal system of their
angels who “ignored” the existence of the highest God—a
own rather than simply discussing existing Christian doc-
striking radicalization of the apocalyptic angelology that was
trine (unlike later Christological or Trinitarian heresies),
widespread in contemporary Judaism. The baptismal ritual
Gnosticism could hardly be reduced to an odd variant of
therefore accomplished not only the remission of sins but
Christianity; it was something quite original, although its de-
also a regeneration, by means of which the natural death al-
pendence on the Judeo-Christian background remains cen-
lotted to humans by the ruling angels could be overcome.
tral. Moreover, since the Gnostic movement existed histori-
cally in many diversified forms and single perspectives, any
Analogously to concurrent Christian preaching, the Sa-
attempt at a specific definition is unsuitable. According to
maritan baptist sect requested from its adherents a belief in
the Messina Congress (Bianchi, 1967), the name Gnosticism
the person of the founder, or actual leader, who was viewed
should be limited to the “Gnostic systems of the second cen-
as the embodiment of God’s power, spirit, or wisdom, and
tury” referred to by Church Fathers and contemporary origi-
as the redeemer and revealer of true “knowledge.” But unlike
nal texts; otherwise one should rather speak of Gnosis with
Christianity, this knowledge was given a marked mythologi-
its generic meaning of “knowledge of the divine mysteries.”
cal aspect. Irenaeus reports (1.23) that Simon drew up a
This is, of course, a compromise formula, which cannot ob-
mythical theology according to which God’s personified
scure the fact that the foregoing roots of the second-century
power and wisdom (Gk. dunamis, ennoia) had been seized
systems belong fully to the complexity of the Gnostic phe-
or raped by the wicked angels, and imprisoned successively
nomenon.
in many female bodies, at last appearing as Simon’s own con-
cubine Helen, a former prostitute. Simon himself would
THE EVIDENCE. Until the mid-twentieth century, the major
have been the incarnation of the supreme God descended on
sources for Gnosticism were the Church Fathers who dealt
earth to release her.
with heretics, the heresiologists (mainly Irenaeus, Hippoly-
tus, Clement of Alexandria, and Epiphanius); some New
While the Simonian myth still seemed to be a personal
Testament apocryphal writings (Acts of Thomas, Acts of John);
adaptation of the prophet Hosea’s story (Hos. 3:1), a decisive
and the double (Greek and Latin) version of a didactic ro-
step toward an anti-biblical and anti-Jewish attitude was
mance falsely ascribed to Clement of Rome (Pseudo-
made by Saturninus (or Satornil, possibly an Aramaic version
Clementines). The only available Gnostic texts in the Coptic
of the Latin name) operating around 100 CE in Antioch,
language, dating to the fourth century, were the two Books
Syria, where the sect had moved under Menander. Working
of Jeu and the so-called Scriptum sine titulo (Bruce Codex,
out a combined interpretation of Genesis 1:27 and 2:7, Sa-
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GNOSTICISM: GNOSTICISM FROM ITS ORIGINS TO THE MIDDLE AGES [FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS]
turninus taught that seven angelic powers (a plain allusion
came, in a different way, original settings of Gnostic ideas.
to the Jewish godhead) fashioned a puppy resembling the
The starting point seems to have been a radicalization of the
image of the higher God in the form of a man. The inani-
teachings of the apostles Paul and John, particularly in the
mate go¯lem was given by God the spirit of life, through which
sharp antithesis between flesh and spirit, the stressing of
he gained a higher-ranking status than his fabricators
charismatic faculties and performances, and the rejection of
(Irenaeus 1.25). This narrative was variously echoed in later
the Jewish Law, which was viewed as imposed by defective
Gnostic mythology. Hippolytus (6.9–18) reports an abstract
angelic powers called archons. Some Christian thinkers drew
of an alleged Simonian writing, Great Revelation, in which
the assumption, which is found throughout the history of
nothing of the Ennoia-Helen myth is mentioned. It seems
Gnosticism, that the spirit (or the soul) alone is both object
a qabbalistic Midrash of Genesis 1–2, enriched with philo-
and subject of salvation, since all flesh belongs to the evil
sophical references. The godly first principle, symbolized as
realm of the archons. They consistently denied Jesus’ real in-
“fire,” has a double nature, a standing one (Gk. esto¯s) and a
carnation and bodily resurrection. The followers of Jesus
dynamic one; the latter includes seven “powers,” of which
should also have no concern for their bodies, because only
the seventh represents the divinity as concealed inside every
souls can be saved, namely by faith. Two radical conse-
being. This book was presumably written in the late second
quences were in keeping with this rationale: the “elects”
century.
could either abolish any socially acknowledged norm, pursu-
ing asceticism instead (Encratites: Clement, Stromateis 3.6
Jewish-Christianity. Other offspring of the former
and 13), or they could yield themselves to immorality, since
baptist movement joined the Christians. The outcome of
they had no ethical requirement with which to comply dur-
such mingling was the so-called Jewish-Christianity prevail-
ing their earthly existence (Nicolaites: Clement 3.4; Epi-
ing in Palestine and Syria, which, besides the baptismal ritu-
phanius 25).
al, maintained the basic observances of the Mosaic Torah.
The Jewish-Christians held the “Christ” (Messiah) to be an
Most likely, such milieus diffused the word gno¯stikos
eternal aspect of God’s hidden nature, his “spirit” and
(rarely attested in Greek, maybe an adaptation of the Hebrew
“truth,” who revealed himself throughout sacred history
ma´sk¯ıl), which usually designated the conscious, well-
wearing the flesh of elected men or prophets (this idea of a
cultivated Christian believer, but was also used by Christian
forthcoming revelation can be traced back to the Dead Sea
radicals to describe themselves, insofar as they presumed a
Scrolls). Such a function of the “true prophet” had been per-
deeper insight and felt they were allowed an unrestrained
formed in the past by Adam, Seth, Henoch, Melchizedek,
freedom. Only in a few cases, however, did the term serve
Moses, and more recently by Jesus, an ordinary human being
as a self-definition for Gnostic sects.
on whom the “Christ” would have been “poured” in the mo-
ment of his baptism. The Pseudo-Clementines and the here-
The Christianity of Alexandria, Egypt, became a verita-
siological accounts about Cerinthus, the Nazoraeans, and the
ble cradle of Gnosticism. The local church had a Jewish-
Hebionites illustrate such an interpretation of the Jesus
Christian origin, gaining its members from both the Hebrew
figure (Irenaeus 1.26; Hippolytus 7.33–34; Epiphanius 28–
minority and the Greek majority of the town. The latter be-
30).
came dominant after the collapse of the Jewish community
with the revolt of 115 to 117, giving anti-Jewish attitudes
Around 100 CE a dissident Babylonian Jew named (or
the upper hand. The Alexandrian ambience encouraged
nicknamed) Elcasai begun to preach about an ecstatic experi-
theological inquiry, which was developing freely since no
ence he would have had, in which the Christ, along with his
definite border between “orthodoxy” and “heresy” existed
“sister” (or spouse), the spirit, appeared to him in their eter-
yet. Various cultural patterns were available for Christian in-
nal form as a male and a female figure of colossal size (Hip-
tellectuals (gno¯stikoi) in conformity with their different back-
polytus 9.13; Epiphanius 19). Elcasai gathered a new baptist
grounds: Judaic apocalypticism, speculation on divine wis-
congregation (perhaps a proper religion more than a sect,
dom (as it had been undertaken by Philo), Greek philosophy,
somewhat similar to the Mandaeans of Iraq) with a foremost
and Hellenistic mystery religions.
apocalyptic doctrine, in addition to a peculiar Christian in-
gredient: Christ was apparently both God’s son and a divine
The transition from the Christian radical meaning of
substance scattered everywhere (Cologne Codex, p. 97), as is
gno¯stikos to “Gnostic” in the modern sense is exemplified by
also said in the Gospel of Thomas (77, and cf. Epiphanius
Carpocrates, a Greek Alexandrine active in the first decades
26.3). The young Mani took over this topic, probably while
of the second century. Carpocrates taught that Jesus was an
growing up in the center of this congregation in lower Meso-
ordinary man whose soul had realized the existence of a
potamia. From the Parthian territory Elcasaitic, the move-
higher unknown God; Carpocrates therefore despised Jewish
ment spread rapidly into Roman Syria and gained adherents
customs as devotion to maleficent world-ruling angels. Car-
among the Christians of the Roman capital.
pocrates and his son Epiphanes led a libertine sect of self-
named Gnostics that combined extreme Pauline antinomism
Christian radicalism and theosophy. The early Chris-
with topics borrowed from ancient Greek sophists (e.g., the
tian communities that broke with Jewish national religion
appreciation of “nature” against social convention) and Jesus
(though keeping much of Judaic lore and symbolism) be-
worship with syncretistic cults (Irenaeus 1.25; Clement 3.2).
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GNOSTICISM: GNOSTICISM FROM ITS ORIGINS TO THE MIDDLE AGES [FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS]
3517
Similar views were held later by Prodicus, the Antitacti
along with a cohort of maleficent archons. Later she repents.
(Clement 3.4), and other sects hinting at re-evaluating the
An interpretation of the Genesis narrative, similar to that of
negative figures of the Old Testament, such as the Cainites
Saturninus, follows. The elevation of the first human, creat-
(Irenaeus 1.31).
ed by the archons as their servant, is illustrated by an inverted
exegesis of the biblical episode about the tree of knowledge:
A different perspective is offered by what was possibly
Yaldabaoth forbids eating from the tree, but Adam is in-
the earliest Gnostic document known to us (c. 100), a Nag
duced to contradict him (antinomism) by Sophia, temporar-
Hammadi treatise in the form of a letter, titled by the alleged
ily embodied in Eve (or in the serpent). So what the Bible
author’s name, Eugnostos the Blessed. It is a theosophical ac-
explained as a sin becomes here advancement, through which
count of the supreme godhead displayed as a fourfold struc-
Adam obtains the gno¯sis and the divine pneuma inherited
ture that expands progressively: (1) the all-transcendent God;
thereafter by his third son, Seth (Irenaeus 1.30, Epiphanius
(2) his likeness, the Light Man or the Father; (3) the latter’s
37.3).
son, the Son of Man; and (4) the Son of the Son of Man,
or the Savior. Figures 2 to 4 each include a female partner
Both versions have been revised and amalgamated in the
named Sophia (wisdom). The fourth couple engenders 365
Apocryphon of John, composed in Egypt around 120, which
“magnitudes” or space-time dimensions (aeons) in the shape
gives the standard form of the story (Nag Hammadi codex
of angels, who typify the cosmic order. Such a revelation of
II). In this text, Barbe¯lo¯ and Sophia are two distinct figures.
a quadripartite godhead was rooted in Judaic mystical circles
Barbe¯lo¯, the likeness of the absolute, produces a complicated
building on Ezekiel 1. Christianity is not mentioned in the
structure of aeons (the pl¯ero¯ma) among which the heavenly
text, but the references to Father, Son, and Savior can hardly
Seth (linked to Christ) is exalted as the ancestor of the Gnos-
be understood as other than Christian suggestions. Some-
tic “race,” having as an earthly counterpart Adam’s son. So-
time later the Eugnostos treatise was more explicitly Chris-
phia is a subordinate aeon who carries the responsibility for
tianized when its contents were recycled under the title So-
the rise of the evil powers, but who also brings about human
phia of Jesus Christ (Nag Hammadi codex III).
salvation. Jesus plays a key role as an earthly apparition of
the heavenly Seth. The Sethites believed in predestination,
MATURE GNOSTICISM (C. 120–200). The Gnostic move-
as usual in sectarian circles. Only the true “seed of Seth” is
ment reached its acme during the Antonine age. There was
saved because it shares the divine “pneumatic” nature and
a proliferation of groups, each having a distinctive rationale,
ought to return to its “place” of belonging; the other hu-
even if links existed among at least a few of them and some
mans, creatures of the archons, have nowhere to go after
aspects might occasionally be shared. Little is known about
death, so their spiritless souls are recycled in the lower world
the social composition of such groups. In the Syrian and
through reincarnation. The main Sethite ritual was baptism.
Egyptian countryside the adepts were poor farmers, but in
Recent scholarship has labeled the doctrines contained
the towns the groups included wealthy citizens, merchants,
in the Apocryphon of John and related Nag Hammadi texts
and intellectuals. Members of these groups apparently had
as Sethian Gnosticism. This is confusing, considering that
no interest in political issues. In this time of religious perse-
the only “Sethians” mentioned in ancient sources are two
cution, Catholics were blaming Gnostics for practicing dis-
later sects (Hippolytus 5.19–22 and Epiphanius 39), whose
simulation.
views had nothing in common and who had nothing to do
Sethite-Barbeloite Gnosis. One self-designated Gnos-
with so-called Sethian Gnosticism. Of course the symbolic
tic School, according to Irenaeus (1.11, 30), introduced a fe-
figure of Seth (Klijn, 1977) could be applied in very different
male as a full member into the male scheme of the quadripar-
contexts.
tite godhead (Eugnostos) and made her the protagonist of a
Gospel of Thomas. This masterwork of Gnostic litera-
myth that explained the origin of evil by means of an acci-
ture was composed in northern Syria around 120 CE—the
dent that occurred in the divine “family.” There are two ver-
final accomplishment of an alternative Jesus tradition based
sions of the myth. In one version the fourfold scheme is per-
on the “Lord’s sayings” (logia) and not on biographical narra-
sonified as an androgynous figure with prevailing female
tive. There are 114 such logia collected in Nag Hammadi
traits called Barbe¯lo¯ (“God-[is]-in-the-Four” in Aramaic),
Codex II, many of them converging with or altering verses
the Daughter-Spouse of God, who generates the Son
of the canonical Gospels, but presumably other compilations
(Christ) and the chief of the lower angels or archons, Yaldab-
existed, as can be inferred from references in the sources
aoth (Aramaic yalda’, “youth”), a caricature of the biblical
(Hippolytus 5.7.20). Any mythological frame is absent. Jesus
creator. Barbe¯lo¯ prostitutes herself to the archons willingly
is portrayed as a teacher who spoke in riddles and symbols.
(unlike the Simonian Ennoia myth) and consequently some
The central Gnostic notion is that of the “inside Man” or
part of her divine dunamis falls in their hands, forming
“Light-Man”—that is, the divine self (not the human “soul”)
human souls to be rescued (Epiphanius 25.3, 26.10). In the
hidden in the “garment” of flesh (24, 37). Being the everlast-
second version a female member of the quaternary named
ing “image” of God, this “inside Man” precedes earthly life
Holy Spirit, Wisdom (Gk. Sophia), or “Harlot” (Gk.
and will be encountered in glory after death (18, 19). The
Prounikos) ventures to the outer darkness and gives birth
“Hymn of the Pearl” in the Acts of Thomas (108–112) reflects
there to Yaldabaoth, the minor God who creates the world
such an idea.
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3518
GNOSTICISM: GNOSTICISM FROM ITS ORIGINS TO THE MIDDLE AGES [FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS]
Basilides was a prominent Christian theologian of Alex-
Leading representatives of Valentinianism were Hera-
andria in the mid-second century CE. Only a few fragments
cleon (who wrote a famous commentary on the Gospel of
of his ponderous works are extant. His main issue was the
John), and Ptolemy, both operating in Rome. Driven out of
notion of divine grace assuring the salvation of the elects, a
the Roman church, the Valentinians spread their congrega-
theory the heresiologists interpreted as natural predestination
tions in Syria and Egypt. Another community was founded
(frag. 11). Deeply influenced by Platonism, Basilides imput-
in southern Gaul by Marcus the Magician, a noteworthy
ed sin to the embodiment of souls (frags. 6, 7) and explained
thinker who interpreted the Valentinian pl¯ero¯ma on behalf
human suffering as the consequence of sins committed in a
of a symbolic speculation about numbers and alphabet let-
previous existence (thus admitting reincarnation) since God
ters. This reflects a Jewish esoteric background.
should by no means be the cause of evil (frags. 4, 5). Basi-
lides’ disciples gave to his teachings a distinct Gnostic mark,
Marcion. Coming from Asia Minor, “Little Mark” (Gk.
as evidenced by the divergent reports of Irenaeus (1.24) and
Markio¯n) preached in Rome around 150 CE his original vi-
Hippolytus (7.20–27). Irenaeus’s report looks like Eugnostos:
sion of Christianity, which was grounded upon the antithesis
a divine quaternary (denominated by Greek philosophical
between the righteous but merciless God of the Old Testa-
concepts) followed by 365 angels; God’s first-born Son de-
ment, who is the Demiurge of the material world, and the
scends assuming the likeness of Jesus in order to free souls
higher God of love, who sent Jesus Christ in order to free
from the cosmic powers, but he only seemingly suffers death
believers from the yoke of the law. Whether Marcion’s theol-
on the cross (docetism). Hippolytus’s report also includes a
ogy can be classified as Gnostic is a long-debated question,
divine quadruplet comprising the transcendent God and
but a few links are indeed evident, at least with some Gnostic
three “sonships.” The third sonship falls into the lower re-
groups: the distinction between the transcendent, “foreign”
gions under the rule of the archons and becomes the human
God and the creator; the emphasized anti-Jewish tendency;
souls; the archons acknowledge, however, the primacy of the
the idea of a purely spiritual salvation that excludes resurrec-
true God and are converted to Him. Finally, Jesus, a man
tion; and the docetic interpretation of the Jesus figure, deny-
of the archontic world enlightened by the Spirit, preaches the
ing his natural birth and bodily reality. The Marcionites were
gospel to bring about the rise of the third sonship to its due
following a rigidly ascetic morality.
place.
Serpent Gnostics. A few sects assumed their denomina-
Valentinus was another famous Christian theologian,
tion after the “snake” symbol: the Naassenes (Heb. na¯h:a¯ˇs),
Egyptian by birth, who taught in Rome in about the same
also self-designated “Gnostics”; the Ophites or Ophians (Gk.
period, well cultivated both in Platonic-Pythagorean philos-
ophis); and the Serpentarians (Lat. serpens). Moreover, the
ophy and in Judaic mysticism. Valentinus described in fasci-
snake symbol is given a certain role by the Perates (from
nating imagery the likeness between God and humans, the
the Greek “nomads,” or maybe from the Aramaic name of
intelligible sphere and the worldly reality sphere (frags. 1, 5),
the Euphrates River), the Sethians, and the followers of an
and the struggle inside the human “heart” between demonic
otherwise unknown Justin. The common geographical set-
influences and the Father’s grace through Jesus the savior,
ting was Syria-Mesopotamia. The Ophites shared the
the latter being conceived in a docetic way (frags. 2, 3). Anal-
Prounikos myth with the so-called Gnostic school and
ogously to Basilides, his thought was given a major Gnostic
stressed the revealer function of the serpent toward Adam
facet by his disciples. Valentinianism thus became the most
and Eve. Ritual handling of snakes was reportedly performed
dangerous adversary for the heresiologists, who provide an
(Epiphanius 37). The Serpentarians’ doctrine had the wide-
extensive account of it (Irenaeus 1.1–15, Hippolytus
spread Gnostic scheme of seven devilish archons of the mate-
6.29–36).
rial world (the Jewish God among them), arisen by a trans-
gression of one member of the upper divine quaternary.
Valentinianism shares many features with Sethite-
Curiously, not a word about serpents is reported in the
Barbeloite systems, though omitting their nomenclature.
source (Theodoretus 11.78).
The myth of the aeon Sophia’s fall is the central event. It is
motivated, however, not through the crude sexual symbolism
Once more a very different face of the Gnostic phenom-
of the “Harlot” but by her willful emulation of the Father’s
enon is offered in the sects reported by Hippolytus (5.7–27).
generative act. Her incapacity to do so brings about the ma-
The general frame in this case is a triadic system of principles:
terial world with its Fabricator (Demiurge), a defective but
(1) the supreme God; (2) an intermediary divine entity,
righteous God. Adam is given flesh and soul by the Demi-
sometimes associated with the serpent; and (3) matter, chaos,
urge, and pneuma (the divine self) by the repentant Sophia,
or darkness. According to the Naassenes, the heavenly
but only one of his three sons (Seth) inherits it (Theodotus
Man—God’s primary self-revelation—is lured by an earthly
54). Consequently there are three “natures” of humans: the
go¯lem that resembles him, and he pours his “spirit” into the
“material” ones (hulikoi), who end in perdition; the “morally
go¯lem. The spirit remains consequently caught within human
endowed” ones (psukhikoi), capable of a lower-range salva-
souls, but will be delivered as a result of Jesus’ descent to
tion; and the “spiritual” ones (pneumatikoi), predestinated to
earth. The snake (but also the phallus) symbolizes the spirit’s
return to their divine place, having been appropriately in-
yearning toward the highness. The Naassenes were eager to
structed by Jesus’ revelation.
collect a huge amount of evidence derived from the Hellenis-
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GNOSTICISM: GNOSTICISM FROM ITS ORIGINS TO THE MIDDLE AGES [FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS]
3519
tic mystery cults in order to indicate that pagan religion was
tianity, Valentinian and Marcionite congregations survived
also pursuing similar tenets and had similar purposes.
for a time in Asia, keeping a low profile. The more cultivated
Sethite-Barbeloite sectarians attempted instead to find a new
For the Perates, the serpent represents God’s Son,
haven within Platonic philosophy, but encountered disdain
swinging between the mutually opposed Father and matter.
from Plotinus (Enneads 2.9), whose lectures some of them
His serpentine movements imprint the forms of the fatherly
had been attending in Rome around 260. The last master-
powers on shapeless matter, which thence produces the mul-
works of Gnostic literature were composed in this circle:
tiplicity of living beings in the natural world. However, this
Zostrianos, Allogenes, and Marsanes (Nag Hammadi Codices
scheme, borrowed from Plato’s Timaeus, assumes here a neg-
VIII, X, XI). Unlike earlier Sethite writings, there is little in-
ative meaning because worldly becoming is mastered by ma-
terest in mythology or the destiny of humankind in these
lignant astral forces from which the divine forms need to be
works; the pl¯ero¯ma with its hierarchy of divine beings is
saved. The serpent, portrayed as logos or Christ, implements
nothing but a figured frame in which the inner meditation
also a revealer and a redeemer function. The creed of the
of the elect takes place, like an ecstatic voyage, mounting
Sethians is very similar. Numberless powers contained in the
stage by stage until the identification of the true self with the
three principles (light, spirit, and darkness) clash and the nat-
One.
ural world is grounded on the resulting mixture, with an
awful winged serpent symbolizing the force that rules it.
In the Constantinian age many sects were still abiding
Christ disguises himself as a serpent in order to assist incog-
in the Syrian-Palestinian countryside: Elcasaites, Sethians,
nito the salvation of the spiritual particles dispersed in na-
Archontics, Severians, Audians (Epiphanius 19, 38, 40, 45,
ture. The Paraphrasis of Sˇ¯eem (Nag Hammadi Codex VII)
70; Theodoretus 11.63). These were mostly tiny ascetic
matches this doctrine, but the savior is named here Derdekeas
groups, the last one notably pro-Jewish, whose rationales re-
instead of Christ. The Sethian myth anticipates Manichae-
peated in narrower form the topic of the wicked archons and
ism in several features.
the struggle of the elects against them. This same struggle was
also interpreted by some fanciful Egyptian antinomian sects
Another triadic system, but without snake symbolism,
(Epiphanius 26.3–4) in the form of free sex performed as a
was held by the Docetes (Hippolytus 8.8–9), a Christian sect
sacramental rite and representing the appropriate means for
with an optimistic view analogous to that of Valentinus and
impoverishing the archons of the life-energy they would have
Basilides. Christ is the common “fruit” generated by all the
snatched from Barbe¯lo¯ and concealed in human bodies.
powers of the three principles. Being more of a comprehen-
sive symbol than a real person, Christ is thought to assume
The writings of the Bruce and Askew codices belong to
as many faces as there are religious visions trying to grasp his
the devotional ascetic side of Egyptian late Gnosticism. They
mystery.
offer an abstruse and overwrought description (with Sethite
nomenclature) of the full-scale pl¯ero¯ma, ranging from the
Hermetism. The opening Corpus Hermeticum treatise,
Godfather down to the earth, with passwords allowing the
Poimandres (the meaning of the title is unclear) is close to
souls of deceased Gnostics to cross the angelic boundaries
the Gnostic mythical narrative. The second-born God’s Son,
and ascend safely to the upper levels. When Christianity be-
named Man (the former being the Demiurge), is lured down
came the state religion of the Roman Empire in 391, all these
by his own luminous likeness, which he has cast on lower
sects went underground or over to Manichaeism, which car-
Nature, while Nature becomes enamored of him and em-
ried out in its own way the heritage of Gnostic thought.
braces him warmly on his descent. This mutual misunder-
standing grounds the conjunction of spiritual and material
GENERAL OVERVIEW. What we now call Gnosticism is actual-
elements, which make up human reality. The revelation of
ly nothing but a set of topics singly elaborated, sometimes
Hermes, “the thrice most Great” (trismegistos), was an at-
with similarities, by multifarious sects, each of which had a
tempt to appraise pagan tradition on behalf of Platonic con-
different origin and a peculiar placing at the crossroads of Ju-
cepts, but Judaic influences were also involved (Corpus Her-
daism, Christianity, and the Hellenistic religions. These sects
meticum III). Unlike the Gnostics, Hermetism suggested a
had in common only a kind of insight—a hermeneutics—
predominantly positive vision of the world as upholding di-
that aimed to grasp a deeper truth in the existing religious
vine providence, immortality of the soul, and free will. Only
or philosophical tradition, a truth that professional clerics
the earthly sphere is affected by evil, due to the presence of
and philosophers would have been unaware of.
matter, astral powers, demons, and fate. Through philosoph-
Three elements were amalgamated through the imple-
ical reflection, the enlightened one releases himself from
mentation of such a project. The first was the investigation
bodily bounds and awakens to the awareness of his divine self
of the supreme deity above all ethnically determinate gods,
(Corpus Hermeticum X, XII, XIII).
which comes from Judaic esotericism. This deity is not a sin-
LATER DEVELOPMENTS (C. 200–390). During the third
gle being but a structure, thus bearing in its own complexi-
century the increasing aversion of the Catholic Church to-
ty—and consequent fragility—the premise for the occur-
ward heretics, along with a general setback in the cultural
rence of evil described in mythical language (the same topic
and economic conditions of the Roman Empire, led to a de-
will be found in the Qabbalah). God is moreover the inex-
cline of the Gnostic movement. Rebuffed by official Chris-
haustible life energy (Light) that all inferior aeons, angels,
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3520
GNOSTICISM: GNOSTICISM FROM ITS ORIGINS TO THE MIDDLE AGES [FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS]
and demons are yearning to share or to seize. Light essentially
1979). Clement of Alexandria’s extant writings in Greek
shines out of itself, and thus brings about the hidden God’s
were edited by Otto Stählin, 2d ed. by Ludwig Früchtel (Ber-
likeness, revealing itself in human form either as heavenly
lin, 1905–1970), vol. 2, Stromata I–VI, vol. 3, Stromata VII–
Man or as Light-Man inside earthly humans. Salvation, as
VIII, translated into German as Des Clemens von Alexandreia
an actual process, means the recovery of the divine substance
Teppiche (Munich, 1937) and into Italian as Stromati: Note
fallen outwards and scattered in the material sphere under
di vera filosofia (Milan, 1985). Clement’s extracts of the Val-
entinian Theodotus, Extraits de Théodote, were edited and
the rule of the cosmic powers; from a subjective viewpoint,
translated by François M. Sagnard (Paris, 1948). Hippolytus
the discovery of one’s deepest self.
of Rome, Refutatio omnium haeresium; Greek text edited by
Secondly, there is the Christian element. Salvation can-
Miroslav Marcovich (Berlin and New York, 1986). Epi-
not be accomplished by moral deeds or by philosophical
phanius of Salamis, Cyprus, Panarion, bk. 1, sects 1–46,
learning unless God’s grace intervenes through the descent
translated by Frank Williams (Leiden, 1987). Tertullian, Ad-
and commitment of a savior—it does not matter if the savior
versus Marcionem, edited and translated by Ernest Evans
(Oxford, UK, 1972). Adversus Valentinianos, translated into
is named Christ or has another name—who restores his
French by Jean-Claude Fredouille, (Paris, 1981). Theodor
“brothers” to the place to which they belong. The stress on
Bar Koni, Liber scholiorum, translated into French by Robert
the symbolic features of the redeemer figure forms the basic
Hespel (Louvain, Belgium, 1984). Pseudo-Clementines, Die
difference with respect to the more realistic Catholic Chris-
Pseudoklementinen; vol. 1, Homilien, edited by Bernhard
tology.
Rehm, 2d ed. edited by Franz Paschke (Berlin, 1969); vol.
But Gnosticism is not only engaged in theological spec-
2, Recognitiones, edited by Bernhard Rehm (Berlin, 1965);
vol. 3, Konkordanz zu den Pseudoklementinen; vol. 3.1, Latin
ulation, because awareness of “mysteries” implies a better
concordance; vol. 3.2, Greek concordance, edited by Georg
knowledge of the natural and historical world. That is the
Strecker (Berlin, 1986 and 1989). Also available are Les
third element—the acquaintance of most Gnostic groups
homélies clémentines, translated into French by André Siouvil-
with Hellenistic culture. Because this world, though degrad-
le (Paris, 1933; reprint, Lagrasse, France, 1991); and Recogni-
ed, displays somehow an “imitation” (tupos) of the divine
tiones, edited by André Schneider and Luigi Cirillo with
realm, both natural phenomena and the achievements of
French translation (Turnhout, Belgium, 1999).
human culture can be exploited in order to recognize therein
For the Cologne Manichaean Codex as a source for Elcasaitism,
traces and evidence of Gnostic truth.
see Der Kölner Mani-Kodex, edited by Albert Henrichs and
Ludwig Koenen, with a German translation (Opladen, Ger-
SEE ALSO Hellenistic Religions; Hermetism; Mani; Mani-
many, 1988). For apocryphal acts, letters, apocalypses, see
chaeism, overview article; Nag Hammadi; Platonism.
New Testament Apocrypha, edited by Wilhelm Schneemel-
cher, English translation by Robert McLachlan Wilson (Lou-
B
isville, Ky., 1991). For the Corpus Hermeticum, see La révéla-
IBLIOGRAPHY
tion d’Hermès Trismégiste, with Greek text and French
Sources
translation by André-Jean Festugière (Paris, 1952–1954).
Anthologies include Werner Foerster, Gnosis: A Selection of Gnostic
Many original Gnostic and heresiological documents are available
Texts (Oxford, 1972–1974); Bentley Layton, The Gnostic
in English on The Gnosis Archive, with related links, at
Scriptures (Southampton, UK, 1987), in English; and Josep
www.gnosis.org. These translations are useful but not free of
Montserrat Torrents, Los gnósticos (Madrid, 1983), in
errors or misunderstandings, and they should be used with
Spanish.
caution.
The Nag Hammadi texts are available in James Robinson, ed., The
Nag Hammadi Library in English (New York, 1977; rev. ed.,
Literature
San Francisco, 1988). The single treatises of the library have
General literature includes David M. Scholer, Nag Hammadi Bib-
been edited separately with translation and commentary in
liography 1948–1969 (Leiden, 1972) and Nag Hammadi
the Nag Hammadi Studies series by Brill Academic Publish-
Bibliography 1970–1994 (Leiden, 1997). Older monographs
ers (Leiden) and the Bibliothèque copte de Nag Hammadi,
include Ferdinand Christian Baur, Die christliche Gnosis:
Section Textes, series from Presses de l’Université Laval
Oder die christliche Religionsphilosophie in ihrer geschichtlichen
(Québec, Canada) and Editions Peeters (Louvain, Belgium).
Entwicklung (Tübingen, Germany, 1835; reprint, Darm-
Particularly useful is The Apocryphon of John: Synopsis of Nag
stadt, Germany, 1967); Hans Leisegang, Die Gnosis (1924),
Hammadi Codices II, 1; III, 1; IV, 1; with BG 8502,2, edited
5th ed. (Stuttgart, 1985); Hans Jonas, Gnosis und spätantiker
by Michael Waldstein and Frederick Wisse (Leiden, 1995);
Geist, vol. 1 (Göttingen, Germany, 1934), vol. 2 (Göttingen,
and Biblioteca de Nag Hammadi, Vol. 1, Spanish translation
Germany, 1954); and Hans Jonas, The Gnostic Religion (Bos-
by Josep Montserrat Torrents, with Francisco García Bazán
ton, 1963; reprint, New York, 1970).
and Antonio Piñero Saenz, 2d rev. ed. (Madrid, 2000).
More recent comprehensive works include Charles-Henri Puech,
For other original Gnostic texts, see Pistis Sophia and The Book of
En quête de la gnose (Paris, 1978); Elaine Pagels, The Gnostic
Jeu and the Untitled Text of the Bruce Codex, Coptic texts ed-
Gospels (New York, 1978); Kurt Rudolph, Gnosis: The Na-
ited by Carl Schmidt with an English translation (both Lei-
ture and History of Gnosticism (San Francisco, 1983); Giovan-
den, 1978). Standard editions of the heresiologists include
ni Filoramo, A History of Gnosticism (Oxford, and Cam-
Irenaeus of Lyon, Contre les hérésies, Greek text and French
bridge, Mass., 1990); Aldo Magris, La logica del pensiero
translation by Adelin Rousseau and Louis Doutréleau (Paris,
gnostico (Brescia, Italy, 1997); Christoph Markschies, Die
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

GNOSTICISM: GNOSTICISM FROM ITS ORIGINS TO THE MIDDLE AGES [FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS]
3521
Gnosis (Munich, 2001); and Karen L. King, What is Gnosti-
For the early Christian Gnostics, see Karlmann Beyschlag, Simon
cism? (Cambridge, Mass., 2003).
Magus und die christliche Gnosis (Tübingen, Germany,
Collected papers of famous scholars include Alexander Böhlig,
1974); Roelof van den Broek, “Eugnostos and Aristides on
Mysterion und Wahrheit (Leiden, 1968); Ugo Bianchi, Select-
the Ineffable God,” in Theo Baarda and Jaap Mansfeld, eds.,
ed Essays (Leiden, 1978); Kurt Rudolph, Gnosis und spätan-
Knowledge of God in the Graeco-Roman World (Leiden,
tike Religionsgeschiche (Leiden, 1996); and Carsten Colpe, Kl-
1988); Morton Smith, Clement of Alexandria and a Secret
eine Schriften (Berlin, 2002). Miscellaneous works that have
Gospel of Mark (Cambridge, Mass., 1973); Winrich A. Löhr,
marked the history of scholarship on the issue include Ugo
“Karpokratianisches,” Vigiliae Christianae 49 (1995): 23–48;
Bianchi, ed., Le origini dello gnosticismo (Leiden, 1967); Mar-
and Christoph Markschies, “Kerinth—Wer war er und was
tin Krause, ed., Essays on the Nag Hammadi Texts (Leiden,
lehrte er?” Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum 41 (1998):
1975) and Gnosis and Gnosticism, vol. 1 (Leiden, 1977);
48–76.
Robert McLachlan Wilson, ed., Nag Hammadi and Gnosis
For Sethian Gnosticism, see Albertus Frederik J. Klijn, Seth in
(Leiden, Netherlands, 1978); Martin Krause, ed., Gnosis and
Jewish, Christian, and Gnostic Literature (Leiden, 1977);
Gnosticism, vol. 2 (Leiden, 1981); Bentley Layton, ed., The
Hans-Martin Schenke, “The Phenomenon and Significance
Rediscovery of Gnosticism (Leiden, 1980–1981); Charles W.
of Sethian Gnosticism,” in Bentley Layton, ed., The Rediscov-
Hedrik and Robert Hogdson, eds., Nag Hammadi: Gnosti-
ery of Gnosticism (Leiden, 1980–1981); Jean-Marie Sevrin,
cism and Early Christianity (Peabody, Mass., 1986); Michel
Le dossier baptismal séthien (Québec City, 1986); John D.
Tardieu and Jean-Daniel Dubois, Introduction à la littérature
Turner, “Typologies of the Sethian Gnostic Treatises from
gnostique, vol. 1 (Paris, 1986); and John D. Turner, ed., The
Nag Hammadi,” in Louis Painchaud and Anne Pasquier,
Nag Hammadi Library after Fifty Years (Leiden, 1996).
eds., Les textes de Nag Hammadi et le problème de leur classifi-
For the history of the term, see Kurt Rudolph, “Gnosis and Gnos-
cation (Québec City, 1995); and Harold W. Attridge, “Val-
ticism,” in Alastair H. Logan and James M. Wedderburn,
entinian and Sethian Apocalyptic Traditions,” Journal of
eds. The New Testament and Gnosis (Edinburgh, 1983). See
Early Christian Studies 8 (2000): 173–211.
also Michael A. Williams, Rethinking “Gnosticism”: An Argu-
For Basilides, see Winrich A. Löhr, Basilides und seine Schule (Tü-
ment for Dismantling a Dubious Category (Princeton, N.J.,
bingen, Germany, 1996). For Valentinus and the Valentin-
1996).
ians, see François Sagnard, La gnose valentinienne et le té-
For Gnosticism as originated from Hellenistic mystery religions,
moignage de Saint Irénée (Paris, 1947); Antonio Orbe,
mainly influenced by Iranian religion, see Wilhelm Bousset,
Estudios valentinianos (Rome, 1955–1966); Giovanni Casa-
Hauptprobleme der Gnosis (1907; reprint, Göttingen, Germa-
dio, “La visione in Marco il Mago e nella gnosi di tipo sethi-
ny, 1973); Richard Reitzenstein, Hellenistic Mystery-
ano,” Augustinianum 29 (1989): 123–146; Christoph Mark-
Religions: Their Basic Ideas and Significance (1910; reprint of
schies, Valentinus Gnosticus? (Tübingen, Germany, 1992);
the English translation, Pittsburgh, Pa., 1978); and Carsten
Niklas Förster, Marcus Magus (Tübingen, Germany, 1999);
Colpe, Die religionsgeschichtliche Schule (Göttingen, Germa-
Harold W. Attridge, “Valentinian and Sethian Apocalyptik
ny, 1961).
Traditions,” Journal of Early Christian Studies 8 (2000): 173–
For Gnosticism as originated from Judaism, see Robert M. Grant,
211; and Peter Lampe, From Paul to Valentinus (London and
Gnosticism and Early Christianity (New York, 1966); Gilles
New York, 2003). For Marcion, see Adolf von Harnack,
Quispel, Gnostic Studies (Istanbul, 1974); Birget A. Pearson,
Markion: das Evangelium vom fremden Gott (Leipzig, Germa-
“Jewish Elements in Gnosticism and the Development of
ny, 1921); and Edwin C. Blackman, Marcion and His Influ-
Gnostic Self-Definition,” in Edward P. Sanders, ed., Jewish
ence (London, 1948).
and Christian Self-Definitions (London, 1980); Birget A.
For serpent Gnostics and triadic systems, see Giovanni Casadio,
Pearson, Gnosticism, Judaism, and Aegyptian Christianity
“Antropologia gnostica e antropologia orfica nella notizia di
(Minneapolis, 1990); Gedaliahu Stroumsa, Another Seed:
Ippolito sui Sethiani” (1989), in Vie gnostiche all’immortalità,
Studies in Gnostic Mythology (Leiden, 1984); and Roelof van
pp. 19–66 (Brescia, Italy, 1997); and Maria Grazia Lancel-
den Broek, Studies in Gnosticism and Alexandrian Christianity
lotti, The Naassenes: A Gnostic Identity among Judaism, Chris-
(Leiden, 1996).
tianity, Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Traditions (Mün-
For the Christian origin or Gnosticism as a Christian heresy, see
ster, Germany, 2000). For Hermetism, see Jean-Pierre
Simone Petrément, A Separate God: The Christian Origins of
Mahé, Hermès en Haute-Egypte (Québec City and Louvain,
Gnosticism (Paris, 1984; San Francisco, 1990); Manlio Simo-
Belgium, 1978–1982).
netti, Ortodossia ed eresia tra I e II secolo (Cosenza, Italy,
Works Dealing with Specific Issues
1991); and Alastair H. Logan, Gnostic Truth and Christian
For alleged pre-Christian Gnosticism, see Walter Schmithals,
Heresy: A Study in the History of Gnosticism (Edinburgh,
Gnosticism in Corinth (1956; English translation, Nashville,
1996).
1971); and Edwin Masao Yamauchi, Pre-Christian Gnosti-
Single Authors and Groups
cism: A Survey of the Proposed Evidences (London, 1973; 2d
For Jewish-Christianity, see Georg Strecker, Das Judenchristentum
ed., Grand Rapids, Mich., 1983). For Gnostic docetism, see
in den Pseudoklementinen, 2d ed. (Berlin, 1981); Kurt Ru-
Dieter Voorgang, Die Passion Jesu und Christi in der Gnosis
dolph, Antike Baptisten (Berlin, 1981); Gerhard P. Lut-
(Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 1992). For a feminist ap-
tikhuizen, The Revelation of Elcasai (Tübingen, Germany,
proach, see Jorunn Y. Jacobsen Buckley, Female Fault and
1985); and Aldo Magris, “Qumran e lo gnosticismo,” in Ro-
Fulfillment in Gnosticism (London, 1986); and Karen L.
mano Penna, ed., Qumran e le origini cristiane, pp. 231–264
King, ed., Images of the Feminine in Gnosticism (Philadelphia,
(Bologna, Italy, 1997).
1988). For social and historical background and conflict
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3522
GNOSTICISM: GNOSTICISM FROM THE MIDDLE AGES TO THE PRESENT
with the Catholic Church, see Walter Schmithals, Gnosticism
opinion that Gnosticism as a form of thought ought not to
in Corinth (1956; English translation, Nashville, 1971);
be limited to the full-blown systems of later antiquity, but
Klaus Koschorke, Die Polemik der Gnostiker gegen das kirchli-
can also be applied to other currents. This opinion relies on
che Christentum (Leiden, 1978); Pheme Perkins, The Gnostic
a certain view of a mainstream Western culture. According
Dialogue: The Early Church and the Crisis of Gnosticism (New
to this view, Western culture is world-affirming in that, first,
York, 1980); Henry A. Green, The Economic and Social Ori-
there is a link between the universe and a positively acknowl-
gin of Gnosticism (Atlanta, 1985); and Gian Carlo Benelli, La
edged God as its creator and second, divine providence has
gnosi: Il volto oscuro della storia (Milan, 1991).
determined this world as the place for humankind. Against
For Gnosticism and Greek philosophy, see Hans-Joachim
this background, Gnosticism is often defined as a Weltan-
Krämer, Der Ursprung der Geistmetaphysik, pp. 223–264
schauung that rejects this basic affirmation, hence its counter-
(Amsterdam, 1974); Takashi Onuki, Gnosis und Stoa: Eine
Untersuchung zum Apokryphon des Johannes (Göttingen, Ger-
cultural character. Interpreted in this mode, Gnosticism ap-
many, 1989); Richard T. Wallis and Jay Bergman, eds., Neo-
pears as “foreignness of the world” (Weltfremdheit, according
platonism and Gnosticism (Albany, N.Y., 1992); and John D.
to the German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk) or “metaphysi-
Turner, Sethian Gnosticism and the Platonic Tradition (Lou-
cal revolt” (Sloterdijk and Macho, 1991).
vain, Belgium, and Paris, 2001).
THE DYNAMICS OF MONISM AND DUALISM IN GNOSTI-
ALDO MAGRIS (2005)
CISM. The impact of Gnostic thought on the Western history
of ideas is most obvious in the appearance of dualistic here-
sies during the Middle Ages, but can by no means be limited
to them. On the contrary, Gnosticism can only be under-
GNOSTICISM: GNOSTICISM FROM THE
stood fully when one gives weight to the dynamics of dualism
MIDDLE AGES TO THE PRESENT
and monism in this distinct type of world-view. This is par-
To a large extent Gnosticism in antiquity and later is part
ticularly important in dealing with neo-Gnosticism, because
of a discourse meant to determine “the other” as “heretic”
most of the transmission of Gnostic themes from antiquity
for the sake of shaping an identity for the Jewish, Christian,
through the Middle Ages—including medieval Islam and
and Islamic orthodoxies. Hence, when discussing Gnosti-
early modern Europe—remains obscure. The subliminal but
cism in any period of the history of religions, it must be kept
seemingly ever-present potential for new Gnostic uprisings
in mind that one is dealing with the construction of a world-
may be explained by Gnosticism’s basis in more acceptable
view that always served to emphasize “difference” in order
mystical versions of Jewish, Christian, and Islamic faith.
to exclude individuals and groups from the “legitimate.”
Since late antiquity, certain forms of thought and, in particu-
The core of Gnostic theology appears to be an all-
lar, combinations of certain forms of thought, have been per-
encompassing God who is described in negative terms (such
ceived as undesirable and therefore heretical. The undesir-
as immeasurable, invisible, and ineffable) and who therefore
able elements that made up Gnostic heresies were the
must be completely detached from the cosmos. The concept
division of the world and humankind into a realm of light
of an anti-God—(often identified with the God of the Old
and a realm of darkness, individual (i.e. not church-
Testament) evolves primarily out of a Gnostic group’s identi-
controlled) encratism, individual spiritual charisma, and
ty struggle with its broader cultic milieu. This pattern can
sometimes a blurring of gender boundaries.
be detected throughout the history of Gnosticism and ex-
THE NOTION OF GNOSTICISM IN THE CONTEXT OF WEST-
plains the sometimes sudden revivals of rebellious dualistic
ERN CULTURE. Although the emerging Christian ortho-
separatism. Whereas monism is usually expressed through
doxies succeeded in defeating the Gnostic trends inherent in
philosophical speculation and theories, Gnostic dualism is
their cultural and religious heritage, Gnosticism did survive
communicated through myths—usually creation myths—
and made considerable contributions to the European (in-
that transform the rejection and persecution members expe-
cluding the Jewish component) as well as to the Islamic his-
rience into a vivid metaphysical drama. These myths relate
tory of ideas.
the origins of the Gnostic people in purely spiritual realms
of the silent god, the fall of one of his creatures, and the sub-
Following the suppression of larger Gnostic movements
sequent evolution of psychic and physical layers of existence,
from the second to the mid-fourth century CE, the earliest
where orthodox opponents reside. The fallen figures—the
Gnostic-type heretic appears to be Priscillian of Ávila, conse-
Primal Man (in Jewish Gnosticism and in Manichaeism),
crated as bishop in 380, done away with as a heretic in 385.
Sophia or Lucifer (in Christian Gnosticism), Ku¯ni or Ibl¯ıs
The case of this very erudite Spanish nobleman shows how
(in Islamic Gnosticism)—deserve special attention, for ac-
Christian orthodoxy confined itself by banishing from Chris-
cording to Gnostic understanding they can also provide sal-
tian thought and practice cosmological and anthropological
vation. This concept of salvation obviously points to the mo-
dualism, unauthorized religious authority, non-institutional
nistic matrix from which Gnostic dualism develops.
encratism, and the quest for class and gender equality. From
this point, Gnostic patterns of thought and belief are particu-
The peculiar dynamics of dualistic myths and monistic
larly noticeable in subversive, counterculture movements. A
mysticisms may explain why some world-friendly religious
number of historians of religions and philosophers share the
movements have been characterized as Gnostic. Although
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GNOSTICISM: GNOSTICISM FROM THE MIDDLE AGES TO THE PRESENT
3523
Christian mysticism describes an internal path of the individ-
cient alternative forms of Christianity was renewed, particu-
ual soul to God, the label “Gnosticism” has also been applied
larly in the major European cities.
to attempts at knowing God and the spiritual through the
world, emphasizing the word through. Actually, it would be
In the fourth and fifth centuries, adherents of Gnostic
more adequate to classify such efforts as “Hermetic.” Gnosti-
ideas who were fleeing church persecution sought refuge in
cism and Hermeticism were closely intertwined in late antiq-
Armenia. By the end of the seventh century, the Paulician
uity, and Manichaeism, as well as some texts found in Nag
movement emerged in Armenia and the northern regions of
Hammadi (e.g. Asclepius; On the Origin of the World; The
Syria. The movement’s name was probably derived from
Paraphrase of Shem), reveal a generally pro-cosmic attitude.
their high regard for the apostle Paul. The first Paulician
Interest in Hermeticism was renewed in the Renaissance and
known to us by name was Constantine of Mananalis; he was
taken up by Christian heretics. In early modern times this
said to have received his teachings in Samosata on the upper
led to a new fusion of Hermetic ideas with Christian Gnosis,
Euphrates. The Paulicians combined radicalized Pauline
which was called Pansophy (Overall Wisdom) or Natural Phi-
ideas with strong, even militant, demands for the Byzantine
losophy.
church to act in accordance with the early Christian idealiza-
tion of poverty. Persecuted by both Christians and Muslims,
DEVELOPMENTS OF JEWISH AND ISLAMIC GNOSIS IN THE
the Paulicians were nearly destroyed in the eighth century
EARLY MIDDLE AGES. Jewish speculative and apocalyptic
but managed to gain importance again under the reformer
thought provided a rich source of semi-Gnostic cosmologies
Sergius Tychikos (d. 835). A large number of them were
during the Middle Ages. Gnostic thought was communicat-
killed during the reign of the Byzantine empress Theodora,
ed through the circulation of the Sefer Yetsira, edited proba-
but Paulicianism survived in remote areas of the Byzantine
bly in the ninth century. The text is essentially non-dualistic,
Empire. The last retreat for Paulicians was Thrace, where
showing the earliest roots of the Qabbalistic systems, which
their presence was still recorded in 1116.
appeared in fully developed systems some centuries later.
Another dualistic movement containing unequivocally
Gnostic, Manichaean, Jewish, and Christian messianic
Gnostic elements burst forth in medieval Bulgaria under the
ideas are likely to have influenced the first representatives of
influence of the Paulician mission. This heresy was named
Sh¯ıEah Gnosis. Just as Simon Magus was the archheretic of
after its founder Bogomil, who was a village priest in the re-
Christian Gnosis, the archheretic of Islamic ghulu¯w
gion south of Skopje, today belonging to Macedonia. The
(“exaggeration”) was DAbdalla¯h ibn SabaD al-Hamda¯n¯ı. The
Bogomilian uprising took place in the second half of the
only available biographical information about him says that
tenth century, when southern parts of Bulgaria (which dur-
he was of Jewish origin, a follower of the prophet
ing the Middle Ages included wide areas of the Balkan be-
Muh:ammad’s son, the martyr DAli. He taught in the Iraqi
tween the Black and the Adriatic Seas) were being recon-
town Ku¯fa that DAli had not really died but would reappear
quered by Byzantium. As in the case of Paulicianism, the
as the Mahdi in order to establish the kingdom of God.
struggle of the Bogomils was not only one of heresy against
Sh¯ıEah movements, such as the Isma¯E¯ıl¯ıs, tend to endow
orthodoxy, but also involved politics and social concerns.
their inspired messengers and salvational figures with cosmo-
Paulicians and Bogomils were mostly peasants, whereas the
logical significance. The Kita¯b al-Kashf (Book of Disclosure),
Byzantine orthodoxy represented the land-owning ruling
for example, relates the Isma¯E¯ıl¯ıs doctrine of the seven ima¯ms
classes.
(interpreters of divine teachings and themselves of other-
Cosmological and anthropological dualism, antinomi-
worldly origin) to a cosmology with Qabbalistic traits, ac-
anism, docetism, anticlericalism, encratism, and dietary re-
cording to which God first created the letters of the alphabet.
strictions characterized Bogomilism. Its mythic repertory
He creates them initially in two heptads (lines of seven). The
clearly shows a derivation from ancient sources. According
first one corresponds to the prophets acknowledged widely
to the Bogomilian story of creation, God brought forth the
by Sh¯ıEah movements: Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus,
four elements of fire, water, earth, and air and established his
Muh:ammad, and the Mahdi, who is still to come. The sec-
divine kingdom, which consisted of seven heavens inhabited
ond heptad corresponds to the seven Isma¯E¯ıl¯ıs ima¯ms. As in
by the angels. The angels were supposed to serve God and
the Qabbalah, the cosmos is symbolized by script. Another
to fight on his behalf. One of them, Satanael, rebelled against
early Isma¯E¯ıl¯ıs tractate, the Book of the Heptad and the Shad-
the creator and therefore was banished to Earth. As a result,
ows (Kita¯b al-haft wa al-az:illa), describes how God creates
Satanael created a world for himself, separating water and
seven heavens and paradises, which are also, although more
earth. Although sunlight was of divine origin, Satanael
vaguely, connected to the ima¯ms.
brought forth the other forces of nature, such as rain, wind,
CHRISTIAN DUALISTIC HERESIES DURING THE MIDDLE
and thunderstorms. Then he created life-forms and human
AGES. After the case of Priscillian in the fourth century, the
beings as his servants. In the process, he managed to confine
Byzantine as well as the Catholic orthodoxy succeeded in
a number of angels in material bodies. As a consequence,
suppressing features considered Gnostic, but when people
human beings partake of the divine as well as the satanic cre-
started to question the socio-economic order and the reli-
ation, so that the cosmic dualism of good and evil is inherent
gious and intellectual premises upholding it, interest in an-
in each person. Like Gnostic movements of antiquity, the
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3524
GNOSTICISM: GNOSTICISM FROM THE MIDDLE AGES TO THE PRESENT
Bogomils had their own Christology. Christ was one of the
the credentes, the ordinary adherents of Catharism, who were
divine ambassadors sent out to humankind to promote its
allowed to marry and work for the sake of the community.
salvation. He took human shape through his mother Mary
Despite local persecutions during the eleventh century,
but was never human in his essence. In order to prevent
the Cathar churches spread widely through the southern and
Christ’s mission, Satanael arranged for his crucifixion, but
central parts of Western Europe. A particular stronghold
Christ’s suffering was only superficial. Three days after the
emerged in the area of Toulouse, where the popularity of
crucifixion, Christ appeared on Earth again, put Satanael in
Catharism coincided with a supportive political situation.
chains, and cast him into hell. Nevertheless, Satanael escaped
Because of power shifts in France, a political vacuum devel-
and renewed his reign on earth, with the help of worldly rul-
oped in the area of Toulouse. A local ruler tried to fill the
ers and orthodox theologians.
void and made Catharism the state religion of his territory.
Gnostic or Manichaean mythology must have survived
This situation provoked a massive response against the Cath-
in the frontier districts of the Roman Empire and mixed with
ars. A crusade was organized against them in 1208 and a sec-
local religious traditions, particularly with a pagan belief in
ond one in 1227. The latter resulted in the fall of Montségur
spirits, which appear as demons in the Bogomilian belief. It
in 1244, the last place of refuge for a large Cathar communi-
is impossible, however, to determine more precisely what
ty. Small, scattered groups survived in the southern Europe-
forces shaped the Bogomilian world-view. From the Bulgari-
an mountain regions for about another century.
an regions, Bogomilism spread to Thrace and Asia Minor
MEDIEVAL QABBALAH. Medieval Qabbalah, which reached
and reached the capital of the Byzantine Empire in the elev-
its climax at the end of the thirtheenth century with the
enth century as an underground movement. Here it changed
Zohar (Book of Glow), clearly shows Gnostic tendencies but
its character and spread among members of the middle class-
never resulted in a mature cosmological dualism. On the
es and even within monastic communities. Bogomilian mis-
contrary, the Zohar presents the construction of the universe
sionaries had a great deal of success during the twelfth centu-
as a (however fragile) harmony of divine forces. No element
ry, particularly in Serbia and Bosnia, where orthodox church
was viewed as essentially evil or satanic, but there was an in-
structures were weak. The Bogomils began to develop a
herent danger within the system that one of the sefirot (as-
church-like hierarchy themselves, but as a consequence they
pects of God) might become independent. Gnosticism
lost their attractiveness for the peasantry, which had made
claimed that this had already happened in the creation pro-
up the core of the movement. Hence, in the thirteenth cen-
cess, but the Zohar did not.
tury it started to decline. However, the final extinction of
The Qabbalist who came closest to Gnostic concepts
Bogomilism in Southeastern Europe and Asia Minor only
was Isaac Luria (1534–1572). He taught a small circle of ad-
took place with the conquest of these areas by the emerging
herents in Safed. Lurianic Qabbalah was very influential for
Ottoman Empire.
its doctrine of tsimtsum. According to this doctrine, God
Meanwhile Bogomilism had also spread westwards,
“contracts” within himself, thus creating a space that is de-
probably mainly through refugees from the Balkan areas, to
prived of God and can be filled up with creation. In his de-
northern Italy and the South of France and contributed to
scription of the further process of creation, Luria employed
the emergence of the Cathar movement. Like Bogomilism
the Gnostic dualistic pattern of the fundamental opposition
in the East, Catharism in Western Europe was a reservoir of
between light and darkness: The first human being (Adam
heretical and folkloristic currents, loosely bound up by
Kadmun) emerges from the divine light that radiated into the
Gnostic-type cosmological mythologies that located meta-
space emptied by tsimtsum. Out of Adam Kadmun’s face
physical evil on the side of the Catholic Church. However,
flashed the sefirot-lights, which were supposed to be collected
a lot of eleventh-century sectarians continued to go to the
in vessels prepared for them. Some of these vessels, however,
official church and to take sacraments. Their somewhat am-
broke and were then filled up with dark matter, while their
biguous attitude has been called crypto-heretic. Cathars also
fragments fell down, void of creation.
strongly venerated parts of the scripture. Although they re-
PANSOPHY AND NATURAL PHILOSOPHY IN EARLY MODERN
jected most of the Old Testament, they used the Gospel of
TIMES. Renaissance scholarship and philosophy in Western
John and the Apocalypse of John for dualistic and allegorical
Europe was profoundly influenced by Qabbalah and Herme-
exegesis. In addition, the Cathars used apocryphal texts.
ticism but did not develop the world-denying and rebellious
overtones typical of dualistic Gnostic mythologies.
Although the Cathar myths and theological creeds
closely resembled those of the Bogomils, they were less op-
Mythic, dualistic gnosis was once more recognizable in
posed to organization and more inclined to form their own
seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Germany. There the
well-ordered, although decentralized, communities. Cathar
enormous influence of Paracelsus (c. 1493–1541) had creat-
churches were established in northern Italy and southern
ed an intellectual climate that offered a fertile soil for Gnostic
France. They consisted of two classes of people: the pure per-
currents. Paracelsian Pansophy (Overall Wisdom) prepared
fecti, who could not get involved in any worldly affairs, did
the way for German natural philosophy, which was mainly
not marry, and were strongly committed to a selective vege-
concerned with integrating nature into Lutheran theology.
tarian diet. Even the permitted plants had to be prepared by
To natural philosophers, it seemed obvious that not only hu-
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GNOSTICISM: GNOSTICISM FROM THE MIDDLE AGES TO THE PRESENT
3525
mankind, but also nature as a whole, is incomplete when
the Old Testament God maliciously withheld from them. In
measured against the original divine plan for creation. In
various biblical and apocryphal traditions, Satan is equated
order to explain this gap and to develop a strategy of salva-
with Lucifer, or the Islamic Ibl¯ıs. Other despisers of God’s
tion for fallen nature, the philosophers drew upon Gnostic
law, Cain in particular, also evoked Gnostic sympathy.
mythology. The most creative and impressive new version of
The theme of the light-bringing revolutionary has in-
Gnostic cosmogonic myth was put forward by Jakob Böhme
spired several prominent authors. John Milton (1608–1674)
(1575–1624) In his visionary exegesis of biblical texts,
and Johann Wolfgang Goethe (1749–1832) both show a
Böhme resembled ancient Gnostic authors. According to
great fascination with the rebellious angel who become the
him, nature had been born out of the original abyss and de-
devil. In his epic Paradise Lost (1667), Milton described with
veloped in seven stages. These stages corresponded to the
a great deal of empathy Satan’s expulsion from the heavenly
Qabbalistic sefirot, which Böhme also referred to as Source-
realm, his renewed advance toward it, and his seduction of
Spirits (Quellgeister). The first Source-Spirit to emerge from
Eve. Goethe, who throughout his life was dissatisfied with
the abyss of nothingness was Desire; followed by the goad
Christian doctrine, created a personal theology. At the end
of Sensibility (Stachel der Empfindlichkeit); then by Anxiety
of the eighth book of his autobiographical work Dichtung
(Angst) or Feeling (Gemüt); by Fire or Spirit; by Light or
und Wahrheit (1811–1833), he introduces a myth that is
Love; by Resonance (Hall), Word, or Mind (Verstand); and
clearly an imitation of Gnostic models: A primal Godhead
by Body, Being, or Material Nature. The Godhead, in this
creates another Divine Being as a reflection of itself and then
process of unfolding, shows itself as a dynamic, dramatic,
a third one as a reflection of the two. When the fourth being
and even dialectical primal aetherical substance from which
is created, it no longer resembles the three preceding ones,
the immaterial as well as the material world take form. How-
thus introducing difference and contradiction to the divine
ever, God is not fully responsible for the existence of matter.
world. The fourth being is Lucifer, who then creates his own
Matter came into being as a result of the fall of the rebellious
worlds and forgets his origin. His pride and conceit finally
angel Lucifer, who refused subordination to a higher will,
cause his fall. In Goethe’s drama Faust (1790–1832), the fig-
just as the primal androgynous human being would do later.
ure of the devil, here named Mephisto, plays a crucial role
In his theology, Böhme avoided cosmological dualism. The
and is considered important for humankind’s search for
fall took place within the one and only essentially divine
knowledge and spiritual development, although in the end
realm. Instead of making Lucifer and the primal androgyn
he shall not triumph by possessing the human soul
genuinely evil forces, Böhme emphasizes the role of divine
completely.
freedom that can be used in accordance with the will of the
Godhead or against it.
The fallen angel appears again in Alphonse de Lamar-
tine’s La Chute d’un ange (1838). Here the angel Cédar asks
Friedrich Christoph Oetinger (1702–1782), another
God to let him become a human being, because he wants to
important representative of German nature-philosophy,
win the love of a woman. The epic was conceived as the first
studied Böhme thoroughly and was also acquainted with
part of a comprehensive account of the fate of humankind
Lurianic Qabbalah. For him, God represented life as a unity
from its divine origins through the many failures recorded
and interplay of different forces and possibilities. In the God-
in history. Apart from La chute d’un ange, Lamartine wrote
head, the components of this complex interplay are indissol-
only the final part of this epic, Jocelyn (1836), about a
ubly interwoven, whereas in nature they can be separated.
woman who dies as a result of caring for those sick with the
The human fall, according to Oetinger, has no cosmological
plague.
grounds but was rather a misperception. Oetinger’s emphasis
on insight as a prerequisite for salvation could be construed
Victor Hugo (1802–1885) undertook a similar narra-
as Gnostic, Oetinger’s definition of insight is different.. Oet-
tive of human history in his La légende des siècles (1859), but
inger’s Gnosis is one of synopsis (Zentralerkenntnis) in order
the story lacks the typically Gnostic idea of light before dark-
to perceive the inherent unity of nature and God. Gnosti-
ness. However, Hugo’s interpretation of history as a mythic
cism in the narrower, dualistic sense, on the contrary, means
battle between two hostile principles and his empathy for the
by Gnosis the recognition of the two fundamentally oppos-
Cain may remind the reader of Gnostic attitudes.
ing realms of light and darkness.
GNOSTICISM AND ROMANTICISM. Natural philosophy was
THE THEME OF THE REVOLUTIONARY AGAINST GOD. The
still of considerable importance in the age of European and
metaphysical revolt that is often ascribed to Gnosticism is a
North American Romanticism. Emphasis had shifted, how-
rebellion not against God’s creation, but rather against the
ever, from the concordance of God and nature to the power
limitations of knowledge. In Genesis, God forbade Adam and
of the self, which could be equated with the human being,
Eve to eat fruit from the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden
the divinity, or nature. By viewing the self as the creative
of Eden. The snake, who convinced Eve to violate this prohi-
source of everything, the Romantics transcended the tradi-
bition, was often interpreted as the devil or Satan in younger
tional Christian boundaries separating the individual, God,
sources. In their typical mode of re-evaluating biblical tradi-
and the world. Their aim was a new unity centered in the
tions, some Gnostics interpreted Satan as a positive figure
self, which led them to face yet another dichotomy, that of
who wanted to bring human beings divine knowledge, which
the personal and the all-self. The Romantic experience of a
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GNOSTICISM: GNOSTICISM FROM THE MIDDLE AGES TO THE PRESENT
multifaceted, at times fragmented, human self gave rise to
GNOSTICISM, ANTI-SEMITISM, AND RACISM. By the end of
new dualistic concepts that could be extended to the whole
the nineteenth century, extreme nationalist and anti-Semitic
cosmos. Again we see that dualistic Gnostic systems are prod-
groups emerging in Germany co-opted Romanticism for
ucts not only of speculative pessimistic minds, but also of so-
their own purposes. They reshaped the Romantic worldview
cial unrest. In London, the Gordon Riots of June 1780 were
so that the decisive force in the world was no longer the
suppressed in an effort to avert a larger revolutionary move-
human self, but race. In the 1920s and 1930s various trends
ment such as that which soon followed in France. English
culminated in a mixture of racism and esotericism, called Ar-
authors took up Gnostic metaphors to serve as mouthpieces
iosophy (Wisdom of the Aryans). The Aryan myth was very
for revolutionary ideas. William Blake (1757–1827) devel-
simple. In its various versions, it told a story about the origi-
oped a unique allegorical approach to biblical texts and re-
nal dwelling places of the Aryans—either Thule (an island
wrote various aspects of the creation story in a Gnostic fash-
in the North Sea close to the pole but also equated with Ice-
ion. Blake avoided cosmological dualism, but his esteem for
land) or Shambala (located in Central Asia, most often in the
the free and independent human spirit, which he shared with
Tibetan mountains)—to which they had come as survivors
many other Romantic poets, let him take up the typical
of Atlantis. The Aryans were characterized only by their
Gnostic motif of the Divine Man. The Divine Man was in
physical appearance: they were supposed to have light skin
essence God himself and provoked the envy of some of the
and blond hair, and their only “ethical” requirement was to
angels. In Blake’s works, this figure is named Albion (a sym-
keep their race pure. Their racial purity made them superior
bol for England) Orc (another name for Lucifer), Jesus
to all other races. Hence, the Aryans were called to fight the
Christ, or Prometheus. Orc rebels against Urizen, who repre-
forces that could contaminate their pure race, which meant
sents both George III and his rule in Britain and also the Fa-
that they should fight other races. The Aryans considered the
ther-god of the Old Testament. Orc brings the new social
Jews, who, according to the myth, had begun to infiltrate the
order that is expected to be established with the return and
Aryan race with alien blood and spirit the race most hostile
reign of Christ. In his most highly acclaimed poetic work,
and dangerous to them. According to Artur Dinter (1876–
Prometheus Unbound, Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822)
1948), an author who wrote extensively about religious ideas
presents Prometheus as a symbol of hope for the suppressed
coming out of the Völkische Bewegung, the Jews were the low-
and wretched masses in English cities during the time of in-
est incarnations of originally spiritual beings after the fall.
dustrialization.
Therefore, Dinter explained, the Jews were intensely inclined
to the material world and bound up with it. Thus, the racial
Many Romantics were engaged with the dark side of
battle between Jews and Aryans was interpreted as a battle
being—with night as the fold of existence, and with death
between matter (darkness) and spirit (light). The hijacking
and its various stages of fading and decay. In some cases this
of a mythic pattern known from Gnosticsm for an ideologi-
resulted in a semi-Gnostic denigration of nature and the con-
cal foundation of radical anti-Semitism is not as surprising
ditions of human life, which became the typical features of
as it may seem, for the Jews were shown as descendents of
Romantic Weltschmerz (pain or melancholy about the
the demiurge, the Old Testament God and antagonist of the
world). For example, in Dialogue of Nature and an Icelander,
realm of light in Gnostic myths from the second and third
Giacomo Leopardi (1798–1837) depicts nature as a pitiless
centuries CE.
persecutor of desperate humans and concludes that it is im-
possible to discover the meaning of a universe that sustains
GNOSTICISM IN MODERN AND POSTMODERN PHILOSOPHY.
itself by regularly killing its inhabitants. Because of this con-
A number of important currents and themes of nineteenth-
clusion, Leopardi cannot be called a Gnostic. Gnostic pessi-
and twentieth-century philosophy have been related to pat-
mism typically features a refractory dualism: The good and
terns of thought derived from Gnosticism: the Hegelian the-
meaningful exist in the realm of light and in souls that be-
ory of consciousness and knowledge, the Marxist doctrine of
come aware of their divine origin. Leopardi, however, rejects
dialectical rather than logical progress in history; the death
not only the goodness of this-worldly creation, but the exis-
of God proclaimed by nihilism, the epistemological argu-
tence of goodness and meaningfulness anywhere. Lord
ments of phenomenology, the notion of the human self in
Byron’s (1788–1824) poetry, too, lacks the rebellious spirit
existentialism, and several features of postmodernism.
of mythic Gnosticism that believes that a better world can
be achieved. Byron’s Cain is guided by Lucifer to see a mean-
Georg Friedrich Wilhelm Hegel (1770–1831) outlined
ingless world that is created not by demonic forces, but by
a universal theory according to which history is a process of
the human self.
the Divine Spirit becoming conscious of itself. This process
is executed in three steps: First the Spirit is enclosed in itself,
Other important representatives of Romantic Welt-
second it separates from itself and recognizes itself as “other,”
schmerz were Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860), whose
and third of the Divine Spirit integrates his experience by
philosophy was inspired more by Buddhism than by Gnosti-
means of a return of the formerly differentiated aspect, which
cism, and Mihai Eminescu (1850–1889), who praised the
leads to an affirmation at a higher level. The first step paral-
Romantic genius as the only possible surmounter of the
lels the dwelling of purely intelligible beings in the Gnostic
weary world.
pleroma, the second parallels the alienation of the spirit as the
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GNOSTICISM: GNOSTICISM FROM THE MIDDLE AGES TO THE PRESENT
3527
psychic and material world, and the third parallels state of
THE VARIETY OF NEO-GNOSTICISMS IN THE TWENTIETH
Gnosis, the spiritual knowledge of the self about itself.
CENTURY. Other neo-Gnostic trends of the twentieth centu-
Karl Marx (1818–1883) adopted the Hegelian idea
ry grew out of the variety of Romantic conceptualizations of
about dialectical development but imbued it with a material-
Gnosis. Optimistic outlooks focused on the sacralization of
istic instead of an idealistic conception of the world. More-
self that was prevalent in Romanticism, which grew out of
over, Marx stated explicitly that the knowledge about dialec-
the Gnostic belief in the divine origin of humankind. In
tics was not to be promoted in order to analyze the world,
Hermann Hesse’s (1877–1962) novel Demian (1919) and
but to change it. According to Hegel, knowledge as a con-
the works of Carl G. Jung (1875–1961) the Gnostic path
cluding synthesis about dialectical progression was still possi-
was reinterpreted as humanity’s search its sacred origin. Inso-
ble for an individual mind, but for Marx and other intellec-
far as recent esoteric currents, such as the New Age move-
tual leaders of the Communist movement it was only
ment, have contained Gnostic themes and motifs, they were
possible as a totality of social practice. Some interpreters
particularly attracted by the possibility of self-salvation, often
(Eric Voegelin and Boris Groys, for example) view this prac-
coupled with a claim for self-fulfillment through an aware-
tical knowledge or wisdom—as opposed to various compet-
ness of humankind’s own divinity. An example of developed
ing forms of analytical knowledge—to be in congruence with
dualistic neo-Gnosticism in newer religious movements can
salvational Gnosis.
be found in the teachings of Colombian Samael Aun Weor
Gnostic attitudes that shaped Soviet ideology have also
(1917–1977), whose ideas gained an audience outside his
been detected in Russian philosophies of religion, particular-
homeland. Not much is know about his life or the sources
ly in the writings of Vladimir Solov’ev (1853–1900) and in
from which he drew his eclectic ideas. He obviously depend-
nihilism. Friedrich Nietzsche’s (1844–1900) nihilistic state-
ed heavily on Theosophy and the “sexual magic” of Aleister
ment that God is dead can be interpreted as a rejection of
Crowley and the OTO (Ordo Templi Orientis). But whereas
the transcendent God of Judaism and Christianity for the
Crowley had been an excessive libertine, Weor advocated
sake of a self-divinization of humankind. Interestingly, critics
sexual magic within “sacred matrimony,” matrimony under-
of nihilism such as Eric Voegelin (1901–1985) and René Gi-
stood in its bourgeois sense. His dualism was not so much
rard (1923–) use religious terminology themselves when they
cosmological as directed against what he saw as flaws of mod-
label nihilism “demonic.” Thus, their arguments against ni-
ern societies, among them Communism, women’s libera-
hilism appear as the direct successors of those by the Chris-
tion, and homosexuality. Nevertheless, Weor believed in an
tian heresiologists against ancient Gnosticism. Hans Blu-
“eternal battle between YHWH and Christ,” which was re-
menberg (1920–1996) claims that the philosophies of Hegel
flected in occasional anti-Semitic utterances.
and Marx do not draw upon Gnosticism. For him, modern-
To counter the focus on human self-realization, some
ism has surmounted Gnosticism’s world-rejection and re-
thinkers have proposed the idea of an unworldly, non-
placed it with a world-affirming trust in a rational under-
human, and remote God who resembles the God of Gnosti-
standing of the cosmos and the human situation. Because
cism. The late Max Horkheimer (1895–1973) wrote about
postmodernism calls into question this trust in rationality,
God as “Completely Other”; Karl Barth (1886–1968) devel-
it has also been suspected of Gnostic tendencies. Peter Kos-
oped a paradoxical negative theology in which God was in-
lowski (1952–) has advocated a Gnostic approach to the
comprehensible to human thought and religion; and Simone
world, which he defines as an awareness of its fundamental
Weil (1909–1943) was convinced that God cannot be pres-
deficiency. By acknowledging the world’s deficiency and its
ent in the realm of time.
need for improvement, humankind can, according to Kos-
lowski, proceed in wisdom.
In reaction to the more than 52 million who died in
Although little attention has been devoted to the analo-
World War II, Theodor Adorno (1903–1969) wrote Mini-
gies between Gnosticism and the phenomenology of Ed-
ma Moralia (1951), which is in part a Gnostic work. Adorno
mund Husserl (1859–1938), with its aim at overcoming the
criticizes the immorality, materialistic consumerism, and
differences between consciousness and Being, the Gnostic in-
general corruption of the world and thereby resurrects several
clinations of Heideggerian phenomenology (existentialism)
Gnostic myths (for example, the myth of the descent of
are generally agreed on. Hans Jonas (1903–1993), in his
Great Ignorance upon the world). But unlike Romantic rep-
seminal study Gnosis und spätantiker Geist (1964), pointed
resentatives of Weltschmerz, Adorno still allows for hope.
to Heidegger’s use of Gnostic terminology when explaining
However, because his hope is for a Messiah rather than for
the situation of humankind as “thrown into the world.” Ac-
self-salvation, it is not Gnostic. Romanian-French philoso-
cording to Jonas, the demonization of the universe combined
pher Émile Michel Cioran (1911–1995) presented a more
with the idea of a transcendent acosmic self led to close paral-
pessimistic expression of Gnosticism. In his book Le mauvais
lels between exisentialism and Gnosticism. Moreover, a
démiurge (1969), he drew on fragments of Gnostic ideas in
thorough analysis by Barbara Merker (Selbsttäuschung
order to unfold his own post-Nietzschean nihilistic and per-
und Selbsterkenntnis—Zu Heideggers Transformation der
spectivist philosophy. However, it must be emphasized that
Phänomenologie Husserls, 1988) showed that Heidegger’s
Cioran’s explicitly anti-systematic approach not only lacks
main work Sein und Zeit (1927) relied on Gnostic myths.
the salvational hope of Gnosticism proper, but also the inner
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3528
GNOSTICISM: GNOSTICISM FROM THE MIDDLE AGES TO THE PRESENT
consistency of Gnostic myth. Fernando Pessoa (1888–1935)
ternative” research methods that led to non-mainstream re-
revived Romantic Weltschmerz and combined it with Gnostic
sults were known as the Gnostics of Princeton. Arthur Young
motifs. His poem No túmulo de Christian Rosencreutz imme-
(1923–), the founder of the Berkeley Institute for the Study
diately reminds the reader of Gnostic myths of descent.
of Consciousness, referred explicitly to Gnostic views when
explaining cosmic developments and the significance of the
In such stories as La révolte des Anges (1914) by Anatole
human self.
France (1844–1924) and Doktor Faustus (1947) by Thomas
Mann (1875–1955), twentieth-century literature took up
The research on Gnosticism, and even the discipline of
the themes of the rebellious angel, Satan, and the human
the history of religions has come under suspicion of inherent
seeker who follows his path. Mann’s Doktor Faustus was
Gnosticism. In an article from 1987, Manfred Sommer
meant to represent the situation of German intellectuals
(1945–) characterized Hans Jonas’s interpretation of gnosis
whose over-reflexivity had led to mental paralysis. To over-
as Endgestalt der Gnosis (the final shape of gnosis). The au-
come the crisis, the lead character, Adrian Leverkühn, flees
thor observes a self-entangledness that is reflected no only in
into irrational ecstasy—a gift from the devil, who takes him
Gnostic thought, but even in research about Gnosticism.
in the end. Mann criticizes Gnosticism by using Gnostic
Similar observations can be made about the scholarship of
metaphors to describe Nazi Germany. In his controversial
Gilles Quispel (1916–), who is heavily influenced by Carl
1988 novel The Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie (1947–)
Gustav Jung. Steven Wasserstrom in his book Religion after
played with the theme of the fallen angel, blending motifs
Religion: Gershom Scholem, Mircea Eliade and Henty Corbin
from the time of Muh:ammad with those from contemporary
at Eranos (1999) has pointed out that three major founders
London. Rushdie uses the images of archangel Gabriel and
of this discipline were phenomenologists and therefore heirs
Satan (Ibl¯ıs in Islamic mythology) to draw attention to racist
to Gnostic traditions. Again, the use of the term gnosis by
perceptions of immigrants in Great Britain.
these scholars, and particularly by their interpreter Wassers-
G
trom, is highly inconsistent. It shows once more that the
NOSTICISM IN FANTASY LITERATURE. Gnostic concepts are
very often relevant in fantasy novels. J. R. R. Tolkien’s
label Gnostic is used to label any kind of dissatisfaction with
(1892–1973) trilogy The Lord of the Rings (1954–1955) tells
mainstream ideologies, whether orthodox theology or ortho-
about a Manichaean-style battle against Darkness. Middle-
dox academia (as in Scholem’s fear of a “professorial death,”
earth, Tolkien’s fictitious world, has to defend itself against
for example), as well as for attacks and counterattacks from
a major attack from the army of Sauron the Great. Sauron
either side.
resides in Mordor, a realm of shadows, and is called the Dark
Lord. He is the chief henchman of the more abstract Dark
SEE ALSO Cathari; Druze; Heresy, article on Christian Con-
Power threatening to absorb the light of Middle-earth. How-
cepts; Manichaeism, article on Manichaeism and Christiani-
ty; New Age Movement; Qabbalah; Shiism, article on
ever, Tolkien also brings in other themes that are foreign and
Isma¯E¯ıl¯ıyah.
even opposed to Gnostic myths, such as the importance of
compassion and the danger of power.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Philip Pullman (1946–) comes very close to Gnostic
There are very few one-volume works dealing explicitly with neo-
views and attitudes in the trilogy His Dark Materials (The
Gnosticism. The most important attempt to comprehend
Golden Compass, 1995; The Subtle Knife, 1997; The Amber
the continuity of Gnostic motifs from medieval through
Spyglass, 2000). Inspired particularly by the works of William
modern times is Ioan P. Couliano, The Tree of Gnosticism:
Blake and Milton’s Paradise Lost, Pullman takes up the
Gnostic Mythology from Early Christianity to Modern Nihilism
Gnostic depiction of the Old Testament God who refuses
(San Francisco, 1990). For the intertwinement of monism
to let human beings have a certain kind of knowledge. In
and dualism in Gnostic thought, see Julia Iwersen, Gnosis zur
contrast to historical Gnosticism, this knowledge is not
Einführung (Hamburg, 2001). An interesting anthology of
about the origin and true nature of light-beings, but about
Gnostic writing in the religions, philosophy, and literature
the ultimate identity of spirit and matter. Lord Asriel plays
throughout history is provided by Peter Sloterdijk and
Thomas H. Macho, eds., Weltrevolution der Seele: Ein Lese-
the role of Satan, trying to gain access to the higher worlds.
und Arbeitsbuch der Gnosis von der Spätantike bis zur Gegen-
His daughter Lyra, who is called “the new Eve,” disobeys
wart, 2 vols. (Düsseldorf, 1991). Various scholarly articles on
God, as represented by the church.
Gnosticism in ancient and modern intellectual currents are
GNOSTICISM IN RECENT SCIENCE AND SCHOLARSHIP. The
collected in Barbara Aland, ed., Gnosis: Festschrift für Hans
term gnosis is often used to name an approach that refuses
Jonas (Göttingen, 1978). Articles in the volume of special in-
to exclude the spiritual dimensions of reality. Thus anti-
terest include: Giulia Sfameni Gasparro, “Sur 1´histoire des
influences du gnosticisme” and Gilles Quispel, “Hermann
positivistic methods in academic work are sometimes labeled
Hesse und Gnosis.” Other resources on the topic can be
Gnostic. Since some scholars in the sciences as well as the
found in Peter Koslowski, ed., Gnosis und Mystik in der
humanities concede only to so-called objective forms of
Geschichte der Philosophie (Zurich and Munich, 1988), which
knowledge, they try to stigmatize insights that are based on
includes contributions on Paracelsus, Böhme, Oetinger and
other methodologies. In the 1970s, for example, a circle of
many other important thinkers, as well as a particularly inter-
scientists in the United States who were concerned with “al-
esting article by Boris Groys on Gnosticism in Soviet ideolo-
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

GNOSTICISM: GNOSTICISM AS A CHRISTIAN HERESY
3529
gy. The classic study by Arthur O. Lovejoy, The Great Chain
Geist. Zweiter Teil: Von der Mythologie zur mystischen Philoso-
of Being: A Study of the History of an Idea (Cambridge, Mass.,
phie (Göttingen, 1993). It is of particular interest for connec-
1964) can be used as an introduction to the Gnostic theme
tions Jonas made between Gnosticism and Christian mysti-
of otherworldliness, although it treats only the philosophical
cism, and for his explanation of the transformation of
side and excludes the mythic dimensions of Gnosticism. For
dualistic myths into a monistic worldview. This volume also
all other issues raised in this article, the reader needs to con-
includes Jonas’s important article “Gnosis, Existentialismus
sult specialized studies on movements, writers, and philoso-
und Nihilismus,” which was first published in 1973. In The
phers, such as Martin Erbstösser, Ketzer im Mittelalter (Leip-
Modern Revival of Gnosticism and Thomas Mann’s Doktor
zig, 1984), which is very good on the social and economic
Faustus (New York, 2002), Kirsten J. Grimstad examines
roots of medieval Gnostic heresies. Relations between Sh¯ıEah
various intellectual trends at the end of the nineteenth and
movements and Gnosticism are discussed by Heinz Halm in
beginning of the twentieth century in their relation to Gnos-
Kosmologie und Heilslehre der frühen Isma Eiliya: Eine Studie
ticism. This work also includes remarkable chapters on Jung
zur islamischen Gnosis (Wiesbaden, 1978) and Die islamische
and Jonas, as well as a discussion of Gershom Scholem’s
Gnosis: Die extreme Schia und die EAlawiten (Zurich and Mu-
treatment of Jewish mysticism. Grimstad’s work shows a
nich, 1982). A very good source for Gnostic trends in early
solid familiarity with relevant historical discussion. For
modern times, with special reference to Goethe, is Rolf
Gnosticism in science, see Raymond Ruyer, La Gnose de
Christian Zimmermann, Das Weltbild des jungen Goethe (2
Princeton (Paris, 1974) and Arthur Young, The Reflexive Uni-
vols., Munich, 1969–1979; first volume reprinted in 2002).
verse: Evolution of Consciousness (New York, 1976). On
Albrecht Schöne, Götterzeichen, Liebeszauber, Satanskult:
Gnosticism within Hans Jonas’s work, see Manfred Sommer,
Neue Einblicke in alte Goethetexte (Munich, 1982) is an inter-
“Metaphysikkritik als Gnosis,” in Willi Oelmüller, ed.,
esting examination of Gnostic theology in Goethe’s Faust.
Metaphysik heute? [=Kolloquien zur Gegenwartsphilosophie 10]
Regarding Gnosticism and Romanticism, see Ioan P. Couli-
(Paderborn, 1987). Gilles Quispel’s important works are
anu, “The Gnostic Revenge. Gnosticism and Romantic Lit-
Gnosis als Weltreligion (Zurich, 1951); two volumes of Gnos-
erature,” in Jacob Taubes, ed., Gnosis und Politik (Munich
tic Studies (Leiden, 1973–1974) and Gnosis: De derde compo-
and Paderborn, 1984). For an examination of the Gnostic
nent van de Europese cultuurtraditie (Utrecht, 1988), which
aspects of certain Romantic poets, see Patrizia Girolami,
includes contributions by several authors on the meaning of
L’Antiteodicea: Dio, dei, religione nello “Zibaldone” di Giaco-
Gnosticism in European culture. A condensed form of Quis-
mo Leopardi (Florence, 1995) and David V. Erdman, Blake:
pel’s views is found in “Gnosis and Psychology,” in Bentley
Prophet against Empire (1954, 3d ed., New York, 1991). The
Layton,ed., The Rediscovery of Gnosticism, vol.1, The School
best study of Gnosticism and Nazism is Ekkehard Hieroni-
of Valentinus (Leiden, 1980). Steven M. Wasserstrom’s Reli-
mus, “Dualismus und Gnosis in der völkischen Bewegung,”
gion after Religion: Gershom Scholem, Mircea Eliade, and
in Jacob Taubes, ed., Gnosis und Politik, pp. 82–89 (Munich
Henry Corbin at Eranos (Princeton, 1999) is a highly sti-
and Paderborn, 1984). Another good resource is Nicholas
mulating investigation into supposedly Gnostic epistemolo-
Goodrick-Clarke, The Occult Roots of Nazism: Secret Aryan
gies in the history of religions, although it obscures in a typi-
Cults and Their Influence on Nazi Ideology (New York, 1985,
cally heresiological way its own ideological bases in Kantian
1992), which takes a broader, less specific approach. Gnostic
and positivist philosophy. Wouter Hanegraaff’s “On the
anti-Semitism within the full scale of history is examined by
Construction of ‘Esoteric Traditions,’” in Antoine Faivre
Micha Brumlik, Die Gnostiker: Der Traum von der Selbsterl
and Wouter Hanegraaff, eds., Western Esotericism and the Sci-
ösung der Menschen (Frankfurt, 1992). On Gnosticism in
ence of Religion: Selected Papers Presented at the 17th Congress
modern philosophies, see “Wissenschaft, Politik und Gnosis”
of the International Association for the History of Religions,
(1959), in The Collected Works of Eric Voegelin, edited by
Mexico City 1995, pp. 11–61 (Leuven, 1998) is valuable for
Manfred Henningsen, Vol. 5, Modernity without Restraint:
its analysis of various interpretations of Gnosticism and es-
Political Religions; the New Science of Politics; and Science, Pol-
otericism, although the author seems unaware of the influ-
itics, and Gnosticism, (Columbia, Mo., and London, 1999).
ence of Kantian metaphysics when proposing an “empirical
The opposing view is offered by Hans Blumenberg, The Le-
method.”
gitimacy of the Modern Age (Cambridge, Mass., 1985). Inter-
relations between Gnosticism and postmodernism are exten-
JULIA IWERSEN (2005)
sively treated by Peter Koslowski, Die Prüfungen der Neuzeit:
Über Postmodernität, Philosophie der Geschichte, Metaphysik,
Gnosis (Wien, 1989). For Gnostic influence on Heidegger’s
philosophy, Barbara Merker’s Selbsttäuschung und Selb-
GNOSTICISM: GNOSTICISM AS A CHRISTIAN
sterkenntnis—Zu Heideggers Transformation der Phäno-
HERESY
menologie Husserls (Frankfurt am Main, 1988) is of special
The pluralism of early Christianity in regional faith and
importance. Hans Jonas’s Gnosis und spätantiker Geist: Erster
praxis, as well as the shifting lines of authority within the first
Teil: Die mythologische Gnosis (Göttingen, 1934; reprint,
and second centuries, make it difficult to draw the sharp
1964) was the groundbreaking study of Gnosticism in the
boundaries required to exclude a particular opinion or group
light of existentialism. The English edition of The Gnostic Re-
ligion: The Message of the Alien God and the Beginnings of
as heretical. In Against Heresies, Irenaeus says that his pre-
Christianity 2d ed. (Boston, 1963) is considerably shorter
decessors were unable to refute the Gnostics because they
and therefore an incomplete presentation of Jonas’s ap-
had inadequate knowledge of Gnostic systems and because
proach. Thirty years later, Kurt Rudolph edited the continu-
the Gnostics appeared to say the same things as other Chris-
ation of Jonas’s work on Gnosticism, Gnosis und spätantiker
tians. Christian Gnostics of the second century claimed to
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GNOSTICISM: GNOSTICISM AS A CHRISTIAN HERESY
have the esoteric, spiritual interpretation of Christian scrip-
Nag Hammadi. From the orthodox side, Irenaeus’s five
tures, beliefs, and sacraments. Their orthodox opponents
books refuting the Gnostics marked a decisive turn in Chris-
sought to prove that such persons were not Christians on the
tian self-consciousness. These were followed by the anti-
grounds that Gnostic rites were occasions of immoral behav-
Gnostic writings of Hippolytus, Clement of Alexandria, Ori-
ior, that their myths and doctrines were absurd, and that
gen, Tertullian, and Epiphanius. Though Irenaeus may have
their intentions were destructive to true worship of God. In
drawn upon earlier anti-Gnostic writings, such as Justin’s
short, it appears that Gnostics were defined as heretics by
lost Suntagma, his work suggests a turn toward the systematic
their opponents well before they stopped considering them-
refutation of Gnosticism. Rather than catalog sects and er-
selves to be spiritual members of the larger Christian com-
rors, Irenaeus turned to the refutation of Gnostic systems
munity.
using the rhetorical skills and topoi of philosophical debate.
Three periods characterize the interaction of Gnosticism
At the same time, he sought to provide a theoretical explica-
and Christianity: (1) the late first century and early second
tion of orthodox Christian belief that would answer argu-
century, in which the foundations of Gnostic traditions were
ments advanced by Gnostic teachers. He apparently had con-
laid at the same time that the New Testament was being
siderable information about Valentinian speculation, as well
written; (2) the mid-second century to the early third centu-
as some of the earlier sources of Valentinian mythology.
ry, the period of the great Gnostic teachers and systems; and
Like the other heresiologists, Irenaeus attacked Marcion
(3) the end of the second century into the fourth century,
as well as Gnosticism. Marcion provided an easier target to
the period of the heresiological reaction against Gnosticism.
identify as a “heresy” because he rejected the Old Testament
The fluid boundaries of Christianity in the first period
and established a Christian canon consisting of edited ver-
make it difficult to speak of Gnosticism at that time as a here-
sions of Luke and the Pauline letters. Marcion was concerned
sy. Four types of tradition used in the second-century Gnos-
to set the boundaries between himself and the larger Chris-
tic systems were developed in this period. First, there was a
tian community in a way that the Gnostic teachers who
reinterpretation of Genesis that depicts the Jewish God as
claimed to provide the spiritual interpretation of Christianity
jealous and enslaving: freedom means escaping from bond-
were not. Irenaeus provided two guidelines for drawing the
age to that God. Second, there arose a tradition of Jesus’ say-
boundary that would exclude Gnostic teachers from the
ings as esoteric wisdom. Third, a soteriology of the soul’s as-
Christian community. The first is reflected in the regula fidei
cent to union with the divine from the popular forms of
of his Against Heresies (1.10.3), which gives topics about
Platonism was adopted. And fourth, possibly, there was a
which legitimate theological speculation is possible and con-
mythical story of the descent of a divine being from the heav-
sequently rules out much of the cosmological speculation of
enly world to reveal that world as the true home of the soul.
the Gnostic teachers. The second guideline is Irenaeus’s re-
Each of the last three types of tradition lies behind conflicts
jection of Gnostic allegorization of scripture. He insists that
or images in the New Testament writings.
biblical passages must mean what they appear to mean and
Some scholars have argued that the incorporation of the
that they must be interpreted within their contexts. In book
sayings of Jesus into the gospel narrative of his life served to
five, Irenaeus argues that the Gnostics failed to support their
check the proliferation of sayings of the risen Lord uttered
claims for a spiritual resurrection in 1 Corinthians 1:50 be-
by Christian prophets. The soteriology of the soul’s diviniza-
cause they ignored the eschatological dimensions of the
tion through identification with wisdom has been seen be-
verses that follow.
hind the conflicts in 1 Corinthians. Second-century Gnostic
The heresiologist’s concern to draw boundaries between
writings use the same traditions from Philo that scholars in-
orthodox Christianity and Gnostic teachings ran counter to
voke as parallel to 1 Corinthians. The question of a first-
the practice of second-century Gnostics. Several of the Nag
century redeemer myth is debated in connection with the Jo-
Hammadi treatises were apparently composed with the op-
hannine material. While the image of Jesus in the Gospel of
posite aim. Writings such as the Gospel of Truth and the Tri-
John could have been developed out of existing metaphorical
partite Tractate drew explicit connections between Gnostic
traditions and the structure of a gospel life of Jesus, the Jo-
teaching and both the teaching practice and the sacramental
hannine letters show that Johannine Christians were split
practice of the larger Christian community. Other Gnostic
over interpretation of the gospel. Both 1 John and 2 John
writings fell within the developing patterns of ascetic Chris-
condemn other Christians as heretics. Heretics deny the
tianity in Syria and Egypt (e.g., Gospel of Thomas, Book of
death of Jesus and may have held a docetic Christology.
Thomas the Contender, Dialogue of the Savior). The ascetic
Though perhaps not based on the myth of a descending re-
tradition tended to reject the common Christian assumption
deemer, the Johannine images contributed to second-century
that baptism provides a quality of sinlessness adequate to sal-
Gnostic developments of that theme as applied to Jesus.
vation and to insist that only rigorous separation from the
The second century brought fully developed Gnostic
body and its passions will lead to salvation. Such ascetic
systems from teachers who claimed that their systems repre-
groups did, of course, draw sharp boundaries between them-
sented the inner truth revealed by Jesus. During this period,
selves and the larger world of believers, but the preservation
the Greek originals of the Coptic treatises were collected at
of the Nag Hammadi codices among Egyptian monks sug-
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GNOSTICISM: HISTORY OF STUDY
3531
gests that the division between ascetic and nonascetic Chris-
important treatments of the subject: Gnosis: Festschrift für
tians may have been stronger than that between “heretic” and
Hans Jonas, edited by Barbara Aland (Göttingen, 1978); The
“orthodox,” even into the fourth century in some areas.
Rediscovery of Gnosticism, vol. 1, The School of Valentinus, and
vol. 2, Sethian Gnosticism, edited by Bentley Layton (Leiden,
Other Gnostic writings show that the efforts of here-
1980–1981). The best study of the Gnostic polemic against
siologists to draw boundaries against Gnostics resulted in re-
orthodox Christianity is Klaus Koschorke’s Die Polemik der
pressive measures from the orthodox side and increasing sep-
Gnostiker gegen das kirchliche Christentum (Leiden, 1978).
aration by Gnostics (cf. Apocalypse of Peter, Second Treatise
PHEME PERKINS (1987)
of the Great Seth). The Testimony of Truth, apparently written
in third-century Alexandria, not only contains explicit at-
tacks on the beliefs of orthodox Christians but also attacks
other Gnostic sects and teachers like Valentinus, Isidore, and
GNOSTICISM: HISTORY OF STUDY
The problem of the origin of Gnosticism has been ap-
Basilides. The author of this Gnostic work considers other,
proached in Western culture with methods and results that
nonascetic Gnostics as heretics. However, the author still
are sometimes in clear disagreement. Perhaps the first to deal
holds to something of the nonpolemical stance that had char-
with the subject critically was Gottfried Arnold, who wrote
acterized earlier Gnostic teachers, saying that the true teacher
in 1699 the Unparteiische Kirchen und Ketzer Historie (Im-
avoids disputes and makes himself equal to everyone. Anoth-
partial History of the Church and of Heresy)—a work that in-
er example of the effectiveness of the orthodox polemic in
fluenced the poetry of Goethe in a Gnostic sense—although
defining Gnostics as heretics is found in what appears to be
the subject was previously mentioned in by G. P. Marcossi-
a Gnostic community rule that calls for charity and love
us’s De Vitis Secretis et Dogmatibus omnium Haereticorum,
among the Gnostic brethren as a sign of the truth of their
printed in Cologne in 1569.
claims over against the disunity of the orthodox in Interpreta-
tion of Knowledge. This call reverses one of Irenaeus’s polemi-
However, it was only with Johann Lorenz von Mosheim
cal points that the multiplicity and disunity of Gnostic sects
(1694–1755) that the study of Gnosticism came to the fore
condemn their teaching when contrasted with the worldwide
as an independent discipline. In his degree thesis entitled
unity of the church.
“Institutiones christianae maiores” (Helmstadt, 1739) the
future Protestant pastor and theologian described gno¯sis as an
Some scholars think that this third period, in which the
Eastern philosophy that had rapidly expanded of its own ac-
Gnostics were effectively isolated as “heretic” by orthodox
cord from Greece and Chaldea (=Mesopotamia), and
polemic, led to a significant shift within Gnostic circles.
reached as far as Egypt. This doctrine, almost by a process
Gnosticism began to become dechristianized, to identify
of osmosis, would have taken certain elements from Jewish
more with the non-Christian, esoteric, and hermetic ele-
thinking. In its turn, the Jewish world would also have drawn
ments within its traditions. Gnostics became members of an
themes from Gnostic thought, using them in its polemic
independent esoteric sect, moved toward the more congenial
against Greek philosophy. In the analysis of Mosheim we can
Mandaean or Manichaean circles, existed on the fringes of
already discern in a nutshell a substantial part of the themes
Alexandrian Neoplatonism in groups that emphasized thau-
developed by later historiography.
maturgy, or joined the monks in the Egyptian desert, where
they found a kindred spirit in the combination of asceticism
The works of J. Horn and Ernest Anton Lewald partly
and Origenist mysticism. Those associated with Manichae-
disagree with Mosheim. According to them, the sources of
ism or Origenism would continue to find themselves among
Gnosticism could be traced back to the land and teaching
the ranks of heretical Christians. The rest were no longer
of Zoroaster, thus forming the basis for that successful inter-
within the Christian sphere of influence.
pretation which considered ancient Gnosticism a classic ex-
ample of dualist philosophy. However, the works of Johann
SEE ALSO Clement of Alexandria; Irenaeus; Manichaeism;
August Neander and Jacques Matter follow the same line of
Marcionism; Neoplatonism; Origen; Philo Judaeus; Tertul-
interpretation as Mosheim. The extensive work of Matter de-
lian.
scribes gno¯sis as the emergence at the heart of Christianity of
all the cosmological and theosophical speculation which
BIBLIOGRAPHY
formed the greater part of Eastern religions and which had
Anyone interested in Gnosticism should obtain the English trans-
been adopted in the West by the Neoplatonists. This doc-
lation of the Nag Hammadi codices edited by James M. Rob-
trine therefore arose as a synthesis of themes drawn from the
inson, The Nag Hammadi Library in English (San Francisco,
philosophical works of Plato, Aristotle, the Avesta, the Qab-
1977). Another book that studies the structure and the apol-
balah, and the Eleusinian and Orphic mysteries. If the work
ogetics of the Gnostic dialogues from the Nag Hammadi col-
of Matter provided Gnostic doctrine with a certain notoriety
lection is my The Gnostic Dialogue: The Early Church and the
and cultural dignity on the one hand, it was nevertheless an
Crisis of Gnosticism (New York, 1980). The only other reli-
interpretation based upon a particularly stereotyped view of
able treatments of the new material and its significance for
the East, and very much a product of its time.
the interaction of Gnosticism and early Christianity are
scholarly writings. Three volumes, containing papers by
From the very beginning there has been an attempt to
leading scholars in German, French, and English, provide
reconstruct the possible relationship between Gnosticism
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3532
GNOSTICISM: HISTORY OF STUDY
and Judaism: in 1846 Heinrich Graetz, in his book Gnostizis-
this interpretation on material derived from hermetic
mus und Judentum, tried to prove Gnostic influence on a
literature.
number of rabbinical traditions. Decades later, Moritz Fried-
The high point of the historical religious trend was un-
länder would reverse the methodological model of Graetz,
doubtedly the Das iranische Erlösungsmysterium of Reitzen-
stressing Jewish influence upon Gnosticism and thus giving
stein. Preceded by a work on hermetic literature and by one
rise to a fresh line of interpretation which has lasted to the
on mystery religions, the “Iranian Salvation Mystery” is an
present day.
analytical development of several of the themes already set
INFLUENCE OF THE RELIGIONSGESCHICHTLICHE SCHULE. In
out in the works of Bousset. The central motif for Reitzen-
1851, study of Gnosticism was given a new impetus thanks
stein is the event which he defines as “The Savior Saved,”
to the discovery of the Philosophumena or, rather, The Refuta-
namely the Messenger, the primordial man who descends to
tion of All Heresies, a work attributed to Hippolytus of Rome,
matter to set free the Light Soul. If God is light and a part
which over the years has seen numerous editions and transla-
of that light remained trapped in the world, when God
tions, including those by Paul Wendland and Miroslav Mar-
comes down into the world in the form of the envoy to free
covich, to mention two that are very different. In 1853 came
it, by saving it he also saves himself. Reitzenstein, in support
the work of F. C. Baur, Das Christentum und die christliche
of the Iranian nature of these themes, refers to a supposed
Kirche der drei ersten Jahrhunderte, which assembled an im-
“Fragment of Zarathushtra,” a spurious text which later
pressive range of comparative material and formed the basis
philological criticism would identify as being a Manichaean
for the bold speculations of scholars of the Religionsge-
literary creation and thus not Zoroastrian.
schichtliche Schule, especially Johann Franz Wilhelm Bousset
Reactions to the works of the Religionsgeschichtliche
(1865–1920) and Richard Reitzenstein (1861–1931). In the
Schule were not long in coming: in 1925 in Paris the second
years that followed the publication of the work of Baur, there
edition of Eugène de Faye’s book, Gnostiques et gnosticisme,
were significant researches by Gustav Volkmar, Gerhard
was published. In this it was possible to catch a glimpse of
Uhlhorn, and particularly Richard Adelbert Lipsius (1830–
several approaches, including an analysis of sources aiming
1892), who was responsible for a critical study of the Ophite
to prove the existence of the Syntagma of Justin—the first
Gnostic system and a monumental article on Gnosticism in
true list of heresies—hypothetically reconstructed from pseu-
the Allgemeine Enzyklopaedie.
do-Tertullian and Epiphanius; an analysis of the individual
The fundamental idea of placing Gnosticism in the con-
features of various Gnostic systems; and the forceful state-
text of Greek philosophy and in particular Platonic philoso-
ment that Gnostic philosophy predated its mythology. In
phy dates from the 1880s and is restated in the work of Man-
short, de Faye intended to describe a Christian Gnosticism
uel Joel. Some of the interpretations that regard Gnosticism
that was independent from previous Iranian or Mesopota-
as a philosophical phenomenon originating from the very
mian religious models.
heart of Christianity are the thinking and researches of Adol-
The Iranian hypothesis of the Religionsgeschichtliche
ph Hilgenfeld (1823–1907) and Adolf von Harnack (1851–
Schule was also the basis of the exegetic work by the Protes-
1930), scholarly philologists belonging to the so-called
tant theologian Rudolf Bultmann (1884–1976). Studies on
School of the History of Dogma.
Mandaeism by the philologist and Semitist Mark Lidzbarski
had a decisive influence on Bultmann in his interpretation
In a certain way prefigured by the studies of ancient syn-
of John’s Gospel: the passages where Jesus is considered a
cretism by Albrecht Dieterich, the pan-Egyptian theories of
heavenly messenger who has come down to bring revelation
M. A. Amelineau, and the pan-Babylonian theories of Wil-
to humanity had certain parallels in Mandaean literature. For
helm Anz and Konrad Kessler, the School of the History of
Bultmann the fourth Gospel represents the outcome of and
Religions put forward the theory that Gnosticism was a phe-
reaction to a pre-Christian myth deriving directly from a
nomenon that predated Christianity, and that so-called
Gnostic Mandaean milieu.
Christian gno¯sis represented merely a particular and at times
even marginal aspect of this. The work of Bousset, Hauptpro-
Harnack had defined Gnosticism as a phenomenon in-
bleme der Gnosis, is central to these hermeneutics. Despite the
volving the “acute Hellenization of Christianity” (Harnack,
critical review of Carsten Colpe, it is a text that is still of fun-
1893–1904). In stark contrast with this definition were the
damental importance to today. Bousset studied the various
claims of Bousset and Reitzenstein, according to whom
Gnostic motifs such as dualism, the myth of the descent of
Gnosticism was a pre-Christian religious movement of Irani-
the Savior, and the ascension to heaven and the figure of the
an/Mesopotamian origin. The controversy also involved the
Mother of Light, tracing their origins back in the form of Ira-
Iranist Hans H. Schaeder, at first a supporter of Reitzenstein
nian/Mesopotamian syncretism. Another very important
in the joint work Studien zum antiken Synkretismus (Leipzig,
scholar, classical philologist, and religious historian who con-
1926). A follower of the philosopher Oswald Spengler,
cerned himself with the origins of Gnosticism was Eduard
Schaeder went on to describe hermeneutics according to
Norden (1868–1941) in his work Agnostos Theos. Even if in
which Gnosticism is seen as a combination of elements that
this book the topic was not dealt with explicitly, Norden as-
were Greek in form but Eastern in content. This trend was
sumes the existence of a pre-Christian Gnosticism, basing
continued by Hans Leisegang in his work Die Gnosis, which
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GNOSTICISM: HISTORY OF STUDY
3533
confirmed the dual nature of the Gnostic phenomenon but
Christian origin of Gnosticism. As has been said, one of the
nonetheless stated its single origin, developed from the amal-
first and main exponents of this tendency was Friedländer
gamation of those two religious elements.
in his Der vorchristliche jüdische Gnosticismus. He insisted in
particular that there existed a popular religious feeling in the
The work of Hans Jonas (1903–1993), Gnosis und spä-
heart of Judaism, within which apocalyptic and subsequently
tantiker Geist, occupies an intermediate position. It is a work
Gnostic speculation emerged. In this hermeneutic vein, ac-
which is set out as the first genuine synthesis on the Gnostic
cording to the writings of Erik Peterson (1890–1960) and
problem. Jonas’s work uses two main interpretative sources:
Jean Daniélou (1905–1974), the first Gnostic writers should
the comparative material assembled by the Religionsgesch-
be sought in Jewish apocalyptic. Hans Joachim Schoeps of-
ichtliche Schule (in particular Bousset and Reizenstein), and
fers a similar interpretation, in which he stresses the presence
the existentialist theological hermeneutics of Bultmann
of a “Gnostic Judaism” in the writings of the Qumran com-
(which is in turn indebted to the philosophy of Martin Hei-
munity. Another scholar, Robert McLachalan Wilson, has
degger). For Jonas, the central kind of gno¯sis is “Syro-
noted the relationship between post-Christian Gnosticism
Egyptian,” as distinct from the “Iranian” sort: the first has
an emanative “de-evolutive” structure which finally produces
and the Judaism of the Diaspora in his book The Gnostic
a rebellious Demiurge; in the second there is an absolute du-
Problem (1958). His conclusions tend to define the Gnostic
alism of two principles, in which the cosmos arises from the
phenomenon as being strongly influenced by the religious
dismemberment of an original being (a typical Indo-Iranian
representations of post-Diaspora Judaism. In discussion of
motif). Jonas, however, as subsequently noted by Ioan Petru
the work of Wilson, a German scholar, Alfred Adam, has set
Culianu and Giovanni Casadio, omits to take into account
out evidence of the clear presence of Aramaic borrowings in
the so-called Triadic Gnostic Systems that are usually de-
the nomina numina of Gnostic mythology, a line of interpre-
fined as “Sethian,” in which there are three main principles
tation also pursued by the Coptic scholar Alexander Böhlig
involved: Light, the pneuma (spirit), and Darkness. Starting
(1912–1996). The works of the U.S. scholar Birger A. Pear-
from what he calls das Prinzip der Konstruktion, Jonas traces
son are also important with regard to the hypothesis concern-
in Syro-Egyptian gno¯sis, in addition to a large number of in-
ing Judaism. He has studied the Gnostic texts of Nag Ham-
fluences derived from hermetic and mystery writings, a new
madi for evidence of their possible sources and interpolations
factor, that of regarding the world (=kosmos) as an ontologi-
in Jewish writings.
cal evil from which it is necessary to be set free. From this
The most complete description of the existence of a gen-
point of view God is therefore the one who saves humans
uine Gnosticism at the heart of Jewish tradition is, however,
from the world. The relationship between God and the
by two scholars of exceptional talent: Gershom G. Scholem
world is developed in a cosmological and anthropological an-
(1897–1982) and Gilles Quispel (b. 1916). Scholem is re-
tithesis: if on the one hand God is the opposite of the world,
sponsible for the “discovery” of mystic Jewish gno¯sis, found
on the other hand the pneuma, which is hidden in the human
in the ecstatic vision of the merkavah, the “chariot” or
body, is opposed to the psyche and hyle (soul and matter).
“throne” on which God sits in Ezekiel 1:26. Analysis of
The earthly world has a totally autonomous beginning: it is
merkavah literature led Scholem to redefine the problem of
Darkness, a substance which is “real” only in contrast to its
Gnostic origins. First of all, these merkavah texts in many
opposite, Life, the shining pleroma (fullness). God and the
regards go back to orthodox Judaism and some are datable
world are absolutely incompatible. Such an idea is an absur-
to the beginning of the fourth century CE. With tremendous
dity to the Greek mind, and the anti-Gnostic Ennead of Plo-
erudition Scholem demonstrates that Gnostic documents
tinus is a confirmation of this. It is thus impossible to ascribe
considered “Christian” assume certain fundamental connec-
the origins of the Gnostic phenomenon to Platonic specula-
tions with the mysticism of the merkavah. Thus when Saint
tion. The Fathers of the Church were no less unresponsive
Paul describes his ascension into paradise, to the “third heav-
to this idea of denial of the world, and thus rejected the possi-
en,” he borrows words from Jewish mysticism; thus it is also
bility that the origin of Gnosticism should be found in the
probable that the visionary author of The Shepherd of Her-
heart of the Christian church. As regards the figure of the
mas, and Valentinus were aware of Jewish speculation on the
Demiurge, he should not be identified with the Devil: his
name of God; the documents of the Valentinian Gnosis, es-
portrayal comes both from Platonic doctrines and from Jew-
pecially the Excerpta ex Theodoto, reveal the influence of
ish beliefs on creation. For Jonas, the most distinctive form
teaching imparted in Jewish esoteric circles. For Scholem, in
of Gnostic dualism is the Syro-Egyptian emanative system,
the end, this mystic Gnosticism of the merkavah was not
in which the passage from the perfection of the world of light
outside the sphere of Halakhic tradition: it would eventually
to the disorder of the earthly world is marked by the hybris
develop motifs and attitudes already present in orthodox rab-
(arrogance) of an intermediate creature, Sophia. On the
binical teaching of the law, upon which apocalyptic eschatol-
other hand, according to Jonas, the Iranian kind of Gnosti-
ogy had exerted a marginal influence, expressing in the first
cism would represent an anticosmic adaptation of a preexist-
decades of the Christian era the restlessness and religious re-
ing, specifically Iranian dualism.
vival of a large part of the Jewish world. The coptologist and
JUDEO-CHRISTIAN ORIGINS. A large number of scholars
religious historian Gilles Quispel has a related viewpoint, but
eventually supported the theory of the Jewish or Judeo-
expresses it differently. “Gnosis minus Christentum ist Gno-
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

3534
GNOSTICISM: HISTORY OF STUDY
sis” (Quispel, 1951); with this assumption Quispel claims in-
by Ioan Petru Culianu (1950–1991), a Romanian scholar
dependence and originality for Gnosticism as regards the
linked to the school of Ugo Bianchi (1922–1995). According
philosophical and religious currents of Hellenistic and
to Culianu the origin of Gnostic nihilism can be found in
Roman syncretism. On the one hand, in line with the Jun-
the problem of the “Angels of the Nations”: in ancient Juda-
gian psychology of which Quispel is an adherent, gno¯sis is a
ism there existed a belief that every nation on earth had its
unique religious self-contained experience, namely a mythi-
own representative in the heavenly court, and the Jews ex-
cal projection involving the search for the true essence of the
pected direct political advantages because their heavenly rep-
human person (=the self); on the other hand, Quispel traces
resentative was God himself, or the archangel Michael, who
the origins of this original pattern of thinking to a specific
occupied the first place next to God. The fall of the Second
branch of Alexandrian Judaism. From this cultural milieu—
Temple in 70 CE profoundly altered this vision. As Rome had
more recently defined as “The Hermetic Lodge of Alexan-
conquered Palestine, and the occupation of the Holy Land
dria”—originated the thinking on the cosmos and on the
had begun to seem unending, this seemed to indicate only
human race found in the highly developed visions of Valen-
one thing: Samael, the angel of Rome, had replaced God or
tinus, if not directly those of Origen (185–254). Quispel is
Michael in the role of leader of the Angels of the Nations;
indebted, albeit indirectly, to the method of the Religions-
like the power of Rome itself, Samael was an evil angel, the
geschichtliche Schule; Giovanni Casadio has indeed noted
equivalent of Satan. To this hermeneutic hypothesis, Culi-
how the pan-Judaic hypothesis regarding the origin of Gnos-
anu added a precise, detailed phenomenology of Gnostic
ticism expressed by Quispel reflects the method and conclu-
myths, studied in a diachronic manner. In the work of Culi-
sions of the pan-Iranian hypothesis of Reitzenstein and his
anu the interlinking of Gnosticism and modern nihilist
followers: heterogeneous aims then!
thought is particularly important, a topic analyzed impartial-
In the wake of the works of Scholem and Quispel fol-
ly and sometimes relentlessly, which has had a significant ef-
lowed the researches of Guy Gedaliahu Stroumsa (Judaic and
fect on the work of the Italian philosopher and scholar
Gnostic origins of the Manichaean myths), Jarl Fossum (Sa-
Elémire Zolla (1926–2002).
maritan origins of Gnostic myths), and Nathaniel Deutsch.
GREEK PLATONIC ORIGINS. In its theoretical layout the
Deutsch in particular took up the ideas of Scholem on the
work of Culianu is certainly indebted to the research of an-
mysticism of the merkavah, going into more detail on the
other significant Italian scholar, Ugo Bianchi, who was re-
subject as regards the mythological description in the Man-
sponsible for organizing the important Congress of Messina
daean Gnostic texts. J. C. Reeves studied the Jewish Gnostic
in 1966 on the origin of Gnosticism. An ardent supporter
contributions as the basis of Manichaean texts such as The
of the Orphic and Platonic origins of the key themes of
Book of Giants, arriving at an original definition of Syrian-
Gnosticism, Bianchi further maintained that Gnostic my-
Mesopotamian gno¯sis in which elements drawn from Iranian
thology reabsorbed and redeveloped archaic material, which
tradition also converged.
can be identified by ethnological and folkloric research. To
According to the study of the patrologist Robert M.
this last aspect of the question, he dedicated a specific volume
Grant, Gnosticism and Early Christianity, Gnosticism origi-
(Il dualismo religioso), an important work which laid bare the
nated from the remains of the apocalyptic eschatological ex-
analogies and possible relationships between Gnostic myths
pectations after the fall of Jerusalem. The hope that the king-
and the sphere of religious ethnography. The hypothesis of
dom of YHWH would come to pass on earth had guided and
a purely Greek Platonic origin of Gnostic theodicy is also
sustained the people of Israel. From the Maccabean revolt
present in the works of Simone Pétrement, a French scholar
to the fall of Jerusalem in 70
and follower of the philosopher Simone Weil. Pétrement,
CE, to the extreme revolt of Bar
Kosebah under Hadrian, a bloody chain of events left a deep
following at times slavishly in the footsteps of Harnack,
mark on the destiny of the “people of YHWH.” The failure
maintains that Gnosticism is a phenomenon involving the
of the eschatological hope to be fulfilled on earth thus signi-
Hellenization of Christianity, in which religious elements
fied the outbreak of a tremendous spiritual crisis, which led
give rise to a political theology of rebellion against every kind
to the appearance of new religious forms. From the belief
of social oppression; this is a hermeneutic concept that is def-
that the God of this world has not managed to fulfill the
initely borrowed from the Marxist ideology of Weil. Consid-
hopes of his people comes rejection of the world, which, to-
eration of social and political themes is also found in the re-
gether with eschatological dualism, are the characteristic fea-
search of the American scholar Elaine Pagels, who has made
tures of Gnosticism. The outer fringes of Judaism (e.g., the
particular study of the balance of power as the basis of the
Essene community of Qumran, the Jewish circles influenced
contradiction between Gnostic thought and the church
by the Iranian/Chaldaean “theology” of the “Hellenized
hierarchy. On the relations between the origins of Christiani-
Magi,” the Judaism of the Diaspora in direct contact with
ty and Gnosticism, the works of Manlio Simonetti (b. 1926)
the Aramaic Syro-Mesopotamian world) provided the mate-
and Christoph Markschies (b. 1962) should also be con-
rials which were united in the synthesis of the great Gnostic
sidered.
masters of the second century CE.
A German religious historian, Carsten Colpe (b. 1929),
A hermeneutic work, which is somewhat similar to
in a famous early work critically revisited the ideas of the Re-
Grant’s but which draws rather puzzling conclusions, is that
ligionsgeschichtliche Schule, demonstrating that many 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

GNOSTICISM: HISTORY OF STUDY
3535
hypotheses proposed by Reitzenstein were without founda-
of academic reviews) with parallel texts in Coptic. Mention
tion. Over the years Colpe has produced a series of funda-
should also be made of the pioneering works of Puech, Quis-
mental analyses that aim to untangle the various syncretic el-
pel, Pahor Labib, Walter Till, Guillaumont, Jan Zandee,
ements that are intertwined in the original Gnostic texts.
Soren Giversen, Rudolf Kasser, Hans-Martin Schenke, Mar-
Despite Colpe’s criticisms, the Iranist interpretation of the
tin Krause, and Bentley Layton. Recently a critical edition
Gnostic phenomenon has been articulately expounded in the
and translation of the Gnostic texts of Nag Hammadi has
work of another historian of religions, the Swedish scholar
been completed by a group of international scholars led by
Geo Widengren (1907–1996). Widengren has improved
James M. Robinson, who is in charge of the Coptic Gnostic
upon the research of his predecessors, identifying the origin
Library Project of the Institute for Antiquity and Christiani-
of Gnosticism in a particular esoteric and philosophical ten-
ty of Claremont (California). A series of predominantly but
dency in the Mazdean religion Zurvanism. According to Wi-
not exclusively French-speaking scholars (Jacques É. Mé-
dengren, such wisdom traditions, along with the ideas of the
nard, Bernard Barc, Paul-Hubert Poirier, Michel Roberge,
Aramaic Mesopotamian world, gave rise to the gno¯sis of the
Louis Painchaud, Wolf-Peter Funk, Jean-Marie Sevrin,
Mandaeans and consequently in a whole series of documents
Einar Thomassen, John Turner, and others) at the Universi-
ascribed to what he has defined as “Parthian gnosis.” The hy-
ty of Laval in Quebec in Canada are working on a French
brid production based on Iranian and Mesopotamian mate-
translation with critical text, equipped with monumental
rials in the context of the kingdom of Parthia is further at
theological historical commentary on all the Nag Hammadi
the root of a complex syncretism that runs through apocalyp-
texts.
tic texts such as The Book of Enoch or more typical Qumran
texts such as The War Rule, examples of an intertestamental
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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fascinating work of the Religionsgeschichtliche Schule have
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found support in the work of the Italian Gherardo Gnoli (b.
ten Jahrhunderte. Tübingen, Germany, 1853, 1860.
1937), a scholar who has forcefully pointed out the Iranian
Bianchi, Ugo. Il dualismo religioso. Rome, 1958.
roots of the Gnostic phenomenon. In Gnoli we also find
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l’histoire des religions.” Numen 12 (1965): 161–178.
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Böhlig, Alexander. Gnosis und Synkretismus. Tübingen, Germany,
cited has been made by the German Kurt Rudolph (b. 1929),
1989.
who as well as stressing the Hellenistic Greek and Judaic Ara-
Bousset, Johann Franz Wilhelm. Hauptprobleme der Gnosis. Göt-
maic substratum of the origins of Gnosticism also empha-
tingen, Germany, 1907.
sizes the presence of Iranian material.
Bultmann, Rudolf. “Die Bedeutung der neuerschlossenen man-
NAG HAMMADI. The discovery in the 1940s at Nag Ham-
däischen und manichäischen Quellen für das Verstondnis
madi, ancient Chenoboskion, of an entire library of Gnostic
des Johannesevangelium.” Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche
texts written in Coptic has given a new impetus to studies
Wissenschaft 24 (1925): 100–146.
concerning the origins of Gnosticism. This literary corpus
Bultmann, Rudolf. Das Evangelium des Johannes. Göttingen, Ger-
was discovered by Jean Doresse, a Coptologist whose fame
many, 1941.
has been eclipsed by that of Henri-Charles Puech (1902–
Casadio, Giovanni. “Donna e simboli femminili nella gnosi del
1986). Puech was responsible for an outstanding series of
II secolo.” In La donna nel pensiero cristiano antico, edited by
works on Gnostic phenomenology; mention should be made
U. Mattioli, pp. 305–306. Genoa, Italy, 1992.
of his work La gnose et le temps, which was inspired by the
Casadio, Giovanni, ed. Ugo Bianchi. Una vita per la storia delle re-
Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961) and
ligioni. Rome, 2002.
dealt with the correspondence between the conceptions of
Colpe, Carsten. Die religionsgeschichtliche Schule. Darstellung und
space and time in Gnostic demiurgy. The school on Gnosti-
Kritik ihres Bildes vom gnostischen Erlösermythus. Göttingen,
cism and dualism begun by Puech has been continued in the
Germany, 1961.
work of his pupil Michel Tardieu, a keen supporter of hi-
Culianu, Ioan Petru. Gnosticismo e pensiero moderno: Hans Jonas.
storicophilological method but also the first to use the ap-
Rome, 1985.
proach of structural anthropology in interpreting the Gnos-
Culianu, Ioan Petru. I miti dei dualismi occidentali: dai sistemi
tic myths. We should also recall in the same context the work
gnostici al mondo moderno. Milan, 1989.
of Antoine Guillaumont on Semitic expressions in the Gnos-
Culianu, Ioan Petru. The Tree of Gnosis. San Francisco, 1992.
tic texts.
Daniélou, Jean. Théologie du Judéo-Christianisme. Tournai, Bel-
The disputes and controversies involving the rediscov-
gium, 1958.
ery and publication of the Coptic corpus of Nag Hammadi
De Faye, Eugène. Gnostiques et gnosticisme. 2d edition. Paris,
have resulted in a large number of editions and versions of
1925.
the Gnostic tracts. Between the 1950s and the 1970s various
Deutsch, Nathaniel. The Gnostic Imagination: Gnosticism, Man-
translations were circulated (published mainly in the pages
daeism, and Merkabah Mysticism. New York, 1995.
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3536
GNOSTICISM: HISTORY OF STUDY
Drijvers, Han J. W. “The Origins of Gnosticism as a Religious
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Fossum, Jarl. The Name of God and the Angel of the Lord. Tübing-
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Friedländer, Moritz. Der vorchristliche jüdische Gnosticismus. Göt-
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Michelini Tocci, Franco. “Review of G. Scholem, Jewish Gnosti-
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Gnoli, Gherardo. “La gnosi iranica: per una impostazione nuova
Nock, Arthur Darby. “Rev. of H. Jonas, Gnosis und spätantiker
del problema.” In Le Origini dello Gnosticismo: Colloquio di
Geist I.” Gnomon (1936): 605–612.
Messina, edited by Ugo Bianchi, pp. 281–290. Leiden, 1967.
Norden, Eduard. Agnostos Theos. Leipzig, Germany, 1913.
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Pagels, Elaine. The Gnostic Gospels. New York, 1979.
Gnoli, Gherardo. “Universalismo e nazonalismo nell’Iran del III
Pearson, Birger A. Gnosticism, Judaism and Egyptian Christianity.
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Minneapolis, 1990.
dC, edited by L. Lanciotti, pp. 31–54. Florence, 1984.
Peterson, Erik. Frühkirche, Judentum und Gnosis. Freiburg, Ger-
Gnoli, Gherardo. “L’evolution du dualisme iranien et le problème
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Pétrement, Simone. Le Dieu séparé. Les origins du gnosticisme.
115–118.
Paris, 1984.
Gnoli, Gherardo. De Zoroastre à Mani. Paris, 1985.
Pokorny´, Peter. “Der Ursprung der Gnosis.” Kairos 9 (1967):
Graetz, Heinrich. Gnostizismus und Judentum. Krotoschin, Ger-
94–105.
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Puech, Henri-Charles. La gnose et le temps. Paris, 1978.
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Quispel, Gilles. Gnosis als Weltreligion. Zurich, 1951.
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Quispel, Gilles. “Rev. of K. Rudolph (ed.), Gnosis und Gnostizis-
Guillaumont, Antoine. “Sémitisme dans les logia de Jesus retrou-
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113–123.
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Haardt, Robert. “Bemerkungen zu den Methoden der Ursprungs-
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bestimmung von Gnosis.” In Le Origini dello Gnosticismo.
Colloquio di Messina, edited by Ugo Bianchi, pp. 161–173.
Reitzenstein, Richard. Poimandres. Leipzig, Germany, 1904.
Leiden, 1967.
Reitzenstein, Richard. Die hellenistischen Mysterienreligionen,
Harnack, Adolf von. Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur bis Eu-
Leipzig, Germany, 1910.
sebius. 3 vols. Leipzig, Germany, 1893–1904.
Reitzenstein, Richard. Das iranische Erlösungsmysterium. Bonn,
Hippolytus. Werke, III: Elenchos = Refutatio omnium haeresium,
Germany, 1921.
edited by Paul Wendland. Leipzig, Germany, 1916.
Reitzenstein, Richard, and Hans H. Schaeder. Studien zum an-
Hippolytus. Refutatio omnium haeresium, edited by Miroslav Mar-
tiken Synkretismus. Leipzig, Germany, 1926.
covich. Berlin and New York, 1986.
Ries, Julien. Les études gnostiques hier et aujourd’hui. Louvain-la-
Horn, J. Über die biblische Gnosis. Hanover, Germany, 1805.
Neue, Belgium, 1982.
Joel, Manuel. Blicke in die Religionsgeschichte zu Anfang des zweiten
Rollmann, Hans. “Gno¯sis and Logos: The Contribution of Kurt
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Rudolph to the Scholarly Study of Religions.” Religious
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Jonas, Hans. Gnosis und spätantiker Geist. Gottingen, Germany,
Rudolph, Kurt. “Gnosis und Gnostizismus, ein Forschung-
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pp. 1–15. Stockholm, 1977.
113–152.
Koester, Helmut. “The History-of-Religion School, Gnosis, and
Rudolph, Kurt, ed. Gnosis und Gnostizismus. Darmstadt, Germa-
Gospel of John.” Studia Theologica 40 (1986): 115–136.
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Leisegang, Hans. Die Gnosis. Leipzig, Germany, 1924.
Schoeps, Hans Joachim. Auf frühchristlicher Zeit. Tübingen, Ger-
Lewald, Ernest Anton. Commentatio ad historiam religionum
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veterum illustrandam pertinens de doctrina gnostica. Heidel-
Scholem, Gershom G. Jewish Gnosticism, Merkabah Mysticism,
berg, Germany, 1818.
and Talmudic Tradition. New York, 1960.
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GOD: GOD IN THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES
3537
Scholer, David Martin. Nag Hammadi Bibliography 1948–1969.
tian religion, Mithraism, Greek religion, Christianity, and
Leiden, 1971.
Hinduism. In hierology, his most notable work was La mi-
Scholer, David Martin. Nag Hammadi Bibliography 1970–1994.
gration des symboles (1891), in which he studied the forms,
Leiden, 1997.
meanings, and migrations of such religious symbols as the
Simonetti, Manlio. Ortodossia ed Edesia tra I e II secolo. Messina,
swastika, the sacred tree, and the winged disk. The winged
Italy, 1994.
disk, for instance, originated in Egypt as a symbol of the sun
Stroumsa, Gedaliahu. Another Seed: Studies in Gnostic Mythology.
and was adopted by the Syrians, the Hittites, the Assyrians,
Leiden, 1984.
and the Persians, with additions and transformations in both
form and meaning. In hierosophy Goblet d’Alviella studied
Tardieu, Michel. Trois mythes gnostiques. Paris, 1974.
Rationalist churches, the belief in immortality, the Buddhist
Van den Broek, Roelof. “The Present State of Gnostic Studies.”
catechism, progress, syncretism, and the crisis of religion.
Vigiliae Christianae 37 (1983): 41–71.
Weiss, H.-F. “Einige Randbemerkungen zum Problem des Ver-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
hältnisses von ‘Judentum’ und ‘Gno¯sis.’” Orientalische Lite-
A large number of Goblet d’Alviella’s articles are reprinted in book
rarturzeitung 64 (1969): 550–551.
form under the title Croyances, rites, institutions, 3 vols.
Widengren, Geo. Iranisch-semitische Kulturbegegnung in parthis-
(Paris, 1911). Three of his works exist in English translation:
cher Zeit. Cologne, 1960.
Contemporary Evolution of Religious Thought in England,
America, and India (New York, 1886); The Migration of Sym-
Widengren, Geo. Fenomenologia della religione. Bologna, 1984.
bols (London, 1894); and his Hibbert Lectures of 1891, Lec-
Translated as Phenomenology of Religion.
tures on the Origin and Growth of the Conception of God as
Williams, Michael Allen. Rethinking “Gnosticism.” An Argument
Illustrated by Anthropology and History (London, 1892). A
for Dismantling a Dubious Category. Princeton, N.J., 1996.
good summary of Goblet d’Alviella’s work can be found in
In a postmodern vein he considers Gnosticism a modern
the article by Julien Ries in the Dictionnaire des religions
construct, not justified by any ancient self-definition.
(Paris, 1984).
Wilson, Robert McLachalan. The Gnostic Problem. London, 1958.
New Sources
Yamauchi, Edwin Martin. Pre-Christian Gnosticism. A Survey of
Dierkens, Alain, ed. Eugene Goblet d’Alviella, Historien et Franc-
the Proposed Evidences. Grand Rapids, Mich., 1983.
Maçon. Brussels, 1995.
Mollier, Pierre. “La Réécriture du Grade Maçonnique de Cheva-
EZIO ALBRILE (2005)
lier du Soleil par Eugène Goblet d’Alviella: Sources, Enjeux
Translated from Italian by Paul Ellis
et Sens.” In Eugene Goblet d’Alviella, Historien et Franc-
Maçon. Brussels, 1995.
JACQUES DUCHESNE-GUILLEMIN (1987)
GOATS SEE SHEEP AND GOATS
Revised Bibliography
GOBLET D’ALVIELLA, EUGÈNE (1846–1925),
GOD
This entry consists of the following articles:
was a Belgian historian of religions, jurist, politician, and
GOD IN THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES
grand master of Freemasonry (which means, in Belgium, that
GOD IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
one is anticlerical). Count Goblet d’Alviella was the first pro-
GOD IN POSTBIBLICAL JUDAISM
fessor of history of religions at the Université Libre (i.e., “free
GOD IN POSTBIBLICAL CHRISTIANITY
thinking”) of Brussels, of which he was rector from 1896 to
GOD IN ISLAM
AFRICAN SUPREME BEINGS
1898. He was militant as a freethinker in trying to have the
teaching of religion in schools replaced by that of the science
of religion.
GOD: GOD IN THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES
The God of Israel is the major character in the Hebrew scrip-
Goblet d’Alviella divided the study of religions into
tures. Although he is not mentioned in the Book of Esther or
three disciplines: “hierography,” “hierology,” and “hieroso-
in the Song of Songs, God appears in all the remaining twen-
phy.” Hierography describes the development of each of the
ty-two books of the Hebrew Bible. Within these books God
known religions. Hierology, by comparing religions, tries to
is depicted as creator, provider, and lawgiver. Most of the
formulate laws of evolution of religious phenomena; it thus
writers assume that he is just, that he has a special relation
“makes up for the paucity of information, in any given race
with the people of Israel, and that he hearkens to prayer. But
or society, about the history of a belief or an institution, by
because the Bible is not a systematic theological treatise and
appealing to the environment or period.” Hierology is purely
because not all internal contradictions were removed by its
factual, while hierosophy is a philosophical attempt at classi-
editors, we find major disagreements among the writers
fying the various conceptions of humanity’s relations with
about the crucial elements of Israelite faith, including con-
“superhuman beings.”
cepts of God.
Although lacking special philological training, Goblet
BIBLICAL TERMINOLOGY OF THE DIVINE. The proper name
d’Alviella studied, in hierography, various domains: Egyp-
of the God whose exclusive worship is demanded by the bib-
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3538
GOD: GOD IN THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES
lical authors is written consonantally as YHVH. This tetra-
Related etymologically to elohim is the shorter form
grammaton, attested more than 6,600 times in the Bible, also
eloah, construed solely as a grammatical singular. Most of its
occurs on the Moabite Stone (ninth century BCE) and in sev-
occurrences are in the later books of the Hebrew scriptures,
eral ancient Hebrew letters and inscriptions. Vocalized bibli-
although it is found also in the archaic poem in Deuteronomy
cal texts do not preserve the actual pronunciation of YHVH.
(32:15, 32:17). The word occurs almost exclusively in poetry
Instead, they direct the reader to pronounce the divine name
and never with the definite article. With the exception of two
as though it were the frequent epithet adonai, meaning
passages in Daniel (11:38–39), eloah, in contrast to elohim,
“lord.” (It was the misunderstanding of this scribal conven-
does not refer to foreign divinities but has the virtual status
tion that gave rise to the English form Jehovah.) The original
of a proper name for the God of Israel.
pronunciation of YHVH is generally reconstructed as “Yah-
veh” or “Yahweh,” on the basis of early Greek transcriptions.
Another important scriptural designation of divinity is
A shorter form, YH, generally considered secondary, is found
el, whose function corresponds generally to that of elohim.
24 times in the Hebrew scriptures. In proper names, the
The word has numerous cognates in the classical Semitic lan-
theophoric element is never written as -yhvh but as -yh or
guages and is attested some 230 times in the Hebrew scrip-
-yhv.
tures in the singular as well as the plural, elim. Like Elohim,
El can substitute for Yahveh as a proper name for the God
The name YHVH occurs frequently in the compound
of Israel, its most common use (Nm. 12:13, 23:8, 23:19; Is.
yhvh tsv’t (yahveh tseva’ot). Usually translated as “lord of
8:8, 8:10). The Hebrew word el can take the definite article
hosts,” its exact significance is uncertain. Most likely it
and appear as ha-’el, “the god” (Gn. 46:3, Ps. 85:9). It can
means either “creator of the [heavenly] hosts” or “Yahveh is
also refer to pagan deities in such forms as el zar (“strange
the [armed] host of Israel.” YHVH is also sometimes com-
god”; Ps. 44:21, 81:10), el ah:er (“other god”; Ex. 34:14), and
bined with elohim, the most common generic word for
el nek-har (“foreign god”; Mal. 2:11, Ps. 81:10).
“god,” in the form Yahveh Elohim. The term elohim appears
some 2,600 times in the Hebrew scriptures, and, although
Unlike elohim, el has clear antecedents in older Semitic
in form the word is plural, it is often construed with a singu-
languages. Early documents from Ebla (modern-day Tel
lar verb. Most commonly, Elohim refers to the God of Israel
Mardikh) in central Syria and from Mesopotamia show that
and is thus synonymous with or interchangeable with Yah-
the closely related ilu was used in Akkadian for “god” as well
veh. Certain writers, in particular the author of the so-called
as for the proper name of a high god. Chronologically closer
Elohist source of the Pentateuch and the composers of cer-
to first-millennium Israel are the texts from Ugarit in north-
tain Psalms, preferred Elohim to Yahveh as the proper name
ern Syria, which employ el for “god” in general and also for
of the God of Israel.
the head of the Canaanite pantheon. El was known for wis-
Even when Elohim refers to the God of Israel, it can be
dom and beneficence as well as for his exploits with sex and
treated as a plural (Gn. 20:13). Most frequently, however,
alcohol. He was a healer and creator god who was sometimes
the plural references are to gods whose worship by Israelites
depicted as a bull. Some biblical passages that mention el
is condemned by the biblical authors. These are referred to
refer to this god (Is. 14:13, Ez. 28:2, Hos. 12:6).
as elohim ah:erim (“other gods”; Ex. 20:3, Dt. 5:7) and elohim
Because the Yahveh cult appropriated the name of El to
h:adashim (“new gods”; Jgs. 5:8). Similar are expressions in
its own object of worship, we cannot always tell whether an
which the plural construction is employed. Examples are elo-
el reference in a biblical text is to the Canaanite El, to Yah-
hei ha-nekhar (“foreign gods”; Gn. 35:2, Jos. 24:20) and elo-
veh, to a blend of both, or to another divinity entirely.
hei nekhar ha-arets (“foreign gods of the land”; Dt. 31:16).
Among the problematic occurrences is el ro’i, “the god who
It must be noted that the Hebrew writers employ the singular
sees me” or “El who sees me” (Gn. 16:13). The name El Bet-
sense of elohim even when illicit divinities such as Astarte,
’El (Gn. 31:13) is even more problematic, because a divinity
Milcom, and Chemosh are meant (1 Kgs. 11:5, 11:33).
named Beth’el, doubtless the hypostasis of a shrine, was wor-
Because elohim is antithetical to anashim (“people”; see
shiped in Samaria in the eighth century (Hos. 10:15, 12:5),
Jgs. 9:13), it can include gradations between the two catego-
in Tyre in the seventh century, and at Elephantine in Egypt
ries of divinity and humanity. Among these are ghosts (1 Sm.
in the fifth century. Similar difficulties attend the proper un-
28:13, Is. 8:19) and minor divinities (Gn. 32:29, 48:15–16).
derstanding of el shaddai (Gn. 17:1, 28:3; Ex. 6:3), which oc-
The term can also serve in adjectival expressions of might,
curs as well in the form shaddai (Nm. 24:4, 24:16; Ez. 1:24;
power, and the like. Among such examples are ruah elohim
Jb., passim). Earlier attempts to connect El Shaddai with the
(“mighty wind”; Gn. 1:2), nesi’ elohim (“great prince”; Gn.
Amorite Bel Shade (“lord of the mountains”) have been dis-
23:6), naftulei elohim (“violent struggles”; Gn. 30:8), h:ittat
proved. Recently published texts in Aramaic from Deir ’Alla
elohim (“terror”; Gn. 35:5), h:erdat elohim (“panic”; 1 Sm.
in Jordan refer to shaddayin—divinities. Whether this dis-
14:15), kis’akha elohim (“your eternal throne”; Ps. 45:7), and
covery will shed some light on the biblical el shaddai remains
har elohim (“majestic mountain”; Ps. 68:16). In addition, elo-
to be seen. There has been a great deal of scholarly discussion
him can mean “happenstance,” as in etsba’elohim (Ex. 8:15),
of the name El ’Elyon (Gn. 14:18; Ps. 78:35). It is uncertain
and, frequently approximates “nature” in the late book Eccle-
whether the name should be rendered “God most high” or
siastes.
“El most high” and whether the name itself is a blend of two
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originally distinct non-Israelite divinities. Finally, a divinity
who seem to have disregarded for centuries what is in retro-
named El Berit had a temple at Shechem (modern-day Nab-
spect said to have been their official religion. The German
lus). The name might be translated as “god of the covenant”
scholar Julius Wellhausen ([1885] 1957) argued that the of-
or “El of the covenant.”
ficial religion of Israel had been originally polytheistic and
B
that Yahveh had been a national god to whom every Israelite
IBLICAL VIEW OF THE ORIGINS OF THE WORSHIP OF
YHVH. The original meaning of the name YHVH is un-
owed allegiance. In this respect, Yahveh did not differ from
known to modern scholars. Only one biblical writer, the au-
the Moabite god Chemosh or the Assyrian Ashur. The Bible
thor of Exodus 3:14, attempted an explanation, by relating
notes time and time again that Israelites worshiped other
the name to the verb hayah (“be, exist”): “and YHVH said
gods alongside Yahveh. According to Wellhausen, no one
. . . say unto the children of Israel: ‘I am’ hath sent me unto
viewed this as problematic until the rise of classical prophecy
you.”
in the eighth century BCE. Yahveh, proclaimed the prophets,
would punish unethical behavior on Israel’s part by bringing
The biblical writers differ among themselves as to when
foreigners against them. In order to make this threat credible,
the worship of Yahveh originated. According to Genesis 4,
Yahveh had to grow in power at the expense of all other
Eve knew God by the name Yahveh, and her two sons, Cain
divinities.
and Abel, brought him sacrifices. Verse 26 of that same chap-
ter tells us that in the days of Enosh (Hebrew for “person”),
Only with the fall of Judah (in 587/6 BCE), in Well-
grandson of Adam, the name Yahveh began to be invoked.
hausen’s analysis, did the contrite Jewish masses begin to ac-
In other words, God was worshiped as soon as there was a
cept that the prophets had been right. The dispersion of Yah-
human community. In contrast, the author of Exodus 6,
veh’s people all over the world proved that Yahveh was a
commonly identified as the Priestly writer (or the P source)
universal God and, finally, the sole God in existence. The
denies that Israel’s ancestors knew God by this name (Ex.
exilic prophet “Second Isaiah” was the most articulate repre-
6:3). Instead, he asserts that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob knew
sentative of this thoroughgoing monotheism. Under the in-
their God as El Shaddai and that the name Yahveh was only
fluence of his and similar teachings, the bulk of the Penta-
first revealed to Moses. Though most scholars regard the P
teuch was composed, and the early prophetic and historical
source as one of the latest documents, there is something to
writings were reshaped. In other words, what the Hebrew
be said here for its reliability. It is unlikely that the writer
scriptures present is largely retrojection of monotheistic be-
would have originated the claim that the ancestors did not
liefs of the exilic and postexilic periods onto true early Israel-
know the proper name of the ancestral god. At the same
ite religion.
time, the writer might have wished simply to glorify Moses.
In contrast to Wellhausen, other scholars, such as Wil-
Extrabiblical data have not resolved the question of the
liam F. Albright (1957) and, especially, Yeh:ezkel Kaufmann
origin of Yahveh worship. Similarities in the cultures and
(1970), argued that monotheism was Mosaic in origin and
languages of first-millennium Israel and third-millennium
was Israel’s official religion. These scholars generally accept
Ebla, as well as second-millennium Mari, have led some
the Bible’s judgment that much of Israelite attention to other
scholars to interpret elements of personal names in texts ema-
gods was sinful. Kaufmann, however, departs from this con-
nating from these areas as references to Yahveh. These inter-
sensus. He argues that the prophets, in condemning Israelite
pretations have not won general acceptance. The same holds
idolatry, were in fact polemicizing against vestigial fetishism.
for the fragmentary mention of a god called Yv at late sec-
The fact that their opposition was more often directed
ond-millennium Ugarit. Perhaps the most promising clue
against “idolatry,” the worship of “wood and stone,” rather
comes from a location named Yhv’ in the Negev or the Sinai
than against real gods was for Kaufmann highly significant.
desert mentioned in Egyptian sources from the thirteenth
According to his theory, the monotheistic revolution fo-
and fourteenth centuries BCE. These references lend some
mented by Moses had so thoroughly eradicated polytheism
support to the Midianite or Kenite hypothesis that makes
from Israel that most Israelites no longer understood the
much of the biblical traditions that Yahveh revealed himself
myth, ritual, and magic practiced by their pagan neighbors.
to Moses in Midianite territory (Ex. 3) and that the father-in-
Aside from some government-sponsored or -tolerated excep-
law of Moses was a Midianite priest (Ex. 2) who taught
tions, the Israelites were never guilty of more than leftover
Moses how to administer divine law (Ex. 18).
superstition. To the zealous prophets, however, these venial
sins warranted Yahveh’s harshest punishments. The correct-
THE HISTORICAL PROBLEM OF ISRAELITE MONOTHEISM.
ness of the prophetic position was demonstrated, at least to
Scholars are in agreement that Judaism was a monotheistic
the prophets, by Israel’s political defeats.
religion by the end of the Babylonian exile (c. 539 BCE).
Most also agree that Jewish monotheism was greatly encour-
Israelite monolatry. We have seen that the biblical
aged by the preachings of the preexilic prophets. The He-
writers (as well as modern scholars) disagree about the period
brew scriptures in their present form are colored by the belief
in which the explicit worship of the one God began. There
that Yahveh was the sole legitimate object of Israelite worship
is no disagreement, however, that the Bible requires that the
from earliest times. In consequence, the biblical depiction of
people Israel serve God exclusively. Various early formula-
Yahveh worship presents the unusual situation of a people
tions of God’s demand for exclusive worship connect it with
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GOD: GOD IN THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES
the exodus from Egypt, an event that, if exaggerated in mag-
by Yahveh to his people was also described by the metaphor
nitude, clearly has some historical basis (Ex. 20:2–3, Hos.
of berit, or “covenant,” and was modeled after the interna-
13:4, Ps. 81:10–11). According to the Pentateuch, a cove-
tional treaty formulas of the second millennium BCE. In Isra-
nant (berit) between God and Israel was concluded through
elite theory, all the land belonged to Yahveh, who assigned
the mediation of Moses at the mountain variously called
it to his people in terms similar to those found in Hittite su-
“Sinai,” “Horeb,” and “the mountain of God.” This cove-
zerainty treaties, in which the “great king” demanded sole al-
nant bound Israel to Yahveh’s exclusive service and carried
legiance from his clients. In its religious adaptation, the cove-
with it the obligations that were understood as the Law. (Ex.
nant notion meant that Israel was to serve Yahveh alone. The
19–24, 34; Dt. 5). An additional covenant to the same effect
Hittite kings demanded exclusive allegiance because they
was made in the plains of Moab (Dt. 29–30). Joshua 24 de-
knew that their clients might turn to other kings. Yahveh’s
scribes how Joshua caused his people to conclude a covenant
representatives, who acknowledged the existence of other
for God’s exclusive worship at Shechem (without reference
gods with whom one might be tempted to make a similar
to any Mosaic precedent). None of these covenant traditions
covenant (Ex. 23:32), demanded analogous exclusive alle-
insists that Yahveh is the sole god in existence, yet each main-
giance. In addition, the covenant with Yahveh served as the
tains that Israel is bound to serve him alone.
theological expression of the mundane political union be-
Some of the early prophets, such as Amos and Isaiah,
tween the Canaanite natives and the outsiders who together
do not employ the covenant theme explicitly, but they like-
made up Israel, a process described in Joshua 24. It may be
wise insist on Yahveh’s demand to be worshiped by Israel to
noted that the setting of this chapter is Shechem, the scene
the exclusion of all other gods. That demand is best described
of successful and unsuccessful coalitions with Canaanites (see
as monolatry, a form of worship in which only one god is
Gn. 34 and Jgs. 8–9).
served but the existence of others is not denied. Monolatrous
God in covenant and history. Because it had emerged
worship is, in theory, compatible with polytheism.
in historical circumstances, the covenant metaphor imparted
Monolatry was not unknown in the ancient Near East.
to the Israelite cult a far greater concern with “history” than
In the fourteenth century BCE, Akhenaten, King of Egypt,
was found in the other cults of the ancient Near East. The
had inaugurated a solar monolatry in which the royal family
“triumphs of Yahveh” (Jgs. 5:11), as they are called in the an-
worshiped the Aton, the sun disk, to the exclusion of Egypt’s
cient Song of Deborah, were more focused on human life
traditional gods. Mesopotamian mythology describes the
than were Baal’s victories over death and aridity. It is not that
temporary worship of a single god in an emergency. In addi-
the gods of the other nations were not concerned with histo-
tion, ancient Near Eastern prayer literature regularly em-
ry nor that Yahveh was not concerned with nature. Rather,
ployed monolatrous language. A worshiper would approach
the degree of emphasis was markedly different in Israel in
various gods in turn with the declaration that each one was
that Israelite writers were more likely to produce tales of Yah-
the only proper object of worship. Sometimes the suppliant
veh’s political triumphs than to produce tales of his cosmic
went as far as saying that the other gods were no more than
ones.
attributes or bodily limbs of the god addressed. Undoubtedly
at the moment of utterance, these pious statements were
The relative space given in the Bible to God’s “mythi-
meant sincerely, although their intent was not to invalidate
cal” and “historical” deeds is very instructive. Several poetic
the worship of other gods.
passages refer to divine combat with a sea monster in which
Yahveh vanquishes his foes in the manner of the Babylonian
Yet the fact that monolatry was found outside of Israel
Marduk, the Canaanite Baal, and the Hittite Iluyankas (Is.
does not explain why it was deemed so important in Israel.
27:1, 30:7, 51:9–10; Hb. 3:8; Ps. 74:13–14, 89:10–11,
The books of the Bible agree that Israel’s tenure in its own
93:1–4; Jb. 26:10–14). The first eleven chapters of Genesis
land depended on the exclusive worship of Yahveh. In spite
contain accounts of God’s creation of the world by fiat in
of Yahveh’s reminders tendered by his servants the prophets,
the manner of the Egyptian Ptah, the expulsion of Adam and
the people insisted on worshiping other gods (2 Kgs. 17:7–
Eve from Eden, the descent of the ancient heroes from the
23, Jer. 25:3–11), with whom they were supposed to have
fallen divinities, and the great flood. Most of the biblical text,
no relation (Ex. 23:32; Jer. 7:9). The fall of Samaria in 720
however, concentrates on God’s relation to humanity and,
BCE and the fall of Judah in 587/6 BCE were caused, accord-
especially, to Israel. The Bible is unique among the preserved
ing to the biblical writers, by failure to adhere to the cove-
literature of the ancient Near East in the extent to which a
nant with Yahveh.
god is involved in human institutions. Thus although there
The covenant, it must be understood, was integral to the
are references to ritual instructions in Egyptian divine books
very identity of the Israelites as a political entity. It was the
and Mesopotamian accounts of the divine revelation of exor-
god Yahveh who was credited with bringing out from Egypt
cisms and incantations, these are the exception. The well-
those descendants of Egyptian slaves and native dissidents
known Code of Hammurabi of Babylon (1792–1750 BCE)
who were to constitute the people Israel. Through Yahveh,
contains numerous parallels to biblical law, but it is the
this new group was to acquire its own land, independent of
king, and not the god of justice, who claims credit for its
the Egypto-Canaanite political system. This granting of land
composition.
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The Bible claims divine jurisdiction over all areas of life
nipotent. The writer of Ecclesiastes answered that injustice
in a more thorough and consistent manner than do all other
was built into the system that God had set in motion.
extant ancient Near Eastern sources. Although Babylonian
THEOCRASY. The blending of gods and their characteristics
legal collections such as Hammurabi’s Code or the Laws of
is the salvation of monolatry and surely of monotheism. As
Eshnunna, for example, show close parallels to laws in the
increasing numbers of Israelites began to become consistent
Pentateuch, the context is different. Thus, Hammurabi
monolaters and monotheists, a process that took centuries,
claims that the gods had called on him to establish justice
the figure of Yahveh began to absorb many of the functions
and so he, the king, enacted the laws. In contrast, in the He-
and attributes of the older gods. We have seen that Yahveh
brew Bible the claim is made that all laws governing all Israel-
assumed El’s name in addition to that god’s reputation for
ite institutions and all personal relations were divinely re-
beneficence and wisdom. Yahveh likewise acquired Baal’s
vealed to Moses at Yahveh’s sacred mountain. Every human
thunderous voice (1 Sm. 2:10), his fructifying abilities (Hos.
action, even when wickedly intended, such as the sale of Jo-
2:10), and his title of “cloud rider” (Ps. 68:5).
seph by his brothers, is part of the divine plan (Gn. 45:5,
50:19–20). Unlike the Akkadian speaker who could describe
The biblical writers did not, however, tolerate Yahveh’s
actions performed la¯ libbi ila¯ni (“without divine consent”),
absorption of the attributes of Near Eastern goddesses. In-
the Hebrew could refer only to divine disapproval.
stead, they condemned the widespread royal and popular
worship of female deities. The mother of the pious king Asa
The exclusive worship of Yahveh was the religious ex-
(c. 913–873 BCE) had constructed an image of Asherah, and
pression of the political and social factors that had brought
another representation of this same Canaanite “creator of the
Israel into existence. The demand to serve Yahveh alone
gods” stood in Yahveh’s Jerusalem Temple until Josiah’s time
came to the fore in the settlement of the land, in the forma-
(2 Kgs. 21:7). In ancient Israel, Astarte remained popular in
tion of the monarchy under Saul (eleventh century BCE), in
her classical form as well as in her Aramean-Mesopotamian
the purge of the house of Omri under Jehu (r. 842–815 BCE),
incarnation as “queen of heaven” (Jer. 7:18, 44:17ff.). The
in the anti-Assyrianism of Hezekiah (r. 715–686 BCE), and
biblical depiction of the popularity of female divinities is cor-
in the expansionism of Josiah (r. 640–609 BCE). It reached
roborated by external evidence. Recent archaeological dis-
its logical conclusion, monotheism, in the exilic preachments
coveries at Kuntillet ’Ajrud and Khirbet al-Qum have
of “Second Isaiah” and in the reconstitution of the postexilic
brought to light Hebrew inscriptions referring to “Yahveh of
community of the fifth century BCE.
Teman and his Asherah.” It is possible that asherah in these
The persistence of polytheism. At the same time, a
inscriptions had become a common noun meaning “con-
number of factors undermined Yahvistic monolatry from the
sort.” Finally, the Jews at Elephantine in the fifth century
beginning. First, the people who made up Israel were them-
BCE knew a divinity called Anatyahu, an apparent androgy-
selves of diverse origin and could not easily forsake their an-
nous blend of Yahveh with the ancient Canaanite goddess
cestral gods (see Jos. 24). Second, monolatry does not deny
Anat.
the existence of the many divinities. As normality set in, the
Despite the popularity of female divinity, or perhaps be-
old gods whose existence had never been denied reasserted
cause of it, biblical monolatry excluded the female presence.
themselves; the international interests of the monarchy and
With rare exceptions (Isa. 42:14; 66:13), the biblical writers
of commerce also encouraged tolerance of other gods.
personify Yahveh with masculine traits, a reflection of the
It should also be recalled that polytheism made sense in
power structure in Israelite society. The northern kingdom
the ancient world. It was not until long after the Babylonian
of Israel never had a reigning queen. Athaliah, the only reign-
exile that such concepts as “nature” and “universe,” which
ing queen of the southern kingdom of Judah (842–837 BCE),
Greek thinkers formulated, began to make an impact in the
had come to power under highly irregular circumstances (2
Middle East. Israelite worship of gods and goddesses reflects
Kgs. 11:1–3). There were some women prophets, among
the difficulty that the average person must have had in as-
them Miriam, Deborah, Huldah and the anonymous wife of
suming an underlying unity in what appears to be a collec-
Isaiah (Isa. 8:3), but no female priests.
tion of diverse forces often opposed one to another.
THE RISE OF MONOTHEISM. The present state of the evi-
Many Israelites must have resisted monotheism because
dence suggests that monolatry arose early in Israel but that
of its difficulty in accounting for unwarranted suffering. To
monotheism was a late development. Throughout the early
be sure, the problem of theodicy had been raised by Mesopo-
first millennium BCE, only a minority of Israelites were con-
tamian thinkers long before the rise of Israel, but because
sistent in their exclusive worship of Yahveh. To this tena-
polytheists could always blame divine injustice on rivalry
cious minority we are indebted for the henotheistic concept
among the gods, the problem never became so pointed as in
of Yahveh that informs the earlier biblical books. The narra-
the late biblical writings Job and Ecclesiastes. These postexilic
tives of Joshua 24 and Genesis 35 reflect what must have been
works were written by authors who took for granted that
the majority view: to engage in the cult of Yahveh while im-
Yahveh was the sole god in existence. If that sole God was
ages of other gods were present was defiling. Jeremiah as-
all-powerful and just at the same time, how could injustice
sailed his contemporaries for committing crimes and then
persist? The author of Job answered that God was not om-
proceeding to Yahveh’s temple and declaring that “we have
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GOD: GOD IN THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES
been saved” (Jer. 7:9–10). Baal worship is among the enu-
(Ps. 95:3). More common is the notion of Yahveh’s kingship
merated crimes. Presumably the priesthood required of all
over Israel (Jgs. 8:23; 1 Sm. 8:7; Is. 41:21, 45:6) and over the
entrants to the sanctuary the declaration that they served
world (Ps. 47:3, 93:1, 97:1). The gods of Assyria and Meso-
Yahveh alone, which at the moment they did, fulfilling the
potamia such as Marduk and Ashur were regularly spoken
Decalogue’s demand that “you shall have no other gods in
of as kings in relation to their own peoples and to the rest
my presence” (Ex. 20:3). The Temple priesthood was gener-
of the world. Like these gods, Yahveh as king was the divine
ally consistently monolatrous, although royal toleration and
enforcer of justice and equity, guardian of the rights of the
active support of other cults would have applied pressure on
defenseless widow and orphan. Like them as well, he con-
Yahveh priests to be flexible at times (2 Kgs. 1–8).
trolled the nations of the world and regulated their move-
ments for the benefit of the people to whom he was closest.
Some biblical writers took the existence of other gods
for granted, though all agreed that Yahveh was superior to
God’s presence. Though God was generally not visible,
the other gods (Gn. 1:26, 3:22, 6:2; Ex. 12:12, 15:11; Ps.
he might manifest himself publicly in the kavod, a word usu-
82:1–8). Other writers, such as the prophets Amos, Isaiah,
ally translated “glory” but best rendered “person,” or “self.”
and Jeremiah, spoke of Yahveh as the only proper object of
The kavod of Yahveh showed Israel that Yahveh was present
Israelite worship, as the only divinity in control of earthly
among them. Often this presence could be invited by cultic
and heavenly events. Among the prophets, Second Isaiah was
procedures (Lv. 9:6, 9:23). Frequently the kavod of Yahveh
the most consistent monotheist, insisting that Yahveh was
is associated with the wilderness tabernacle (Ex. 16:7, 16:10,
the sole god in existence (Is. 43:10–12, 44:6–8, 45:5–7,
29:43, 40:34–35) and with the Jerusalem Temple (1 Kgs.
45:18–22, 46:9). In general, the biblical monolaters believed
8:11; Ez. 43:2). Among Yahveh’s cultic titles were melekh ha-
the worship of Yahveh alone to be both an Israelite obliga-
kavod (“the king himself”; Ps. 24:7, 24:10) and el ha-kavod
tion and privilege. Others might worship their own gods (Dt.
(“the god himself”; Ps. 29:3). Like its Akkadian counterpart
4:19; Mi. 4:5–6). The monotheists required all peoples to
melammu (“sheen”), the kavod of Yahveh is of intense lumi-
forsake their ancestral gods and to worship Yahveh alone (2
nosity (Is. 60:1–2, Ez. 43:2) and is often shielded by a cloud
Kgs. 5:17–18; Is. 44:6–20, 45:22; Jer. 10:12–16; Zep. 3:9;
(Ex. 24:16, 40:34; Ez. 1:27–28). The kavod is sometimes
Zec. 14:9).
spoken of as filling the entire earth (Nm. 14:21, Is. 6:3, Ps.
B
72:19).
IBLICAL IMAGERY OF GOD. Although many verbal images
of Yahveh are found in the texts, the Bible in God’s name
God’s transcendence. Yahveh is often described as qa-
prohibits the physical depiction of all divine images (Ex.
dosh. Similar terms are used to describe divinities a term Uga-
20:4, 34:17; Dt. 4:15–17, 5:8), even for use in the cult.
ritic, Aramaic Phoenician. Although scholars often ascribe to
Clearly, this prohibition was not universally observed (Jgs.
qadosh a basic meaning “set apart,” it is best understood as
17:35). Some verbal divine imagery echoed Israel’s roots in
a primary emotive category “holy,” in the manner of its ant-
the Canaanite past. Yahveh was spoken of as a bull (Gn.
onyms “profane,” and “impure God is not bound by time,
49:24; Is. 1:24; Ps. 132:2, 132:5), a further legacy from the
space, or form, nor by moral or ethical categories (2 Sm.
Canaanite El, and was represented sculpturally as a bull or
6:5–8). Yet because God serves as the guarantor of justice
calf (Ex. 32:4–5, 1 Kgs. 12:28, Hos. 8:6, Ps. 106:20).
(Jer. 11:20), his divine justice could be questioned (Gn.
According to one theory, no one could see Yahveh and
18:25, Jer. 12:1, and most of Jb.) and even denied (Eccl.
remain alive (Ex. 32:23), but there were exceptions (Ex.
8:15).
24:10–11; Nm. 12:8; Is. 6:1, 6:5). God is often described as
Yahveh is frequently referred to as a jealous god (Ex.
humanlike (Gn. 1:27, 18:2) and with a face (Ex. 33:20), a
20:5, 35:14; Dt. 4:24, 5:9, 6:15; Jos. 24:19; Na. 1:2). In
back (Ex. 33:23), arms (Dt. 32:40), and legs (Na. 1:3, Zec.
these instances, the term employed is a derivative of the verb
14:4; in Exodus 4:25, legs is a euphemism for Yahveh’s geni-
root qn’. In a Babylonian text, the goddess Sarpanitum is de-
tals). As a warrior (Ex. 15:3, Ps. 24:8), God carries a bow
scribed by the identical term. What is unique to the descrip-
(Gn. 9:13), arrows (1 Sm. 22:15), and a sword (Dt. 32:42).
tion of Yahveh is the action that activates Yahveh’s jealousy
Second Isaiah says that Yahveh is indescribable (Is. 40:18,
(qinn’ah) most often—the worship of other gods. Sometimes
40:25, 46:5) but dresses him in armor and a helmet (Is.
Yahveh’s jealousy results in unbridled punishment (Dt. 4:24,
59:17). According to Daniel 7:9, God is old and has white
6:15). At other times, it results in strict retributive justice and
hair. Other depictions refer to fire and smoke emanating
would better be translated as “zeal” (Na. 1:2–3). At still other
from Yahveh’s mouth and nose (1 Sm. 22:15) and to his
times, “passion” or “ardor” would be better choices (Is. 9:6;
thunderous voice (Ex. 20:18–19, Ps. 29:3–9, Jb. 40:9), im-
Zec. 1:14, 8:2).
ages borrowed from the figure of Baal, the thunder god.
God’s emotions. At the same time, God is also spoken
God’s kingship. In many passages of the Hebrew scrip-
of as being slow to anger (Ex. 34:6, Nm. 14:18, Jl. 2:13, Na.
tures, God is spoken of as king. We may distinguish two
1:3), forgiving of sin (Jon. 4:1), and the receiver of the peni-
basic usages, Yahveh as king of the gods and Yahveh as king
tent (Hos. 14:2; Jer. 3:12, 35:3; Jl. 2:12; Zec. 1:3; Mal. 3:7).
of Israel. The first meaning is rare but is attested in the verse
The different views of Yahveh reflect not only the tempera-
“For YHVH is a great god, a great king over all the gods”
ments of the individual writers but the vicissitudes of Israel’s
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GOD: GOD IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
3543
history as well. Because Yahveh was so embedded in Israel’s
David N. Freedman. Garden City, N.Y., 1970. The first arti-
political and social life and institutions, the changes in Isra-
cle was the first study to utilize Near Eastern treaty formulas
el’s fortune provoked different aspects of the divine charac-
in an attempt to show the origins of early Israelite covenant
ter. Paradoxically, Yahveh is at once the most transcendent
theology. The second article is the first study to refer to the
god of the ancient Near East and the most human. This is
settlement of the Israelite tribes as an peasants’ revolt.
expressed most sharply in the prophetic writings of Hosea
Porter, Barbara N., ed. One God or Many? Casco Bay, Maine,
and Jeremiah. God’s love for Israel is like that of a husband
2000.
for a wife (Hos. 3:11). Unlike God’s love, which is constant,
Selms, Adriaane van. “Temporary Henotheism.” In Symbolae
Israel’s is fickle (Hos. 3:1, Jer. 2:25). Yet both Hosea and Jere-
biblicae Mesopotamicae Francisco Mario Theodoro de Liagre
miah emphasize that God’s love will be great enough to over-
Böhl dedicatae, edited by Martinus A. Beck et al., pp. 8–20.
come Israel’s inconstancy and that God’s relation to his peo-
Leiden, 1973.
ple is eternal (Hos. 2:21, Jer. 32:40).
Smith, Mark. The Origins of Biblical Monotheism. NewYork,
2001.
SEE ALSO Biblical Literature, article on Hebrew Scriptures;
Smith, Morton. “The Common Theology of the Ancient Near
El; Henotheism; Israelite Religion.
East.” Journal of Biblical Literature 71 (1952): 135–147.
Smith, Morton. Palestinian Parties and Politics That Shaped the
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Old Testament. New York, 1971.
Alberz, Rainer, A History of Israelite Religion in the Old Testament
Period. Philadelphia, 1994.
Sperling, S. David. “Mount, Mountain.” In The Interpreter’s Dic-
tionary of the Bible. Supplementary Volume. Nashville, 1976.
Albrektson, Bertil. History and the Gods. Lund, 1967. A demon-
See pages 608–609 for discussion of El Shaddai.
stration that the gods of the ancient Near East were con-
cerned with history.
Sperling, S. David. The Original Torah: The Political Intent of the
Bible’s Writers. New York, 1998. See pp. 61–74 for a discus-
Albright, William F. From the Stone Age to Christianity. 2d ed.
sion of covenant.
Garden City, N.Y., 1957. A classic synthesis of archaeology
and biblical studies.
Toorn, Karel van der. “Yahweh” In Dictionary of Deities and De-
mons in the Bible, pp. 910–919 Leiden, 1999. A balanced
Freedman, David N., and David F. Graf, eds. Palestine in Transi-
presentation of the evidence.
tion: The Emergence of Ancient Israel. Sheffield, 1981. Essays
that pursue various approaches to the “revolt model” of the
Trible, Phyllis. God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality. Philadelphia,
formation of Israel.
1978.
Gottwald, Norman K. The Tribes of Yahweh. Maryknoll, N.Y.,
Wellhausen, Julius. Prolegomena to the History of Israel. Translated
1979. An attempt to apply sociological models in support of
by J. S. Black. Edinburgh, 1885. Reissued as Prolegomena to
George E. Mendenhall’s “peasant revolt” theory. Menden-
the History of Ancient Israel (New York, 1957). The classic
hall, however, writing in the Freedman and Graf volume,
statement of biblical criticism and its use in reconstructing
listed above, distances his views from Gottwald’s.
the religious history of ancient Israel.
Gruber, Mayer. The Motherhood of God and Other Essays. Atlanta,
Wyatt, Nicholas. “Asherah.” In Dictionary of Deities and Demons
1992.
in the Bible, pp. 99–105. Leiden, 1999.
Hillers, Delbert R. Covenant: The History of a Biblical Idea. Balti-
S. DAVID SPERLING (1987 AND 2005)
more, 1969. A readable distillation of ancient Near Eastern
and biblical covenant notions.
Hoftijzer, Josef, and G. van der Kooij. Aramaic Texts from Deir
GOD: GOD IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
’Alla. Leiden, 1976.
The New Testament enunciates no new God and no new
Kaufmann, Yeh:ezkel. The Religion of Israel. Translated and
doctrine of God. It proclaims that the God and Father of
abridged by Moshe Greenberg. Chicago, 1970. An abridg-
Jesus Christ is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the
ment of an eight-volume attempt to show that monotheism
was Mosaic in origin and the religion of Israel from earliest
God of earlier covenants. What the New Testament an-
times.
nounces is that this God has acted anew in inaugurating
God’s final reign and covenant through the career and fate
Knauf, Axel E. “Shadday.” In Dictionary of Deities and Demons in
of Jesus of Nazareth.
the Bible, pp. 749–753. Leiden, 1999. A good survey of the
relevant material, but somewhat speculative in its conclu-
THE PRE-EASTER JESUS. Jesus inherited the Old Testament
sions.
Jewish faith in Yahveh, which held that God was the creator
McCarthy, Dennis J. Treaty and Covenant. Rome, 1963. The au-
of the world (Mk. 10:6 and parallel) and the one God who
thoritative treatment of the concept of covenant in the Bible
elected Israel as his people and gave them his law (Mk. 12:29
against its Near Eastern background. Contains an exhaustive
and parallels). Moreover, God promised the Israelites final
bibliography.
salvation (Is. 35, 61). At the same time, the sense in the New
Mendenhall, George E. “Covenant Forms in Israelite Tradition”
Testament that God is now realizing ancient promises and
and “The Hebrew Conquest of Palestine.” In Biblical Archae-
is acting anew (cf. Mt. 11:4–5, an indubitably authentic say-
ologist Reader, vol. 3, edited by Edward F. Campbell and
ing of Jesus) gives Jesus’ image of God a sense of immediacy.
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GOD: GOD IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
God was not merely creator some thousands (or billions) of
with him. “Abba” is a familial mode of address that presup-
years ago; he is creator now, feeding the birds and clothing
poses a new relationship with God. Because Jesus first made
the flowers (Mt. 6:26–30, Lk. 12:24 and Q, the purported
the response and enables others to make the same response,
common source of Matthew and Luke). Not only did God
they too may call God “Abba” (cf. the Lukan version of the
give the law through Moses, but God now demands radical
Lord’s Prayer, Lk. 11:2).
obedience in each concrete situation (cf. the antitheses of the
sermon on the mount in Mt. 5:27–48). Above all, God is
Jesus’ death. The saving activity in word and deed that
now offering in the proclamation and activity of Jesus a fore-
fills the whole career of Jesus culminates in his journey to Je-
taste of final salvation. Jesus’ announcement of the inbreak-
rusalem in order to make the last offer of salvation or judg-
ing of God’s reign (Mk. 1:15, Mt. 10:7, Lk. 9:2, Q) is not
ment to his people at the very center of their national life.
an abstract concept detached from Jesus’ own word and
As a prophet, Jesus is convinced that he will be rejected and
work. Jesus’ word and work are the occasions through which
put to death and that this death will be the culmination of
God acts definitively and savingly. The same is true of Jesus’
Israel’s constant rejection of God’s word as known through
exorcisms: “If I by the Spirit [finger, Lk. 11:20] of God cast
the prophets: “It cannot be that a prophet should perish away
out demons, then the kingdom [i. e., reign] of God has come
from Jerusalem” (Lk. 13:33; cf. the parable of the vineyard,
upon you” (Mt. 12:28, Lk. 11:20 Q).
Mk. 12:1–9 and parallels). Since it is the culmination of his
obedience, his death, like all his other activity, is seen by
Jesus issues a call, “Follow me” (Mk. 1:17, 2:14; cf. Mt.
Jesus as the saving act of God. The most primitive form of
8:22, Lk. 9:59, Q?), not because he advances any claim for
the suffering-Son-of-man sayings, namely, “The Son of man
himself as such, but only because in that call, as in his word
will be delivered into the hands of men” (cf. Mk. 9:31), if
and work in the world, God is issuing the call to end-time
authentic, expresses this by using the divine passive: God will
salvation. To confess Jesus (Mt. 10:32, Lk. 12:8, Q, Mk.
deliver the Son of man to death. It is God’s prerogative to
8:38) or to deny him before others is to determine one’s ulti-
inaugurate covenants. Therefore, at the last supper, Jesus
mate fate on the last day—whether it be judgment or salva-
speaks of his impending death as a supreme act of service (Lk.
tion. The verdict of the “Son of man” on that day will be
22:27; cf. the foot washing in Jn. 13:2–15), which inaugu-
determined by whether men and women confess Jesus now.
rates the final covenant and reign of God (Lk. 22:29; cf. Mk.
Thus, in Jesus’ call God is proleptically active as judge and
14:24, 25 and parallels). In the references to service, cove-
savior. The Fourth Gospel puts it more thematically: God’s
nant, and kingdom (reign) at the last supper lies the histori-
salvation and judgment are already meted out here and now
cal basis for the post-Easter message of atonement.
in the word of Jesus and people’s response to it (Jn. 3:18,
5:22–27).
Easter. The Easter experiences created in the disciples
the faith that, despite the apparent debacle of the crucifixion,
Jesus’ conduct. Jesus eats with outcasts, and he defends
God had vindicated Jesus and taken him into his own eternal
his conduct by telling the parables of the lost (Lk. 15). These
presence. The early community expressed this conviction
parables interpret Jesus’ action as God’s action in seeking and
chiefly through testimony about Jesus’ resurrection: “God
saving the lost and celebrating with them here and now the
raised Jesus from the dead” (Rom. 4:24, 10:9; 1 Thes. 1:10)
joy of the reign of God. Ernst Fuchs points out in Studies
or “Christ was raised” (Rom. 4:25, 6:9; 1 Cor. 15:4—a divine
of the Historical Jesus (Naperville, Ill., 1964) that “Jesus . . .
passive). After Easter, for the believing community, God is
dares to affirm the will of God as though he himself stood
preeminently the God who raised Jesus from the dead. Inso-
in God’s place” (p. 21).
far as there is any specific New Testament definition of God,
this is it (e.g., again, Rom. 10:9). This results in the ascription
God as Abba. Jesus’ word and work are God’s word and
of titles of majesty to Jesus. At the resurrection, God made
work because Jesus has responded to God’s call in complete
him Lord and Christ (Messiah) (Acts 2:36) and even Son of
faith and obedience. This is brought out in the baptism,
God, originally a royal title (Rom. 1:4). Jesus is exalted to a
temptation, transfiguration, and Gethsemane narratives of
position as close as possible to God, to God’s “right hand.”
the synoptists (Mk. 1:9–11 and parallels, Mt. 4:1–11, Lk.
That means God continues to act savingly, even after Easter,
4:1–13, Q, Mk. 9:2–8 and parallels, Mk. 14:32–42 and par-
toward the community and toward the world through the
allels), and once again it is thematically treated in the dis-
proclamation of Jesus as the Christ. In saving activity, God
courses of the Fourth Gospel (e.g., Jn. 8:28–29). This rela-
and Christ become interchangeable subjects: what God does,
tion of call and obedience is summarized in Jesus’ intimate
Christ does at the same time. However, Christ does not re-
address to God as Abba (“father”). This is no new doctrine,
place God. All the titles of majesty declare that Christ is
for the Old Testament and Judaism knew God as Father
God’s agent, not God’s surrogate.
(e.g., Is. 63:16), nor does it imply a claim to metaphysical
identity with the being of God or with an aspect of that
THE MESSAGE OF THE POST-EASTER CHURCH. Like Jesus in
being, as in later New Testament traditions. Again, Jesus
his pre-Easter life, the early church did not approach Israel
does not pass the Abba appellation on to others as a way of
with a new doctrine of God. Its message was that God had
defining God. Rather, he invites those who have responded
decisively inaugurated the fulfillment of his promises in the
in faith to his message of God’s salvation to call God “Abba”
career and fate of Jesus of Nazareth, and above all in his res-
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GOD: GOD IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
3545
urrection. This is the burden of the sermons in the early
The language of the (probably pre-Pauline) hymn in Romans
chapters of the Acts of the Apostles: “Jesus of Nazareth, a man
3:25–26, especially the word translated in the King James
attested to you by God with mighty works and signs which
Version as “propitiation” (Gr., hilast¯erion), might be taken
God did through him . . . this Jesus, delivered up according
in that way. But God is the initiator in the atoning death of
to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God . . . God
Christ (“whom God set forth”), and the word is better trans-
raised him” (Acts 2:22–24).
lated “expiation,” as in the Revised Standard Version. This
means that the crucifixion was an act of God dealing with
The Hellenistic-Jewish mission. Members of the
and removing sin, the barrier between God and humanity,
Greek-speaking Jewish community, initially led by Stephen
rather than an act of Christ directed toward God. It is an act
(Acts 6, 7), first found themselves preaching the Christian
of God’s reconciling love, directed toward sinful humanity
message to Greek-speaking non-Jews (Acts 11:20). In ap-
(Rom. 5:8). Through it God justifies the ungodly (Rom. 4:5).
proaching them, it was found necessary to change tactics. In-
Reconciliation, like expiation, is a word denoting God’s activi-
stead of launching straight in with the Christ event as God’s
ty toward us, rather than Christ’s activity toward God.
act of salvation, they had to start further back, with belief in
Christ does not reconcile the Father to humanity, as tradi-
God. Because these non-Jewish Greeks came from a pagan
tional theology has often asserted (see, e.g., article 2 of the
and often polytheistic environment, it was necessary first to
1563 Thirty-nine Articles), rather, “God in Christ was [or,
establish belief in the one God before speaking about what
was in Christ] reconciling the world to himself” (2 Cor.
this God had done in Christ and was now doing salvifically.
5:19). Justification and reconciliation (two slightly different
In other words, the Hellenistic-Jewish Christians needed an
images for the same reality) are expressions of the righteous-
apologetic for monotheism, arguments for the existence of
ness of God, a central concept in Paul’s thinking about God.
the one God, in their mission to non-Jews. They were able
Righteousness is both an attribute and an activity of God;
to draw upon the apologetic that had earlier been worked out
it is God’s action of judging and saving.
by Greek-speaking Jews in their approach to the pagan
A writing on the fringe of the Pauline corpus, not by
world. One of the earliest references to such an apologetic
Paul himself, is the Letter to the Hebrews, which interprets
for monotheism is attested to by Paul when he reminds the
the saving act of God in Christ in terms of Christ as the high
Thessalonians of his original preaching to them before their
priest. Once again, this author is careful not to drive a wedge
conversion to Christianity: “You turned from idols to serve
between God and Christ. As high priest, Christ does not
a living and true God” (1 Thes. 1:9). Note how this precedes
offer a sacrifice to God for the purpose of propitiation. Rath-
the second part of the message: “and to wait for this Son
er, the Son offers his life in perfect obedience to the Father
from heaven, whom he raised from the dead” (1 Thes. 1:10).
(Heb. 10:5–10) in order to make purification for sin. As in
A further example of Pauline apologetic for monotheism,
Paul, the object of Christ’s deed is not God, but sin.
and a claim that creation contains a natural revelation of God
THE INCARNATION AND THE BEING OF CHRIST. All levels of
and his moral demands, occurs in Romans 1:18–32 and
tradition in the New Testament examined thus far speak of
2:14–15. Humanity has, however, frequently rejected this
Christ’s relation to God in functional terms. He is commis-
revelation and disobeyed God’s moral demands, and Paul
sioned, called, and sent as divine agent. God is present with
seeks to recall pagans to such knowledge and obedience. He
and in him and active through him. These biblical traditions
sees a close connection between idolatry and immorality:
do not raise the question about Jesus’ personal identity in re-
“They . . . exchanged the glory of the immortal God for im-
lation to God. There is no discussion of Jesus’ “divinity” or
ages resembling mortal man or birds or animals or rep-
of his “divine nature” in the earliest sources; these are Greek
tiles. . . . Therefore God gave them up in the lust of their
rather than Hebrew concepts. But given the exalted status
hearts to impurity” (Rom. 1:23–24). Later examples of an
of Jesus, which the Christian community believed him to
apologetic for monotheism are to be found in Acts 14:15–17,
have received at Easter, it was inevitable that the question of
addressed to an unsophisticated audience, and in Acts 17:24–
Jesus’ identity would eventually be raised, especially in the
29, addressed to a cultured one.
Greek-speaking world. Such reflection initially employed the
Pauline theology. Paul’s theology is entirely occasional,
concept of the divine wisdom to elucidate the revelatory
that is, it was worked out in response to concrete problems
work of Jesus. Historically, Jesus had appeared as a spokes-
in the Christian communities he knew. The focus of his the-
man for the divine wisdom, using the speech forms of the
ology is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and its sav-
wisdom tradition as these are seen, for example, in Proverbs.
ing consequences. He inherited from the liturgical tradition
The content of Jesus’ wisdom utterances contained an im-
an understanding of Christ’s death as a sacrifice. It was the
plicit claim that he was wisdom’s last and definitive spokes-
blood that inaugurated the new covenant (1 Cor. 11:25).
man; this view is drawn out explicitly in the Q material (Mt.
Christ was the paschal lamb (1 Cor. 5:7). But Paul did not
11:25–27, Lk 10:21–22, Q). Matthew himself even identi-
develop these sacrificial images in his reflection on Christ’s
fies Jesus with wisdom, although in a functional rather than
death, perhaps because such language tended to drive a
ontological sense (Mt. 11:28–30; cf. Sir. 24:29, 51:23–26).
wedge between Jesus and the Father, as though the sacrifice
In first-century Judaism, however, the concept of God’s
was offered in order to propitiate or appease an angry deity.
wisdom was advancing beyond the stage of poetical personi-
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GOD: GOD IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
fication of an aspect of God’s activity, toward a hypostatiza-
and grammar that make it difficult to decide whether in such
tion (i.e., an attribution of distinct, concrete existence) of an
passages Paul actually does equate Jesus with God. Then the
aspect of the being of God. As such, the wisdom of God was
Letter to the Hebrews transfers Old Testament passages that
an outflow of his being, through which he created the world,
speak of Yahveh-Kurios (Lord) to Christos-Kurios (e.g., Heb.
became self-revelatory to humanity, called Israel, gave the
1:10). Only the Johannine writings directly and unquestion-
law, and came to dwell with Israel’s notables, such as Abra-
ably predicate the deity of Christ. First, he is the incarnation
ham, Moses, and the prophets, but this wisdom was con-
of the Logos that was God. Then, according to the now gen-
stantly rejected by most of the people. In certain hymns in
erally accepted reading, he is the “only-begotten God” dur-
the New Testament (Phil. 2:6–11, 1 Cor. 8:6, Col. 1:15–20,
ing his incarnate life (Jn. 1:18). Finally, Thomas greets the
Heb. 1:1–3) the career and fate of Jesus are linked to this ear-
risen Christ as “my Lord and my God” (Jn. 20:28). Then
lier activity of wisdom (though the term wisdom itself is not
1 John sums it up by predicating God as the preexistent, in-
used); a single, continuous subject covers the preincarnate
carnate, and exalted one in a summary formula: “in his Son
activity of wisdom and the earthly career of Jesus. The result
Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life” (1 Jn.
is that Jesus becomes personally identified with the hyposta-
5:20). Thus the New Testament can occasionally speak of
tized wisdom of God. The agent of creation, revelation, and
Jesus as God, but always in a carefully nuanced way: he is
saving activity finally becomes incarnate in Jesus. But this de-
not God-as-God-is-in-himself, but the incarnation of that as-
velopment occurs only in hymnic materials and at this stage
pect of the being of God which is God-going-out-of-himself-
is hardly the subject of theological reflection.
in-self-communication.
Johannine incarnation Christology. The final step to-
The Trinity. There is a triadic structure in the Christian
ward an incarnation Christology is taken in the Johannine
experience of God. Through the power of the Holy Spirit,
literature, especially in the Fourth Gospel. This gospel is
believers know Jesus Christ as the revelation of God the Fa-
prefaced by the Logos hymn (Jn. 1:1–18). Logos (“word”)
ther. This experience becomes crystallized in triadic formulas
was used as a synonym for the divine wisdom in the later wis-
(2 Cor. 13:13, Mt. 28:19) or in unreflected theological state-
dom literature. In this hymn logos is equated with, yet distin-
ments (1 Cor. 12:4–6). But there is no attempt to work out
guishable from, the being of God: “In the beginning was the
a doctrine of the Trinity, or to integrate the Old Testament
word [logos] and the word was with God and the word was
Jewish faith in the oneness of God with the Christian three-
God” (Jn. 1:1), which may be paraphrased as “God is essen-
fold experience. Like the doctrine of the incarnation, this was
tially a self-communicating God. This self-communication
left to the post–New Testament church.
was a distinct aspect within God’s being, related to him, and
partaking in his divine being.”
SEE ALSO Apologetics; Atonement, article on Christian
Concepts; Incarnation; Jesus; Justification; Paul the Apostle;
The hymn goes on to speak of the activity of the Logos
Theology; Trinity; Wisdom; Wisdom Literature.
as the agent of creation, revelation, and redemption and fi-
nally states that the Logos became flesh, that is, incarnate (Jn.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1:14). There could be no clearer statement of the identity of
Ashton, John. Understanding the Fourth Gospel. Oxford, 1991.
Jesus of Nazareth with an aspect of the very being of God.
Shows how agents of God’s revelation and action could be
In the rest of this gospel, the evangelist sets forth the life of
called “god” in pre-Christian Judaism. These agents include
Jesus as the incarnation of the divine wisdom, or Logos.
Moses, the angels, Wisdom, and Logos. This provides back-
(After John 1:14 neither wisdom nor logos is used in the
ground for Jesus to be called “God” in a carefully nuanced
Fourth Gospel, but imagery from the wisdom/Logos tradi-
sense occasionally in the Johannine writings.
tion is appropriated, especially in the “I am” sayings.) Jesus
Bornkamm, Günther. Jesus of Nazareth. New York, 1960. Not a
speaks as one fully conscious of personal preincarnate exis-
life of Jesus, but a presentation of those dimensions of his
tence within the being of God. It is significant, however, that
message and career that can be critically reconstructed. The
this new “high” Christological language does not replace the
chapter entitled “The Will of God” (pp. 96–152) draws out
“lower” Christology, which speaks in terms of call, commis-
Jesus’ teaching on God.
sion, and the response of obedience. Apparently John under-
Bultmann, Rudolf. Theology of the New Testament. 2 vols. in 1.
stands his “higher” Christology to be an interpretation of the
New York, 1951–1955. The classic work of the leading New
“lower,” refraining from abandoning the terms in which the
Testament scholar of the twentieth century. Especially ser-
pre-Easter Jesus spoke and acted. Much of later traditional
viceable in reconstructing the monotheistic preaching of the
church Christology has ignored the presence of these two le-
Hellenistic Jewish-Christian community aside from Paul; see
vels in John and has rewritten the earthly life of Jesus exclu-
vol. 1, pp. 63–92.
sively in terms of the “higher” Christology.
Das, A. Andrew, and Frank J. Matera, eds. The Forgotten God: Per-
spectives in Biblical Theology. Louisville, Ky., 2003). A collec-
Is Jesus God? Only very cautiously and gradually does
tion of essays in honor of Paul Achtemeier, this work relates
the New Testament use the predicate God for Jesus. First,
the biblical conceptions of God in their unity and diversity
there are possible examples in some Pauline doxologies (e.g.,
to the major themes of biblical theology such as Christology,
Rom. 9:5), although there are problems of text, punctuation,
pneumatology, and anthropology.
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GOD: GOD IN POSTBIBLICAL JUDAISM
3547
Dunn, James D. G. Christology in the Making: A New Testament
hundreds of individuals, each with his own temperament
Inquiry into the Origins of the Doctrine of the Incarnation.
and disposition, as these individuals reflected on God’s deal-
Philadelphia, 1980. An investigation of all possible lines of
ings with the Jewish people. Even in their edited forms, the
development of preexistence-incarnation Christology in the
rabbinic sources constitute more an anthology of diverse
New Testament. Dunn finds this type of Christology exclu-
views than an official consensus by an assembly of elected or
sively in the Johannine writings. In keeping with the more
inspired teachers. Nevertheless, on the basic ideas about God
usual scholarly view I have located such Christology in those
earlier Christological hymns that indentify Christ as the in-
there is total agreement. All of the rabbis are committed to
carnation of preexistent wisdom.
the propositions that God is One, creator of heaven and
earth; that he wishes all men to pursue justice and righteous-
Hamerton-Kelly, Robert. God the Father: Theology and Patriarchy
ness; that he rewards those who obey his will and punishes
in the Teaching of Jesus. Philadelphia, 1979. Particularly con-
cerned with the viability of the Father image in a postpatriar-
those who disobey; and that he has chosen the Jewish people
chal culture.
from all the nations to give them his most precious gift, the
Torah. The debates, discussions, and contradictory state-
Lampe, G. W. H. God as Spirit: The Bampton Lectures of 1976.
Oxford, 1977. The last work of this major British biblical
ments in rabbinic literature are about the detailed meaning
scholar and theologian. Lampe finds the distinctively biblical
and application of these basic concepts. In this section of the
view of God in the concept of God as Spirit. Jesus is for him
article, then, material is taken from the whole, vast range of
the final human bearer of the Spirit but is not ontologically
rabbinic/Talmudic literature, avoiding unwarranted general-
identical with an aspect of the divine being.
izations. A serious attempt is made to distinguish between
Martin, Ralph P., and Peter Toon, eds. Reconciliation: A Study of
sober theological reflection and poetic fancy; between indi-
Paul’s Theology. Atlanta, 1981. Investigates the leading
vidual opinions and broader and more categorical views; be-
themes of Paul’s doctrine of salvation with special concentra-
tween a kind of rabbinic consensus, even where the topic was
tion on the passages dealing with reconciliation. Martin
never put to the vote, and fiercely debated arguments and
stresses that atonement is something done by God in Christ
sheer contradictions. It is only in the very flexible form that
for humanity, not by Christ to God.
one can speak at all of the rabbinic approach.
Wright, N. T. Jesus and the Victory of God. Minneapolis, 1996. A
major thesis of this work is that Jesus’ preaching of the king-
From an early period, the tetragrammaton, YHVH, was
dom of God (eschatology) was not an announcement of the
never pronounced by Jews as it is written because it is God’s
end of history as such, but the inauguration of Israel’s renew-
own, special name, too holy to be uttered by human mouth.
al, a return from exile, the end of history as Israel has known
The name Adonai (“my lord”) was substituted as a euphe-
it. Some other scholars, such as E. P. Sanders and J. P. Meier,
mism with regard to which a degree of familiarity was al-
have advanced similar views.
lowed. On the other hand, the rabbinic doctrine of the imita-
R
tion of God suggests a close point of contact between God
EGINALD H. FULLER (1987 AND 2005)
and man following the scriptural teaching that man is created
in God’s image. This doctrine is formulated as follows: “Just
as he is merciful, be thou merciful. Just as he is compassion-
GOD: GOD IN POSTBIBLICAL JUDAISM
ate, be thou compassionate. Just as he feeds the hungry,
Postbiblical Jewish thought concerning God can be divided
clothes the naked, and comforts the mourners, do thou these
into four distinct periods: the rabbinic or Talmudic (from
things” (Sifrei Dt. 11.22; B.T., Shab. 133b, Sot. 14a).
the first century BCE to the sixth century CE), the philosophi-
cal or theological (represented chiefly by the medieval think-
The two most frequently found names for God in the
ers), the qabbalistic or mystical, and the modern (from the
Talmud are Ribbono shel Eolam (“Lord of the universe”), used
eighteenth century down to the present). While each of these
when addressing God in the second person, and ha-Qadosh
periods has developed independently of the others, there is
barukh hu D (“the Holy One, blessed be he”), used when
still a considerable overlapping of ideas from one period to
speaking of God in the third person (B.T., Ber. 4a, 7a, and
another. Both the rabbinic and the philosophical approaches
very frequently). The implication of this change of person
have had an influence on the mystical, and all three have
is that while God can be addressed directly in prayer, his true
served in modern attempts at reconstruction of Jewish theol-
nature is beyond human comprehension. He is the wholly
ogy. These four periods will be discussed in turn.
other, totally distinct from any of his creatures, and of him
it is permitted to say only that he is the Holy One.
THE RABBINIC APPROACH. Rabbinic thought as contained
in the Talmud and the Midrash is unsystematic in presenta-
Nevertheless, there are numerous passages in the Tal-
tion. While there is an abundance of references in these
mud and the Midrash in which human terms are applied to
sources to the nature of God and his relationship to man and
God. The rabbis were as little bothered by the problem of
the world, the statements are general responses to particular
anthropomorphism as the biblical authors, though the more
stimuli, not precise, theological formulations. It is conse-
human metaphors, when used of God by the rabbis, are gen-
quently imprecise to speak of the rabbinic doctrine of God,
erally qualified implicitly, sometimes explicitly, by the ex-
even though the expression is used by some scholars. The
pression ki-ve-yakhol, “if it were really possible [to say such
Talmud and Midrash are the record of the teachings of many
a thing].” Occasionally the anthropomorphisms are startling,
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GOD: GOD IN POSTBIBLICAL JUDAISM
as when God is said to have requested Ishmael, the high
that they themselves were compelled by their sense of integri-
priest, to bless him, or when it is said that God prays to him-
ty to face. When, in the rabbinic account, the second-century
self, his prayer being “May it be my will that my quality of
rabbi EAqivaD ben Yosef is tortured to death by the Romans
mercy prevail over my quality of judgment that I might be-
for teaching the Torah, the ministering angels similarly pro-
have with respect to my children beyond the letter of the law
test: “Is this the reward for teaching the Torah?” (B.T., Ber.
and pardon them” (B.T., Ber. 7a).
61b). In the same vein, the second-century rabbi YannDai de-
clared: “We are unable to understand why the righteous suf-
Other rabbinic names for God were intended to suggest
fer and the wicked prosper” (Avot 4.15). Despite such aware-
either his distance from man or his nearness. The name ha-
ness of the illusive nature of any solution to the problem of
Maqom (“the place”), defined as “He is the place of the world
suffering, there are rabbinic suggestions that such suffering
but the world is not his place” (Gn. Rab. 68.9), suggests, if
is the outcome of sin or the misdeeds of parents and ances-
this is the original meaning of the term, God’s nearness. The
tors. There is also to be found the idea of “sufferings of love,”
name Shamayim (“heaven,” B.T., Ber. 31a, 33b, and fre-
of God visiting sufferings on a man in order to demonstrate
quently) suggests his remoteness. In the rabbinic expression
that man’s faith and trust in him come what may.
“our father in heaven” (Yoma D 8.9, Sot. 9.15), both ideas are
combined. The name Shekhinah (San. 6.5, and frequently),
Both idolatry and dualism were strongly condemned by
a feminine form from the root meaning “to dwell,” denotes
the rabbis. The twice-daily reading of the Shema E (“Hear O
God’s indwelling presence.
Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One,” Dt. 6:4), Israel’s
It is incorrect, however, to think of these names as im-
declaration of faith in God’s unity, was introduced at least
plying the transcendence and immanence of God. Abstract
as early as the first century BCE, probably in order to con-
terms of this nature are entirely foreign to rabbinic thinking.
stantly reject the dualistic ideas prevalent in the Near East.
The description of God as king is ubiquitous in the rabbinic
The third-century Palestinian teacher Abbahu, in a polemic
literature with antecedents in the Bible. This metaphor is
evidently directed against both Christian beliefs and dualism,
also founded on the rabbis’ experiences of earthly rulers. God
expounded the verse: “I am the first, and I am the last, and
is the divine king whose laws must be obeyed. When he is
beside Me there is no God” (Is. 44:6). His interpretation is
stern to punish evildoers, he is said to be seated on his throne
“‘I am the first,’ for I have no father; ‘and I am the last,’ for
of judgment. When he is gracious to pardon, he is said to
I have no son; ‘and beside me there is no God,’ for I have
be seated on his throne of mercy (B.T., EA.Z. 3b). The rabbis
no brother” (Ex. Rab. 29.5).
urge man to stand in prayer as if he were in the awesome
In rabbinic Judaism there is little denial that the legiti-
presence of a king (Ber. 5.1), first uttering the king’s praises
mate pleasures of the world are God’s gift to man, who must
and then offering him supplications (B.T., Ber. 31a). Yet
give thanks to God when they are enjoyed. In one passage
there are numerous instances in which the rabbis declare that
it is even said that a man will have to give an account to God
God is different from a human king. God obeys his own
for his rejection of what he is allowed to enjoy (J.T., Qid.
laws, unlike a human king, who is beyond the law (J.T., R.
4.12, 66d). Yet the emphasis is on spiritual bliss in the here-
ha-Sh. 3a-b, 57a). God commands man not to steal, and he
after, when man, as a reward for his efforts in this life, will
himself refuses to accept the sacrifice of an animal that has
enjoy the nearness of God forever. Although the first-century
been stolen. To steal food and offer God thanks for the food
teacher EliEezer sought to limit to Jews the blissful state of
is to be guilty of blasphemy (B.T., B.Q. 94a).
the world to come, his contemporary YehoshuEa, whose view
Especially after the dispersal of many Jews from the
was later accepted, held that the righteous of all peoples have
Holy Land and the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, the
a share in the world to come (Tosefta, San. 13.2). That this
idea, found only sporadically in the Bible, that God shares
bliss consists of the proximity of the righteous to God was
human suffering, grieving with the victims of oppression,
given expression by the third-century Babylonian teacher
was deepened by the rabbis. Whenever Israel is in exile, they
Rav, who said: “In the world to come there is neither eating
taught, the Shekhinah is in exile with them (B.T., Meg. 29a).
nor drinking, neither procreation nor business activity, nei-
The idea that God is affected by human degradation is ap-
ther hatred nor competition, but the righteous sit with their
plied even to a criminal executed for his crimes. The
crowns on their heads and bask in the radiance of the
Shekhinah is said to be distressed at such a person’s downfall
Shekhinah” (B.T., Ber. 17a).
(San. 6.5).
THE PHILOSOPHICAL APPROACH. The medieval Jewish
A severe problem for the rabbis was the apparent con-
theologians, influenced by Greek philosophy in its Arabic
flict between the favoritism shown to Israel by God and
garb, had as one of their main aims the refinement of the
God’s concern for the whole of humankind. In one Talmud-
concept of God. Unlike the Talmudic rabbis, the medieval
ic passage, the ministering angels are made to ask God why
thinkers presented their ideas on God in a systematic way.
he shows special favor to Israel, God replying that it is right
Pascal’s distinction between the God of Abraham, Isaac, and
for him to do so, since Israel is extraordinarily diligent in
Jacob and the God of the philosophers generally holds true
worshiping him (B.T., Ber. 20b). The ministering angels are
for the distinction between the rabbinic mode of thinking
a device used by the rabbis to express the problem of theodicy
and that of the medieval theologians. For these theologians,
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GOD: GOD IN POSTBIBLICAL JUDAISM
3549
the doctrine that God is One means not only that there is
of the dilemma: man is free, and yet God has complete fore-
no multiplicity of gods but that God is unique, utterly be-
knowledge (Mishneh Torah, Repentance 5.5). This is not an
yond all human comprehension, and totally different from
admission of defeat by Maimonides. His view is that for the
his creatures, not only in degree but in kind. Moses Maimon-
solution of the problem it would be necessary for humans
ides (Mosheh ben Maimon, 1135/8–1204), the most distin-
to grasp the nature of God’s knowledge, and, since God’s
guished of the medieval thinkers and the most influential in
knowledge is not something outside of him but is God him-
subsequent Jewish thought, adapts for his purpose the rab-
self, such a grasp on the part of humans is quite impossible.
binic saying (B.T., Ber. 33b) that to over praise God is akin
In God the Knower, the Knowledge and the Knowing are
to praising a human king for possessing myriads of silver
one.
pieces when, in reality, he possesses myriads of gold pieces.
In addition to their discussions regarding God’s nature,
Maimonides (Guide of the Perplexed 1.59) observes that, in
the medieval thinkers examined God’s activity in the finite
the illustration, the king is not falsely praised for possessing
world, that is, his role as creator and the scope of his provi-
thousands of gold pieces when in reality he has myriads. The
dence. That God is the creator of the universe is accepted
distinction is between silver and gold. The very coinage of
as axiomatic by all the medieval thinkers, although Gerso-
praise suitable for a human king is entirely inapplicable to
nides (Milhamot ha-Shem 6) is radical here, too, in accepting
God. Only the standard liturgical praises of God are permit-
the Platonic view of a hylic substance, coeternal with God,
ted and these only because they are formal and so not a real
upon which God imposes form but does not create. Mai-
attempt to describe the divine nature.
monides (Guide of the Perplexed 2.13–15), while at first toy-
The medieval thinkers insisted that all of the anthropo-
ing with the Aristotelian idea of the material universe as hav-
morphic expressions used in the Bible about God must be
ing the same relation to God as the shadow of a tree to the
understood in a nonliteral fashion. Maimonides codified
tree, eventually accepts the traditional Jewish view that God
thirteen principles of the Jewish faith, one of which is the
created the world out of nothing. Maimonides’ motivation
is not only to preserve tradition but to emphasize the other-
belief that God is incorporeal. Anyone who believes that God
ness of God, whose existence is necessary, whereas that of all
can assume a corporeal form is a heretic to be read out of
created things is contingent. As Maimonides remarks in his
the community of believers, and he has no share in the world
Mishneh Torah:
to come, according to Maimonides in his Mishneh Torah (Re-
pentance 3.7). In his stricture to this passage in Maimonides,
The foundation of all foundations and the pillar of wis-
Avraham ben David of Posquières (d. 1198) vehemently re-
dom is to know that there is a First Being. He it is who
fuses to read a believer in God’s corporeality out of Judaism.
brought all things into being, and all creatures in heav-
Such a person cannot be dubbed a heretic simply because he
en and earth and in between only enjoy existence by vir-
is not a philosopher and takes biblical and rabbinic an-
tue of his true Being. If it could be imagined that he
does not exist, nothing else could have existed. But if
thropomorphisms literally.
it could be imagined that no other beings, apart from
For the medieval thinkers God was both omniscient and
him, enjoyed existence, he alone would still exist and
omnipotent. A major problem for them was how to reconcile
he could not cease because they have ceased. For all be-
ings need him, but he, blessed be he, does not need
God’s foreknowledge, seemingly implied in the doctrine of
them, any of them. Consequently, his true nature is dif-
his omniscience, with human freedom to choose. If God
ferent from the truth regarding the nature of any of
knows beforehand how a man will choose, how can he be
them. (Fundamental Principles of the Torah 1.1–3)
free to choose? Unwilling to compromise man’s freedom of
choice, essential to Judaism, both Avraham ibn Daud in his
Like the God of the biblical authors and the rabbis, the God
Emunah ramah (ed. S. Weil, Frankfurt, 1852, pp. 93–98)
of the medieval thinkers is a caring God whose providence
and Levi ben Gershom (Gersonides, 1288–1344) in his Mil-
extends over all of his creatures. Both Maimonides (Guide
hamot ha-Shem (2.6) could see no solution to the problem
of the Perplexed 3.17–18) and Gersonides (Milhamot ha-
and were led to qualify the doctrine of God’s foreknowledge.
Shem 4) limit, however, God’s special providence to humans.
God does know all the possible choices open to man, but he
For animals there is only a general providence that guaran-
does not know beforehand the particular choice a man will
tees the continued existence of animal species, but whether,
make in a given situation. This qualification does not consti-
for instance, this spider catches that fly is not ordained by
tute a denial of God’s omniscience. God knows all that can
God but is by pure chance. Yehudah ha-Levi (Judah Halevy,
be known, whereas human choice, because it is free, is only
c. 1075–1141) in his Kuzari (3.11) refuses to allow chance
possible, and the possible, the contingent, must be uncertain
to play any role in creation: God’s special providence extends
by definition. Such radical qualification failed utterly to con-
to animals as well as to humans.
vince other thinkers. H:asdai Crescas (1340–1410) felt
SaEadyah Gaon (882–942) anticipated Thomas Aqui-
obliged to conclude that since God does have complete fore-
nas’s statement that “nothing that implies a contradiction
knowledge this must, indeed, involve a denial that man is
falls under the scope of God’s omnipotence” (Summa
free to choose. For Crescas, man’s freedom is an illusion (Or
theologiae 1.25.4). SaEadyah (Book of Beliefs and Opinions
ha-Shem 2.4.5). Maimonides had earlier seized both horns
2.13) observes that the soul will not praise God for being able
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GOD: GOD IN POSTBIBLICAL JUDAISM
to cause five to be more than ten without adding anything
The sefirot represent various aspects in the life of the
to the former, nor for being able to bring back the day gone
godhead, for instance, wisdom, justice, and mercy. These are
by to its original condition. Centuries after SaEadyah, Yosef
combined in a very complex order, and through them the
Albo (d. 1444) similarly distinguishes that which seems im-
worlds beneath, including the finite, material universe, are
possible but imaginable from that which is impossible be-
controlled, the whole order conceived as a great chain of
cause it cannot be imagined. The latter as a logical impossi-
being from the highest to the lowest reaching back to Ein
bility does not fall under the scope of the divine omnipotence
Sof. There is a male principle in the realm of sefirot and a
(Book of Principles 1.22).
female principle, a highly charged mythological concept that
THE QABBALISTIC APPROACH. The pre-Qabbalistic tenden-
opponents of Qabbalah, medieval and modern, considered
cy in Jewish mysticism is that of the “Riders of the Chariot”
to be a foreign, verging on the idolatrous, importation into
which extended over the first ten centuries CE. These adepts
Judaism (see responsa of Yitshaq ben Sheshet Perfet, Rivash,
would perform certain spiritual exercises and delve deeply in
edited by I. H. Daiches, New York, 1964, no. 157, and S.
the recesses of the psyche on the mysteries of the merkavah,
Rubin, Heidenthum und Kabbala, Vienna, 1893). The male
the divine chariot seen by the prophet Ezekiel (chapter
principle is represented by the sefirah called Tif Deret
one). The journey of the “Riders” would take them into the
(“beauty”), the female principle by the sefirah called Malkhut
Heavenly Halls where God sits on his throne surrounded by
(“sovereignty”). The sacred marriage between these two
the angelic hosts. Some of the descriptions of the visions they
means that there is complete harmony on high, and the di-
saw have come down to modern readers. Often these are so
vine grace can flow through all creation. But the flow of the
bizarre, such as the account of the Divine Body (Shiur
divine grace depends upon the deeds of man, since he is mar-
Komah), in impossibly immense measurements that they can
velously fashioned in God’s image. Thus, in the qabbalistic
hardly have been taken literally. In the account of the Four
scheme, God has made his purposes depend for their fulfill-
Who Entered Paradise (H:agigah 14b), one dies, one goes
ment on human conduct; in this sense it is not only man who
mad, one becomes an apostate, and only one, Rabbi Akiba,
needs God but God who needs man.
emerges in peace. On the basis of this merkavah tendency,
the later Qabbalah became known as “The Work of the
The sefirah called Malkhut, the female element, is also
Merkavah.”
known as the Shekhinah. A rabbinic term in origin (meaning
the indwelling of God, from a root meaning “to dwell”), the
The mystical movement or tendency in Jewish thought
shekhinah comes to denote for the qabbalists a person in the
known as Qabbalah arose in twelfth-century Provence,
godhead. The rabbinic idea of the exile of the Shekhinah,
reaching its culmination, in Spain, in the Zohar, the greatest
originally meaning no more than that God is with Israel in
classical work of Jewish mystical speculation. The qabbalists
its exile, means for the qabbalists that until the advent of the
accepted the arguments of the philosophers in favor of ex-
Messiah there is incomplete balance, the female element ex-
treme negation of divine attributes. Yet they felt the need,
iled from the male, and part of God exiled, as it were, from
as mystics, to have a relationship with the God of living reli-
God. The task of restoration, of redeeming the Shekhinah
gion, not with a cold abstraction. In the theosophical scheme
from her exile, is man’s task on earth. Again, the rabbinic
worked out by the qabbalists, a distinction is drawn between
name “the Holy One, blessed be he” is now a name for
God as he is in himself and God in manifestation. God as
Tif Deret, the male principle. The latter-day qabbalists intro-
he is in himself is Ein Sof (“no end,” i.e., “the limitless”), the
duced a mystical formula before the performance of every
impersonal ground of being who emerges from concealment
good deed and religious act in which the worshiper declares:
in order to become manifest in the universe. From Ein Sof
“I do this for the sake of the unification of the Holy One,
there is an emanation of ten sefirot (“spheres”; sg., sefirah),
blessed be he, and his Shekhinah. ”
the powers or potencies of the godhead in manifestation,
conceived of as a dynamic organism. Of Ein Sof nothing
In qabbalistic literature produced in the school of Isaac
whatsoever can be said. More extreme than the philosophers
Luria (1534–1572), the mythological elements become even
in this respect, the qabbalists refuse to allow even negative
more pronounced. In Lurianic Qabbalah, the process by
attributes to be used of Ein Sof, but God in his aspect of
means of which Ein Sof emerges from concealment is traced
manifestation in the sefirot can be thought of in terms of pos-
back beyond the emergence of the sefirot. The first act of Ein
itive attributes. The living God of the Bible and of religion
Sof (although the qabbalists stress that these divine processes
is the godhead as manifested in the sefirot. Ein Sof, on the
take place beyond time) is one of tsimtsum (“withdrawal,
other hand, is only hinted at in the Bible since complete si-
contraction”). Ein Sof first “withdraws from himself into
lence alone is permissible of this aspect of deity. A later qab-
himself” in order to leave an “empty space” into which the
balist went further to hold that, strictly speaking, even to use
sefirot can emerge in their separateness; the Infinite becomes
such a negative term as Ein Sof is improper (see I. S. Ratner,
self-limiting so as to become revealed as a multiplicity of
Le-or ha-Qabbalah, Tel Aviv, 1961, p. 39, n. 40). When the
powers. The whole process is conceived of in terms of a flow
Zohar does refer obliquely to Ein Sof, the expression used
of the light of Ein Sof and then its recoil, as if the Infinite
is “No thought can grasp thee at all” (Tiqqunei Zohar, second
can only produce limitation and ultimately a finite world by
introduction).
God allowing himself gradually, one might say painfully, to
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GOD: GOD IN POSTBIBLICAL JUDAISM
3551
produce that which is outside of himself. In one version, cur-
by modern thought. From the Renaissance onward, the em-
rent in some Lurianic circles but suppressed in others, the
phasis in the West has shifted from a God-centered to a
purpose of tsimtsum, producing that which is not God, is for
human-centered universe. The inerrancy of the Bible was
God to purge himself of the evil that is latent in his being
questioned. The idea of revelation as conveying infallible in-
(see I. Tishby, Torat ha-ra E ve-ha-qelippah be-qabbalat ha-
formation about God appeared less convincing. Immanuel
Ari, Jerusalem, 1984). It is not surprising that such an aston-
Kant and his followers questioned whether human reasoning
ishingly unconventional notion came to occupy a very pe-
is capable of proving the existence of God. The rise of mod-
ripheral role in the thinking of the qabbalists.
ern science tended to favor mechanistic philosophies of exis-
tence and, in more recent years, both linguistic philosophy
The eighteenth-century mystical movement of Hasi-
and existentialism, in their different ways, cast suspicion on
dism, particularly the more speculative branch of the move-
all metaphysics. Although the Jew did not begin to partici-
ment known as Habad, tended toward a panentheistic un-
pate fully in Western society and to assimilate Western pat-
derstanding of the idea of tsimtsum. Tsimtsum does not really
terns of thought until the end of the eighteenth century,
take place, since the Infinite is incapable of suffering limita-
modern Jewish thinkers have been influenced by all of these
tion, but tsimtsum represents no more than a screening of the
trends in Western thought, compelling them to rethink the
divine light so that finite creatures might appear to enjoy sep-
traditional views concerning God. The result has been an es-
arate existence. The only true reality is God. There is a basic
pousal of differing attitudes toward theism, from a reaffirma-
difference between this panentheistic (“all is in God”) or ac-
tion of the traditional to a radical transformation in natural-
osmic view and that of pantheism (“all is God”). In the pan-
istic terms. In any event, the vocabulary used since, by both
theistic thought of Barukh Spinoza (1632–1677), God is the
the traditionalists and the nonconformists, is that of modern
name given to the totality of things. God is the universe and
thought, even when it is used to interpret the tradition.
the universe is God. In Habad thought, without God there
could be no universe, but without the universe God would
Among twentieth-century Jewish thinkers, Mordecai
still be the unchanging same; in fact, God is the unchanging
M. Kaplan (1881–1983) is the most determined of the natu-
same even after the creation of the universe, since from God’s
ralists. For Kaplan and his disciples, God is not a supernatu-
point of view there is no universe. The traditionalist rabbis
ral, personal being but the power in the universe that makes
and communal leaders, the mitnaggedim (“opponents”), saw
for righteousness. Kaplan maintains that people really were
the Hasidic view as rank heresy. For them the verse that
referring to this power when they spoke of God, even
states that the whole earth is filled with God’s glory (Is. 6:3)
though, in the prescientific age, they expressed their belief
means only that God’s providence extends over all and that
in terms of a supreme being, the creator of the world who
his glory can be discerned through its manifestation in the
exercises care over it. Faith in God does not involve belief
world. Speculative Hasidism understands the verse to mean
in being outside the universe but is an affirmation that the
that there is only God’s glory as an ultimate.
universe itself is so constituted that the pursuit of righteous-
ness will triumph. God is the power that guarantees salva-
In the classic work Tanya E (ShaDar ha-yihud ve-ha-
tion, in terms not of an otherworldly existence but of the en-
emunah 1) by the founder of the Habad school, ShneDur Zal-
richment of the human personality to its highest stage of
man of Lyady (1745–1813), God is described as a sun and
evolution.
a shield. The sun’s rays are essential to life, but the sun must
be screened from view to some extent if creatures on earth
Martin Buber (1878–1965), the best-known of Jewish
are to endure its splendor. In the sun itself, however, the rays
religious existentialists, stresses, on the contrary, the personal
are lost in its great light. Similarly, finite creatures can only
aspect of deity. In Buber’s thought, when man has an I-Thou
enjoy existence because the divine light is screened. They are
relationship to his fellows and to the world in general, he
like the rays of the sun separated from the sun itself. Yet, in
meets in dialogue the Thou of God. While the medieval
reality, the analogy is very inexact, says ShneDur Zalman,
thinkers devoted a significant part of their thought to reason-
since the divine light pervades all. From God’s point of view,
ing about God’s nature, Buber rejects such speculations as
finite creatures are like the rays of the sun in the sun itself.
futile, cosmic talk, irrelevant to the life of faith. God cannot
They enjoy no separate existence at all. The verse “Know this
be spoken about, but he can be met as a person by persons.
day, and lay it to thy heart, that the Lord, he is God in heav-
Franz Rosenzweig (1886–1929) has a similar existentialist
en above and upon the earth beneath, there is none else” (Dt.
approach. For Rosenzweig there are three elements in the
4:39) is taken by ShneDur Zalman to mean not only that
universe: God, the world, and man. Religion, specifically Ju-
there are other gods but that there is no ultimate reality apart
daism, binds these three together through the processes of
from God himself. The unity of God, understood by medi-
revelation, creation, and redemption.
eval thinkers in the sense of his uniqueness, is here interpret-
Avraham Yitsh:aq Kook (1865–1935), the first chief
ed to mean that there is no real multiplicity of beings but
rabbi of Palestine, is completely traditional in his concept of
only one true being.
God but accepts the theory of evolution, which, as a qabbal-
MODERN APPROACHES. Modern Jewish thinkers have been
ist, he believed to be in full accord with the qabbalistic view.
obliged to face the challenges to traditional theism provided
The whole of the universe is on the move, and man is rising
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GOD: GOD IN POSTBIBLICAL JUDAISM
to ever-greater heights ultimately to meet God. Abraham
erences for further study. Jewish Theology Systematically and
Joshua Heschel (1907–1972), strongly influenced by Hasi-
Historically Considered (1918) by Kaufmann Kohler, with
dism, stresses the sense of wonder as the way to God. Because
new material by Joseph L. Blau (New York, 1968), is a pio-
the universe is shot through with wonder, it points to the
neering work but now dated and heavily influenced by Prot-
wondrous glory of its maker, who, in the title of Heschel’s
estant thought of the first decades of the twentieth century.
book, is “God in search of man.” Heschel’s God shares in
Jewish Theology: A Historical and Systematic Interpretation of
Judaism and Its Foundations by Samuel S. Cohon (Assen,
man’s tribulations. He is the God of the Hebrew prophets,
Netherlands, 1971) and my A Jewish Theology (New York,
involved intimately in human affairs, not a cold abstraction
1973) are more adequate in that they consider more recent
without power to save.
trends in theological thought. The same applies to my God,
More than any other event, the Holocaust, in which six
Torah, Israel: Traditionalism without Fundamentalism (Cin-
million Jews perished, compelled Jewish religious thinkers to
cinnati, Ohio, 1990) and to Neil Gillman, Sacred Fragments:
examine again the doctrine that God is at work in human
Recovering Theology for the Modern Jew (Philadelphia and
history. Efforts of medieval thinkers like Yehudah ha-Levi
New York, 1990).
and Maimonides to account for evil in God’s creation were,
On the rabbinic views, The Old Rabbinic Doctrine of God by Ar-
for many, totally inadequate to explain away the enormity
thur Marmorstein (1927; reprint, New York, 1968) is a de-
of the catastrophe. Some contemporary thinkers invoke the
tailed examination of the names of God in rabbinic literature
idea found in the ancient sources that there are times when
by an expert in this literature. George Foot Moore’s Judaism
the face of God is hidden, when God surrenders his universe
in the First Centuries of the Christian Era, the Age of Tannaim,
3 vols. in 2 (1927–1930; reprint, Cambridge, Mass., 1970),
to chance if not to chaos and conceals himself because hu-
contains much information, by a non-Jewish scholar, on
mankind has abandoned him. There is a reluctance, howev-
early rabbinic discussions of God and his relationship to Isra-
er, to explore such ideas, since they appear to condemn those
el. Aspects of Rabbinic Theology by Solomon Schechter (New
who were destroyed, laying the blame, to some extent, at the
York, 1961) is a well-written and scholarly treatment of the
door of the victims. The free-will defense has also been in-
subject. There is also a good deal of material in A Rabbinic
voked by contemporary thinkers, both Jewish (e.g., Avraham
Anthology, edited by C. G. Montefiore and Herbert Loewe
Yitsh:aq Kook, Milton Steinberg) and non-Jewish (e.g., John
(1938; reprint, Philadelphia, 1960), in which a Reform and
Hick). For man to be free and exercise his choice in freedom
an Orthodox Jew also debate their differing attitudes to the
to meet his God, the world must be a place in which naked
rabbinic formulations. Occasionally this discussion tends to
evil is possible, even though the price might seem too high.
shade off into apologetics and must be used with a degree of
caution.
None of these theories has provided contemporary
Jewry with an adequate response to the problem of evil. The
No work exists devoted specifically to God in medieval Jewish
philosophy, but the subject is treated extensively in two his-
widespread tendency among believers in God is to rely on
tories: A History of Mediaeval Jewish Philosophy by Isaac
faith rather than on reason; man finds it hard to believe in
Husik (New York, 1916) and Philosophies of Judaism: The
God but harder still to accept a mindless universe. The only
History of Jewish Philosophy from Biblical Times to Franz
Jewish thinker of note who has accepted, in part at least, the
Rosenzweig by Julius Guttmann, translated by David W.
“death of God” theology is Richard Rubenstein. The others
Silverman (New York, 1964). For Maimonides’ thought on
reaffirm, in their different ways, the traditional picture of
the subject, the indispensable work is his Guide of the Per-
God as existing and caring, even though, like Kaplan, their
plexed, translated with an introduction by Shlomo Pines
understanding of what this can mean departs from that pic-
(Chicago, 1963). On the doctrine of God in the merkavah,
ture. Orthodox thinkers accept the traditional idea in its to-
qabbalistic, and Hasidic literatures, the essential work is the
tality, including the belief that the Torah, given by God, is
classic Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism by Gershom
Scholem (1941; reprint, New York, 1961). Scholem’s Jewish
the path to eternal life and that, even on earth, God will
Gnosticism, Merkavah Mysticism, and Talmudic Tradition
eventually intervene directly, bringing the Messiah to redeem
(New York, 1965) is an important work on the subject in its
the Jewish people and the whole of humankind. Thinkers be-
title. There is a good deal of material on the personal ap-
longing to the Reform movement also accept the idea that
proach in my Jewish Mystical Testimonies (London, 1996).
human history is moving toward its culmination in the ac-
For useful summaries of modern thinkers on God, three works can
knowledgment of God with the establishment of God’s king-
be recommended. Anatomy of Faith by Milton Steinberg, ed-
dom; however, they speak not of a personal Messiah but of
ited by Arthur A. Cohen (New York, 1960), compares Jew-
the dawning of a messianic age.
ish thought on God with Christian thought. Modern Philoso-
phies of Judaism by Jacob B. Agus (New York, 1941) is an
SEE ALSO Attributes of God, article on Jewish Concepts;
excellent examination of the thought of Buber, Rosenzweig,
Holocaust, article on Jewish Theological Responses; Jewish
Kaplan, and other modern Jewish thinkers. My Jewish
Thought and Philosophy, article on Modern Thought; Re-
Thought Today (New York, 1970) is an annotated anthology
constructionist Judaism; Reform Judaism.
with a section on God. Judaism Faces the Twentieth Century:
A Biography of Mordecai M. Kaplan (Detroit, 1993) is a use-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ful introduction to Kaplan’s naturalistic view of God.
There are three works of general Jewish theology in which the Jew-
ish doctrine of God is discussed with full bibliographical ref-
LOUIS JACOBS (1987 AND 2005)
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GOD: GOD IN POSTBIBLICAL CHRISTIANITY
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GOD: GOD IN POSTBIBLICAL CHRISTIANITY
theologians of Antioch taught that the Word of God was
Both New Testament writers and postbiblical Christians
present to and in Jesus even more fully than in the prophets
sharply opposed the God of their faith to the many gods of
and oracles. On the other hand, the idea that God sent heav-
popular religion. In doing so they joined not only Jews but
enly messengers, or angels, was widespread; Arius taught that
also most thoughtful pagans, who believed in one God be-
he who was sent to earth as Jesus was not just one angel
yond the many. Because the reality of the one God was not
among others but the one supreme creature through whom
in doubt, arguments for God’s existence in that era were un-
all other creatures, including the angels, were made. But the
important.
Christian conviction that in Jesus it was God who was incar-
nate opposed the latter theory, and the former still left God
There was, however, during the early centuries of the
too separate from Jesus to be truly incarnational. Under the
Christian era a great divide. On one side were those classical
leadership of Athanasius the church determined at the Coun-
religious thinkers who continued to reflect on God in strictly
cil of Nicaea (325) that what was incarnate in Jesus was truly
philosophical ways, trusting their reason to suffice. This tra-
God, and at the Council of Chalcedon (451) it maintained
dition reached its apex in Neoplatonism. On the other side
that while Jesus was fully God, his divinity left his humanity
were those who accepted the authority of Jewish (supple-
unimpaired.
mented later by Christian or Islamic) scriptures, correlating
the ideas found there with the fruits of reason. The great Al-
While the church insisted that what was incarnate was
exandrian Jew Philo, a contemporary of the apostle Paul,
truly God, it did not simply identify what was incarnate with
gave classical expression to this second approach, which grad-
the one whom Jesus called “Father.” Instead, following the
ually won out in the Mediterranean world.
prologue in the Gospel of John, the Word (or Son) who was
with God and who was God was the incarnated one. This
Justin Martyr provides an early picture of how Chris-
required a distinction within the one God. Even so, the
tians understood the relation of their doctrine of God to the
church lacked a conceptuality that could show how the
wider culture. He reports that he sought knowledge of God
Word could both be one with God and become incarnate
from philosophy with little success. A Christian then per-
in Jesus without diminution of Jesus’ humanity; and so the
suaded him that the human mind lacks the power to grasp
assertion, unsupported by intelligible conceptuality, became
the truth of God and that one must begin with what God
a “mystery.” Similarly, the doctrine of the Trinity, which
has revealed. Accordingly, Justin turned to the Hebrew scrip-
grew out of these debates with the addition of the Holy Spir-
tures, read now through Christian eyes, and found there
it, could not be conceptually clarified. Thus faith became as-
what he wanted. His success did not lead him to a total rejec-
sent to mysteries on the basis of the authority of the church.
tion of Greek philosophy, however; he continued to admire
Plato, but to avoid attributing Plato’s wisdom to human rea-
Although the doctrines of incarnation and Trinity are
son, he claimed that Plato had learned from Moses.
inescapable and central to Christian theology, their character
The authority of scripture ensured that for Christians
as mystery reduced their role in shaping early Christian
as for Jews, the God who sometimes appears as an imperson-
thinking about God. For example, whereas one would expect
al deity in the philosophical writings would be understood
thinking about God’s attributes to be deeply influenced by
as personal. On the other hand, under the influence of exist-
the gospel accounts of Jesus, such an influence has in fact
ing philosophical concepts, biblical ideas came to be set in
been uncommon. On the whole, God’s attributes were un-
a new key. For example, God’s changelessness, which in the
derstood much as they were affirmed in Jewish and philo-
Bible means God’s faithfulness and dependability, was gener-
sophical thought of the time: God is incorruptible, unsuscep-
ally understood to be God’s freedom from transiency and
tible of harm or decay; God is incorporeal and invisible, a
perishing. Subsequently this concept was transformed by
purely spiritual being. An early Christian statement about
some into metaphysical immutability. Likewise, God’s ever-
God’s attributes is to be found in the apocryphal Preaching
lastingness (beginningless and endless life) was sometimes
of Peter, which describes God as
transformed into a nontemporal eternality.
the invisible, who sees all things,
The matter primarily in dispute was the content of di-
uncontained, who contains all things,
vine activity in relation to humankind, what God had done,
without needs, of whom all are in need and because of
whom they exist,
was doing, and would do. To be a Christian was to affirm
incomprehensible, eternal, imperishable,
that the God of whom the Hebrew scriptures speak had acted
unmade, who made all by the word of his power.
in Jesus for the redemption of the world. This conviction ex-
pressed itself in the doctrine of incarnation, and it was this
In the Middle Platonism of the second century there was a
doctrine that most distinguished Christian thought from
strong tendency to emphasize the radical difference of God
Jewish and philosophical ideas. Yet even incarnation could
from the world, and so the incomprehensibility of God, just
find various points of contact in the wider religious context,
mentioned in the Preaching of Peter, was accented. This note
and these analogies were used by some commentators to un-
was strong among the Gnostics, but it became prominent
derstand and interpret it. On the one hand, God was known
also among Christian writers who were increasingly willing
to have spoken through prophets and sibylline oracles; the
to draw consistent consequences from the idea that God was
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GOD: GOD IN POSTBIBLICAL CHRISTIANITY
incomprehensible. For example, Clement of Alexandria
speaking church. It required both the denial that God is of
wrote that God cannot properly be called “one or the good
the order of thought or idea and the rejection of a further
or the one itself or Father or God or Demiurge or Lord”
development in the thought of Plotinus, which located God
(Stromateis 5.82.1).
as the One beyond thought who could be reached only
through thought. At the same time it required the clarifica-
The patristic writer Origen made still more explicit the
tion of how human beings could have real communion with
tension between the increasingly negative theology, which
God by grace.
the church assimilated largely from the surrounding culture,
and the positive language of scripture. Earlier, in arguing
Basil of Caesarea made a distinction between the essence
against anthropomorphic myths of the gods, Christians had
or substance of God, which is radically and eternally inacces-
denied that God feels fear or anger or sexual passion and had
sible, and the divine energies. These energies, he taught, are
sometimes generalized this to speak of the divine apatheia;
God’s actual working in the world and are, therefore, fully
Origen systematized this doctrine and drew the conclusion
God and wholly uncreated. Basil associated these energies es-
that all passages describing divine emotions such as joy or
pecially with the Holy Spirit. “Through him the ascent of
grief must be read allegorically.
the emotions, the deification of the weak, the fulfillment of
that which is in progress is accomplished. It is he who, shin-
In a late homily on Ezekiel, Origen seems to have re-
ing brightly in those who are being purified of all unclean-
versed his position on this point, explicitly denying that the
ness, makes them spiritual persons through communion with
Father is impassible. But the weight of his influence, along
himself” (On the Holy Spirit 9.23).
with the general logic of the idea of metaphysical immutabil-
ity, carried the day. The idea that God the Father could have
The writings of Pseudo-Dionysius (Dionysius the Are-
feelings such as pity was called “patripassianism,” and it has
opagite) shared much with the Neoplatonism of Plotinus.
been generally regarded as unacceptable at least until the late
They served later in the West to encourage a Plotinian form
twentieth century, when Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Jürgen Molt-
of mysticism. But in the East, where their influence has been
mann, Kazoh Kitamori, and many others, including process
pervasive and their orthodoxy unquestioned, they have pro-
theologians generally, began to emphasize God’s suffering.
vided the basis for a Christian spirituality that overcomes a
Platonic dualism.
Although there was broad consensus that all things de-
These writings reaffirm the total inaccessibility of the di-
rive from God, there were alternative images of the relation-
vine essence while stressing the divine energies, powers, or
ship between God and the world. One image emphasized
processions. Created beings participate in the divine energy
creation as an external act of will. The world is envisaged as
in the way proper to each. Thus the movement of God into
coming into being by divine fiat out of nothing. Another
the world of creatures enables the creatures to rise toward
image, which envisioned the world as the outworking of the
God. In this process both positive and negative theology are
dynamism of the divine life, found its clearest expression in
needed. Positive theology finds symbols for God everywhere
Plotinus’s doctrine of emanation. Insofar as this image im-
in the created world. Negative theology points out that these
plied that the world was made of divine substance, it was re-
are indeed symbols and that there is no name for God’s es-
jected by the church, but some of its language remained in-
sence. In neither process is there any priority of the intellec-
fluential. A third image was that of participation, wherein
tual over the physical.
God is seen as perfect being, and creatures are thought to
exist as they participate in this being in a creaturely way. This
In the eighth century, John of Damascus, the most au-
image was supported especially by God’s self-revelation to
thoritative theologian of the Eastern church, included these
Moses. God is understood to have said: “I am who I
elements in his exposition The Orthodox Faith, thus ensuring
am. . . . Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel: He
their continued role. This role was most important in mo-
Who Is, hath sent me to you.” A fourth image was that of
nastic practice, which sought to realize the presence of the
inclusion, according to which God is the “uncontained, who
Holy Spirit. Symeon, called the New Theologian, gave ex-
contains all things” (Preaching of Peter). This follows from
pression to this practice in the early part of the eleventh cen-
the words attributed to Paul in Acts: “In God we live and
tury. He wrote of the experience of the uncreated light that
move and have our being” (17:28).
is neither sensory nor intellectual. This light illumines the
human heart, judging, purifying, and forgiving. It is the fore-
The Platonic influence on developing Christian beliefs
taste of the Parousia.
encouraged a correlation between the human intellect and
God. Thus Gnosticism held that knowledge of God is supe-
This current of Eastern spirituality came to its fullest ex-
rior to faith, and this idea was taken over also by some of the
pression in Gregory Palamas in the fourteenth century. He
more orthodox Christians. A related concept held that the
wrote: “Illumination or divine and deifying grace is not the
human soul or mind possessed a kinship with God that was
essence but the energy of God” (Theophanes, in Patrologia
lacking to the body. Such ideas encouraged intellectualistic
Graeca 150.932d). Essence and energy are the two modes of
mysticism and bodily asceticism. The Christian struggle to
the one divine existence.
overcome this dualism can be traced from the fourth-century
This basic structure of Eastern thought of God was the
Cappadocians through the fourteenth-century Greek-
context also for the defense of icons. The Iconoclasts held
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GOD: GOD IN POSTBIBLICAL CHRISTIANITY
3555
that the use of icons in worship was idolatrous because it as-
Thomas found in Aristotle an achievement of natural
sumed that the icons shared the substance of God. The victo-
reason that moved from sense experience to the demonstra-
rious defenders thought of divine energies as imparted to the
tion of the existence of God. This he called natural theology.
icons without any loss of their creatureliness, while the divine
He recognized that reason based on sense experience cannot
substance remained radically transcendent and unknowable.
arrive at all the truths taught by the church; so he affirmed
The impact of Platonic philosophy in Western thought
also that there are truths attainable only by revelation. In ad-
of God took a different turn chiefly because of Augustine of
dition he saw that much that the philosopher can attain by
Hippo. Augustine made fully explicit the theological issues
reason is also revealed so that all may know.
raised for the Christian by dominant philosophical ideas. For
The Augustinian tradition argues that knowledge of
example, the church taught the doctrine of creation of the
God’s existence is already implicitly given in thought. An-
world out of nothing. This seemed to imply that God first
selm’s formulation of the ontological argument is the most
was alone and then, subsequently, created the world. But this
thoroughgoing expression of this tendency. Thomas, on the
notion of a temporal sequence of events in the divine life
other hand, seeks to lead the mind by inference from what
seemed in conflict with the perfection of God. If there was
is known through the senses to the affirmation of God as the
good reason to create a world, why would God delay? In any
supreme cause of the world. The emphasis in Thomas’s idea
case, would this sequence not necessarily imply a change in
of God shifts, accordingly, from that of the illuminator of
God from precreating to creating? And would not the exis-
the mind to the cause of the existence and motion of all crea-
tence of the world introduce something new into the divine
turely things.
omniscience?
Augustine undertook to reconcile the doctrines of cre-
The Thomistic argument that has best stood the test of
ation and immutability by radical reflection on time. Time,
time is the argument that proceeds from the contingency of
he held, is a function of the mutable, created order. It has,
all creaturely things to a necessary existent. By itself, an infi-
therefore, no reality for God. For humans there is past, pres-
nite series of contingent causes cannot explain the actual exis-
ent, and future; but from the perspective of eternity, the con-
tence of anything. This dependence of contingent being on
tents of time exist timelessly. This became standard theologi-
necessary being is closely related to Thomas’s most original
cal teaching, often ignored in the rhetoric of the church, but
metaphysical work, his analysis of esse, or the act of being in
rarely directly denied before the twentieth century.
its distinction from essence. The broad outlines of this argu-
ment already existed in the patristic consideration of God’s
Unlike the author of the pseudo-Dionysian writings,
self-revelation to Moses interpreted as “He Who Is.” But
Augustine understood the essence of God to be all that which
whereas Augustine understood it to mean that God is he who
is common to the persons of the Trinity. God is truth itself,
never changes, Thomas taught that God is ipsum esse, being
which is at once goodness itself. As the sun is the source of
itself, that is, the act of being. This is pure act, free from all
light by which one’s eyes see the visible world, so God is the
potency, apart from which there can be nothing at all. As
source of illumination of the mind by which it sees eternal
pure act it is necessary existence, that on which all contingent
truths. And just as it is possible, though difficult, to see the
existence wholly depends. French neo-Thomists in the twen-
sun itself, so also it is possible, though difficult, to contem-
tieth century, such as Étienne Gilson, highlighted these fea-
plate God.
tures of Thomas’s thought, which had been partly obscured
Truth, according to Augustine, draws the mind to itself,
in the interim.
but the mind is distracted by the sinful will, which directs
itself toward inferior things. What is known is not different,
Being itself is radically different from any creaturely
therefore, from natural knowledge, but because of sin natural
being, and because one’s ideas are formed in the creaturely
knowledge is always distorted. Hence the mind cannot attain
world, one cannot speak of God univocally. Nevertheless,
to truth apart from the healing of the will. This is the work
the language about God is not merely equivocal. There is jus-
of grace through Jesus Christ, in whom God accepted humil-
tification in using analogies that move from creaturely effect
iation in order to overcome human pride.
to divine cause, attributing to the supreme cause the perfect
form of the excellences found in the effects.
This basic pattern, reflective of Plato’s influence, domi-
nated early medieval thought of God. It came into conflict
Thomas thought of God not simply as ipsum esse but
with thinking affected by a new, firsthand encounter with
as ipsum esse subsistens, that is, as the one who is being itself.
the writings of Aristotle, which were mediated to Christian
The unity of the idea of being itself with the idea of the su-
theologians in the West chiefly through Islamic Spain. The
preme being has been characteristic of the Thomistic tradi-
Aristotelian influence in theology was long viewed with sus-
tion. However, Meister Eckhart, the great fourteenth-
picion, but eventually it gained a strong foothold in Western
century mystic, distinguished God as supreme being from
Christianity through the acceptance of Thomas Aquinas,
godhead as being itself, and he sought the latter in the depths
who, as the most authoritative teacher of the Roman Catho-
of his own being. Through this distinction and his experien-
lic Church, synthesized aspects of Aristotle with much of the
tial realization of being, Eckhart provided a Western Chris-
Augustinian tradition.
tian analog for the thought and practice of Hindus and Bud-
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GOD: GOD IN POSTBIBLICAL CHRISTIANITY
dhists, who had long distinguished the transpersonal
demonstrate that the reprobate fully deserves damnation,
ultimate from the personal God.
and he attempted also to display the justice and mercy of
what God has chosen to do as humanly intelligible. Others
Thomas subordinated the divine will to the divine wis-
have argued more systematically that any alternative ordering
dom. That is, God wills what is good. In this doctrine, his
of things would reduce the goodness of the world; usually
thought followed that of the church fathers, including Au-
the necessity or inevitability of evil in a world where there
gustine. God remains for Thomas, as for them, the One, the
are free creatures has been emphasized. Although the phrase
True, and the Good. But there were others for whom this
has not been popular, because it seems to minimize sin and
Platonic way of thinking ceased to be convincing, for whom
evil, most theodicy has undertaken finally to show, in Leib-
there were no truth and goodness existing in themselves and
niz’s words, that this is “the best of all possible worlds.”
attracting the human mind and will; they asserted that God
is much more the efficient cause of natural motion, that God
During the Renaissance a new wave of Platonic influ-
is free agent, bound to nothing, and, in short, that God is
ence gave rise to the Hermetic tradition, which emphasized
almighty will, determining thereby what is true and good.
the mathematical character of the world, the power of move-
This voluntaristic emphasis is associated with the rise of me-
ment immanent in things, and the interrelatedness of human
dieval nominalism, influenced especially by William of Ock-
thought with these things. The divine was perceived as in-
ham. Nominalism is the doctrine that universals are names
dwelling power rather than as transcendent will. The volun-
given to certain things. These universals have no existence
taristic tradition had earlier separated revelation from the
in themselves. Furthermore, because there is an element of
support of reason and encouraged an authoritarian spirit; the
arbitrariness in how things are named, human choice and de-
Hermetic tradition, too, separated reason from revelation,
cision are accented instead of discernment of what is objec-
but encouraged instead a critique of hierarchical structures
tively there for the mind to discover. This doctrine entails
in church and society. Together they paved the way for mod-
the theory that God alone chooses what to require of human
ern philosophy in the seventeenth century, whereupon there
beings and what to do for them. What God has chosen can-
ended definitively the unity of theology and philosophy that
not be learned by human reason; it can only be revealed by
had dominated Western thought for more than a thousand
God.
years.
This voluntaristic theology prepared a context for the
The early development of modern science was chiefly
Protestant Reformation. With the reformers the emphasis
in the Hermetic context. But partly for theological reasons,
was not on philosophical limitations to human knowledge
René Descartes and Robert Boyle argued for a mechanical
of God but on the radical corruption of the human mind by
nature of passive objects to which the human mind is essen-
sin. This impairment does not eradicate all knowledge of
tially alien. This left the sovereign will of God as the source
God, but it does lead to distortion of every human effort to
of all order. Newton vacillated between these two world-
say who God is. For knowledge of God one is totally depen-
views, but eventually he gave his great prestige to the me-
dent on God’s gracious and redeeming act in Jesus Christ.
chanical alternative, and this came to be known as the New-
tonian worldview.
In Calvin’s systematic formulation, for example, God’s
reality is fully manifest objectively in the order of nature; but
The church meanwhile kept alive older modes of think-
because of sin those who have tried to interpret nature by rea-
ing of God. Many of the theological debates, such as the So-
son have been led astray. The truth of God’s objective mani-
cinian, Arminian, Wesleyan, Universalist, and Unitarian ob-
festation in nature is properly grasped only through scrip-
jections to strict Calvinism, paid little attention to the issues
ture. But, once again, although the truth about God is
raised by modern science. Their concern was to recover the
perfectly clear in scripture, the sinful mind distorts that as
emphasis on human freedom and to make more intelligible
well. Hence scripture is properly understood only through
the idea of God’s love for all people.
the illumination of the Holy Spirit, bestowed by God as God
Nevertheless, the Newtonian, or mechanical, worldview
pleases and not according to human merit.
came to be accepted as the only legitimate one in a scientific
age. When the church expressed its faith in ways that were
The problem of theodicy is present wherever God is af-
not consistent with this worldview, it became increasingly
firmed to be both omnipotent and good, because to deny sin
ghettoized in relation to the intellectual community. Among
and evil would contradict both scripture and experience. The
the intelligentsia thought of God accommodated itself rapid-
problem is heightened when, as among Calvinists, God’s
ly to the new vision, and popular thought gradually followed.
election is emphasized to be independent of human desert.
God was conceived, accordingly, as sovereign will, the om-
For the voluntaristic tradition, however, the answer is also
nipotent creator and lawgiver. As lawgiver God imposed laws
given: What is good is finally determined by the divine will.
on nature whose mathematical character physicists were dis-
The human mind has no independent access to criteria by
closing. Parallel to physical laws were moral laws imposed
which to judge the goodness of God.
upon human beings. Because human beings are free, these
Most theologians, however, have attempted to mitigate
laws functioned more like those of the state, except for the
the starkness of this answer. Calvin himself attempted to
omniscience and omnipotence of the lawgiver. Thus, it was
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GOD: GOD IN POSTBIBLICAL CHRISTIANITY
3557
held, people can disobey, but their disobedience is pun-
general lie, cheat, or steal whenever it is to their personal ad-
ished—in part in this life, but fully and appropriately in the
vantage to do so, then one ought not to lie, cheat, or steal
next.
for one’s own advantage. This principle—the “categorical
imperative”—holds whether or not God exists.
This developing idea of God was fully personal in the
sense that God was conceived to be a supreme mind and will.
But Kant also affirmed that it would be fitting if the will
But human relations to God were mediated through imper-
that conforms to this imperative were happy. Indeed, the
sonal laws. The term deist was applied to this position; origi-
summum bonum, that whose realization all must desire, is the
nally synonymous with theist, it came later to imply the lack
union of virtue and happiness. Such a state is not attained
of any immediacy of inwardness of relationship. Deism pic-
in this life, but one has the right to posit that it is not an illu-
tured God as the maker of the machine, which then runs ac-
sion, that is, that this life is not the whole, and that in the
cording to the principles built into it.
larger sphere the summum bonum may be realized. This argu-
ment assumes that God exists as the guarantor of ultimate
In the eighteenth century the chief issue was whether
fittingness.
God, having established natural laws, ever acted contrary to
them. All agreed that God was supernatural. The issue was
Although few have followed the exact way in which
whether God caused supernatural events in the created
Kant correlated God with ethics, many have agreed that be-
world, that is, whether miracles occurred. Orthodox Chris-
lief in God belongs with ethics rather than with science.
tians held that the biblical accounts of miracles were true,
Later in the nineteenth century Albrecht Ritschl was to
whereas the Deists held that natural law was perfect and that
found a neo-Kantian school, which interpreted theology as
therefore God did not violate it.
statements about values rather than about facts. God is that
which is supremely valuable, not a being about whose exis-
The eighteenth century witnessed also the rise of reli-
tence it is suitable to argue.
gious skepticism. There had been skeptics all along, but their
numbers and prestige were greatly increased during the Re-
Kant’s philosophy opened up a particular idea of God
naissance, as well as by the multiple divisions of Christianity
of which he did not approve. Kant had given an elaborate
and accompanying religious wars following the Reformation.
account of the a priori structures of experience and thought,
Also, the increasing autonomy and success of natural science
specifying that these structures apply to thought or mind as
suggested that scientific explanation is sufficient by itself and
such; they are not accounts of contingent features of particu-
does not require metaphysical and theological grounding. By
lar minds, but rather “transcendentals,” and individual
the end of the eighteenth century belief in God had become
minds exist by participation in them. Mind as such—in Ger-
radically problematic. The philosophy of David Hume
man, Geist—has a reality of its own, transcending that of in-
brought the skeptical spirit to expression in ways that contin-
dividuals. In developments subsequent to Kant much nine-
ue to influence contemporary thought. By insisting that cau-
teenth-century German theology associated Geist with God.
sality must be an empirically observable relationship, Hume
The most influential thinker who made this association
undercut every argument that begins with the world or with
was Hegel, who believed that the structure of Geist was not
aspects of the world and reasons that there must be a cause
static, as Kant thought, but dynamic. Hegel studied this dy-
that transcends the world.
namism in the process of thinking as such and also traced
Reflection about God on the European continent in the
it through the great cultures of universal history. He saw it
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was shaped by the
as directed toward a final completion or realization, which
critical philosophy of Immanuel Kant. Influenced by Hume,
he called absolute Geist. This Hegelian effort to discern the
Kant saw that empirical evidence alone could not ultimately
working of Geist in the whole of human cultural and intellec-
serve as a sufficient ground for the Newtonian worldview.
tual history has since been characteristic of such theologians
This perception led him to ground that worldview in neces-
as Ernst Troeltsch and Wolfhart Pannenberg.
sary structures of thought wherein Newtonian space and
Kant’s philosophy can also be used to support the idea
time, as well as causality, are ways in which the mind neces-
of a religious a priori. Theologians can argue that just as
sarily orders phenomena.
space, time, and causality are a priori structures of experi-
ence, so also is the sense of the divine. Friedrich Schleierma-
Kant’s conclusion was by no means atheistic. Even in
cher held that in all people there is to be found a “feeling
relation to the exercise of theoretical reason, the idea of God
of absolute dependence,” and he built his theology around
has a beneficial effect, though it must not be introduced as
this feeling. Later, Nathan Söderblom and Rudolf Otto iden-
an explanatory principle. More important, Kant points out
tified the feeling of the holy or the numinous as the essential-
that in addition to the sphere of theoretical reason there is
ly religious element in experience. Paul Tillich subsequently
another sphere of practical reason, which deals with how
spoke of “ultimate concern.”
people should act. In this sphere, too, the fundamental moral
principle is independent of theology. People should act al-
This approach to the divine leaves somewhat ambiguous
ways according to maxims that they can will to be universal
the reality of God as such. Its normal rhetoric implies that
principles. For example, if one cannot will that people in
there is One on whom all are absolutely dependent, that
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GOD: GOD IN POSTBIBLICAL CHRISTIANITY
there is One who is numinous, or that everyone’s ultimate
The most influential theologian of the twentieth centu-
concern is correlated with that which in truth concerns them
ry, Karl Barth, was shaped in much of his thought by Kant’s
ultimately. In this way it crosses beyond the boundaries of
critical philosophy, but he rejected all adaptations of the doc-
strict Kantian thought. Even within the Kantian framework,
trine of God to philosophical requirements. He denied, more
it follows that because one cannot but experience the world
radically than the Protestant reformers, that God can be
in this way, the question of truth or falsity is irrelevant. In
known by human reason. Humankind is entirely dependent,
some such way as this there has been a widespread tendency
Barth maintained, on God’s self-revelation, who is Jesus
in twentieth-century theology to avoid the need for argu-
Christ. This revelation is known only in the scriptural wit-
ments for the objective reality of God, without relapsing into
ness to him. Central to what is revealed of God is radical,
subjectivism or giving up realistic language about God.
sovereign, dynamic freedom. Humans can lay no claims on
God and make no judgments about how God will act except
In the twentieth century an important segment of
as they lay hold on the divine promises and the divine self-
Roman Catholic Thomistic thought followed Kant in still
disclosure. In Germany this radically Christocentric theology
another way by taking the “transcendental turn.” Transcen-
provided a rallying point against compromise with the quasi-
dental Thomists, such as Karl Rahner and Bernard Loner-
religious claims of Nazism.
gan, probe with Kant within the human mind for the condi-
tions of all thought and knowledge. But unlike Kant they
Barth strove mightily to let his thought of God be
discover not the categorical requirements for the Newtonian
shaped by scripture through and through. He wished to
worldview but the horizon of being as such, which is God.
avoid dependence on the philosophical ideas that had been
so influential throughout Christian history. He also wanted
In the English-speaking world, in spite of Hume’s skep-
to avoid reaction against uncongenial or hostile modes of
ticism on the matter, William Paley’s arguments from the
thought in contemporary society. His intellectual honesty
order of nature to a transcendent creator were convincing to
and openness commanded the respect of many modernists,
many, and for many, therefore, Charles Darwin’s theory of
despite their discomfort with his conclusions; his radical
evolution generated a major crisis of faith. If one thinks of
faithfulness to scripture commanded the respect of many
the world as having come into being with something like its
fundamentalists, despite his refusal to endorse their teachings
present order, it is indeed difficult not to posit a supremely
about biblical inerrancy and despite his rejection of their
intelligent and powerful creator. But if one supposes that the
quarrel with modern science and philosophy. In the English-
complex forms of life now to be observed were produced by
speaking world, aided by the popularity of the supportive
chance and necessity out of much simpler forms, the role of
writings of Emil Brunner, Barth provided an alternative to
such a creator declines, eventually to the vanishing point.
modernism and fundamentalism, thus making possible an
Hence Darwinism appeared to be a profound threat to the-
ecumenical center for theological discussion from the 1930s
ism, and out of the controversy was born fundamentalism
into the 1960s.
as a self-conscious movement, holding to the literal accuracy
The dominance of a positivistically inclined linguistic
of biblical teaching against dominant scientific and historical
analysis in English-language philosophy raised problems for
study. Its teaching, of course, had roots in the whole of con-
the English-speaking Barthian consensus, as illustrated by
servative Protestant history, especially Calvinist, but its de-
the work of a North American student of Barth, Paul Van
fensive stance against science was new.
Buren, who called for a nontheistic interpretation of Barth’s
theology. Meanwhile opposition to Christian teaching about
Those who wished to accept the evolutionary perspec-
God continued, inherited from nineteenth-century skeptics
tive while remaining theists were compelled to reconceive the
and also from those who had found belief in God oppressive:
way God works in the world. Such thinkers, instead of con-
Ludwig Feuerbach, who complained that humanity treated
ceiving of God deistically as one who produced the world,
its own goodness as something alien, and projected this as
gave it its laws, and left it to run its course, found it possible
“God”; Friedrich Nietzsche, who thought that human beings
to imagine God as working with creatures in the develop-
could not assert their own freedom until they “killed” God.
ment of new patterns of order. To do so, however, required
Barth’s reassertion of God as free and sovereign will did little
the introduction of the notion of purpose into evolution.
to respond to these challenges, and the work of Thomas Al-
Debate continues as to whether this modification is justifi-
tizer renewed this challenge in the mid-1960s. The “death-
able. Thus Teilhard de Chardin argued that the whole evolu-
of-God” theology contributed further to weakening Barth’s
tionary process moves toward a final destiny, an Omega
influence.
Point. Jacques Monod replied that science has now estab-
lished that chance and necessity reign supreme. Yet Monod
The appearance soon after World War II of the writings
seems to attribute intelligent purpose to human beings and
of Dietrich Bonhoeffer from a Nazi jail struck a responsive
even to other animals. There is in fact considerable evidence
chord in those already uncomfortable with Barth’s theology.
that purposive behavior is an important factor in the evolu-
The ideas sketched in these writings indicate a quite different
tionary process, and defenders of theism can argue from it
way of thinking of God. “Only a powerless God,” Bonhoef-
that God is the source of this purposiveness.
fer wrote, “can help.” It is the Crucified One rather than the
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all-determining Lord who can speak to suffering humanity
Similarly, although theologians have insisted that God
“come of age.” Bonhoeffer thus helped gain a hearing for a
is beyond gender, feminists have had no difficulty showing
current of thought that directly challenged God’s impassibil-
that the Christian image of God is overwhelmingly male:
ity and affirmed patripassianism. This position had been for-
Whereas God’s whiteness is clearly not biblical and is rightly
mulated philosophically in the United States by Alfred
rejected in the name of the Bible, God’s maleness is biblical.
North Whitehead and was systematically developed by
Hence the denial of maleness to God requires a radical ap-
Charles Hartshorne; it was forcefully expressed theologically
proach to scripture. Furthermore, the characteristics attribut-
in Germany by Jürgen Moltmann.
ed to God by even those theologians who have rejected an-
thropomorphism have usually been stereotypically masculine
Although few have followed Bonhoeffer’s rhetoric of di-
ideals: omnipotence, impassibility, self-sufficiency. Feminists
vine powerlessness, there has been considerable new reflec-
challenge this whole theological tradition. They divide be-
tion on the nature of God’s power. Whitehead held that
tween those, such as Mary Daly, who believe that the Chris-
God’s power is persuasive rather than coercive. That this was
tian God is inherently and necessarily patriarchal, and hence
true with respect to human beings had long been taught—
incompatible with women’s liberation, and those, such as
for example, by Augustine. But in Whitehead’s view, to exist
Rosemary Ruether and Letty Russell, who believe that the
at all is to have some measure of self-determination. Hence
Christian deity is a liberator who can free humankind also
God’s relation to all creatures is persuasive. Wolfhart Pan-
from patriarchalism.
nenberg argues that God is to be thought of as the Power
of the Future. God is not now extant as one being alongside
For a century now there has been a slow decline of the
others making up the given reality, but rather that which will
mechanistic worldview. Because the rise of that worldview
be all in all. Pannenberg argues that all creative realization
had so marked an impact on Christian thinking about God,
in the present comes into being from this divine future.
its decline would seem to be important as well. However, the
Hence God remains all-determinative, but the mode of this
change in theology has not been dramatic. Because of Kant’s
determination is quite different from that against which peo-
influence, theology in central Europe has been largely sepa-
ple have protested for the sake of human freedom. Instead
rated from questions of worldview. The effect of Barth’s the-
it is God’s determination of the present that makes humanity
ology has been to reinforce this separation. Ironically, the
free.
separation has led to the continued acceptance of the mecha-
nistic worldview by some theologians despite its loss of pres-
The association of God with the future, building on the
tige among physicists. Rudolf Bultmann, for example, ac-
eschatological language of the New Testament, has had other
cepted this worldview unquestioningly and argued from it
supporters. Whereas for Pannenberg it has ontological mean-
with respect to what is credible to modern people.
ing, for J.-B. Metz and Jürgen Moltmann it is associated with
a “political theology,” which locates salvation primarily in
Nevertheless, others, such as Karl Heim, worked to
the public historical realm. It is also central to the “liberation
adapt Christian theology to new developments in science;
theology” of Rubem Alves, Gustavo Gutierrez, Juan Segun-
this approach was especially common in the French- and En-
do, and other Latin Americans. These German and Latin
glish-language worlds. Scientific developments abounded.
American theologians argue that God’s will is not expressed
After the controversy over evolution, more fundamental
in the present structures of society or in some romanticized
challenges to mechanism came from physics with the rise of
past, but rather in the promise of something quite different.
quantum theory. Newtonian laws gave way to statistical
Hence, the overwhelming tendency of religion to justify and
probabilities, and self-contained atoms were replaced by
even sanctify existing patterns, or to encourage nostalgia for
fields. Substances gave way to events. But the lack of a fully
a lost paradise, is opposed by the prophetic challenge in view
articulated, generally accepted new worldview, correlated
of the hoped-for future.
with the whole range of the sciences, has reduced the impact
on theology of the decay of the older worldview. Meanwhile
Among these theologians, the image of God has been
there has emerged largely outside the churches a popular reli-
more important than the concept. Indeed, recognition of the
gious culture that correlates religious beliefs with what it
difference between image and concept and of the great im-
takes to be the new science.
portance of image has played a large role in recent thought
about God. Blacks in the United States, led by James H.
The most impressive effort to propose a conceptually
Cone, have pointed out that God has been imaged as white.
rigorous worldview or cosmology appropriate to postme-
The fact that theological concepts about God make the no-
chanistic science is that of Whitehead. Whitehead also
tion of skin color absurd has not reduced the power of this
spelled out what he saw as the implications of this new cos-
image. Blacks then need to image God as black to claim their
mology for belief in God. Because the new cosmology re-
human and religious identity. They can go on to say that the
places atomism with a field of interrelated events, it calls for
biblical witness to God’s self-identification with the poor and
understanding God as also fully interrelated with the world.
oppressed gives special justification to this image. Black the-
God is not a cosmic lawgiver but an intimate participant in
ology has also provided stimulus for fuller indigenization of
every event. Similarly, every event enters forever into the
images of God in many non-Western cultures.
inner life of God.
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GOD: GOD IN ISLAM
Whitehead’s ideas have been systematically modified,
sufficient, that supposition is no longer so evident today.
developed, and defended by Charles Hartshorne. In light of
Much of the debate about God is a debate about what people
the new ways of thinking of God Hartshorne reformulated
most admire and most desire to emulate.
classical arguments for God’s existence, including the onto-
logical argument, and he called his theism neoclassical. This
SEE ALSO Androcentrism; Anthropomorphism; Apologetics;
neoclassical theism is a pan-entheism based on a doctrine of
Councils, article on Christian Councils; Deism; Enlighten-
God as dipolar, absolute in essence but relational in actuality.
ment, The; Evangelical and Fundamental Christianity; Gen-
Hartshorne’s thought has played a central role in the emer-
der Roles; Heresy, article on Christian Concepts; Herme-
gence of “process theology.”
tism; Iconoclasm; Icons; Incarnation; Modernism, article on
Christian Modernism; Naturalism; Neoorthodoxy; Nomi-
Another context for Christian reflection on God in re-
nalism; Philosophy; Political Theology; Skeptics and Skepti-
cent times is dialogue with representatives of other religious
cism; Theodicy; Theology, article on Christian Theology;
traditions. These dialogues intensify the question whether
Trinity.
the Christian God is also worshiped in other traditions. In
relation to Jews and Muslims, who share much scripture with
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Conn., 1978.
quainted with these scriptures to use terms already present
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in their languages to speak of the Christian God. It has been
New York, 1955.
widely assumed that, whatever the misunderstanding or dis-
tortion, every people has some notion of the one true God
Grant, Robert M. The Early Christian Doctrine of God. Charlottes-
ville, Va., 1966.
who is revealed in the Bible.
Hartshorne, Charles, and William L. Reese. Philosophers Speak of
Such dialogue also usually leads to greater appreciation
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of the faith of the dialogue partner and increases the sense
Lossky, Vladimir. The Vision of God. Clayton, Wis., 1963.
that the one true God is known also by the partner. This per-
ception results in an effort to distinguish God from Christian
Prestige, George L. God in Patristic Thought (1936). London,
1952.
ideas and images of God, so that Christians may respect ideas
and images quite different from those to which they have
Wolfson, Harry A. From Philo to Spinoza: Two Studies in Religious
been accustomed. H. Richard Niebuhr has provided a con-
Philosophy. New York, 1977.
fessional model for dialogue in which the partners tell their
Zahrnt, Heinz. The Question of God. New York, 1969.
story to one another in ways that celebrate the understanding
New Sources
to which their own story has brought them, without dispar-
La Due, William. Jesus among the Theologians. Harrisburg, Pa.,
aging or closing themselves off from what others have learned
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from their own very different histories.
Pattison, George. The End of Theology and the Task of Thinking
Reflection on the deep differences between dialogue
about God. London, 1998.
partners can also lead to the conclusion that the reality of
Polkinghorne, John. Faith, Science and Understanding. New
which the partner speaks is different from the biblical God.
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Meister Eckhart’s distinction of godhead from God, Paul
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ianism, Trinitarianism, and the Necessity of Biblical Proof. San
God of theism, and Whitehead’s distinction of creativity
Francisco, 1998.
from God offer bases for fresh reflection on the relation of
Sölle, Dorothee. Thinking about God. London, 1990.
the mystical ultimate in Indian and Chinese religions to the
Twesigye, Emmanuel K. Religion and Ethics for a New Age. Lan-
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The diversity of interests that lead to reflection on God
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produces great confusion. It is not clear that different state-
Ithaca, N.Y., 1989.
ments using the word God have, any longer, a common
JOHN B. COBB, JR. (1987)
topic. In the Christian context, however, one can almost al-
Revised Bibliography
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and imagery, God refers to what Christians worship and
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GOD: GOD IN ISLAM
fection. Part of the confusion lies in the changing ideal.
The QurDa¯n, Islam’s holy scripture, states, “Verily, the reli-
Whereas for many centuries it seemed self-evident to most
gion of God (Alla¯h) is Islam” (3:19). According to medieval
Christians that the perfect must be all-determining, affected
Muslim lexicographers, there are twenty to thirty opinions
by nothing external to itself, timeless, and completely self-
on the origin, etymology, and meaning of the term Alla¯h.
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GOD: GOD IN ISLAM
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Some say that it should be read as a proper name, as in the
vine. Theologically, the religion of Islam replaced the pagan
English “God.” Others claim that it is a contraction of
Alla¯h with a divinity of greater complexity. God in Islam is
al-ila¯h, meaning “The God” or “The Divinity.” Medieval
more than just a name; Alla¯h is both a theological concept
Muslim manuscripts from North Africa and Islamic Spain
and an active deity that creates and maintains the universe.
often use al-Ila¯h as a synonym for Alla¯h. Modern philologists
Both immanent and transcendent, the full nature of God ap-
relate the term to the Hebrew El or Elohim, used in the
pears as a paradox to the human mind. Alla¯h is the One True
Bible. In Arabic, the verb alaha means, “he worshiped,
God, as in the Greek phrase ho theos (The God). However,
served, or adored.” In this sense, Alla¯h could be translated
the oneness of God is not self-evident, nor is it self-evident
as “the One who is worshiped or adored.” Similarly, the past
that God is the ultimate cause of all things. The secondary
participle ma Dluh, taken from the same root as Alla¯h, is a syn-
causes and contingent realities of things in the world veil the
onym of ma Ebu¯d, “worshiped” or “adored.” In the QurDa¯n,
nature of God from human understanding. The QurDa¯n ac-
the terms ila¯h (“god” or “divinity”) and ila¯ha (“goddess”) are
knowledges this paradox by equating belief in God with “be-
often used in contrast with Alla¯h, the former representing
lief in the unseen” (2:3). Because the full reality of God is
false gods or false objects of worship when compared with
not self-evident, a book of revelation is needed to educate
the One True God.
human beings about the existence and nature of divinity.
Every su¯rah of the QurDa¯n but one begins with the
The intellectual quest for the understanding of God is
phrase Bismilla¯h al-Rah:ma¯n al-Rah:¯ım (By the name of Alla¯h,
depicted mythologically in the QurDa¯n by the story of Abra-
the Beneficent, the Merciful). This phrase, known as the bas-
ham, who progressed from worshiping the stars, the moon,
malah, is also used for oaths and at the beginning of impor-
and the sun to acknowledging that Alla¯h is the sole cause of
tant or sacred acts. Islamic prayers and supplications often
heavenly phenomena (6:75–79). However, simply under-
begin with the expression Alla¯humma, which is understood
standing that God is the Cause of Causes only solves part of
as meaning “Oh God!” (ya¯ Alla¯h). The doubled letter m¯ım
the divine mystery. There is still the problem of knowing
in this expression stands for the suppressed vocative particle
how God, as the transcendent Truth (al-H:aqq, 22:6), may
Ya¯ (Oh). Such uses of the term Alla¯h recall the practices of
be discerned in the vast multiplicity of created things and
pre-Islamic Arabia, where Alla¯h was called upon as the cre-
events. This key problem of Islamic theology is expressed in
ator god, the god of the heavens, the bringer of rain, and
the following poem by the sixteenth-century Moroccan S:u¯f¯ı
Lord of the KaEbah in Mecca. Although this rather remote
EAbdalla¯h al-Ghazwa¯n¯ı (d. 1528) of Marrakech:
divinity was personified by the pagan Arabs, he was unique
Oh, he who is one of all! Oh, he for whom all is one!
among other Arabian gods because images were not made of
Mortal beings count you by number, oh one. You ap-
him. According to Toshihiko Isutzu, a Japanese scholar of
pear in the all such that one cannot be hidden, And you
Islam, Alla¯h was seldom worshiped as part of a cult in pre-
disappear in the all such that one cannot be seen. (al-
Islamic Arabia. Instead, he was the object of what Isutzu
Ghazwani, folio 5)
called “temporary monotheism,” the last recourse of prayer
This paradox of divine unity was not only a problem for
when all the other gods had failed (Isutzu, 1980, p. 101).
S:u¯f¯ıs. It also appears in Sh¯ıE¯ı Islam, as in the following state-
ment of Ima¯m EAl¯ı (d. 661):
The QurDa¯n provides evidence for Isutzu’s conclusions.
In certain passages it rebukes the pagan Meccans for asking
To know God is to know his oneness. To say that God
the Prophet Muh:ammad, “Who is al-Rah:ma¯n?” when he in-
is one has four meanings: two of them are false and two
voked this “name” of God (25:60). Implied in the QurDa¯n’s
are correct. As for the two false meanings, one is that
rebuke of the Meccans is the idea that Alla¯h and many of his
a person should say “God is one” and be thinking of
number and counting. This is false because that which
attributes were already known to those who denied
has no second cannot enter into the category of num-
Muh:ammad’s message (29:65). In this view, the QurDa¯n in-
ber. Do you not see that those who say that God is the
troduced the new term al-Rah:ma¯n (the Beneficent) into Ara-
third of a trinity fall into this infidelity? Another mean-
bia, but it did not introduce a new god. Rather, the QurDa¯n
ing is to say, “So-and-so is one of his people,” namely,
brought the Arabian sky and creator god closer to human ex-
a species of this genus or a member of this species. This
perience by stressing that Alla¯h was both transcendent and
meaning is also false when applied to God, because it
immanently near: “And when my servants question you con-
implies likening something to God, whereas God is
cerning me, I am truly near. I answer the prayer of the suppli-
above all likeness. As to the two meanings that are cor-
cant when he calls on me. So let them heed my call and be-
rect when applied to God, one is that it should be said
lieve in me, so that they might be guided rightly” (2:186).
that “God is one” in the sense that there is no likeness
to him among things. Another is to say that “God is
THE QURDANIC DOCTRINE OF DIVINE UNITY. The QurDa¯n
one” in the sense that there is no multiplicity or division
uses a variety of arguments to demonstrate that knowledge
conceivable in Him, neither outwardly, nor in the
of God as the creator of all things makes all other ideas of
mind, nor in the imagination. God alone possesses such
divinity superfluous. If Alla¯h created everything in the uni-
a unity. (Tabatabai, 1979, pp. 127–128)
verse, then the lesser gods and powers worshiped by human
Theologically, the QurDa¯n is an extended argument for the
beings must be created as well, and hence are not truly di-
existence of the One God. As a revelation both from Alla¯h
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3562
GOD: GOD IN ISLAM
and about Alla¯h, it guides humanity toward a single, absolute
amount of choice or agency delegated to human beings re-
Truth that transcends the world: “Say: He is Alla¯h the Only;
duced the amount of power available to God. This zero-sum
Alla¯h the Indivisible; He gives not birth, nor is He begotten,
approach led to a theology of fatalism and predestination,
and He is, in Himself, not dependent on anything”
which was exploited by the Umayyad caliphs (r. 662–750)
(112:1–4). These verses summarize the QurDanic definition
to justify their rule.
of tawh:¯ıd, the Islamic doctrine of divine unity. Most simply,
tawh:¯ıd means that God is one, unique, and not divisible into
The Umayyads used the doctrine of predestination to
hypostatic entities or incarnated manifestations. He gives
claim that their opponents were unbelievers. Since God pre-
birth to no “son” or demiurge, nor is he begotten from an-
determined the affairs of the world, God’s will was that the
other, for he is independent of his creation: “Your Lord is
Umayyads should rule over Islam. To reject the Umayyads
utterly independent, All-Engendering. If he wills, he can
was thus to reject God’s will, and the rejection of God’s will
expel you and replace you with others, just as he multiplied
is unbelief. This put their political opponents in a difficult
you from the seed of others” (5:133). Along with this strictly
theological situation. To say that the Umayyads were unfit
monotheistic image of God, the QurDa¯n also provides a more
to rule implied either that God’s will was imperfect or that
monistic image of a deity that is immanent in the world of
God created evil by creating corrupt rulers. The easiest way
creation: “He is the First and the Last, the Outward and the
out of this dilemma was to cede the power of moral choice
Inward; He is the Knower of every thing” (57:3). This com-
to human beings by saying that God creates good but hu-
plementary focus on the immanence of God implies that a
mans create evil. This position is clearly supported by the
full understanding of divine unity must somehow include
QurDa¯n: “Whatever good befalls you, it is from Alla¯h, and
the transcendence of number. This is the paradox addressed
whatever evil befalls you it is from yourself” (4:79). Blaming
by al-Ghazwa¯n¯ı and Ima¯m EAl¯ı above, and the attempt to
human beings for their own faults and weaknesses prevents
resolve it delineates the conceptual limits of theological in-
God from being accused of willing injustice.
quiry in Islam.
The moral separation of God from the actions of created
As an aid in understanding the complexity of tawh:¯ıd,
beings characterized the second theological school of Islam,
the QurDa¯n uses ninety-nine terms that convey various as-
the Qadar¯ıyah (literally, “Determinists”), whose name refers
pects of the divine nature. These terms are referred to as the
to the power (qudrah) of human beings to partially deter-
“Excellent Names of Alla¯h” (77:180) and are tokens of God’s
mine their own fate. Just as the theology of predeterminism
presence in the world. Many of the divine names are incor-
was used to justify the status quo, Qadar¯ıyah theology was
porated into Muslim personal names, such as EAbd
often advocated by opponents of the status quo and was
al-Rah:ma¯n (Slave of the Beneficent), EAbd al-Jabba¯r (Slave
combined with a strong moral imperative to oppose injus-
of the Overpowering), or EAbd al-EAz¯ız (Slave of the Glori-
tice. Qadar¯ıyah tenets form the basis of Sh¯ıE¯ı theology,
ous). The fact that such names describe attributes of human
which stresses the responsibility to fight against injustice and
beings is another reminder of God’s immanence. With the
the freedom to choose the Sh¯ıE¯ı ima¯m as the rightful ruler
exception of the supreme name Alla¯h and the Arabic neolo-
of the Muslims. Qadar¯ıyah doctrines make for good moral
gism al-Rah:ma¯n, which refers to the divine beneficence that
theology. After all, how could a just God punish human be-
creates and maintains the universe, all of the other divine
ings for their actions if they were not free to choose them?
names may be shared by both God and human beings. How-
The theological choice between Islam and polytheism or the
ever, this sharing of attributes should not lead a person to
moral choice between good and evil would have no signifi-
believe that he or she is divine or that the sharing of attributes
cance if a person’s actions were predetermined. If a Muslim
puts any limitation on God’s transcendent nature. Such atti-
judge cannot punish a person for a crime that he or she was
tudes lead to the sin of shirk, associating things with God,
forced to commit, how could God do such a thing?
or relying on contingent, created entities as if they were di-
DIVINE EXCEPTIONALISM AND DIVINE JUSTICE. The most
vine in themselves. Shirk is a major sin in Islam because it
influential proponents of Qadar¯ıyah theology were the
is the basis of kufr, literally “covering up” or denying the
MuEtazilah (literally, “Withdrawers”), who called themselves
truth of God and of the Islamic religion.
The People of Divine Justice and Unity (Ahl al- EAdl wa
DIVINE POWER. A constant concern of Islamic theology has
al-Tawh:¯ıd). MuEtazilism was prominent in Islam for approx-
been to maintain God’s absolute power and agency. Divine
imately four hundred years and has recently resurfaced as one
agency is expressed in the QurDa¯n by the name al-Qad¯ır (The
of the theological positions of Islamic liberalism. From 833
All-Powerful or All-Potent), and by verses such as, “When
to 850, it was the official theology of the Abbasid caliphate
[Alla¯h] decrees a matter, he merely says to it ‘Be!’ and it is”
(750–1258) and had a significant influence on Shiism. As
(2:117), or “You do not will, unless Alla¯h wills” (76:30). The
a movement of theological rationalism, it attracted the atten-
desire to maintain the limitlessness of divine power was par-
tion of Western scholars of Islam, who mistakenly believed
ticularly important in theological discussions of free will and
that it foreshadowed the doctrines of the European Enlight-
human agency. One of the earliest theological schools in
enment. The MuEtazilah believed in a doctrine of extreme
Islam was the Jabr¯ıyah (literally, “Compulsionists”), who
exceptionalism with regard to God. One of their fundamen-
conceived of power as a limited quantity and felt that any
tal beliefs was that divine unity could be expressed only in
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GOD: GOD IN ISLAM
3563
terms of divine simplicity. According to this understanding,
a model or template of divine scripture before the creation
the statement “There is no god but Alla¯h” meant that noth-
of the world. The QurDa¯n that was revealed to the Prophet
ing but God is equal to God or is even a part of God, includ-
Muh:ammad was a copy of this preexistent QurDa¯n. The
ing God’s own actions and attributes. The attributes of God
MuEtazilite doctrine of the created QurDa¯n was similar to
cannot be eternal because only God-in-himself is eternal.
the Jewish doctrine of the preexistent Torah. In Judaism, the
Thus, the “names” of God mentioned in the QurDa¯n are not
Torah, as the source of divine law, is both preexistent and
attributes. They are only metaphors, figures of speech, or cre-
created: God created his law before he created the world. The
ated modes of divine action. The MuEtazilah accused those
QurDa¯n also had to be created before the world because the
who believed in divine attributes of falling into anthropo-
world was created in conformity with the law, as is expressed
morphism (the belief that God has human attributes) or cor-
in the QurDanic concept of “God’s Way” (Sunnat Alla¯h,
porealism (the belief that God’s attributes are corporeal enti-
48:23).
ties that exist within Him).
Sunn¯ı Muslims rejected the doctrine of the created
For the MuEtazilah, knowledge of God’s unity is based
QurDa¯n. In the first century of Islam, EAbdalla¯h ibn EAbba¯s
on reason, which is a responsibility imposed by God on all
(d. 687), a cousin of the Prophet Muh:ammad, asserted that
human beings. This knowledge depends on four types of evi-
God’s speech was uncreated and coeternal with God. Ac-
dence: dialectical reason, the QurDa¯n, the sunnah of the
cording to this doctrine, the QurDa¯n was also uncreated and
Prophet Muh:ammad, and the consensus of the Muslim
eternal because it contained the word of God. Ah:mad ibn
community. Of these, reason is the most important. This is
H:anbal (d. 855), a staunch opponent of the MuEtazilah,
because the validity of scripture, tradition, and consensus are
claimed that the word of God is equivalent to God’s knowl-
based on the rational knowledge that God exists, that he is
edge. Since the QurDa¯n is part of God’s knowledge, the words
truthful, and that he is just. The existence of God can be
and letters that are found in the QurDa¯n must be regarded
proven by the argument from contingency. Experience tells
as the word of God. Because the word of God is uncreated,
us that we cannot live forever and that we are limited in our
the QurDa¯n must also be uncreated. Ibn H:anbal realized that
powers and abilities. Thus, we are contingent beings: we
the doctrine of the created QurDa¯n contained a potential
must depend on something outside of ourselves for our cre-
theological problem. If the QurDa¯n were created, this might
ation and support. This noncontingent, necessary being is
be construed to mean that the text of the QurDa¯n was fixed
God, who is unlike us in every way. Because God is exalted
in historical time; thus, its relevance would be limited pri-
above all forms of resemblance, statements in the QurDa¯n
marily to the era in which it was revealed. This would imply
such as “What prevents you from prostrating yourself before
that certain QurDanic injunctions might be superseded if the
what I have created with my two hands?” (38:75) can only
social or historical conditions that gave rise to them changed.
be metaphorical. The “hands” of God must stand for some-
However, an uncreated QurDa¯n, not being fixed in historical
thing other than real hands, such as God’s ability to create
time, would have no such limitations. Since it was coeternal
and maintain the world. Metaphors such as these should be
with God’s knowledge, it would be truly universal. Being free
understood as partial and approximate descriptions of a di-
of the limitations of culture and history, its injunctions
vine reality that is ultimately indescribable.
would be valid for all peoples and all times.
The MuEtazilite principle of divine justice was derived
DIVINE DETERMINISM. Until the modern revival of the
directly from their view of divine agency and was based on
teachings of Ibn H:anbal, the most important Sunn¯ı theology
two premises: (1) God desires good for human beings; thus,
of divine voluntarism was AshEarism. Named after Abu¯
he does not will or create evil. (2) God provides guidance for
al-H:asan al-AshEar¯ı (d. 935), AshEarite theology sought to re-
human beings in the form of divine revelation; thus, he does
cuperate an unrestricted sense of divine agency by promoting
not want people to go astray. According to these premises,
a new theory of predestination and a view of the universe that
it would be absurd to believe that God’s voluntarism would
denied the empirical understanding of cause and effect. For
lead him to predestine people to commit sinful acts. If God
the AshEarites, all power belongs to God. If God granted peo-
punished people for acts that they performed against their
ple the power of free choice as the MuEtazilah believed, this
will, he would deny the justice that is his nature. Whatever
would mean that God relinquished some of his power to de-
God wills is objectively good, and his justice can be proved
termine the fate of his creatures. It was absurd to imagine
by reasoned arguments. Reason demonstrates that the
that an all-powerful God would give up his power for any
shar¯ı Eah, the Law of God, is good for humanity. God’s jus-
reason. For the MuEtazilah, God endowed people with
tice, expressed in the shar¯ı Eah, is like a rope thrown to a
choice because human beings, alone among God’s creatures,
drowning man. God provides the opportunity for salvation,
possessed reason. Since God endowed people with reason, he
but it is up to the human being to accept it or reject it.
could not prevent them from using this gift to make their
The MuEtazilah believed that divine revelation, as the
own decisions. For the AshEarites, it was absurd to consider
embodiment of God’s law, was a created entity. For them,
anything impossible for God, even if it appeared to be illogi-
the QurDanic reference to a “Glorious QurDa¯n on a Preserved
cal. If God’s power were truly infinite, then even theoretical
Tablet” (85:21–22) meant that God created the QurDa¯n as
limitations on divine power were unacceptable.
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3564
GOD: GOD IN ISLAM
According to AshEarism, the QurDanic verse “[God is
of atomism, the universe is divided into unbounded particles
the] doer of what he wills” (11:109) means that God is the
of matter, quality, space, and time. The related theory of oc-
creator of everything, including the actions of human beings.
casionalism asserts that every action or event may be broken
Al-AshEar¯ı distinguished between “necessary” and “acquired”
down into a series of discrete moments, which are completely
actions. Necessary actions, such as shivering from a fever or
independent of each other. Such moments are joined togeth-
trembling with emotion, are involuntary. Acquired actions,
er solely through the agency of God’s will. No logical conti-
such as walking, thinking, and making moral choices, are
nuity or order connects a series of events. To AshEarite theo-
voluntary. In both cases God is the creator and the agent of
logians, the act of hitting a ball with a polo mallet was not
all human acts; the human being only “acquires” the capacity
perceived as a single motion. Instead, swinging the mallet
to carry them out. This is the meaning of the QurDanic state-
and striking the ball were seen as a series of separate events,
ment “God created you and that which you do” (37:96). A
in which the mallet is brought closer and closer to the ball,
person’s acquired capacity (kasb) is created by God at the
until it finally strikes it. This illusory view of reality can be
time of the act itself. The human being acquires the capacity
compared to a strip of movie film, in which what appears to
to either do or not do an action, like the “yes” or “no” binary
be a single action is in reality a series of images of different
switches on a computer chip. However, even these limited
events, which only seem to be continuous because of the
choices are not really one’s to make. “Acquiring the power
speed at which they pass through the projector. In AshEarite
to do something” only means acquiring the capacity to do
occasionalism, objects, actions, and events exist only for a
what God has already created one to do. The human being
single moment. They appear to have continuity only because
cannot produce anything he was not predestined to make.
they are re-created by God in a series of instantaneous cre-
For AshEarism, to say that God is all-powerful is to say that
ations. This view of reality rejects the notion of “nature” or
human beings are essentially powerless.
even of a natural order. Everything is possible for God, who
can change reality at any time. No limitations of divine
The critics of AshEarism responded that this was merely
power are allowed to exist.
a reconfiguration of the outmoded doctrines of the Jabr¯ıyah,
AshEarite occasionalism accepted neither the reality of
who believed that human beings had no freedom of choice
continuity nor the law of cause and effect. Instead, the regu-
whatsoever. The philosopher Ibn Rushd (Averroës) of Cór-
larity of natural occurrences was explained by “habit” or
doba (d. 1198) rejected AshEarite theology as illogical. If both
“custom” ( Ea¯dah), which God may change at any time. A
the ability to act in a certain way and the act itself are created
miracle was simply a paranormal event (kharq al- Ea¯dah), lit-
by God, then, to all intents and purposes, the human being
erally, a “ripping” of the fabric of custom. A miracle seems
is compelled to behave in only one way. If the acquisition
impossible because it goes against normal expectations.
of an act created by God enables a person neither to “own”
However, from the point of view of AshEarism, a miracle is
the act nor to create it, the act cannot really be described as
essentially normal. Because God creates and re-creates every-
a “power” possessed by the human being. It would therefore
thing at every moment in time, all creation is a miracle. What
be unjust for a person to be judged by God for committing
we think of as a “miracle” is simply an example of God
a sin that did not, in reality, “belong” to him. Despite such
changing his sunnah, his customary way of doing things.
inconsistencies, AshEarite theology became dominant in
S:u¯f¯ıs adopted this concept of paranormality to explain their
Sunn¯ı Islam because it provided a relatively simple solution
own doctrine of the miracles of saints. Most S:u¯f¯ıs were pro-
to the problems of divine power and divine knowledge. By
ponents of AshEarite theology, and most AshEarite theolo-
basing their arguments on QurDanic concepts, the AshEarites
gians accepted Sufism as a legitimate expression of Islam.
could create a QurDa¯n-based theology more successfully than
The AshEarite doctrines of divine voluntarism, divine omni-
their opponents could. MuEtazilite theology also resorted to
science, predestination, and occasionalism can all be seen in
the QurDa¯n, but its emphasis on the use of human reasoning
the following verses, taken from an ode by the Spanish S:u¯f¯ı
in attaining knowledge of God led to the criticism that reve-
Abu¯ Madyan (d. 1198). The reference to the Arabic letters
lation was either unnecessary or was reserved for those who
ka¯f and nu¯n in the poem recalls the divine command Kun!
were unable to think for themselves. AshEarite theologians
(“Be!”), through which God continually brings things into
also stressed the importance of reason. However, they con-
existence (QurDa¯n, 2:117):
sidered divine revelation and prophetic tradition to be more
All praise is yours! There is no granting what you forbid,
essential because they provided the guidance necessary for
And no forbidding what you abundantly bestow.
reason to function properly. The AshEarites saw themselves
Your will is preordained and your judgment is piercing,
as taking a middle path between reason and revelation. Ac-
Your knowledge encompasses the seven heavens and the
cording to the great AshEarite theologian Abu¯ H:a¯mid
Earth.
al-Ghaza¯l¯ı (d. 1111), revelation is understood through tradi-
Your command subsists between the [letters] Kaf and
tion, but its underlying truth is understood through reason.
Nun, [And is executed] more swiftly and easily than the
The AshEarite theology of divine determinism operated
blink of an eye.
in an atomistic and occasionalistic universe in which nothing
When you say, “Be!” what you say has already been, And
was truly real except God. According to the AshEarite theory
your enunciation of it is never repeated.
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GOD: GOD IN ISLAM
3565
You were, and nothing was before you; you were, and
falsafa tradition of Islamic philosophy by the end of the thir-
nothing was Other than you, yet you remain when
teenth century and the decline of formal Sunn¯ı theology dur-
mortal beings die.
ing the Ottoman Empire led to the legalistic fideism that
You determined the fate of creatures before creating them,
dominates Sunn¯ı theology today. Most of what is left of
And what you determined was a predestined command.
these traditions has been subsumed into Shiism, as represent-
(Cornell, 1996, p. 150)
ed by the writings of Mulla¯ S:adra¯ of Shiraz (d. 1641).
CREATIVITY AND
INTENTIONALITY.
Abu¯ al-H:asan
Wahabbism, which was founded in the eighteenth century
al-Ma¯tur¯ıd¯ı (d. 944) of Samarkand, a contemporary of
by Muh:ammad ibn EAbd al-Wahha¯b (d. 1787), goes beyond
al-AshEar¯ı, developed a theology that split the difference be-
normal Sunn¯ı fideism by advocating an extreme form of tra-
tween the AshEarite doctrine of divine determinism and the
ditionalism. Its approach to divine unity relies on a literal
MuEtazilite doctrine of reasoned choice. Although his ideas
reading of QurDa¯n and h:ad¯ıth that avoids rational specula-
are often taken as a critique of AshEarism, they were devel-
tion on the nature of God and his attributes. It also avoids
oped independently. Maturidism became influential under
the interpretation of ambiguities in the QurDa¯n and even de-
the Ottoman Empire (1342–1924), and today it is accepted
nies the metaphorical nature of certain QurDanic verses. In-
as a variant of AshEarism. The most important difference be-
stead, Ah:mad ibn H:anbal’s theological formula of bila¯ kayf
tween the two theologies lies in the balance between divine
(literally, “without how”) is employed to assert that God has
voluntarism and human agency. According to al-Ma¯tur¯ıd¯ı,
“hands unlike other hands,” or “a face unlike other faces.”
actions are shared between God and the human being. When
Questions left unanswered by traditional sources are not to
an action is attributed to God, it is called “creation” (khalq),
be investigated at all. The Wahha¯b¯ı abandonment of rational
and when an action is attributed to a person, it is called “ac-
interpretation has led their critics to accuse them of theologi-
quisition” (kasb). God’s actions are essentially creative. They
cal simple-mindedness and of anthropomorphizing God and
include miracles and other phenomena that the human mind
his attributes.
cannot fully comprehend. God also creates the potential for
human actions, but human beings are responsible for what
S:u¯f¯ı theology stands at the opposite pole from Wahha-
they actually do. By being responsible, they “acquire” the act
bism in that it does not reject hermeneutical inquiry. It con-
for themselves. Reward or punishment is the moral conse-
fronts the paradox of divine transcendence and divine imma-
quence of a person’s intention (n¯ıyah) to act in a certain way.
nence by recognizing that the concept of divine unity must
Since Maturidism separated intentions from actual behav-
allow for the transcendence of number. S:u¯f¯ı theology has
iors, it was better able than AshEarism to account for apparent
been neglected in modern scholarship, especially in the Is-
paradoxes of the divine will, such as when an otherwise good
lamic world. In part, this has been the result of a Western
person inexplicably commits a crime.
emphasis on the concept of mysticism, which tends to over-
look the use of reasoned arguments in S:u¯f¯ı treatises and fo-
Another contribution of Maturidism was a theory of
cuses instead on “ineffable” spiritual experiences. The identi-
knowledge that balanced the dictates of reason and revela-
fication of Sufism with mysticism has, in turn, affected the
tion. Al-Ma¯tur¯ıd¯ı was highly critical of blind traditionalism.
image of Sufism in Muslim countries, where it is often dis-
This was particularly important with respect to notions
missed as nonrational or inauthentic. It particular, it is ac-
about God, because the QurDa¯n admonishes believers not to
cused of incorporating ideas from Hinduism or Buddhism
blindly follow their forefathers (43:23). Knowledge is of
into Islam. In premodern Islam, however, S:u¯f¯ı theology was
three types: knowledge from the senses, knowledge from tes-
the subject of lively debates, and the onus was on the oppo-
timony, and knowledge from reason. Knowledge from the
nents of Sufism to prove why this tradition was not authen-
senses includes knowledge from experience. One who denies
tic, rather than the other way around.
the truth of empirical knowledge is unreasonable because he
denies what he observes with his own eyes. Knowledge from
Abu¯ al-Qa¯sim al-Junayd (d. 910) of Baghdad was one
testimony is what we would today call “history.” This in-
of the founders of S:u¯f¯ı theology. Like other Sunn¯ı theolo-
cludes the testimony of the QurDa¯n and the sunnah. Such tes-
gians, he sought to combine QurDa¯n and h:ad¯ıth with a rea-
timony is believable because God stands behind the teach-
soned approach to interpretation. Unlike non-S:u¯f¯ı theolo-
ings of the prophets. However, the most important type of
gians, however, he accepted mystical experience as
knowledge is from reason. Reason is the critical faculty by
epistemologically equivalent to reason. When combined
which we assess empirical and historical forms of knowledge.
with reason and revelation, mystical experience, which was
Reason enables us to understand the divine wisdom in cre-
known as “unveiling” (kashf), led to a direct knowledge of
ation. Without submitting the testimony of the prophets to
God (ma Erifah) that was superior to the intellectual knowl-
reason and experience, the human being falls into tradition-
edge (Eilm) of the theologians. The S:u¯f¯ı reliance on mystical
alism. Without submitting empirical knowledge to reason
perception, however, did not mean that they ignored other
and revelation, the human being falls into materialism
approaches to theology. On the contrary, S:u¯f¯ı treatises are
(illh:a¯d), which medieval Muslims likened to atheism.
full of discussions of theological issues. Al-Junayd was the
THE ONE IN THE ALL. Today’s limits of Islamic theology are
founder of the “Baghdad school” of Sufism, which set the
marked by Wahhabism and Sufism. The elimination of the
standards for S:u¯f¯ı thought and practice. MaEru¯f al-Karkh¯ı
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GOD: GOD IN ISLAM
(d. 816), a close associate of Sh¯ıE¯ı Ima¯m EAl¯ı al-Rid:a¯
find” is wajada. The experience of finding is wijda¯n. Most
(d. 818), was an important forerunner of this tradition.
works on Sufism translate wijda¯n as “ecstasy.” This obscures
Thus, it may be no coincidence that both Sufism and Shiism
the theological importance of the term for Ibn al-EArab¯ı.
shared an interest in the paradoxical nature of divine unity.
One “finds” ecstasy in wijda¯n because he or she perceives,
For al-Junayd, the creedal pillar of tawh:¯ıd meant “sin-
or “finds” God in the essences of things. Ibn al-EArab¯ı ex-
gling out the eternal from that which is created in time”
tends the metaphor of “finding” to all of existence, which in
(Abdel-Kader, 1976, p. 70). A later S:u¯f¯ı, EAl¯ı al-H:ujw¯ır¯ı
Arabic is denoted by the term wuju¯d. Existence is where the
(d. after 1072), glossed this definition in the following way:
perceptive believer “finds” God. In other words, the world
“You must not regard the eternal as a locus of phenomena,
is a theater for the manifestation of the Absolute. Before cre-
or phenomena as a locus of the eternal. You must know that
ation, while possible things are in a state of nonexistence,
God is eternal and that you are phenomenal, and that noth-
God is the only existent. At their creation, things “acquire”
ing of your genus is connected with him, and that nothing
existence, much as human beings “acquire” moral responsi-
of his attributes is mingled in you, and that there is no homo-
bility in AshEarite theology. The QurDa¯n states: “We did not
geneity between the eternal and the phenomenal”
create the heavens and the Earth and all that is between them
(al-H:ujw¯ır¯ı, 1976, p. 281). Understood this way, there is
but in Truth” (15:85). For Ibn al-EArab¯ı, this verse holds the
nothing distinctively “S:u¯f¯ı” about al-Junayd’s definition. It
key to the paradox of divine unity. Things and their effects
even earned the approval of the H:anbal¯ı theologian Ibn
“find” their way into physical existence through the divine
Taym¯ıyah (d. 1328), who was one of the most influential
names: “Since the effects belong to the divine names, and the
opponents of the S:u¯f¯ıs.
name is the named, there is nothing in existence but God”
(Ibn al-EArab¯ı, 2002, p. 138).
However, another possible interpretation of al-Junayd’s
definition is more problematical. “Singling out” the eternal
In al-Fu¯tuh:a¯t al-Makk¯ıyah (Meccan Revelations), Ibn
from that which is created might be understood to mean that
al-EArab¯ı states that no theological subject is more resistant
God could be found, or at least identified, within his cre-
to human reason than the transcendence of number. Because
ation. Al-H:ujw¯ır¯ı alludes to this when he warns: “When the
numbers are usually conceived as serial integers and are be-
eternal is believed to descend into phenomena, or phenome-
lieved to bestow qualities on the things they designate, it is
na to be attached to the eternal, no proof remains of the eter-
difficult to understand how the many are dependent on the
nity of God and the origination of the universe; this leads
one. Commenting on the anti-Trinitarian verse of the
to materialism. In all the actions of phenomena, there are
QurDa¯n: “They disbelieve who say ‘Verily, Alla¯h is the third
proofs of unification and evidences of the divine omnipo-
of three’” (5:73), Ibn al-EArab¯ı notes that the person who
tence and signs, which establish the eternity of God, but men
says “Alla¯h is the fourth of three” is not an unbeliever. If God
are too heedless to desire only him or to be content only with
were the third of three, he would be of the same genus (jins)
keeping him in remembrance. H:usayn ibn Mansur
as the other two. This is the theological sin of shirk, associat-
[al-H:alla¯j, d. 922] said: ‘The first step in tawh:¯ıd is the anni-
ing partners with God. However, as the “fourth of three,”
hilation of separation’” (al-H:ujw¯ır¯ı, 1976, p. 281).
God would not be of the same genus as the three, so he is
Muh:ammad “Muhyiddin” ibn al-EArab¯ı (d. 1240), ar-
not one of them. Therefore, God is one for any group or plu-
guably the most influential S:u¯f¯ı theologian, agreed more
rality, but without becoming one of its kind: “He is the
with al-H:alla¯j’s statement than with al-H:ujw¯ır¯ı’s warning.
fourth of three, so he is one; the fifth of four, so he is one;
Many of Ibn al-EArab¯ı’s writings discuss the issues of separat-
and so on indefinitely” (Ibn al-EArab¯ı, 2002, p. 137).
ing the eternal from the temporal and finding the one in the
Ibn al-EArab¯ı explains this theological principle in terms
many. In the chapter on Noah in Fus:u¯s: al-H:ikam (Ring-
of algebra or set theory. Medieval Muslims called algebra al-
Settings of Wisdom), he summarizes the theological paradox
jabr wa al-muqa¯balah (literally, “determination and juxtapo-
of divine unity in the following poem:
sition”). God is the fourth of three as in the algebraic expres-
If you speak of transcendence, you are restricted. If you
sion (x + y + z) a. The letter a is part of the expression because
speak of immanence, you are limited.
it is juxtaposed with the terms in parentheses, but it is not
part of the set (x + y + z). In the same way, Alla¯h can be
If you speak of both matters, you are complete. You are
an Imam and a master of spiritual knowledge.
“found” in the expression of his creation, but he is not part
of the same set, or genus. This principle is also a key to the
He who speaks of joining is a polytheist. He who speaks
paradox of divine unity because it demonstrates how God
of separating affirms unity.
can be transcendently separate and immanently involved
Beware of immanence if you are a dualist! Beware of
with his creation at the same time. “This is what is called
transcendence if you are a Unitarian!
Alla¯h,” observes Ibn al-EArab¯ı. God is the existence manifest
You are not he; yet, you are he and you see him in The
in the forms associated with the sites of his manifestation,
essences of things both boundless and limited! (Ibn
but he is not of their kind. In his essence, he is Necessary
al-EArab¯ı, 1980, p. 70)
Being, whereas created possibilities are “necessary nonexis-
For Ibn al-EArab¯ı, divine immanence means that God can
tence” in their essences eternally (Ibn al-EArab¯ı, 2002,
be “found” in worldly phenomena. In Arabic, the verb “to
p. 136).
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GOD: AFRICAN SUPREME BEINGS
3567
SEE ALSO Attributes of God, article on Christian Concepts;
Tabatabai, Sayyid Muhammad Husayn. Shi Eite Islam. Translated
Creeds, article on Islamic Creeds; Free Will and Predestina-
by Sayyid Husayn Nasr. Houston, Tex., 1979.
tion, article on Islamic Concepts; Kalám.
Watt, W. Montogomery. The Formative Period of Islamic Thought.
Oxford, 1998; reprint of 1973 original. The classic work is
BIBLIOGRAPHY
still the best introduction to early Islamic theology.
Abdel-Kader, Ali Hassan. The Life, Personality, and Writings of Al-
Junayd. London, 1976. The most thorough study of this im-
Wolfson, Harry Austryn. The Philosophy of the Kalam. Cambridge,
portant S:u¯f¯ı thinker, by a scholar from Egypt’s Al-Azhar
Mass., and London, 1976. This work remains the most de-
University.
finitive study of Islamic theology in English.
Austin, R. W. J., trans. Ibn al- EArab¯ı: The Bezels of Wisdom. New
VINCENT J. CORNELL (2005)
York, 1980. This is the most popular English translation of
Fus:u¯s: al-H:ikam.
Cornell, Vincent J. The Way of Abu¯ Madyan: Doctrinal and Poetic
Works of Abu¯ Madyan Shu Dayb ibn al-H:usayn al-Ans:a¯r¯ı (c.
GOD: AFRICAN SUPREME BEINGS
509/115–16—594/1198). Cambridge, 1996. The transla-
African supreme beings are spiritual beings or divinities who
tion of Abu¯ Madyan’s ode above has been revised slightly
are as varied as the peoples of sub-Saharan Africa, the world’s
from the original version.
second largest continent after Asia. Belief in a supreme being
Crone, Patricia, and Martin Hinds. God’s Caliph: Religious Au-
is universal among most of the over sixty peoples of Africa.
thority in the First Centuries of Islam (Cambridge, 1986).
“The Letter of al-Wal¯ıd II,” pp. 116–126, provides a good
Supreme beings carry a distinct and unique quality in African
illustration of the Umayyad use of Jabr¯ıyah theology.
cosmology as creators with all other supreme attributes in the
Al-Gha¯zwan¯ı, Abu¯ Muh:ammad EAbdalla¯h. Al-Nuqt:ah: al-azaliyah
theocentric universe. The nature, characters, and attributes
fi sirr al-dha¯t al-Muhammad¯ıyah (The Eternal Point in the
of the African supreme being reflect indigenous religious or-
Secret of the Muhammadan Essence). Rabat, Bibliothèque
thodoxy prior to the introduction of, and in spite of, the in-
Générale manuscript 4400D.
fluence of Christianity and Islam, and these qualities reflect
Al-H:ujw¯ır¯ı, EAl¯ı B. EUthma¯n al-Julla¯b¯ı. The Kashf al-Mahjub:
the continuing diversity of the African peoples’ traditional
The Oldest Persian Treatise on Sufiism. Edited by Reynold A.
sociopolitical structures and languages within the current
Nicholson. London, 1976; reprint of 1936 edition.
modern nation-states. The African supreme being is usually
Ibn al-EArab¯ı, Muhyiddin. The Meccan Revelations, vol. 1. Edited
associated symbolically with the varieties of indigenous cul-
by Michel Chodkiewicz, translated by William C. Chittick
tures of the peoples. The indigenous concepts and concep-
and James W. Morris. New York, 2002.
tions of most African supreme beings have been retained by
Ibn al-EArab¯ı, Muhyiddin. Fus:u¯s: al-H:ikam. Edited by Abu¯ al-EAla¯
the adherents of the religions that were introduced into Afri-
EAf¯ıf¯ı. Beirut, 1980.
ca in the ritual practices and the translations of the sacred
Isutzu, Toshihiko. God and Man in the Koran: Semantics of the Ko-
texts (Bible and QurDa¯n) of those religious traditions.
ranic Weltanschaaung. New York, 1980; reprint of 1964 orig-
B
inal. See especially pp. 95–119.
ASIC COMMON VIEWS. The diversity of cultural forms and
linguistic differences of Africans, notwithstanding the rela-
Al-Juwayn¯ı, Imam al- H:aramayn EAbd al-Malik. Kita¯b al-irsha¯d
ila¯ qawa¯t¯ı E al-adilla f¯ı us:u¯l al-I Etiqa¯d (A Guide to Conclu-
tionships of African supreme beings to the created order (in-
sive Proofs for the Principles of Belief). Translated by Paul
cluding the human, spiritual, and other entities), reveal to
E. Walker. Reading, U.K., 2000. An English translation of
a great extent a certain uniformity and similarity in the na-
one of the definitive AshEarite theological treatises, written by
ture, attributes, and powers of the supreme beings.
al-Ghaza¯l¯ı’s teacher.
Mythologies: creation and existence. The different
Lane, Edward William. Arabic-English Lexicon. Cambridge, 1984;
groups of Africa have developed myths around their supreme
reprint in one volume of 1863 original. See especially,
beings’ transcendence and immanence. Africans’ perceptions
pp. 82–83 for the section on Alla¯h. Although this work was
not completed at the time of Lane’s death, it remains the
towards supreme beings, though varying from one people to
most thorough Arabic-English lexicon, and is especially use-
the other, express certain basic patterns that reflect African
ful for premodern uses of terminology.
social organization and hierarchical structures, including re-
Martin, Richard C., and Mark R. Woodward, with Atmaja, Dwi
lationships between elders and youths and humans’ intercon-
S. Defenders of Reason in Islam: Mu Etazilism from Medieval
nections with natural phenomena. The three interrelated ele-
School to Modern Symbol. Oxford, 1997. Kita¯b al- us:u¯l al-
mental dimensions—the sky, the earth, and the underworld
khamsah (Book of the Five Principles), a famous summary
(beneath the earth)—are believed to be peopled by different
of MuEtazilite doctrine by Qa¯d¯ı EAbd al-Jabba¯r (d. 1024), is
categories of spiritual and physical beings, and all are con-
translated on pp. 90–115.
nected in certain relational ways to the supreme being.
Al-Ma¯tur¯ıd¯ı al-Samarqandi, Abu¯ Mans:u¯r Muh:ammad. Kita¯b
al-Tawh:¯ıd (Book of divine unity). Edited by Fathalla
Most mythic narratives of African peoples hold the su-
Kholeif. Beirut, 1982. Introduction in English.
preme being responsible for the creation of their universe, in-
Pines, Shlomo. Studies in Islamic Atomism. Jerusalem, 1997. This
cluding the earth and sky, human beings, and spiritual be-
work, a reprint of Pines’s doctoral dissertation, is the defini-
ings. In some sense, cosmogenic and cosmological myths
tive work in English on this subject.
serve the social and political functions in the diverse tradi-
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3568
GOD: AFRICAN SUPREME BEINGS
tional political groups of African communities, particularly
historic religions and those of Africans concerning the attri-
the ways in which different ethnic groups came into exis-
butes of the supreme being. The conceptions of African su-
tence. Most of the myths affirm that the supreme being dele-
preme beings are similar to those of most Western and East-
gated to lesser spiritual beings the responsibility of creating
ern religions with regards to Godly characteristics, which
the local universes of Africa, and the supreme being is always
include omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, transcen-
credited with the creation and allotting of what each com-
dence, immanence, benevolence, and so on. These attributes
munity considers to be the essence of human beings (includ-
express a complex relationship between the supreme being
ing destiny and predestination). Thus, the entire creation is
and other entities, human and nonhuman, animate and in-
held to be dependent upon the supreme being, who is ac-
animate, visible and invisible, material, and spiritual. How-
knowledged to be at the apex of the cosmic structure. This
ever, the degrees by which each African people express their
is the general notion on which rests the concept of an inter-
supreme being differ in intensity and quality, and these are
mediary in African religion, which is also reflected in African
expressed in the indigenous names which each African group
social and political setting. Many of the myths are handed
gives their supreme being. Some supreme beings, and partic-
down through many generations. They are often told in tra-
ularly divinities who serve as intermediaries of supreme be-
ditional language by priests of indigenous religious traditions
ings, also exhibit certain human negative behavioral attri-
and by elders.
butes such as anger and fury. These attributes are manifested
Names: ancient and descriptive. The names of African
in such natural occurrences as thunder, storm, wind, whirl-
supreme beings reflect the different African language groups.
wind, thick cloud, running streams, beaming oceans, and so
Within some nation states there are more than 250 lan-
on.
guages, as in Nigeria, within others more than one hundred,
as in Tanzania, and within some others more than forty, as
Relationship to spiritual and human beings and
in Kenya. Most of these names are encoded in etymologies
other cosmic entities. Cosmogenic and cosmological myths
which describe the qualities and functions of such supreme
detail different levels of relationship between a supreme
beings. Generally, the names used for the supreme being of
being and other entities. The relationship with other spiritual
every African people are classifiable into two groups: the an-
beings or deities is expressed in stories about the creation and
cient or primary local names, and the descriptive or second-
maintenance of the universe. These deities in most cases play
ary names. Ancient or primary names are those that are gen-
the role of intermediaries between the supreme being and
erally used by older and elderly members of the
human beings. As guardian agents of morality, they function
communities. Examples are Olódùmarè of the Yoruba of Ni-
to maintain an ontological equilibrium on behalf of the su-
geria and Mulungu of the Bantu-speaking peoples of East Af-
preme being. Thus, in ritual practices, these spiritual beings
rica. Ancient names express the inexplicable nature, charac-
who populate the physical universe are popular and influen-
ter, essence, and attributes of a being who is an almighty, all-
tial among human beings but are limited in power. Some of
powerful, ever-present creator, and who is supreme in all
the deities bear the ritual sacrifices to the supreme being as
senses of supremacy. The unknowable character of gods’
sacred meals of appeasement and restoration. The supreme
names illustrates power and secrecy beyond human imagina-
being has a close relationship with natural phenomena such
tion or conception. Although the meanings of the ancient
as trees, oceans and seas, mountains and hills, the sun and
names are not easily explained by common sense or etymo-
moon, rainbows, and so on. Nature and the natural as well
logical interpretation, due to nonusage over a long period of
as physical locations of these phenomena are generally noted
time, descriptive names have etymologies that express the
to have an effect on the people’s conception and description
perceived knowledge and living experiences of peoples in
of the supreme being. Natural phenomena provide avenues
their mundane situations. Furthermore, the etymologies of
for hierophanic appearances (manifestation of the divine) by
the descriptive names divulge intrinsic and functional mean-
the deities who manifest aspects of the supreme beings. Some
ings and functional spatial locations which identify supreme
natural phenomena also serve as altars on which sacred meals
beings with the nature of such locations.
are displayed as sacrifices for the deities to feed on, and they
possibly carry some of the sacrifices to the supreme being.
The names of the supreme being generally reflect the
Africans’ attitude to natural phenomena and their recogni-
nature of African universe and sociopolitical structure, and
they describe the people’s perception of their conditioned
tion of the deities as intermediaries between them and the
environment and the polarity of the supreme being. The
supreme being have strongly influenced the derogatory de-
names describe the benevolence and activities of the supreme
scription of African religious traditions as polytheism and fe-
being on the people’s life experiences. Both the ancient and
tishism by early anthropologists as well as missionaries.
descriptive names of the supreme being, however, express an
The moral aspect of the relationship of the supreme
intrinsic reality of the supreme being. It is important to note
being to the African universe reveals the polarity of the being
that each African people also have local names, from which
who is essentially good, and yet whose works of creation di-
one is adopted for common use by the general public.
rectly or indirectly lead to misfortunes, chaos, and crises. The
Attributes: being and expression. There is a close rela-
polarity is often explained by the concepts of free will and
tionship between the conception of the traditional claims of
determinism, by which the supreme being operates in the
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GOD: AFRICAN SUPREME BEINGS
3569
theocentric universe. This idea is variously expressed in Afri-
Amma, Nyame, Ngewo, Olódùmarè, Osanobwa, Chukwu,
can mythologies that the supreme being creates certain spiri-
Kwoth, Mulungu, Nzambi, Nhialic, Ndjambi, Ngai, and
tual beings and deities to whom he delegates responsibility
uNkulunkulu.
for creating other universal entities, including human beings.
Amma. Amma is the supreme being of the Dogon peo-
In African cosmology, the relationship of the supreme
ple of Mali. The Dogon attributed the creation of everything
being to human beings is crucial because it has moral impli-
in the world, including human beings, earth, stars and so on
cations for human and universal harmony. This is a continu-
to Amma, the supreme being. However, the myth of these
al relationship in the interminable process of creation, partic-
creations is complex and profound. The myth “serves to
ularly as it provides for reincarnation, which depends upon
demonstrate the rich system of correspondences between the
the quality of life which an individual person lives as a
natural order, the social realm, and personal life” (Sproul
human being in the universe. As in some Eastern religions,
1979, p. 49).
a person who lives a worthy life on earth is accepted into an-
According to Dogon mythology, Amma created the
cestral status, and a person who lives a degenerate life reincar-
heavens and the earth. The creation is envisaged in several
nates into a lesser being such as an animal and plant. Africans
stages with the use of sacred “word” by Amma. The first stage
do not hold their supreme beings directly responsible for im-
was the creation of nature, the second was an attempt to re-
perfectness in creation, but they do attribute fault and imper-
deem human beings. The third creation included the sacred
fectness in creation to the deities who are involved in the pro-
granary (including the world order of creation) and the rum
cess. African myths attempt to justify deities on the grounds
which is a primary method of communication and symbolic
that each represents an aspect of the supreme being, and as
of verbal language and culture. Amma exists in the shape of
such they only serve to check human excesses, bring order
an oval egg with four collarbones joined together to form
to chaos, and maintain an ontological equilibrium in the uni-
four quarters. These quarters contain the four elements of
verse, which has been desecrated by human beings. Thus,
earth, air, fire, and water.
human beings are liable for their actions and must accept re-
sponsibility for the consequences of the choices they make
The creation of human beings, summarized by James
in their lives.
Thayer, came when Amma placed a seed within himself and
spoke seven creative words which caused the seed to vibrate
Anthropomorphic descriptions. The African supreme
and to extend itself into the image of man. Amma produced
being is described in anthropomorphic terms which reflect
a set of male and female twins by dividing the egg into a dou-
to great extent human biological and social functions such
ble placenta that he placed in each of the twins. The twins
as fatherhood and motherhood, and human physical and do-
emanated directly from Amma, and are thus his children.
mestic activities and cares. In all, the role of the supreme
Yurugu, the male twin, due to impatience, broke through the
being is conceived as encompassing both masculine and fem-
placenta in need of a female. Yurugu did this to replicate
inine roles in a gendered African universe. Most African
Amma’s creation. As the placenta tore away, a piece of it be-
myths reveal that the African supreme being, after the first
came the earth. Yurugu could not find a mate and instead
order of creation, either retreated or traveled to the high
mated with the earth, thereby defiling the earth, which was
heavens where he resides. Such retreat or withdrawal is
actually his mother. Amma tried to restore the creation. He
claimed to be a consequence of human beings’ misbehavior
made another male twin, Nommo, and then created four
or disobedience. It can be argued that, contrary to the unduly
other spirits from Nommo. These were the ancestors of the
negative assessments of Western writers, the withdrawl of the
Dogon. Nommo and the ancestors came down to earth on
supreme being does not indicate that Africans hold their su-
an ark. The ark was filled with those materials that they
preme being as distant and unreachable, for they always ac-
would need for proper restoration and successful abode in
knowledge him, not only through the intermediaries but di-
the world. There came light and rain that would purify the
rectly as well.
earth. It was through Nommo and the ancestors that human
S
beings, animals, and plants were created. The four other
UPREME BEINGS IN LOCAL GEOGRAPHICAL CONTEXTS.
Nommo spirits who were created by Amma gave birth to the
The supreme beings selected here for specific discussion do
four divisions of the Dogon and to their social life. Amma
not represent the totality of the conceptions and imagina-
transformed Yurugu into an animal, known as “pale fox,”
tions of the numerous African groups; instead, they have
that wanders the earth in search of his female counterpart.
been chosen because of the popularity that has been accorded
The diviners use the signs of the “pale fox” that are left on
them in academic study and scholarly writings and analysis.
the earth to interpret important events in the life of the
Secondly, most of them represent large populations of people
Dogon people.
who have regarded themselves as kingdoms, especially before
the colonial partitioning efforts that led to the current mod-
The effect of Yurugu’s “incestuous behavior” resulted in
ern states. The supreme beings that are discussed here are se-
darkness, sterility, and death. This was balanced, however,
lected from various parts of Africa—East, West, Central, and
by partial restoration by Nommo who produced light, rain
southern Africa—where indigenous cultures still flourish as
and fertility. Yurugu personifies the night and all those places
regards the notion of indigenous African supreme beings:
that are uninhabitable, including dry lands.
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Other sets of creation first invented by Amma included
his praise name Odomankoma and his title Borebore, which
the sun and the moon, made through the process of pottery.
means “excavator,” “hewer,” “carver,” “creator,” “origina-
Dogon myth states that the sun is a pot raised to white heat
tor,” “inventor,” or “architect.” The next stage is the creation
and surrounded by a spiral of red copper with eight turns.
of the animals. Nyame orders and provides a structure in the
The moon is the same shape, but the copper is white. The
hierarchies for and utilities of the human, animal, and plant
moon was heated one quarter at a time. Amma “took a lump
species. Nyame is also said to have some divinities who are
of clay, squeezed it in his hand and flung it from him just
called his children because they derive their essential origin
as he did with the stars. The clay spread and fell on the north,
from him. There are many proverbs, songs, and other ora-
which is the top, and from there stretched out to the south,
tures which support the Akans’ belief in Nyame as the cre-
which is the bottom, of the world, . . . the earth lies flat,
ator and author of all that exists, including those essential as-
but the north is at the top. It extends east and west with sepa-
pects of human life. In The Akan Doctrine of God, J. B.
rate members like a foetus in the womb. . . . Its sexual
Danquah records a stanza from the Akan songs (which are
organ is an anthill, and its clitoris a termite hill. Amma being
usually played with a talking drum) that praises Nyame as
lonely and desirous of intercourse with this creature, ap-
the creator: “Odomankoma, / He created the Thing, /
proached it. That was the occasion of the first breach of the
Hewer-out Creator, / He created the Thing, / What did he
order of the universe” (Sproul, 1979, 50–51).
create? / He created Order, / He created Knowledge, / He
created Death, / As its quintessence!” (Danquah, 1944,
However, the termite hill did not allow the passage, and
p. 70).
intercourse could not take place. But Amma is all-powerful.
He cut down the termite hill and had intercourse with the
Ngewo. Ngewo is the name for the supreme being of
excised earth. Subsequent intercourse with his earth-wife was
the Mende people of Sierra Leone in West Africa. The deriv-
easy. Water, the divine seed, was able to enter the womb of
ative of the name Ngewo is vague. The probable etymology
the earth, allowing a normal reproductive cycle that resulted
claims that the name derives from Ngele-woo, a combination
in the birth of twins, two beings. The two beings were green
of ngele (sky) and woo (long ago), which suggests “in the sky,
in color, half human beings and half serpents who were
from long ago.” Another name for the supreme being among
called Nummo, two homogenous products of Amma, of di-
the Mende is Leve, which is said to be the much older name
vine essence like himself. These beings also produced the pair
that is used almost exclusively by very old people. Leve means
which were present in all water. The pair became the source
“the giver of chicken” or “high one.”
of all human actions.
As in some other African communities, Ngewo, the su-
Nyame (Onyankopon, Onyame). Nyame is the most
preme being of the Mende is claimed to be the creator of the
common and the principal name for the supreme deity of the
universe. The Mende conceive of Ngewo in masculine terms,
Akan people of Ghana. The variations of this name among
that is, they regard him as their father. He is also described
the Ga of Ghana are Nyonmo, Nyama, and Nyam, which
as being “high up,” and at the same time ubiquitous. As the
have the same basic connotation and meaning. Other com-
controller of the universe, whose ultimate authority is af-
mon names among the Akan that are related in etymological
firmed, the Mende attribute their well-being, victory over
interpretation are Nyankopon and Onyankopon. Nyame de-
their enemies, retribution, and defense to Ngewo.
rives from two Akan words, nya, meaning “to get,” and me,
meaning “to be full” or “to be satisfied.” Nyame is thus inter-
In their book The Springs of Mende Belief and Conduct
preted to mean “if you possess or get him, you are satisfied.”
(1968), William T. Harris and Harry Sawyerr present the
That is, Nyame can be interpreted as the god of fullness or
myth of the creative power and activities of Ngewo. The
god of satisfaction. The name is also said to be derivable from
myth tells of a long ago when Ngewo made the earth and
the root word nyam, which can mean “shining,” “bright-
all things in it, after which he made a man and a woman.
ness,” or “glory.” In the Akans’ worldview, all of these are
The myth of the creation of the animals that populate the
attributes of the supreme being, but how the idea of the su-
world is a fascinating one. It is claimed that before Ngewo
preme being itself originated is unknown.
was called by that name, he was once a very big or great spirit,
living in a cave that had a door. His power and authority was
The Akan do not possess any systematic account of the
so immense that all he said would come to pass. There came
process of creation of the universe. There is, however, a
a day when he said to himself, “I have all this power, why
strong belief indicated in variants of myths that the creation
don’t I use it? I have lived alone for a long time with no one
is credited solely to the supreme being, whatever name it is
to talk to and no one to play with.” He went to the entrance
called. Various accounts specify that the sky was created first,
of the cave and said, “I want all kinds of animals to live with
followed by the earth, rivers, waters, plants, and trees. After
me in this cave.” The animals came in pairs. He closed the
this came the creation of the first man, called Okane, and
door of the cave. After some time he called the animals to-
the first woman, called Kyeiwaa, as one myth tells. Okane
gether and gave them the rules that would continue to guide
and Kyeiwaa live in a cave. Nyame teaches the couple the
them, the violation of which would lead them to a terrible
names of all things he creates. In all the accounts, Nyame is
consequence. The first item of the law was on food. He said,
acknowledged as the author, the creator of all things, hence
“I will give you anything you want, food and everything else,
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but you must not touch my own food.” The spirit looked
close relationship with the sky is O:ló:run (one who owns or
at himself, the animals, and the cave, and he said “This cave
resides in the sky).
is too small.” As he turned himself around, the cave became
very, very big. The animals became happy as their food also
Although Olódùmarè is the creator, he works through
increased to the size of the room. Also, the spirit was happy
hundreds of òrìs:à (divinities or deities)—some myths say
as he had neighbors to talk to and play with.
201, some say 401, and some say 601. These òrìs:à are said
to share of the essence of Olódùmarè. After creating the òrìs:à,
The spirit and the animals usually had a very intimate
Olódùmarè delegates some òrìs:à to create certain aspects of
rapport. The animals usually came to greet him. One day,
the universe and some to maintain the universe. This net-
one of the animals came to greet him. As the animal was ap-
working by Olódùmarè through the òrìs:à stabilizes the social
proaching him, it smelled some sweet-smelling food, saw the
and psychological spaces of the human life. Each òrìs:à has
food and took some and ate it. The spirit is very knowledge-
a different elemental province. Prominent among the òrìs:à
able, very strict about his rules, and powerful. The animal
who were delegated to create are O:bàtáálà, Ò:rúnmìlà,
mysteriously found itself in front of the spirit. The spirit then
Odùduwà, Ò:s:un, and Ògun´. There are others who manifest
said, “What brought you here? You have violated my law.”
aspects of Olódùmarè in the maintenance of morality and
The spirit threw the animal from the cave and said, “You!
orderliness in the world. Ès:ù is regarded as the neutral force
From now on, your name is cow.” Later another animal also
who supervises sacrifices; that is, the sacrifices that are pre-
ate the food and was thrown out. This animal the spirit
scribed to clients through divination. Ès:ù carries the sacri-
named monkey. This continued until all the animals were
fices to Olódùmarè.
given different names and were thrown out of the cave. This
was the genesis of why and how all animals and men wander
To create the world, Olódùmarè supplies some dry soil,
around the world to look for this sweet-smelling food.
a five-toed hen, and a chameleon. Olódùmarè gives the dry
soil to Obàtáálá to drop on the primordial watery surface in
The first man and woman who were created by the great
the world. The five-toed hen then spreads the soil on the wa-
spirit usually referred to him as Maada-le (“He is grandfa-
tery surface. Another version of the myth states that
ther”). One day Ngewo addressed the two, saying, “Every-
Odùduwà has to complete the creation of the earth because
thing you ask me for, if you want it, you shall have it.”
Obàtáálá gets drunk on the way to the world. The five-toed
Whenever they needed anything, including food, they went
hen does the work. The chameleon tests and confirms the
to him requesting, “Maada, give us this, or Maada, give us
habitability of the now-solid space, and the report pleases
that.” As he gave it, he would say, “In ngee” (Yes, take it.).
Olódùmarè. Obàtáálá is also assigned to mold the human
However, Ngewo saw their constant coming and requesting
being with clay, and Olódùmarè breathes life into the figure.
from him as wearisome and troubling. This made him decide
Ò:rúnmìlà is the deputy of Olódùmarè on matters of knowl-
to leave them. He said to himself, “If I stay near these people
edge and wisdom, which are understood in Yorùbá mytholo-
they will wear me with their requests; I will make another
gy to be intertwined with the concept of destiny. Destiny is
living place for myself far above them.” The people went to
said to be enclosed in the “inner spiritual head,” which is
sleep one night. They woke up the next morning and looked
molded by another divinity called Àjàlá. Every human being
about, but could not see him. As they lifted up their heads,
is given or chooses from the many molded heads when com-
they saw him Ngawongo waa, (spread out very big) which
ing from heaven. In these heads are contained all that a
forms another possible etymology of the word for Ngewo,
human being will experience in life. This further illustrates
the supreme being.
the Yoruba concept of free will and determinism, which
The spirit decided to go up far above men and animals,
holds that God is not responsible for human calamities.
where he is sitting, watching to see who will eat his food.
Olódùmarè also commands sacrifices to alleviate human suf-
This spirit was later called Ngewo. Although this myth does
ferings. The way that the interactions of human beings with
not reveal the beginning of human beings, the Mende hold
Olódùmarè and deities are explained is that the deities that
Ngewo as their creator and controller of their universe. They
are involved in the processes of controlling human beings
pray to him. They regard ancestors as intermediaries between
moderate the activities of human beings in the world. The
them and the supreme being.
ordering of sacrifices by Olódùmarè and his deities, and the
performance or nonperformance of the sacrifices by human
Olódùmarè and O:ló:run. Olódùmarè is the supreme
beings, explains the resolution of the complexities and para-
god of the Yoruba people, a highly urbanized society with
doxes of human responsibility in the cosmos. The relation-
large city-state kingdoms in southwestern Nigeria. The ori-
ship of Olódùmarè to human beings is a continuous one, as
gin of the name has been difficult to decipher through ety-
a well-lived life qualifies a human being to enter into the an-
mologies, but Yoruba mythology and conception of this
cestral world.
being describe the supreme being as almighty, the first being,
and the creator of the world. Olódùmarè is the ancient name
The nature, character, and emotions of Olódùmarè are
of the Yoruba supreme being. The other name that is com-
manifested through such divinities as Ògun´, San`gó, Ò:s:un,
monly used and which etymologically identifies the supreme
O:ya, and several others. The divinities express the fury and
being with the creation and ownership of the universe and
anger of Olódùmarè, as San`gó does when he draws on thun-
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der and lightning. They also give provision, providence, and
(Sun) is considered to be the son of emanation of Chukwu.
protection, as the people demonstrate in thanksgiving with
Deities serve as messengers of Chukwu and usually are dele-
votive offerings in times of plenty and bountiful harvest, and
gated to supervise different parts of the universe. The deities
in their prayers and petitions in times of adversity and need.
serve as the mediators between Chukwu and human beings.
Chukwu creates a human spirit and gives him a chi (spirit
Osanobwa, or Osanobua. Osanobwa, or Osanobua, is
that creates), which determines and dispenses the destiny of
the name of the supreme being of the Edo people of western
a person and protects and guards him. Chukwu controls the
Nigeria. The name is a contraction of four components: Osa,
material world, offers the world new crops, and organizes the
meaning “the source of all beings”; N’o, meaning “who” or
universe through the deities. For instance, it is Igwe who
“which”; B’, meaning “carries” or “sustains”; and Wa or
comes in the form of rain to fertilize Ala, his wife, to produce
Uwa, meaning “the world” or “the universe.” Taken togeth-
crops for human beings. Igwe also manifests the power and
er, the name means “the source of all beings who carries
anger of Chukwu in thunderbolts and lightning to discover
and sustains the whole world or universe.” To the Edo peo-
and punish undetected criminals.
ple, their god is the creator of the world and the absolute sus-
tainer.
It is important to note that there exist personal, family,
The creation account of the Edo people states that
and public altars of the supreme being among the Igbo, in
Osanobwa commissions two divinities who share some part
contrast to most other African societies. People offer direct
of his essence as the “source being” to perform the creation
and regular sacrifices to Chukwu, as well as to deities in his
of the earth. Osanowa is commissioned to create human be-
behalf. Chukwu has several cult symbols, such as a tree plant-
ings and to continue to control the house or the township,
ed in front of one’s house. At the base of this tree is left bro-
whereas Osanoha is delegated to create animals of the bush
ken pots and plates. P. Amaury Talbot succinctly describes
and to rule over the place. Osanoha soon becomes jealous
the shrine of Chukwu thus: “The most common symbol of
of Osanowa and plans to destroy his work. He builds a house
Chukwu is Ogbu, cotton, or Awha (or chi) tree, or sapling
and stores all kinds of diseases therein. When the creations
or a post, some four to six inches high, usually accompanied
of Osanowa, men and women, come from heaven down to
by round or flat stones, and a pot or pots, containing water
earth, Osanoha causes a downpour of rain. The people look
and sometimes yellowwood, eggs, phallic chalk-cones round
for shelter from the rain, and the only available place they
stones and palm-wine” (Talbot, 1926, p. 41).
find is the house built by Osanoha in which diseases are con-
Mulungu (Bantu and Sudanese of East Africa).
cealed. Unaware of the consequences (unfortunately for
Mulungu is the chief god of most Bantu-speaking peoples
them), the people take shelter in the “disease” house of
of East Africa: the Yao and Zimba of Malawi and Mozam-
Osanoha, and this is how people carried various diseases into
bique, the Kamba of Kenya, and the Gogo of Tanzania all
the world. This myth traces the origin of humans and ani-
recognize Mulungu as their supreme being. Also, the Swahi-
mals to the supreme being as the source being.
li-speaking peoples of East and Central Africa use Mungu as
Chukwu, or Chineke (Igbo of eastern Nigeria).
the name of the supreme being. Variations of this name are
Chukwu is the supreme being of the Igbo people in the east-
Muungu, Mungu, Murungu, and Mvungu. Mulungu and its
ern Nigeria. He is also called Chineke. The two names are
variations are claimed to be found in more than forty Bantu
commonly and interchangeably used in all parts of Igboland,
languages. It is said that Mumbi, which derives from a verb
although it is asserted that the names stem from different
meaning “to create” or “to bring into existence,” is an old
areas. Etymologically, chi in Igbo language can mean “source
name among the Bantu. These variations, which supposedly
being” or “the source of being.” It can also mean “spirit.”
are due to different intonations by the several peoples, could
Both Chineke and Chukwu are composed of chi, which has
be seen as insignificant in terms of the meanings and concep-
been accepted as the generic word for god; Chineke is Chi
tions of the supreme being. Mulungu is a word of unknown
+ na + eke, the “source being” + “that/who” + “creates,” and
origin, but it indicates the almighty and ever-present creator.
Chukwu is Chi + Ukwu, the “source being” + “great,” “im-
Mulungu is strongly associated with celestial phenome-
mense,” or “superlative.” Chukwu, then, means “the great
na, as the sky is said to be his abode, the thunder his voice,
source being.” Obasi is another, ancient name of the supreme
and the lightning his power. He rewards the good and pun-
being of the Igbo, but it is no longer in common use.
ishes the wicked. As an instrument of displeasure and pun-
Chukwu is said to live away in the depths of the sky,
ishment, he uses drought. The common myth revolving
but he is not really so distant, as he takes much interest in
around Mulungu relates to the creation of the world, the ori-
the affairs of human being. He is the creator and organizer
gins of death, the separation of heaven and earth, and the ori-
of the universe. The Igbo people do not have any systematic
gin of man. Like most African creation myths, the Yao myth
account of the creation of the world, though the Igbo myth
states that only Mulungu and the animals existed in the be-
of creation states that Chukwu created the nature deities
ginning. There was a day when chameleon, one of the ani-
such as Anyanwu (Sun), Igwe or Amadioha (Sky), Ala
mals, was fishing. He suddenly found in his net a pair of
(Earth), and so on. These deities are considered to be essen-
human beings, whom he referred to as unknown. He took
tial descendant powers of Chukwu; for instance, Anyanwu
the man and the woman to Mulungu, who instructed him
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GOD: AFRICAN SUPREME BEINGS
3573
(the chameleon) to take them out of the trap and put them
But one day, Abuk, the first woman, took a pestle to
down on the earth to grow. This was the first pair of human
pound millet. Unfortunately, as she raised up the pestle she
beings. Mulungu commanded the chameleon to raise the
struck Nhialic, who then withdrew from the people by cut-
people and teach them the things they would begin to do in-
ting the rope that connected him with them. This is what
cluding the ability to create fire. However, these human be-
caused the separation of heaven and earth, and it marked the
ings could not control the fire, and it raged across the earth
end of the golden age of Nhialic’s direct protection of man,
and drove Mulungu away into the heavens through the rope
thus introducing work, suffering, and death.
which Spider spun for Mulungu. Mulungu still interacts
Another version of Dinka myth states that the separa-
with human being in their day-to-day affairs, however, par-
tion of heaven and earth was caused by Nhialic’s refusal to
ticularly when human beings violate moral order. Mulungu
yield to Aruu (Dawn), one of the ancestors, to make an open-
is by nature benevolent. Although no formal cult is made for
ing in the world for people to see, so Aruu split the world
Mulungu and prayers are rarely directed to him, he is ruler
in two with an ax, and the sky and the earth were divided
and judge, omnipotent and omnipresent. Prayers are direct-
to allow light to appear.
ed to lesser spirits who dwell on the earth to solicit and en-
sure their benevolence.
The influence of Nhialic on human lives is immense
and noticeable, always affecting them for good or ill. Nhialic
Nzambi. Nzambi (whose nickname is Mpungu) is the
dispenses punishment to the wicked. Life and health are
supreme being of the Bakongo people, a native tribe of the
thought of as gifts attributable to Nhialic. The Dinka, who
lower Congo River area. According to the Bakongo, Nzambi
are mostly hunters, fishers, and subsistence farmers, make
is the creator of men and all other things, including tradi-
regular votive offerings to Nhialic in appreciation for recov-
tional medicine, which the people believe was given to the
ery from illness, relief from famine, and success in hunting.
first inhabitants at the time of creation and passed on from
generation to generation. The medicine is to be used for
Kwoth. Kwoth, the supreme being of the Nuer of Re-
good, as expressed in their common saying that “if he had
public of Sudan, is the concept on which the people’s reli-
not given us our fetishes (sic), we should all be dead long
gion and worldview is centered. The etymology of Kwoth is
ago.” Nzambi is the sovereign master. He is inaccessible and
taken from such actions as “blowing the embers of a fire;
unapproachable. He is believed by the people to have placed
blowing into the uterus of a cow, while a tulchan is propped
human beings here on earth, and he can take them away. As
up before it, to make it give milk; the blowing out of air by
the creator, he is involved in the birth of every child.
the bulyak or puff fish . . . to blow on fire, to blow the nose,
etc.” (Evans-Pritchard, 1967, pp. 134–135). Evans-
Nzambi is invisible and very powerful. He watches a
Pritchard claims that the Nuer conceive of Kwoth as being
human being, searches him or her out everywhere, and takes
a pure spirit, a creative spirit. Basically, he is identified as
him or her away, inexorably, whether young or old. Among
Kwoth nhial, or Kwoth a nhial, meaning the spirit of the
the laws of the Bakongo are nkondo mi Nzambi (God’s prohi-
heavens or the spirit (who is) in the heavens. As the creator
bitions), the violation of which constitutes a sumu ku Nzam-
of material and nonmaterial entities, including custom and
bi (sin against Nzambi), and an ordinary sanction of this is
tradition, Kwoth is the first cause who provides the final ex-
a lufwa lumbi (bad death). Thus, at the moral level, Nzambi
planation as an expression of ultimate rationality. That is, the
is responsible for punishing violators of his prohibitions.
meanings and origins of all that exist in the world are traced
Nhialic. Nhialic, otherwise known as Jok (“spirit” or
to him. Kwoth is both remote and far. He is both within and
“power”) is the supreme god of the Dinka people, a group
above the world. Although his exact nature is difficult to ex-
numbering nearly four million in the southern Sudan region.
plain, he is said to be ubiquitous, and this is explained from
Nhialic, which means “that which is above [in the sky],” is
the point of view of wind or air being present everywhere.
regarded as the greatest of the powerful and unseen superhu-
He is comonly addressed as gwandong, a word that has been
man forces and powers. He is referred to as creator and fa-
translated as “grandfather” or “ancestor,” but which literally
ther. He is the giver of rain from the sky, where he resides.
means “old father.”
He is also described as the first ancestor of the people.
Kwoth plays a part in social and personal life. He judges
human conduct, sanctioning right conduct and condemning
According to the Dinka myth of creation, Nhialic creat-
wrong behaviors. Kwoth does this by rewarding a “righ-
ed the first people, whom he placed in a world of darkness.
teous” person—one who does not violate the taboos of the
Nhialic was originally close to human beings, for the earth
land—with the good things of life. On the other hand, those
and the sky were very close to each other. Human beings
who violate the taboos are inflicted with sickness. The gravity
could ascend to Nhialic freely by climbing a rope that con-
of the sickness is said to be the consequence of the seriousness
nected them. Nhialic gave Garang and Abuk, the first hu-
of the taboo on the social order.
mans, all the things that they wanted. Nhialic, however, gave
instructions on how they should conduct themselves, includ-
It is noted, as Evans-Pritchard remarks (1956,
ing how much they could eat, where they could go, and the
pp. 48–49), that the influence of Christianity and Islam on
nature of human interpersonal relationships.
the Nuer does not affect their conception and perception of
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GOD: AFRICAN SUPREME BEINGS
Kwoth. The Nuer hold the view that Kwoth is the same su-
and postmenopausal women who attend the sacrifice, and a
preme being as the Christian and Muslim God, only called
portion is burned on the fire for Ngai.
by different names and communicated with in different
Ngai is invoked by chiefs or elders on behalf of the com-
manners. But the Nuer have a different attitude toward
munity or, in extreme cases, for personal need or distress.
Kwoth when compared with believers in the Christian and
Ngai is approached only after lesser spiritual powers, includ-
Muslim God. They regard Kwoth as their father and friend,
ing the ancestors, have been tried and found wanting. This
even though he punishes human beings.
level of relationship reflects the traditional social and political
The Nuer offer both public and private prayers. Apart
hierarchical structure and pattern of the Kikuyu society when
from the corporate expression of belief in the reality of this
societal problems or disputes are being resolved.
supreme being, particularly in ritual prayers, individual de-
UNkulunkulu. The development of uNkulunkulu as
pendence on God is expressed in spontaneous prayers, some-
a supreme deity among the Zulu people, a large ethnic group
times spoken aloud and sometimes unspoken. Evans-
in South Africa, is shrouded in mystery. The name uN-
Pritchard’s perception of the people’s dependence on Kwoth
kulunkulu, from the Zulu language, is a contraction of words
is that of an “intimate, personal, relationship between man
in which a superlative adjective is repeated: uNkulunkulu
and God. This is apparent . . . in their habit of making
translates as “great, great one” or “old, old one.” However,
short supplications at any time. This is a very noticeable trait
from what one can infer from the Zulu traditional myth on
of Nuer piety.” (Evans-Pritchard, 1956, p. 317).
the development of the name, uNkulunklulu appears as a
Ndjambi. Ndjambi is the supreme being of the Herero
mystical figure. He is also called Mvelinqangi, meaning “the
of the Bantu tribe of southwest Africa. He is also known as
first outcomer.” The Zulu regard Mvelinqangi as the ances-
Karunga by the Ovambo, the neighboring tribe of the Here-
tor of all. Although one oral tradition identifies uN-
ro. Ndjambi is said to reside in heaven. He is principally re-
kulunkulu with uThlanga, who is at the same time a man
garded as the giver of rain, and his voice is claimed to be
and a woman, the most common myth among the people
clearly heard at the rising of the clouds. There is a great rever-
holds that he is the first man. This myth suggests that uN-
ence for the name Ndjambi, which is not expected to be ut-
kulunkulu appears from, or is created by, the breaking off
tered. His most striking attribute is kindness, and human
of reeds, or that he comes out of, or breaks off from, a bed
successes, achievements, and blessings are attributed to him.
of reeds.
However, the worship of Ndjambi is not given any cultic
UNkulunkulu is “the first outcomer” human being,
form.
“the first man,” and “the ancestor of all,” and all humans are
Ngai. Ngai, sometimes written as Mogai, is regarded as
said to be derived from him. His status as the supreme deity
the supreme being, the Creator, and the giver of all things
and creator among the Zulu may have been occasioned by
to the Kikuyu îGikuyuï, Masaai, and Kamba peoples of the
the influence of Christian missionaries’ search for an equiva-
Kenya Highlands of East Africa. Ngai’s abode is the sky, but
lent of their biblical God; otherwise, uNkulunkulu is merely
his special dwelling place on earth is Mount Kenya, called
an early ancestral figure of the Zulu. However, there have
Kere-Nyaga (mountain of brightness). People face the
been no known descendants from oral histories, narratives,
mount whenever they pray, asking their ancestors for any
and communal or corporate rituals from which uN-
kind of help. He also visits several places on earth where he
kulunkulu could be traced. The Zulu believe that uN-
makes a temporarily abode. These places are regarded as rest-
kulunkulu is the creator of human beings, that he gives them
ing places of Ngai whenever he comes to carry out a “general
their social institutions such as marriage and chieftainship,
inspection” among his people. During such inspection tours,
and that he gives them spirits, diviners who would reveal the
he brings blessings and punishment to people, according to
hidden things of the past and future, and doctors who would
their behavior.
treat various diseases among the people.
WORSHIP. Although there is universality of belief in a su-
Unlike the supreme being of many other African com-
preme being among most African peoples, it is correctly as-
munities, Ngai is approached with prayers and sacrifices that
serted that there is no formal worship accorded the being and
are traditionally offered to him on those special places where
no organized cults or great temples built for him in most Af-
he is said to dwell. Certain big and large trees, which are re-
rican communities. However, most popular myths about the
garded as sacred, are often chosen as places of prayer and sac-
supreme being express that he is a reality to many people.
rifice to Ngai. There are also four sacred mountains at the
Most of the myths state that the sky is his dwelling place,
four cardinal directions of Kenya. Prayers and sacrifices are
which was once much nearer to the earth. Generally speak-
offered, particularly in moments of communal crisis and di-
ing, the worship of the supreme being is done through his
saster, such as drought and epidemic, and for communal
many intermediaries, who bear aspects of his nature and
needs, such as planting, harvesting, and rites of passage.
characters.
Prayers are usually accompanied by offering and animal sac-
rifice. Home-brewed beer and milk are offered to Ngai.
Because the supreme being of most African communi-
These are consumed by the elders, prepubescent children,
ties is claimed to have his abode or seat in the sky, individual
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T ABLE 1 .
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GOD: AFRICAN SUPREME BEINGS
Names of Notable Supreme Beings in Africa (continued)
Names of Supreme Being(s)
Meanings/Identity
Peoples
Location(s)
*uNkulunkulu
Great, Great One, Old, Old One; Ancient of days, creator of all
Zulu
South Africa
things, ancestor of men
Kalunga
Supreme Spirit
Ovambo
South Africa
*Kwoth
Creator, Spirit of the sky
Nuer
Sudan
*Nhialic, or Jok (Juok, Juong),
Creator, father
Dinka
Sudan (Southern
Sudan)
Mkulumncandi, Umkhulumncandi
Swaziland
Engai
Arusha Tanzania
Katonda
Greater of all things in existence, creator and moulder of
Baganda
Uganda
human beings
Adronga
Creator, Spirit in the sky and in the stream
Lugbara
Uganda and
Belgian Congo
Dondari
Fulani West
Africa
Muluku (Vidye Muluku)
Great Lord, first ancestor
Baluba
Zaire
Chiuta, Lesa, Mulungu, Nyambe
The Great One of the bow (rainbow), Controller, Organiser
Tumbuka
Zambia
Bumba
Bashongo Zambia
Leza
First Cause, creator of all, heat and cold, famine and disease,
Tonga
Zambia,
Moulder, Constructor
Tanzania,
Upper Congo
Table courtesy of the author
and communal prayers are offered to him facing the sky or
propagated in, the scholarly works of Sir James Frazer
a special place considered to possess his divine presence—
(1854–1941), Émile Durkheim (1858–1917), and Lucien
usually “high up.” Generally, no temples are built or priests
Lévy-Bruhl (1857–1939). The effect of the misconceptions
specifically initiated to serve in the worship of the supreme
on early African converts to Christianity were immense, for
being. Ubiquitous in nature, no permanent settlement is
the Africans internalized the obnoxious labels of paganism
constructed for him, nor is he localized. Thus, to the Afri-
and heathenism. The labeling came from Christian evange-
cans, the sky is the face of God. However, among the Ashanti
lists who demonized aspects of African indigenous cultures
of Ghana there are temples of Nyame where priests serve as
and practices (e.g., food and fruit items, music and drums,
attendants, and the Dogon have group altars for Amma, at
dress and dressing patterns, indigenous rites of passage) that
which the village chief officiates. A few other African peoples
were associated and connected with the Africans’ ideas, be-
have cults for their supreme beings where they organize spe-
liefs, and worship, particularly regarding the worship of a su-
cial and communal ceremonies. At crucial moments and
preme being.
times of crisis when deities or ancestors who serve as interme-
Sir Samuel Baker, in his lecture to the Ethnological So-
diaries fail, appeal is made to the supreme being, who is re-
ciety of London in 1866 (as cited in Eric O. Ayisi’s An Intro-
garded as the highest authority. Certain symbols are also used
duction to the Study of African Culture), said that “without
to depict the characters of God and to express the people’s
any exception, they [the Northern Nilotes, and indeed Afri-
need for such symbolic intervention at moments of need.
cans in general] are without a belief in a supreme being. Nei-
EARLY STUDIES AND CONTEMPORARY APPROPRIATION/
ther have they any form of worship nor idolatry nor is the
ADOPTION. Much has been documented and cited of the im-
darkness of their minds enlightened by even a ray of supersti-
pressions of explorers, anthropologists, and Christian mis-
tion” (Ayisi, 1980, p. 72). Leo Frobenius, in The Voice of Af-
sionaries of Africans’ conceptions and perceptions of their
rica (1913) made a similar submission, while giving credence
supreme beings. Notable among early non-African commen-
to Islamic civilization in Africa: “Before the introduction of
tators and writers on African religions include David Living-
a genuine faith and a higher standard of culture by the Arabs,
stone (1813–1873), Henry M. Stanley (1841–1904), Emil
the natives had neither political organization, nor, strictly
Ludwig, and Leo Frobenius (1873–1938). Their works rep-
spoken, any religion, nor any industrial development”
resent the wide range of misconceptions about African reli-
(p. 1f). The often and popularly cited questions of Emil Lud-
gious worldviews, particularly the idea of the supreme being.
wig (cited by Edward Geoffrey Parrinder in African Tradi-
These misconceptions later formed the basis for, and were
tional Religion) strongly expressed the same negative impres-
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GOD: AFRICAN SUPREME BEINGS
3577
sion when he exclaimed “How can the untutored African
Scholars’ use of the incorrect nomenclature to describe
conceive of God? How can this be? Deity is a philosophical
and define African supreme beings can be seen as a conse-
concept which savages are incapable of forming” (Parrinder,
quence of a lack of adequate knowledge of Africans’ world-
1962, p. 9).
views and languages. Early scholars had described these su-
preme beings as deus absconditus (withdrawn god) and deus
However, African indigenous scholars and a few non-
otiosus (lazy god), both of which leave the world of human
African scholars of African religions who have taken pains-
beings after creating the world. Polytheism—another term
taking steps to study African traditional religion have chal-
used by early Western scholars and early scholars on African
lenged the misleading and erroneous assertions of the early
religious traditions—is obvious in African religion, but it
scholars. The symposium African Ideas of God was an excel-
does not erode the position of the supreme being or African
lent exploration and breakthrough exercise that established
belief in it, because the supreme being is regarded as the fi-
the fact that most African peoples have had a belief in a su-
nality of their life in thought and expression. Most African
preme being as part of their worldview and religious praxis.
peoples regard their supreme being as the source being, cre-
Since 1950, when the symposium was published into a vol-
ator, preserver, sustainer, and chief—as a sort of creative en-
ume, many books and several articles have been written by
ergy, the first ancestor who supervises all human and spiritual
African authors in support of the African belief in a spiritual
affairs and who operates a systematic structure. The supreme
being. Most prominent among these scholars are E. Bolaji
being is associated with lesser deities, ancestors, spirits,
Idowu, John S. Mbiti, Edward Geoffrey Parrinder, J. Omo-
human beings, and natural phenomena. He involves all in
sade Awolalu and P. Adelumo Dopamu, and Jacob K.
the creation, maintenance, and administration of the uni-
Olupona. They observed that long before their contact with
verse. The African supreme being’s association with other
Europeans and Arabs, Africans had developed a variety of
spiritual beings, human beings, and natural phenomena, and
distinct social institutions, political structures, cultures, and
his involving them in the maintenance and administration
languages that were a product of their indigenous religious
of the universe, provides a complexity in the comparative
worldview, which had its basis in the belief in a supreme
analysis of the definitions and attributes of the African su-
being. Understandably, however, the uncodified form of reli-
preme being with the Christian-Muslim God. While Afri-
gious doctrines as well as the practical expression of religious
cans have a strong conception of the supreme being, they use
life of the Africans (which developed from the respect and
a different definition and different attributes, which are di-
humility with which African sociopolitical and civil life is
rected toward finding meanings to, and explanations of,
built) did not allow the early observers to objectively assess
events, and toward seeking control over human affairs. The
Africans’ perception of the supreme being.
processes through which explanation, prediction, and con-
Conversion to Christianity and Islam, and the civilizing
trol of human affairs are sought and achieved are explained
and proselytizing effects of this conversion, contributed to
by the practical involvement of human beings and spiritual
the demonizing process of African concepts of the supreme
agents responsible to the supreme being, who has the ulti-
being, though it also strongly supported the view that Afri-
mate control of the universe.
cans had, and still have, a belief in one supreme being, as can
The current shift in African beliefs and religious concep-
be seen in indigenous translations of the Bible and the Holy
tions about the supreme being shows the dynamic nature, re-
QurDa¯n. These sacred texts use any or all of the indigenous
silience, and integrative capability of African religion and
names of African supreme beings described earlier as ancient
culture to adapt, adopt, and appropriate other traditions.
or descriptive. For instance, among the Yoruba people of Ni-
This ability is found both within and outside Africa, in places
geria, the Bible uses the word “Olórun” for God, “Olúwa”
like Europe and many parts of the Americas, such as Cuba
for Lord, and “Olódùmarè” for Almighty; the Yoruba ver-
and Brazil, where African religious traditions have made in-
sion of the Qur’a¯n uses “Olórun” for Allah, and Olórun is
roads and are flourishing.
found in day-to-day usage. Despite the deep-rooted seating
of Islam among the Swahili people, Mulungu and its dialec-
SEE ALSO African Religions, overview article; Cosmology,
tal variations (Murungu, Mluku, Mulunguo, Muunguo) are
article on African Cosmologies.
used, and the indigenous names for the supreme being are
mostly used instead of Allah. Mulungu is also adopted as the
Christian equivalent for God.
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